The Lord Will Provide

Text: Genesis 22:1-18, John 3:16

Introduction

In this classic Bible story, Abraham is given one of the most difficult tasks of any single person in the Bible: to offer his son as a burnt offering to God.

I. God tested Abraham’s faith (vs. 1).

A. God did not offer any reason, and Abraham did not ask for a reason.

1. Imagine how difficult it would be to do such a horrible thing without any obvious reason.

2. This command flew in the face of the promise that God had given Abraham: “Through this son, your seed will be great and multiply throughout the Earth…”

3. To make matters worse, in verse 2, God almost seems to be emphasizing the difficulty of his command.

B. God has a reason for everything that we go through.

1. God was testing Abraham’s faith and showing him a sign of what was to come many years later: Jesus Christ.

2. Sometimes we are called to make very difficult sacrifices.

a. God will always provide.

b. God always has something good in store for those who obey him.

C. Abraham stepped out on blind faith and obeyed God’s calling.

1. God wants a willing servant who is willing to sacrifice everything for him.

2. We must put God first in our lives.

3. By forsaking self, we uplift Christ and he uplifts us.

II. Abraham passed God’s test (9-12).

A. Abraham was going to sacrifice his son for God.

1. This is the kind of God-fearing people that we need in God’s service.

2. As always, God provided an answer (I Cor. 10:13).

a. Don’t always expect the outcome to be as you had expected.

b. In this case, God provided a solution that no doubt pleased Abraham. However, sometimes God finds it necessary to “let the knife fall,” and you must make a tremendous sacrifice.

c. No matter what the outcome, remember that if God calls you to make a sacrifice, he will supply the grace for you to do so and has a very good reason.

B. How much would you sacrifice?

III. God made a sacrifice for us, also (John 3:16).

A. The parallel between the two stories is amazing.

1. Just as Abraham, God gave his only son to die as a sacrifice.

2. It was not easy for either to make that choice.

3. Abraham loved God so much that he gave his son for him just as Christ loved us so much that he gave his son for us.

4. “Though Scholars have not been able to identify the exact location of the mountain where Abraham brought this son to be sacrificed, some ancient sources identify it with a site in Jerusalem, on which the Dome of the Rock (a Moslem Mosque) currently sits. Interestingly, the Dome of the Rock, located on the Temple Mount, is just a few hundred yards from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally identified as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion.”

(Men of the Bible, p.44)

Conclusion

God has a calling for your life. Have you discovered it yet? It may require a lot of trials and hardships to get there…are you a willing servant