01.20.2013 Abraham and Isaac - God Will Provide - Will You Trust Him?
21st January 2013
First two Worship Songs: (remainder are at the end of the sermon video):
SermonAudioPastor Mike is at a special service at The Rock, Cleveland.
The past several weeks Pastor Mike has been sharing the story of the life of Abraham. God made some amazing promises to Abraham – many years before he had any children, God promised that his descendants would be like the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore – and that through him all the nations on the earth would be blessed – yet he didn’t have any kids. Last week, Mike shared how Abraham and Sarah grew impatient with God – maybe justifiably so – Sarah was probably 77 years old – past childbearing - and did not believe that the promise would be fulfilled through their marriage – so Sarah gave Abraham her maid, Hagar, and Ishmael was born. Ishmael was not the Child of Promise. Fast forward 13 years –angels came to visit Abraham and Sarah, and had promised that Sarah would conceive in her old age (she was 90, and Abraham was nearly 100) – Sarah overheard the angels … Genesis 18: 12 And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' 14 "Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 Sarah denied it however, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh."
So Isaac is born – Isaac is referred to as the Son of Laughter and the Son of Promise. Last week Mike shared about the animosity between Sarah and Hagar, and so Hagar and Ishmael were sent away – and yet God made promises to Hagar as well, to make Ishmael a great nation as well, because he was Abraham’s offspring as well. Hagar was the first to give God a nickname – The God who Sees – and God provided for them. This demonstrated God’s great love for the lost and despised and outsider.
Mike has talked many times about the promises that God made to Abraham – Genesis 12: 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; (he was blessed to be a blessing) 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Another time, God says,
Genesis 15:5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
6Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
So Abraham’s faith – his belief in God and God’s promises – transforms him from unrighteous to righteous – or from a sinner to one made right with God. It is his faith in God and His promises that transforms him.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father – thank You for this opportunity to delve into Your Word. Lord, thank You for how You have spoken to me this week – now speak to each of our hearts – strengthen our faith – You are the God who sees – You are the God who provides – You are intimately familiar with all of our ways and yet You love us and call us Your children and made us Your own. Speak to our hearts – give us ears to hear – help us to be wise with all we hear today and faithful to all you call us to. In Jesus’ Name we pray.
22:1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham
Here the word tested does not mean tempt, like the devil would do – but more like TRY or to PROVE the value of something – in this case, Abraham’s faith… -
, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
How agonizing this must have been for Abraham! He finally receives the Son of Laughter – the child of promise, Isaac, the one through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed – and before Isaac has any offspring – It seems like a paradox – God makes all these promises – and then God asks for Abraham to offer him as a burnt offering – to sacrifice his own son. Nonetheless, Abraham obeyed quickly and set out first thing in the morning. God probably spoke to Abraham overnight in a dream. You have to wonder if he told Sarah what he was doing – and if she would have tried to talk him out of it.
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you."
Notice what Abraham says to the servants – we will worship and return to you…
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son (so Isaac has to climb the final hills with the wood on his back), and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
This word ‘provide’ is also the word for show/look/demonstrate – so this could be rendered – God will show Himself as the lamb for the burnt offering…
So the two of them walked on together. (what a grueling walk this must have been!) 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him;
Notice – it was a very specific place- (Mount Moriah) – we’ll come back to this place…
and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
You’ve got to be asking – how could Abraham do this – knowing that in Isaac is all of the fulfillment of the promise of God to make him a great nation – He is his future and his hope – and he is about to take the life of his son of laughter, the son of promise…
Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham believed that God would raise him from the dead – and in a manner of speaking he did receive him back from being as good as dead –
Abraham was the first to believe in the resurrection – the gospel was shown to Abraham 4000 years before Christ was born.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be called." 19 He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.
So Abraham is really the first to believe in the resurrection. Abraham believes that God will raise Isaac from the dead – because that is the only way that God could ask him to sacrifice his son and yet for the promises to still be fulfilled – regardless of what was done – he trusted God to come through.
Gen. 22: 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"
(You’ll notice – throughout the Bible – when the name is repeated, there is a sense of urgency – and this is probably one of the greatest ‘sense of urgencies’ there is!)
And he said, "Here I am." 12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked (the same word for provided, earlier), and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide –
or Jehovah Jireh – he was the second to give God a nickname - Jehovah Jireh – The Lord will Provide.
as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."
God provided.
This is, I believe one of the first instances of a substitutionary sacrifice – God provided a ram for the sacrifice – just like throughout the Old Testament, the priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the temple with a sacrificial lamb – a substitutionary sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. Hebrews (in the New Testament) tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And each of these things is a picture of what was to come in Christ – when the Ultimate Sacrifice would be offered – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
So Jehovah Jireh provided the sacrifice in the place He showed Abraham. Where was that place? This is one of those things that just gives me goosebumps…
22: 2 And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
God says – take your son – your only begotten son – the son whom you love…
Abraham gave his only son because he loved God.
This is such a picture of John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
…and go to the land of Moriah;
Moriah is only specifically mentioned one other time in the Bible:
2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah , where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Now – a little background story on David here (you can find this story in 1 Chronicles 21): He had done a grievous thing before God – he had taken a census – David in his pride, had numbered the people against the better advice of his prophet. So God gave David a choice of punishments (not often you get that!) – one was to fall into the hands of his enemies – another would be to fall into the hand of the Lord for a period of time. David would rather be under the hand of God – because he knew that God is merciful, rather than falling into the hands of his enemies. So God sent a plague across the land killing 70,000 Israelite elders – and David prayed to the Lord – and the destruction stopped at the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah) the Jebusite. So David offered sacrifices and worshiped God there.
