Trusting God Through Life's Tests and Trials

"Genesis 22 begins with these words, 'Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham.' Again, before I go on, think of those words, 'After these things, God tested Abraham.' How would you feel if you got a summons in your mailbox this afternoon and said, 'Next Saturday morning I want you show up at such and such a place, at such and such a time to be tested by God'?" [00:05:59]

"God called Abraham, just as he had called him out Ur of the Chaldees years before. He called him again and said, 'Abraham!' and Abraham said, 'Here I am.' You know, Abraham couldn't wait. 'What do you want now, God?' 'Man, I trust you now.' 'Do you?' 'Abraham, I want you to take your son, and I want you to go to a place where I will show you, to Mount Moriah, and there I want you to take your son and I want you to kill him. I want you to sacrifice him to Me on the altar.'" [00:13:30]

"Abraham, take now your son, your only son, the one whom you love, Isaac. Isaac, Abraham. I want your son, your real son, your only son, the one that you have invested your heart in, the one that you love, you know who I'm talking about, and if that's not clear yet, let me name the child. I'm talking about Isaac." [00:15:12]

"Abraham said, 'God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.' Take the comma out of there. 'God will provide, God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son. My son is the lamb that God is going to provide for the burnt offering.' So, the two of them walked on together and there they came to the place which God had told him, and Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, delaying to the last possible second giving away." [00:42:55]

"And just as Abraham is ready to bring the knife down into the chest of his son, we read that the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven had said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' Abraham stops right there and says, 'Here I am,' like 'Where have you been?' 'Here I am.' And the angel said, 'Do not stretch out your hand against the lad. Do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'" [00:45:14]

"And then Abraham raised his eyes and he looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up as a burnt offering unto the Lord. And Abraham called the name of that place 'The Lord Will Provide.' Mount Moriah, where is it? According to current archaeology, Mount Moriah was a place in the south part of Palestine that later was changed, and its name was called Jerusalem or Mount Zion." [00:46:15]

"Two thousand years later, on this same mountain God took his Son, His only Son, the Son whom he loved, Jesus. And He took him to that same mountain, and He fastened him to a vertical altar of sacrifice. But this time, ladies and gentlemen, nobody hollered, 'Stop!' God brought the knife into the heart of His only begotten Son, fulfilling, in blood, in time and in space, the promise that was dramatized and symbolized by the test of Abraham's child of promise." [00:47:15]

"God said, 'Abraham, I will provide the sacrifice. I will provide the lamb,' so that two thousand years later, a prophet came out of the desert in Palestine and called the whole nation to take a bath because he said, 'The kingdom of God is coming.' And while he was involved in this process of preparing people for the breakthrough of the kingdom of God, he saw a man approaching him in the distance and he stopped what he was doing and he sang the Agnus Dei, he said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'" [00:49:24]

"Now, we know from the careful study of the life of Abraham that Abraham was a fabulously wealthy man, and that Abraham in his old age had a whole host of servants on his staff. Abraham could snap his fingers and servants would appear to do his bidding. In his old age and in his great wealth, he didn't have to cut firewood for fires. Abraham didn't have to go out into the shed and get the saddle from off the wall and the tack and all of that for the animals and then saddle up his own donkey." [00:19:58]

"Abraham, who had hoped against hope, who had believed against all possibility had the son that God had promised. What an incredible story! And now in chapter 22, everything changes. The Scripture says that 'After these things, God tested Abraham.' God called Abraham, just as he had called him out Ur of the Chaldees years before. He called him again and said, 'Abraham!' and Abraham said, 'Here I am.'" [00:13:03]

"Abraham said, 'How can that be? I am childless. The servant who lives in my house is my heir, Eliezer of Damascus. My wife is too old to have children.' And you remember how God had spoken to Abraham and said, 'No, no, no, Abraham. Your descendants will be from your own flesh. One from your own body will be your heir, not your servant, not Eliezer of Damascus, but you're going to have a son.'" [00:07:39]

"And as the story unfolds, we know that God promised Abraham that he and his wife, Sarah, would have a child, and that that child would be the child of promise. And through the further descendants of that child would come the redemption of the whole world so that all of redemption history is invested in this promised child. So when Abraham heard that, I mean he just could hardly believe it." [00:08:28]