The Lord Will Provide

This passage is just amazing in dual purpose,

First, it shows us the work of faith God has done in Abraham

Second, it is a foreshadowing the cross, God giving and sacrificing his only begotten son, for our salvation, and his provision for the forgiveness of sins!

The Bible is not a collection of many stories, it is one divine progressive revelation over reveal one over arching narrative of the holy God of creation and his redemption of man for all of eternity!

We’ve already learned that this amazing chapter of faith in the life of Abraham is not an isolated story, but is interconnected to all of Genesis before it, and all of scripture after it.

So we must read this chapter not as just an isolated event, but seek to understand it in the overarching narrative of scripture… other we risk the chance of having an incorrect understanding of God.

The preacher story - Judas went and hanged himself, go a do likewise

Scripture interrupts scriptures

This passage has

Molding shaping Vessel for mercy,

What’s the point of a test of faith....

God doesn’t test us to learn something new about us.... the point of God’s tests in our lives is for us to learn something new about ourselves, our faith, and trusting God…

God tests our faith for 2 reasons:

To GROW my FAITH

these types of test usually trials, difficulties, hardships in life where we need God to be faithful, they build our trust in God, or if we fail reveal where we fail to trust God in our lives.

The second type of test of is different, it is a call to obedience, will we obey God’s command

To PROVE to ME what God has MADE me into: a masterpiece, a special vessel for his mercy and glory

This passage begins by telling us this was a test, this is for our benefit, we are given this knowledge so that we are assured at the beginning God is in control of what is about to happen,

But Abraham does not know this is a test, and doesn’t figure that out till the very end. He lived the full weight of this command in every moment.

The test for Abraham was whether he would cling to child God had given him, or would he obey God....

This important for us to recognize and understand in this process...

This passage is ultimately not about Abraham, it is about God, what God has done in Abraham in giving him faith, molding him and shaping him into the masterpiece of that would become known as the the father faith.

In reality, God’s work in Abraham had already made him into the Man of faith that would stand on top of that mountain before he even climbed the mountain, before they journeyed there, before God even commanded him to do this, he just didn’t know it yet.

We have already seen that Abraham was broken and messed up just like you and me.... but God’s grace had poured out through his word to Abraham and molded him into the father of faith through both his victories and failures in trusting God....

but Abraham struggled with his identity just like we do, if we could jump in our time machine from last week and go back and visit with Abraham before this event and call him the father of faith, he would reject that titled, because in his mind he is the sum of all his failures. Don’t call me the Father of Faith, i’m the one that gave Sarah away to Abimelek, im the one who messed up my family by sleeping with Hagar....

Abraham would view his life through the wrong lens of being the sum of his failures, he wouldn’t be able to fully see the work God has done in him.. he couldn’t fully see his identity in God’s grace as a child of God...

I look around this room and I see the glorious faces of men of God! I see radiant faces of women of God!

When I send messages out to the men in our men’s ministry I address you as a man of God, when we call the men up to pray over them, we often address them as men of God, and that may cause a struggle in you mind

if walk up to you and call you a man of God or woman of God it may make you uncomfortable, a little squirmish, because you may be thinking Pastor don’t call me that, if you only knew how messed up I am, how I failed this week, even this morning how I have failed in my sin…

but listen man of God, listen woman of God, I do not call you that because you have earned it, I do not call you that because you aren’t broken or messed up, I call you that because if you have been born again through Christ, God has done a work in you, justified you, forgiven you, and mad you his own. I call you a man of God and woman of God because that is what you are by God’s work in you!

If you are in Christ, you are not the sum of your sin and failures, You are men of women of God… you just may not know it yet like Abraham, but God’s about to show him!

The Master Artist is about to reveal his masterpiece for the whole world to see, up to this point not even the masterpiece knows its a master piece!

Read: vv 1-2

Underline

Son , only son, whom you love - Forshadowing

Moriah - foreshadowing

sacrifice burnt offering - hardship imagery, slit throat, dismemberment, burning

vv 3-4

Abraham’s TRUST in God overrides the reality of what OBEDIENCE requires of him

last week we learned that Abraham has learned to trust the eternal God!

