Abraham's Test
Notes
Transcript
Taking Tests
Taking Tests
I don't think that anybody is much of a fan of tests. I am thankful that I have reached a part of my life where I am pretty well done with test taking. I say that, but a few years ago for my my vocational job I decided to gain a certification as a lighting designer. — I have been asked about that, the question being why do you need a certification for lighting, don't you just buy a light and put it somewhere and you're done? My response was that statements like that are exactly why you need a certified lighting designer. — the certification though required me to take an awful test. I had to drive to Cleveland and then sit for a test that takes four hours to complete. The bulk of the test is based upon a handbook that is close to 6 inches thick, which I read in preparation.— all and all I would say that the experience was awful. However, I passed. And in passing it proved that I was capable for the job of designing lighting systems.
I hope that I don't have too many more tests like that. You can probably think of something that you've had to take, and often times for the advancement of our career we will have to take tests, even as adults. — but spiritually were tested too. And the spiritual tests aren't anything that we grow out of. — they prove us, to see what we're made of, to see where we need improvement.
Now I say all of this and introduction to the next hero of the faith that we are going to be looking at. And he is a repeat on this list. — in fact, everything about the next five messages are in someway repetitive of what we have read in five of the last six messages in Hebrews. So, we end up in a situation where we end the series I entitled ‘By Faith’ last week only to pick up this week with a new series entitled ‘By Faith (Again)’.
And so this morning as we look at Abraham’s test, I will begin again by starting with the first verse and Hebrews chapter 11 so that we don't lose context.
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
In other words
Faith is living as if the things hoped for are real.
as we have read form Cockerill’s commentary on Hebrews.
So with that in mind read with me as we look at Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Let’s Pray
Big Asks
Big Asks
Sacrificing Isaac is no doubt a big ask. — Abraham was an old man. A miracle was performed and his wife Sarah, herself and a woman was able to conceive this child. — We don’t have scripture for this, so take it with a grain of salt, but it is the Jewish tradition to believe that Isaac was an especially beloved child.
The ancient Jewish historian Josephus said of Isaac
Abraham greatly loved Isaac, as being his only begotten, and given to him at the borders of old age, by the favor of God. The child also endeared himself to his parents still more, by the exercise of every virtue, and adhering to his duty to his parents, and being zealous in the worship of God.
But even without the evidence it does make sense that Isaac was especially cherished by his parents. — I can imagine them doting on their son almost like grandparents — And God said, kill him.
It's tough when God asks us to sacrifice things that are very important to us. Isaac was very important to his father Abraham. Sarah was also very important to Abraham — and I will give you that the woman put up with a lot. She put up with her husband when he picked everything up to be a sojourner to a land that he couldn’t even name. She put up with him coming home bloody having circumcised himself. She put up with her husband claiming that she was a sister and almost having her given to some stranger to be his wife.— She was a woman of faith, but having her child killed by the hand of her husband most likely would have broken her.
When it’s our turn
When it’s our turn
But God asks big asks of us too. — Some of the things that we are asked as Christians we find very clearly ask in the Bible. — we are asked to forgive, even when forgiveness is difficult. We are asked to love even when others are unlovable. We are asked to gather, even when other things compete for our affections, or we have been hurt by those we have been told to gather with. And, we are asked to give, even when we don’t know how we can afford it. But most importantly we are asked to give our lives completely to Christ, to submit to his will rather than to our own.
Often the details of those things are a little messier than they seem on page when we are reading our Bible. It is one thing to agree that forgiveness is important, but it is something else entirely to have to forgive someone who is hurt you dearly. It is one thing to read that we are to love our enemies, but it's another thing entirely. It is one thing to say we have given our lives to Christ, but still another to maintain our faithfulness when we don’t know why God has let us be hurt by betrayal or tragedy.
Perspective
Perspective
Abraham had perspective. God asked a big ask but it was weighed against Gods promises and God’s power. Look at what our passage in Hebrews today says, in Chapter 11 v19
19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham believed God’s promise. Turn over to Genesis with me, we are going to look at a couple of passages there starting with Genesis 21:12
12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
There was a promise given to Abraham, that he would be the father of a great many, the patriarch of a nation. But look what it says here at the end of verse 12. This promise wouldn't be fulfilled by just any child, look what it says: “for in Isaac shall thy seed be called”
And so Abraham had to weigh this difficult ask from God against the promise he had from God. He was asked to kill Isaac but had to reconcile that with the truth that God said that it would be Isaac through whom the promise would be fulfilled. — Abraham certainly knew this characteristic of God we find stated in Titus 1:2 “God cannot lie”
Titus 1:2 (KJV 1900)
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
So how does Abraham reconcile this? He concludes that God will raise Isaac from the dead if Isaac is to be killed. — The author of Hebrews writes this but I want to show you something. Hopefully you are still in Genesis, because you are going to want to see this. Look at the next chapter, Chapter 22. If your Bible has titles at the top of the page or at the beginning of a chapter it might summarize chapter 22 like mine does in calling this chapter “The Sacrifice of Isaac”
It starts in vv1-2
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham is obedient. We don’t read where Abraham pleaded with God or tried to negotiate with God. What we read in the next verse is obedience:
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
But pay attention to exactly what Abraham says a couple of verses ahead at the end of v5
Genesis 22:5 (KJV 1900)
… I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
There is something that is implied in the language here: He didn’t say Isaac and I will go and I (singular) will come back. He said Isaac and I will go and 'we will come back.’ is implied here. — Abraham believed before he every climbed that mountain with Isaac that he would be coming back down the mountain with his son walking down with him.
Why? Because Abraham believed what God said back in chapter 21 “in Isaac shall thy seed be called”
Abraham was a man of faith — and that lines up exactly with what is the context of Hebrews 11?
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Abraham hoped for some things that were promised of God. And he acted faithfully — he lived in such a way that reflected that he believed that those promises from God were true, and his actions proved that, even to the point of being to slay his own son on an alter.
Kill Your Isaac
Kill Your Isaac
So what Isaac are you unwilling to kill? What are the things in your life where you know that God has given instruction -- but you haven’t been obedient?
See, all this stuff about Abraham and Isaac was a test. Look at what the angel says when he intervenes in Genesis 22:12
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Now I know. You have been tested and now I know — Know what? That thou fearest God.
Lost Fear
Lost Fear
The church has lost the fear of God
The late pastor Leonard Ravenhill said
Charles Wesley gave us that lovely children’s hymn “Gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon the little child, but you know, some people never get past “gentle Jesus” But Jesus is associated with fire.
In 1 Peter 1:17 we read
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
What this means, is that if you call upon the Father — If you are someone who believes in God and prays to God then you should spend your days on earth in fear of God. — What that means is that you are so afraid of God that when you are tempted to sin your understanding of God’s power and his punishment for sin stops you in your tracks. — This is the legacy that generations of easy believe-ism in this country has left us. People have been taught that becoming a Christian means that we no longer face any consequences for sin and it's not so. First, we will be judged:
2 Corinthians 5:11 says
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
That doesn’t mean you are going to hell, if you have given your life to Christ then you are saved from that fate. But we will have to give an account. — But, God corrects and disciplines us as well.
Hebrews 12:6 says
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
And you might say, well this seems extreme — What is this thing that God would need to be feared — Even by his followers?
Do you know why people buy fishing licenses? It’s not because it’s the law. It’s because if you are fishing and the game warden comes up and catches you fishing without a license, he is going to take your fishing poles and your tackle and he is going to fine you. — people fear the consequences, and the consequences for breaking the law remind good citizens to not get lax in following the law.
Passing the Test
Passing the Test
Abraham was put to the test. He brought his son to be sacrificed and it proved that he feared God. That is why he is in the faith hall of fame.
I hope this morning that you have a fear of God that will motivate you to faithfulness even when the sacrifices asked of you are great. — Now, please come talk to me first if you believe God is leading you to offer your first child on an alter, we probably have some things to discuss. — But in all seriousness, God does ask us to do some things that are difficult, some things that might require us to develop some discipline in our lives and it’s not necessarily going to be easy.
But here is what I know: Abraham feared God. When he was tested that fear was proved. And, God was able to bless him greatly because of his faithfulness.
Let’s Pray