Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.12UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.62LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.68LIKELY
Confident
0.04UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.76LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.87LIKELY
Extraversion
0.02UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.83LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.65LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Announcements:
Prayer walk
Family Day
Joint service with Calvary
Recap
pray
The Lord was gracious
Even in the midst of the evilness and wickedness that transpires through chapters 18-20 God is still gracious
And here we finally arrive at the birth of Isaac.
This long awaited moment right
This is what this covenant hinges on
This is what everyone has been waiting for
Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky are dependent on this son
And let us be reminded of the miraculous property of this birth
Sarah was barren during her childbearing years
We’ve spent the last 10 chapters discussing the problem of her inability to have a son
She is now 90 years old, well through menopause
By all medical accounts, this is impossible
And yet, oddly enough there’s not a whole lot said about Isaac’s birth
It’s almost stated in a nonchalant way
That’s it.
That’s all we get about this incredible miracle.
Here is what I believe the author is trying to teach us
What God does and can do should never cease to amaze us
But that he can do it, should never surprise us
It’s almost as if the author is saying, He’s God, enough said.
Isaac is born
We know he was circumcised at 8 days old like Abraham had been commanded to do
And he is given the name Isaac which is a play on words and means laughter
Then down later in the chapter we are told that Hagar’s son, Ishmael, begins mocking him which is actually a play on words of the name Isaac
So he’s doing to Isaac, what his name means
Sarah gets upset at this
So, still dealing with the consequences of this decision, and
She tells Abraham to send them away
He does, they leave, they run out of water, they are about to die, and God saves them and provides water for them because of the promise he made to Hagar in chapter 16
Then Abraham makes a treaty over a well with Abimelek who we saw in chapter 20
And at the end of that chapter
We see Abraham “call on the name of the Lord.”
This is that phrase that we’ve seen repeated
Meaning to declare divine attributes of God
Then we get to chapter 22 and here’s what it says
If you’ve grown up with or around the Bible you are probably familiar with this story
And with that it may take away from the shock of this ask from God
But we have to realize the absolute plot twist of this moment
Everything that God had promised to Abraham flows through his son Isaac
Almost everything leading up to this moment in Abraham’s story was about this journey of him having a son through Sarah
We’ve just come face to face with the miraculous reality of Sarah having a son
And now God asks Abraham to kill that very son?
Now, many of us know how this story ends.
Abraham did not.
In fact, there is no reason to believe that Abraham didn’t think he would be killing his son
There’s actually every reason to believe he truly thought that he was going to have to sacrifice him
In this culture and time, child sacrifice was a very common thing
many people groups offered their children as sacrifice to their gods
In fact, Deut and Lev expressly argue against this practice which would imply to us that it continued to occur
So, Abraham being asked to sacrifice his child to his God, although emotionally difficult/harsh, even culturally logical, was only baffling to Abraham in the view of God’s covenant promises to him.
But Abraham, although not knowing the details, knew one thing and it was all he needed.
That God would provide
Let’s read the rest of the story
This is what he tells Isaac in verse 8 and it’s what he calls the mountain it happened on in verse 14
Abraham may have not known how but he knew God would
Here is what I want us to see, God had asked Abraham to sacrifice before
He asked him to leave his family, cut ties with all that he knew.
He asked him to set himself apart by circumcision
But every sacrifice up until this moment was balanced by a promise that although there was something to lose, there was more to gain
Here, however, there is nothing to gain.
No promise is made
No covenant offered
In fact, it’s not only his son that he is putting to death but all previous covenants and promises made prior
The stakes are extremely high
The other day my girls had to go to the dentist.
There’s always something in it for them
There was nothing in it for Abraham
But at the beginning of this chapter in the first verse sheds light to the purpose of this moment
God tested Abraham!
God is putting Abraham to the test.
And I don’t think he’s testing Abraham’s faith
Abraham has proven faithful
His faith has been credited to him as righteousness already
I don’t think God is testing Abraham’s obedience
Abraham has proven himself to be obedient
If you’re willing to circumcise yourself at 100 years old, you’re pretty obedient
Here’s what I believe God was testing
Motivation
Why is it that Abraham has faith in God?
Why is it that Abraham would obey?
Is it because of all that God has provided and promised to him?
Is it because every time God said to sacrifice it was followed with a promise of greater things to come?
Or is Abraham’s faith and obedience in Yahweh motivated by a longing to know and please and God?
The question we must wrestle with this morning is
Why do you follow Jesus?
Do we follow Jesus to get something out of Him?
Or do we follow Jesus to get Jesus?
Here’s the goodness of God on display
God loves to give good gifts to His people
Scripture tells us so
But He also knows that He and He alone is the only well that doesn’t run dry
He is the only thing that will truly satisfy our most inner longings and desires
And so He will often test us or pull back from us or ask us to sacrifice in an effort to get us closer to Him
The ultimate goal of Christianity is not:
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9