Abraham is putting his trust in God despite the conflict with his reality,

This is not easy, this is a process for all of us, this is

13 year gaps, previously in scripture Abraham’s sin with Hagar had left him thinking he had messed up the promise,

Now we have another 13 year gap between the weening of Isaac and this moment,

while we aren’t given the details of those thirteen years, we can see Abraham’s faith oozing out all over this passage and saturating this passage..

The man of God that he is the, the man of faith begins to leak out out, over flow because his faith cannot be contained.

vv 4-8

Abraham didn’t know what would happen, but he KNEW God would be FAITHFUL

Hebrews 11:17–19 (NIV)

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

How do we encourage others that are struggling,

Let me tell you what not to do....

I don’t know how this is going to go… but I do know that no matter how it turns out, God is going to be faithful...

Abraham doesn’t paint God into a corner, he doesn’t pre determine in his mind what the Eternal God should do according to Abrahams limited understanding…

The ambiguous answer he gives matches the level of his limited knowledge…

God is faithful and will provide…

Isaac was

vv 9-10

This required the faith of ABRAHAM and ISAAC

This doesn’t happen overnight. This moment was 15 years in the making… Abraham being a father who raised his son to walk with God, to trust God,

Jehovah Jireh - THE LORD WILL PROVIDE for the forgiveness of sin

God accomplished what he had PROMISED Abraham and revealed his masterpiece: THE FATHER OF FAITH

James 2:14–24 (NIV)

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

It was God’s work in Abraham that provided the faith, it was God’s work in Abraham does not get the credit, God does!!!!

God’s masterpieces of faith are not art static inanimate pieces of art, they are function vessels that he pours his glory and mercy into that overflow into the world and the world is blessed by them through God’s work…

Tools for Today:

The purpose of my LIFE is to GLORIFY God and ENJOY Him forever

A Faithful worshipper fears God and will hold nothing back but will obediently give God whatever he asks for.

What am I HOLDING BACK from GOD?

God has PROVIDED the sacrifice that FORGIVES my sin! I need to cry out to JESUS today for Salvation!

Life Group Questions

ICE BREAKER: What is the most difficult sacrifice or decision that you’ve ever had to make?

1. What insight, lesson, or observation from this weekend’s message did you find to be the most helpful, eye-opening, or troubling? How was your experience with the Life Tool’s this past week?

2. What is most shocking to you about Genesis 22 and God’s command for Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Has God ever shocked you with one of his commands in Scripture and/or with a life situation?

a. Given Abraham and Sarah’s experience with barrenness and God’s earlier promises to them, why would this command come as a shock?

3. Why would God wait until the last moment to intervene in order to prevent Abraham from killing Isaac?

4. What does God’s providing a ram as a substitute indicate about His character and grace? Why is God within His rights and justice to require Isaac’s life?

5. In light of these New Testament passages, what does the Abraham-Isaac story tell us about the nature of the gospel and salvation?

a. According to Hebrews 11:17-19, how does the Abraham-Isaac story point not only to Jesus’ sacrifice but also to His resurrection?

6. When has God provided for you in a “last moment” sort of way? What did this reveal to you about your level of confidence and trust in God? How is Christ’s sacrifice the ultimate display of “last moment” provision?

7. How does Abraham’s trust in God—even to the point of nearly sacrificing his son—challenge you? What sort of things might God be calling you to sacrifice in order to demonstrate your trust in Him?

8. After hearing this passage, tools for today, and questions, what is one next step you need to take today?

Stump the parents: How does this story of Abraham and Isaac point to the Gospel?

Sermon Topic: The Lord Will Provide

Scripture for Today: Genesis 22:1-19

Duke The Detective Dog: Abraham trusted God when he didn't understand God's plan.

Words: Obedience, Sacrifice, Faith

Life Tool for Parents of Preschoolers – Teenagers: Announce that you are going to test your kids with a memory test and a physical test. Explain that you will read a list of words and will not repeat them. Read the word list slowly and then challenge kids to repeat all the words they heard.

For the second test, invite kids to do a wall sit. Challenge kids to hold that position. SAY “Tests are used to measure a person’s knowledge, skill, physical fitness, and so on. In today’s Bible story, God tested Abraham. God didn’t test Abraham on his memory or strength; God tested his faith.

Single:

Couples: