Faithful Obedience in Times of Testing

God’s People Are Tested Through Hard Trials

An idea has infiltrated the church and that is the idea that the Christian life can be one without trial. That it can be an easy life. Maybe you've heard or read the slogan before that God has a wonderful plan for your life.

But what if that so called wonderful plan involves some serious challenges for you? When that wonderful plan for your life tests your faith? When it pushes your obedience and your trust to its absolute limit?

What then? What if your world all of a sudden begins to crash around you and this comfortable little bubble that you've been in bursts? I've no doubt that has happened to some of you already and I'm sure it will happen to more of you.

What are you going to do? How are you going to respond to this and why are you going to respond in the way you are going to respond? I want to show you an example and give you an encouragement to that very end from the story of the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22.

In this narrative Abraham, the great patriarch, faces the hardest test of his life when he's asked to give up his only son. His obedience and his trust in God and his promises are severely tested. And as we look at this I want us to consider this test.

I want to look at what this test is. I want to look at the response that Abraham has. I want to consider the basis for his response. And then lastly I want us to take a hold of the certainty of God's promises in our help to respond.

And I want to do this under four very simple headings. First we'll look at the test in verses 1 and 2. Then we'll look at the response in verses 3 through 8. Thirdly the sacrifice in verses 19 and 14.

And then at the end the certainty of God's promises in verses 15 through 19. And so if you would read with me verses 1 and 2. After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And he said, here I am.

He said, take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I should tell you. Last week we looked at Sarah having conceived and bearing Abraham a son.

A son named Isaac who was the very son that God of course had promised to them. The one through whom Abraham's offspring was to be named. And with his arrival we saw that the other son that had been conceived according to the flesh and not according to the promise, the son Ishmael born by Hagar had been cast out.

Well a few years have passed since then and after these things the next event now that Moses records for us here is the testing of Abraham by God. And think about this. Decades after having been called out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans to leave his father's house, enter a strange new land inhabited by other nations more powerful and greater than him.

Going through the famine that made him decide to go to Egypt. Having to rescue Lot from his captors with only 318 men. After having to wait on the Lord to fulfill his promise of finally granting him a son.

After all that the patriarch now faces the final and greatest test, a most painful test, to put him to death. A test that will make everything else he has experienced appear as nothing. And verse 2 tells us so plainly.

It could not be clearer people. Take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

What a command! What a heart-rending command for Abraham to hear. Every word as it came to him driving a knife deeper and deeper into his heart. He used to take his son. Not only his son but his only son.

It's not simply his only son. It is the one whom he loves. Surely it'd be more bearable for Abraham to have his chest cut open and his heart ripped out than to hear these words. The son whom he loves is the only child that Abraham and Sarah will ever have together.

The one that waited for for 15 years between the promise of the birth to the birth. The one that was brought forth from a lifeless womb of a 90 year old woman that had been opened up by the mighty hand of God himself.

That son, his precious beloved son, that one is to be taken and to be offered up. Could it not have been one of the livestock? Abraham had enough of them. Surely he would have offered 10, 20, however many you take.

What about all his silver and gold? Would he not have given all of it if it was required? Would a father not rather take the place of his son? Even be killed by his own son if it meant his son could live.

Yet it was supposed to be Isaac. It's no doubt add to this hardship. Notice that it's the father himself that has to act as the executioner. It's not like Job's trial when his children were crushed by the house.

They were sitting and no, here the boy must die by the hand of his own father. He's not taken from him, he's given by him. To be given as a burnt offering to God. The word comes from the Hebrew. It means to go up, to ascend.

As the offering goes up, literally goes up in smoke as a pleasing aroma to God. That what's burned on the altar is holy, fully, all of it given to the Lord. The whole offering was burned. The burnt offering took it all.

There was nothing kept back for the one who offered it. It belonged all to God. That's what's happening here. Abraham is tested by having to surrender to God the most precious thing that he has. It's a test, a trying, a proving of his obedience and trust at the highest cost.

Is he going to submit himself and his will to God in obedience to him even when this command seems so inexplicable and difficult? I wanted you to understand this perhaps first thing. You see God sometimes tests in various ways those who profess his name, even the righteous.

We read this in the New Testament. James speaks about this, Peter speaks about this, and Abraham was declared righteous before this event, a long time before this event. Sometimes you will be tested for the genuineness of your faith and you better believe that when God tests a man, that he strikes at the heart of the matter and he takes aim at what is often most dear to us.

It's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult. It's going to hurt. But if it were easy, it wouldn't be much of a test now, would it? Faith, obedience, and trust is not proven and tried when you're asked to give to him the things that you do not hold dear.

The things that are not close to your heart. No, faith is seen. Faith is tested. Faith grows when he asks for the things that we love, when we hold nothing back from him, when we give it all to him no matter how much it might mean to us.

Strong faith does not come from an easy life, brothers and sisters. Strong faith comes through difficult trials. When you're brought low, if you were to ask somebody that you think is strong and faith, they will tell you they have gone through severe testing and trial.

Don't be surprised if you ask and you pray for your faith and your trust and your obedience to increase if you meet hardship. But how are you going to respond? How are you going to respond when he asks for that which is most precious to you?

You see, when God calls a man, he doesn't call half the man. He calls the whole man and the one called will renounce all in submission and obedience to God. Is that going to be your response? That's what Abraham is asked to do here.

The Cost of Discipleship and Loving Christ Above All

To love God more even than his own son. Please understand that if you claim to be walking with God, you have to be prepared to part with the things you love most when he calls you to it. You must love him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

I mean, has not Christ in the Gospels expressed a similar idea? In Luke, for example, he says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

He's not asking you to violate the fifth commandment and dishonor your parents. But your love for him must far exceed the love that you have for your family. So much so that in comparison to your love to him, it seems if you hated them.

In Matthew, he adds to this that those who love their fathers and mothers, sons and daughters more than him are not worthy of him. These are hard words. Thomas Watson writes, if our dearest relations stand in our way and would keep us from Christ, either we must step over them or know them not.

Though some drops of love may run beside to our kindred and friends, yet the full torrent must run out after Christ. Relations may lie in the bosom, but Christ must lie in the heart. Jesus goes on on this theme.

He says, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it.

Some of you have to ask yourselves if you have really counted the cost of what it means to walk with God, of being a disciple of Christ. Did you love him to such a degree that you're willing to part with that which is most dear to you, should he call you to it.

You see, Christ has been for far too long offered to us at such a low cost. It's as if he's down on the discount shelf in some store that we can pick up at our own leisure. So we've gotten this idea and we have to get this out of our minds and of our hearts that it doesn't cost us anything to love God and to obey him and to worship him in spirit and in truth.

It'll cost us everything when he calls you to be ready to part with it. It'll cost you your family and friends when they mock you, when you're mistreated by them for believing, but they don't. It'll cost you your reputation when you won't end into sin with others.

It'll cost you when you're the only one speaking out for righteousness. It'll cost you when you're being labeled crazy and extreme and intolerant and a bigot. If walking with God has not cost you anything ever in your life, please examine yourself.

Abraham’s Immediate Obedience and Confidence in God’s Promises

I want to look at how this test unfolds. Abraham is put to this test, this most difficult test, the hardest ask that has ever been asked of him. And so how does he respond to this trial? Does he submit himself?

Well, we see this in verses three through eight. And the response, so Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burned offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father?

He said, here I am my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together.

Abraham's response is one of obedience. And what an obedience it is. There's no mention of any sort of arguing. There's no mention of any doubt. He'd done this in the past, hadn't he? He complained that he had remained childless when he received the promise.

That Eliezer was his only heir. He even questioned the promise itself of an heir and asked for Ishmael to fill that role. But nothing of the sort occurs here. He doesn't even really hesitate. He rises early in the morning and I can't help to think of Lot in contrast, who lingered in Sodom when his own life was in danger.

And then we have here now a man who is supposed to take the life of his son and without hesitation, without lingering, without having to be told twice, without having to be taken by the hand, he wastes no time.

He rises early, gathers a couple of his young men, wakes the boy, cuts the very wood that is to burn up his child and heads to the place he's called to. That is a ready obedience. He responds to the word with immediate obedience.

That doesn't mean it wasn't hard for him. It doesn't mean his heart wasn't torn. But what he's done is submit himself in all things to his God. He's saying, not my will but yours be done. One preacher said this long ago, let Isaac be dear but let Isaac die sooner than God be distrusted.

A man of faith responds with obedience by willingly submitting and offering to God that which they love most. But Abraham's obedience is not a blind obedience. Look at verse 5. Before he goes up on the mountain with Isaac, he says this to the young men, stay here with the donkey.

I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. He's saying Isaac and I will come back. There's no mistaking it. This in the first person plural, even in the Hebrew. He says we're going up on that mountain but we will worship God and then we will come back to you.

How in the world can the old man say that? What he done was base his obedience on the promise of God. He actually believed what had been promised to him regarding the boy. He believed that through Isaac his offspring would be named and he had the confidence that the one who called for the offering would provide for the offering.

You see this in verse 7 as the two set up to go up on the mountain. Isaac asks him where the lamb for the offering is. Abraham says here I am my son. He said behold the fire and the wood but where's the lamb for offering?

Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. So they both went to them. So the both of them together. His obedience is based on his confidence in the provision of the Lord.

Commentators acknowledged that there's some difficulty here with Abraham's answer when he says God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. The grammar there allows it to be read in a way that he's saying to Isaac the offering the Lord will provide is you my son.

But it can also be read as this foreshadowing in the sense that Abraham knows that the Lord will indeed provide an actual lamb. The problem is that when they get to the mountain he doesn't look for a lamb.

Additionally Hebrews tells us that Abraham considered Isaac as dead. So which is it? I'm not sure that trying to discern the mind of Abraham here is necessarily what we're supposed to do. I think within the greater context of the passage the emphasis here must now be on God's working and Abraham's believe in God's working.

What do I mean? I mean that Abraham is putting the responsibility of providing the lamb on God. He's certain that he and Isaac will return to the two young men at the bottom of that mountain and he's certain that through Isaac his offspring will be named.

Does that mean he knows exactly how these things will work out? I don't think so. But he knows and he believes the promises of God and he leaves the outworking of them to God. So he's fully obedient and he's ready to offer his son as the Lord had asked him while also being fully convinced that Isaac will live and that the Lord will work it out.

That's what Hebrews 11 17 through 19 says, by faith Abraham when he was testered offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back. Even if Isaac were to act as the lamb in this instance Abraham was fully convinced that God was able to raise him from the dead once again.

If it's not too hard for God to open the womb of a 90 year old woman he can certainly raise a boy from the dead or provide an actual lamb to take the place of that boy. Whether Abraham knew it or not that's exactly what the Lord will do.

He will provide a substitute. I think John Trapp's comments on faith applies here well to Abraham. He says it is the nature of faith to believe God upon his bare word. It will not be says sense. It cannot be says reason.

It both can and will be says faith for I have a promise for it. And that's exactly our struggle is it not. We don't always know how these things will work out. We don't know how they will unfold in our lives.

We have to realize that we do not know everything and that we cannot do everything yet we desire to. We want to be omnipotent. We want to be in control of everything that happens to us. We want to be omniscient having the answers to all our problems.

Well let me tell you can't have that and you won't have it. There will be times in your life when you are at your utter end where he lays you so low and when things drive you to despair and you don't know the end of a matter.

When you don't know how every little detail will be resolved you leave the events to God. By faith you can trust and obey to fulfill for God obey God to fulfill and be faithful to the promise he made.

He's actually all knowing. He's actually all powerful and he can do things you cannot even think up and comprehend. He knows the beginning and the end of a matter before it even comes to you. You don't have to be him and you don't have to try to grab hold of his attributes that he doesn't share with you.

Let him in his good providence provide while you trust and obey holding fast to his word. That's what Abraham did. Faces a dreadful test having to offer up his beloved son but he responds to that test with ready obedience a full confidence and the promises of God that were made to him.

The Ram as Isaac’s Substitute and the Provision of Christ

But the command was still to be carried out fully wasn't it? And so that scene unfolds in verses 9 through 14 and the sacrifice. When they came to the place of which God had told him Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here I am. He said do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son your only son from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide as it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

To have made it to the top of this dreaded mountain. No time's wasted once again Abraham builds this altar, places the wood, takes the rope to bind his boy. Just imagine please for a moment if you could not to be a go beyond the scriptures in these things but imagine the pain.

Yes he believed God but it was not easy for him. It does not mean that he was emotionless as verse 2 had said this is his son his only son the one whom he loved. Yet there he is building an altar not to give one of his livestock, not to give ten or twenty or even a hundred, not to give a tenth of everything or even to burn up all his silver and gold, not even to give one of his servants, no but to give that which he had waited for for so long, that which he was promised, to give that which is most dear to him.

And then he takes the wood, the wood he placed on his son to carry up on the mountain, takes it off of him. Not as a father would to relieve his son of carrying the burden, no but to place it on this table as the very fuel that would consume the boy.

And if that wasn't enough he grabs a rope, he gets close to his beloved son not to embrace him or even tie up a lamb together for the offering but to bind his child. And then he lays him, maybe picks him up as he had so many times before as a father lifts up a son only to lay him then on top of the wood.

And that's still not the end of the matter. He's also to be the one to deliver the final blow to take the life of the boy. And so what does he do? He reaches for this instrument of death. He wraps his hand around the knife and raises it ready to drive it into Isaac to slaughter him.

And then all of a sudden a voice from heaven, Abram, Abram. And surely these were the sweetest words the man has ever heard. Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God.

Seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. The sacrifice was complete. The offering done. How so? Though not outwardly in the actual death of Isaac, it's been completed in the heart of Abraham.

He'd been obedient to the point where he would have killed his son. He considered him dead already. And so the old man has proven his obedience. He's passed the test. He's proven that he fears God. That he is obedient to him.

That he trusts him. That he loves him more than his son. That he submitted to God. To his will. That he honors him. That he does not withhold from him that which he holds dear. That he believes the promise of God and loves God above all else.

Abram's faith has become visible. But we can't stop there. There's something much greater here. We could go on about Abraham's faith and what that was and turn him into some example. But we can't do that.

I can't do that. There's a truth we cannot miss in these verses. You see the sacrifice of Isaac here wasn't the only sacrifice that occurred. Did you notice that? Look at verse 13 and 14 again. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked.

And behold behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide.

As it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. He's not to lay a hand on the boy. But an offering still needs to be offered up. What Abraham said to his son in verse 8 that the Lord would provide has happened.

The Lord did provide. He provided at the right time in the right place. And that lamb is offered up instead. It serves as a substitute for the boy. And the Lord was always going to provide. How so? Moriah, the land he was called to go to.

The land that that mountain was in. It comes actually from two Hebrew words. One means to see or to provide. And the other one is a contracted assorted form of Yahweh, the name of God. In other words, Abraham was sent to the land of Moriah.

He was sent if we translate it literally to the land where God provides. The same word used in verse 8. It's the same word when he tells Isaac that the Lord will provide. And it occurs again twice in verse 14 when Abraham calls the place the Lord will provide.

And then in Moses comment when he said to this day on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. You see ultimately Abraham going to Moriah to offer up his son was about the Lord's provision. For Abraham yes it was a test of faith.

And we have to respond to the tests of faith with obedience and trust. But we do so because of the Lord's provision just as Abraham had done. What's interesting is that in the Hebrew, in verse 14, the providing.

They're both in the imperfect. That means it's an action that is still unfolding. That is not complete yet. It's in the future. It's not fully realized. You see Abraham knows and Moses knows. They see that there's still a greater provision to come.

Yes the Lord has provided on that mount but there's still more to come. Abraham looked forward to it. Moses looked forward to it. And the lamb here in Genesis 2, the whole episode points us to that. The burnt offering and the viticus.

One we're told later that it is a means to be made acceptable before God. To make atonement for that person. The problem is we all know that bulls or the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away the sins.

They had to be offered over and over again. Day after day, year after year, thousands upon thousands. They could not deal with sin with any form of formality. So there had to be a provision still to come that could.

There had to be a lamb that could. A lamb that could serve as a definitive substitute for the sinner. There was still a provision to be made by God for atonement. He has made that provision. Dear Christian, remember what John calls Jesus in John chapter 1.

The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let me tell you about the Lamb of God. He's the lamb that was led to the slaughter. He's the lamb without blemish or spot. He's the lamb that had all the sins of his people laid on him.