So this very specific place where Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son is the exact place where the hand of the Lord stopped and David offered sacrifices, and the temple sacrifices were performed throughout the Old Testament and is the exact place where Jesus begins his journey of sacrifice. Like Isaac climbing the hill with the wood for the sacrifice, Jesus carried his cross – and Jesus was sacrificed at this same place. So God has provided a lamb for Abraham – but He has also provided the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world for us – on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem – and by God effectively raising Isaac from the dead, he provided the bloodline from which he would give his Son Jesus – whose ULTIMATE SACRIFICE would pave the way for the whole world to be blessed – fulfilling the promise that God had made to Abraham – “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
So again – Abraham is the first to believe in the resurrection – in effect – He is justified by his faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ -
Paul writes of this in the New Testament: Galatians 3: 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you." 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. – And by that faith, Isaac was spared, and became the great great to the 26th or something grandfather of Jesus.
Jesus himself says:
56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
Abraham was justified by faith in Jesus- so we are justified by faith in Jesus.
Listen to God’s response to Abraham:
15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is (mmm – sandwich… sorry I got a little distracted there!) on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
God is omniscient. He knew Abraham’s faith and that Abraham loved God and would not withhold his only son from God – so why did he put him through that exercise, why does he test/prove him? I believe it was a demonstration to us. Notice that the last line doesn’t say – because you have believed my voice – but because you have obeyed. So faith requires obedience.
And here is the principle I have for you: Genuine Faith and Obedience result in blessing. And result in fruit. And my prayer for you is that this would be your most fruitful year ever. We are launching a campaign – throughout all of the Great Commission Churches – the association to which we belong - called JUST SOW IT – Raise the flag – let someone know that you are a believer. Let someone know that God has provided – Jehovah Jireh – the Provider has provided for their greatest need – their greatest need is to come to know Jesus Christ.
Let me ask this in two ways:
First - Is there anything you are withholding from God? Anything you are trying to hold on to – or keep from God? You know that is impossible, right?
Luke 8:18 "Therefore take care how you listen; for whoever has , to him shall more be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him."
There is nothing we can keep from God.
When Melissa and I were in a Christian singing group in high school, the director would often talk about having an open-hand policy with God – offering up anything that might keep us from Him or that we might hold too closely. As a couple, we had a great foundation in that group – we always tried to keep Christ first in our relationship. I know, when she went off to Bowling Green and I went to Akron, we offered each other up to the Lord and trusted the other to Him.
It may be a bit out of context – but we would claim 2 Tim. 1: 12b for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
So, is there anything you need to offer God with an open palm?
Genuine faith and obedience result in a blessing.
Second: What are you believing God for? What are you facing, that can only happen or be fixed if God intervenes? Give it to God. Offer it up to Him with an open palm. How do you give it to God? By claiming His promises. He is Jehovah Jireh – The God who Provides!
As Melissa and I were talking about this – she mentioned – I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t claim specific Bible verses and memorize them to trust God.
Maybe your course schedule this semester is overwhelming… give it to God. Trust Him with it.
Melissa’s study verse was 2 Cor. 9:8 – 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
Mine was Jer. 33:3 - 3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' (wait for laughter, but not too long!)
Actually, my study verse was Isaiah 30:15b In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.
Maybe you are considering a big move or a new job or need a job – give it to God. Trust Him with it. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Provider.
Phil. 4: 19 And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Maybe you struggle with a secret or not so secret sin – you can’t get victory in your own strength – give it to God. Trust Him with it. He is Jehovah Jireh.
1 Cor. 10: 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.
Maybe you are concerned for the children God has given you – give them to God – trust Him with them.
Psalm 127: 3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.
You might say – God, you have given me these children and I’ve got to trust You with them!
Maybe you have a problem at work that you are having trouble solving. Give it to God – trust Him with it – one of my favorite verses is from Jeremiah 32: 17 `Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
In some ways, this comes down to seeking the Lord – seeking His Word, studying His word – being a people of faith and obedience. Memorize these promises – they can help you out of difficult situations. We’ve already done sermons on seeking God’s will for our lives –I’ll point to one online – God reveals His will through circumstances and counsel and prayer – but the primary way He reveals his will is through His Word.
So seek His will and claim His promises. Memorize His promises to you.
Another verse I claimed was just overnight. God has been placing much of this message – and He has been placing YOU on my heart this week. I woke up a little too early this morning – like 4 am – I remembered
Psalm 127:2b – God gives to His beloved even in his sleep
And in some ways – that is what God has been doing this week – giving me this message early in the morning. But there is also another way it can be rendered:
God gives sleep to His beloved – so I claimed that verse and went back to sleep and it was all good!
Two things have been reverberating in my head all week – one is the song we are about to sing – called Promises – Sally mentioned a new radio station – Air1 – 102.5 – and I heard this song and said – this is this message! – the other is this phrase – How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? So I looked to see where that is from -
Romans 8: 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. …
That is not a blanket phrase – all things work for good – but all things work together for good to those who love God –so work on your love for Him – and his calling – what is that – that the whole world would know what He has provided for us in Jesus.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? …
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So again – trust the Lord, He will provide, claim His promises, let’s pray!
Father, thank You again for Your Word – thank You for speaking to us this week. Thank You for these songs of worship we are about to sing – may we offer ourselves first to You and to trust You as Jehovah Jireh – our Provider. Help us to remember, this week, the promises that You have given, I pray that we would be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit – that there is no way we can do these things apart from You working in us. So we ask for Your help- because we can’t do it on our own – so we pray all of these things by the power of Your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Seeking God’s will in Decision Making: