Main idea:
Our faith grows when it is tested. Obedience flows from the heart, not as a forced action of self control but as a genuine trust in God and his promises as safer and better than anything else we face in life.

Outline:
Real faith must always be put to the test
Real faith is fueled by a rock hard confidence in the Lord
Real faith always culminates in the transformational power of obedience
Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper faithfulness, power and intimacy with God
Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper strength and glory in your own faith
Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper life of blessing in the Lord
Application:
Is God worthy of my trust? What kind of God is this? What are the promises he makes? What is he up to in the world?
Do you consider a life of know God and living for his redeeming purposes more safe and satisfying than anything else?
Are you trying to obey God out of basic force and self-control? Or are you learning to walk in obedience because you are allowing his faithfulness and promises to change your heart?
Key concepts:
the relationship between faith and obedience
the faithfulness of God
the transforming power of obedience
the necessity of trails
Scripture Passages:
Genesis 22:1-19
Hebrews 11:17-19
1 Peter 1:6-9
Romans 8:32
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"God whyyyyy???"
Why would you let this happen?
Why would you ask this of me?
Why is this happening to ME?
Why not someone else?

Things that are very difficult and don't make sense to us - these are the things that cause us to struggle and stumble in our faith more than anything else.

These moments of question can range from the spilled coffee in the morning, to the flat tire on the way to work, to the painful family situation, to the crippling illness, to the emotions of depression or anxiety that might plague us...

These are things that cause us to question God.

Real faith must have real and honest answers to those struggles. One of the deepest purposes in our struggles is that it is in our acts of obediences in the midst of our struggles that we find some of our most important moments of change and growth.

This is one of the big lessons we want to see today.
WE have come to the final chapter of our journey with Abraham though this summer season.

and what a journey it has been.

At its essence it is a journey of honest faith in God in the midst of fears and uncertainties. It is a journey of learning to trust in God in the midst of our own sin, our doubts and our own self deception.

And we have watched Abraham grow. From a timid man who easily forgets God. To a man who clings to God's promises, but then has many questions and doubts - to a man who is willing to follow God in obedience in very difficult situations.
Today we join him on the final leg of the journey.

Today we see how his faith flowers into a rock hard certainty in the midst of the most unthinkable pressure.
Real faith must always be put to the test
"1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

We know its a test. Abraham does not. But the story is set up to show us how faith works from the very start.

Real faith must always be put to the test.

And the test here involves an unthinkable request.

This son that you have waited for for so so long. This son on whom all your hope is pinned.
Bring him to me as a sacrifice.
WHAT???

this text is a popular spot for Bible critics to camp out and say things like:
What kind of God is this? Is he some bully that asks us to do such unthinkable things? Some go futher to say that this is divine child abuse.

Honest question though -
Why in the world would God make such a request of Abraham, especially when we KNOW that the Bible clearly condemns child sacrifice - Lev. 18:21; 20:2–5; Deut. 12:31
God is not just making a totally random, self contradictory demand to mess with Abraham.

this request makes a lot more sense when we consider the full story.

First of all - from the very start Moses tells us that this is a test. So as the audience we know that God is not intending for Isaac to be sacrificed.

Second of all, the way that God calls Abraham here is directly parallel to the way God calls him in chapter 12

there is very direct verbal parallel that Moses employs here
"take...go... to the land that I will show you..."

In other words, there is a very clear indication to Abraham that this request is directly connected to the bigger plan of God - the whole journey that God called him to, the whole plan for God to bless all the world through the life of Abraham.

What is the connection here to God's promises and blessings? This command doesn't make sense? - that is yet to be seen. But its not just a random thing.

God is calling Abraham in a very intentional way that is letting him know that this is part of the bigger plan of promise that he has been working from the start.

Third, we see here that the way that God is approaching him is in delicate care and sensitivity. Notice the language:

“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love,..and offer him.."
the hebrew here uses a unique word that is not a cold command but a plea - some translations say, "please take your son...."

You son "isaac" - the beloved one - the one through whom the promses and blessings will be traced - that one that I promised to you...

this gets to the heart of the request - it is the request of the most precious thing that Abraham has. The thing that all his hopes are pinned on - his son of promise.

This text is not as much a text about child sacrifice as it is about the surrender of that which is hold most precious and dear.

the things that we pin our deepest hopes on.
this is precisely what makes our tests and our trails so difficult right?
The things we love, the things we hold dear - are being threatened, are being taken from us.

This why we struggle with the question "Why GoD????"
If God is all powerful and he is truly in control and he is truly good, WHY is he letting this happen to ME right now??

Is this some sort of cruel trick? You up there, perfectly holy and powerful and good, me down here, suffering in the dirt?

Real faith must have honest answers for those honest moments of trial and testing that we all face.

We are all facing tests today, in different degrees.
A challenge at work
a temptation with sin
a very difficult relationship
the ongoing weight of life that wears us down sometimes...
We will unpack the answer here for ourselves as we walk with Abraham here on this terrible journey.
But the first part of the answer is -
God never sends anything random into our lives - all suffering, all challenges, all temptations - all tests are deeply connected to his purposes of promise and blessing in our lives.
God is not indifferent to our suffering. He is sensitive to the pain. And in Jesus, we also know that God is never asking you to face a challenge or a struggle that he himself hasn't faced.
No this is not a cruel trick.
Real faith is fueled by a rock hard confidence in the Lord
How did Abraham respond?
"3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about."
"4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together."

Its interesting to see how Abraham responds here.

In the previous chapters there was a lot more doubt and questioning. There was a lot more hesitation.

Here, Abraham acts. He responds to the Lord without comment.
There is a firmness, a boldness, a confidence here that we did not see in the previous chapters.

God is asking him to do something unthinkably difficult.
Think about that three day hike. The most tortuous trip of his whole life. How many times was everything in him screaming to go back?

Notice the amount of detail Moses includes in the story telling here:
"6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together."

And yet he is still responding here in full and firm obedience.
This is something that we just marvel at.

What drives this kind of obedience? What drives this kind of faith??

We see clearly into the heart of Abraham in the conversation that was inevitably going to take place sooner or later....

"7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”
And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”
Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”"

He is not being dishonest here.

He is just saying the ONE thing he is confident of in this terrible moment, the one thing that is driving him: the Lord will provide. God is in this. God is faithful. God knows what he is doing.

Abraham's faith and obedience was driven by what he KNEW for certain about God.
What did he know?
God is faithful to his promises.
God promised that Sarah, out of the deadness of her womb, would have a child.
God promised that it is through ISAAC that the blessing would be traced.
God is asking him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice.
Therefore - God will do something to bring Isaac back, to give him life once again.
We see the hint of this confidence when he tells the servants "WE" will go to the mountain to worship and "WE" will return again.

Even though he is being asked to do the unthinkable, Abraham knew that because God is faithful, God will do something crazy, something miraculous - and his confidence in God carried along - drove his obedience.

This raises up a very common question we struggle with - what is the relationship between my faith and my obedience?

Does trusting God mean I don't do anything? If I am working and trying to hard to obey God, does that mean that I am not resting in faith, that I am trying to do it all myself?

Our daily battle is who we trust more: do we trust God and his Word? Or do we trust ourselves, our assessment of the situation, our strength and ability?

Example: I am in a situation at work where I am pressured to be dishonest about something, to compromise what I know to be wrong.
I am either trusting in my own ability to preserve my well being, my job, my relationships - by doing this thing.
Or I am trusting in God's faithfulness and I am doing something that other people don't like, and maybe even loose my job.
Abraham is in a battle between trusting his own logic and his feelings for his son and God who is calling him to do something that doesn't make sense in that moment.
We always choose the path that we truly believe to be the safest and most secure path.

We always do that which we believe will lead to our happiness and blessing.
Sometimes that means to take an active role - like obeying the pressure of your coworkers and doing something you know is wrong - but you are doing it because you believe this is the safest way - the most confident way to preserve your own happiness.

Sometimes that means we take a passive role - like sitting quiet and not speaking up in a situation where something is clearly wrong. In this situation, the safest path is to stay quiet and not rock the boat.

Our obedience in every situation is ALWAYS the result of whoever or whatever we think is the most reliable and faithful promise: me/my strength/my thinking OR God and his word.

Notice the critical link between faith and obedience - obedience to God is never just a matter of sheer self control. its not just FORCING yourself to do something.

Abraham did something unthinkably hard here - but he did it because he was confident that it is safer to follow God into this storm, than to stay safely at home.

Hebrews 11:17-19

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, 'Your offspring will be traced through Isaac.' 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead...

"From Abraham the harrowing demand evokes only love and faith, certain as he is that the 'foolishness of God' is unexplored wisdom" Derek Kidner

Where do you consider to be the safest and most blessed place in life? In the midst of fiery trails and difficulty with the God of promise? Or living a life of comfort, prosperity - having EVERYTHING you wanted, yet without God's presence, purposes and kingdom?

So many christians today think they can have Jesus, while they live lives that, for the most part, have NOTHING to do with Jesus kingdom and his purposes for the world.
Our own reactions generally revolve around the concept of our own safety and security.

Obedience to God involves risk to self for the sake of advancing HIS purposes.
We either spend our energy building our own security and joy OR we spend our energy advancing God's purposes, seeking to be faithful to him, at the risk of our own, and trusting him to protect and provide for our needs.

Real faith ALWAYS calls us into a life of active participation in God and his purposes in the world.

That's why James says, "faith without works is a dead faith" its a fake.
Note - you will never consider God and his promises more appealing than your own thinking if you don't know much about God or his promises and plans for the world.
Real faith always culminates in the transformational power of obedience
9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He replied, “Here I am.”
12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

Verses 9-10 slow down dramatically recording every single move - its like a scene in slow motion.

It is here that we see that Abraham was not messing around.
He isn't even stalling.

He is moving slowly through the process - but he is not planning for some escape.
When I was a kid one of the great challenges was to go down the big scary slide at the birch bay waterslides, or to jump the cliff at whatcom falls park.

You go up there and you look down and you get the fluttery feeling of anxiety in your stomach as you imagine all the different ways that this could go wrong.

(side note - you should not jump the cliffs at whatcom falls park. its dangerous and ppl die there)

The sheer terror of the height. the discomfort.
And then you take the leap. And there is that terrible moment when you know there is no return. This is it. Heaven or hell here I come.

That moment is almost like slow motion.
The way Moses tells us this story he is emphasizing the totality of Abrahams courage.
Abraham is tying up his own beloved son, he is looking him in the eyes. He stands up there on that cliff.

And he takes the leap.
How close did this get? It got as close as it possibly could have without actually killing Isaac.

He took the knife, he clenched it - maybe he swung it, maybe he already sent that command from his brain cells to his arms to bring it down on him - he took that full leap on the cliff -

and in that moment God called out to him. "STOP!!!"

"don't lay a hand on the boy."
"For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

Abraham didn't actually end up sacrificing Isaac, but in another sense he compeltely did do it.

"you have not withheld" - you did it. You gave up that which is most precious to you. You took the leap in to the dark - you did it because you were so confident that I would catch you.

"Now I know...."

What is the power of obedience? What is the significance of the tests that we endure?

They aren't JUST tests. They are moments of transformation.
They are moments of revelation - both of OUR new selves and a deepening of our communion, love and relationship with our God.

A group of soldiers going off to war can say to each other, "Lets go fight the enemy, I know you guys are strong and courageous and good."

And then they go to war together. And they come back, bruised and bloodied and hardened. And now they REALLY know.

"Now I know"
Did God not know that Abraham would do it?
It's not that kind of knowledge. This is the knowledge of lived experience. this is a knowledge that is completely transformational.

Walking through the tests of our daily lives in courageous obedience and trust in God changes us.

workout example
Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper faithfulness, power and intimacy with God
It is only when we take that leap into the dark and he catches that we REALLY know that he is true.

"Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper strength and glory in your own faith
"For now I know that you fear God..."
Imagine hearing that commendation from God himself.
As the old man is standing there, feeling more weak and old than ever, maybe his hand is still shaking after dropping the knife to the ground.

Obedience to the Lord also reveals ourselves. It changes us, it deepens our faith. It deepens our wisdom.

1 Peter 1:6-9
6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

He was a different man walking down that mountain.
His faith was not just theoretical anymore. It was tested and realized.
Faithful obedience leads you to discover a deeper life of blessing in the Lord
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies. 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

It is after this event that God confirms his promises in a deeper way than ever before.
do we earn blessing in our obedience?

yes and no. your obedience takes you to deeper levels of intimacy and power in God.
But it's not transactional. The reason you receive the blessings is not because you have strictly speaking "earned it".

Rather, it is because you have received and trusted in the presence and person of the Lord, and that covenant relationship of love and dependence is changing you and taking you to the places he is working.

Your life is becoming enmeshed in the power of his kingdom as you come to a deeper knowledge and love of him.

1 Peter 1:6-9
6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

what do we find at the other end of our faithful obedience to the Lord?

Peter says, your life and your faith is transformed.

You come out of it with a much firmer and clearer grasp on God and his blessings.
No, God does not send tests to us as a cruel trick.

He sends them as pathways that we can be stretched and challenged - pathways that we follow him into deeper knowledge of him and his ways in the world.

Our trails make us as the ultimate question:
Is God worthy of my trust? What kind of God is this? What are the promises he makes? What is he up to in the world?
God tested Abraham because he knew he would pass. Because he knew that this would transform his faith.
Do you consider a life of know God and living for his redeeming purposes more safe and satisfying than anything else?
The only way we answer that question is that we run through the stories of Scripture. We walk the trails with Abraham, Moses, David - we climb the hill again to the cross.
Is this God worthy of my trust? Is life with him better than anything else?

this is the God who himself climbed the mountain for you. this is the God who actually gave his only beloved Son for you. so that you can be forgiven of sin and made new.
We follow the trail to the empty tomb.

We remember that this is the God who is busy at work, unleashing resurrection power all over the world. Even today, he is at work fulfilling the promises he made to Abraham - blessing and life to all the nations.

Romans 8:32
"32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?"
Are you trying to obey God out of basic force and self control? Or are you learning to walk in obedience because you are allowing his faithfulness and promises to change your heart?