The lamb that was pierced for your transgressions. He was the lamb that was crushed for your iniquities. That lamb that bore the punishment that brought you peace. The lamb by whose wounds you are healed.

But there's more than that still. He wasn't just a lamb that took your place. He was a son. He was a son given as an offering. You see that everything God asks here of Abraham in Genesis 22, right? Everything he's asked God himself has done to his son.

To his only son. To the son whom he loved, his begotten son. To the son in whom he delighted. The son he was well pleased with. He took him and he gave him as a provision. The one he'd known and loved eternally.

And you know what he did? He took him outside the gates of the city on this hill. And there on that hill he was bound. And it was there that the father having placed his own son stretched out on a cursed tree.

That he took the knife as it were ready to drive it into his only dearly beloved son. Only this time unlike Genesis there was no voice from heaven. No voice cutting through the pain bringing relief. There is nothing that stopped the hand of the father.

There is no ram appearing in the bush to take the place of the son. We don't nearly think as much and as great of the love of God as we should. Do you have any idea? Any idea in the slightest what it meant for God to give his son for you.

To love you first before you loved him. To love the world so much that he gave him. That he didn't spare him. Even when the son filled with sorrow. Sorrow unto death. Falls on his face and he cries out.

Father all things are possible for you. Remove this cup for me. Even then the father says no. He says no. He crushed him. Forsaking his son. Turning from him. Pouring the full wrath for every single sin of every single one of his people and his beloved.

So that whoever, oh whoever would believe on the son would not perish but have everlasting life. He did that to his son for you Christian. For you. The son died for you in your place. The father himself offered himself the most precious thing that he could as a substitute that you wouldn't have to pay for your sins.

So for you glory to God. It is no longer the Lord will provide but the Lord has provided. And that, that truth is at the core of faithful obedience. That truth is at the core of worship that holds nothing back from the Lord.

Of obedience that does not count father and mother, son and daughter worth more than Christ. The provision given by the father in his only begotten son. Abraham was looking forward to it through the promises given to him through Isaac.

You brothers and sisters get to look back on it from the other side of the cross. But the fulfillment of the promise is the same. God's provision for the propitiation of sin in Jesus Christ. And the patriarch looked forward to it with certainty and great assurance.

God’s Certain Promises Give Believers Hope and Endurance

Look at verse 15 and 19. Certainty of God's promise verse 15. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this.

And if not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.

And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young men and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham left Beersheba.

Abraham obeyed. The lamb was offered in the place of Isaac. And then the angel speaks again to him. And he recalls the promises that were made to Abraham. But notice please that God here, he swears the promises by himself.

Meaning the the fulfillment of the blessing to Abraham. Of surely blessing him. Of multiplying his offspring as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. They're tied to God's own doing. He cannot swear by anyone higher than himself.

It is a promise come directly from God, made by God and it will be upheld by God. Why then does God say that he will bless Abraham because he's not withheld his son? Does it mean the blessing is now all of a sudden based on on any sort of works on Abraham's part?

No. The promise rests on grace. But just like the righteousness that was counted to Abraham by faith, so the promise is one of faith. Abraham's proven by his willingness to offer his son. That he has faith in the promise of God.

And God acknowledges the faith of Abraham. He's pleased with it. And so through Abraham's faith in God, God will fulfill his promise. Because the promise is sworn by God himself. There's certainty that through his offspring all the nations of the earth will be indeed blessed.

We've seen several times over the last week how Christ is that offspring. How faith in him, salvation has come to the Gentiles. And I want to direct you a bit more to the certainty of the promises in him for you.

Hebrews 6 beginning in verse 13 speaks about the God making a promise to Abraham by himself. And how that turns into encouragement for all those who are in Christ. In Hebrews 6 and verse 13, it says for when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself.

We just saw that. Verse 14 saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath. An oath is this confirmations, agreement, approval between parties.

But God went above, beyond a mere oath between men. He swears this oath by himself. And because of him that promise will have its fulfillment. And he did it in verse 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.

We who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. A hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.

Having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He did it so that we, the authorites, you and I, those who have fled for refuge in Christ have encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before you.

And what is that hope? Verse 19, the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. The hope that Jesus has gone into the inner place behind the curtain for us as our high priest. Does it have to do with anything?