After a hiatus now of a couple of weeks from Hebrews chapter 11, we will be returning this morning to our sermon series out of the book of Hebrews and take up chapter 11 again and read together verses 17 through 19. However, as has been our practice, we're going to read part of the Old Testament before We jump straight to our text from Hebrews chapter 11 and so first of all let's turn together to the book of Genesis chapter 22 The book of Genesis chapter 22 Genesis chapter 22 will be reading verses 1 through to verse 19. Let's now read the word of our God. After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, 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 shall tell you. 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 burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 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. And he said, Here am I, my son. He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went, both of them, together. 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 am I. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted 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. 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 have 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 lived at Beersheba. Let's now turn forward to the New Testament and to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. But maybe keep your finger in Genesis 22 because we'll be returning before too long. Hebrews chapter 11 and we'll be reading together as our sermon text for this morning verses 17 through 19 Again let us now hear the living word of the Living God By faith Abraham when he was tested 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. Let's now go before our Father again in a brief prayer as we ask for His power and His assistance to be with us in the reading and the preaching of His Word. Let's pray together. Gracious God, our Father, as we attend to matters this morning so near to the very heart of our salvation, so very near to the heart of who You have revealed Yourself to be to us. We earnestly pray for hearts that would be plied and tilled by the work of the Spirit to receive Your Word and to respond with love for You. Love for Your salvation. Love because you have loved us first, and a joyful readiness and willingness to live for the glory of Christ our Savior. We pray that you would accomplish these things within us, that He might be praised. For we do now pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Let's turn back together now in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 22. There are times in God's Word that we reach a narrative that It becomes immediately apparent to us that something extraordinarily profound is taking place. Moses, as he gives to us Genesis chapter 22, as it were, slows down the movements of the camera. If you can imagine the techniques of cinematography, he slows down the camera and all of a sudden we get every single step, every single movement in slow motion. We are told by the very way that the narrative unfolds that God is about something deep and profound in the life of this, his servant, Abraham. Something deep and profound not only for Abraham, but for all of us who call upon the Lord. Look with me at those first words that we encounter in Genesis chapter 22. After these things, And to understand the force of this chronological marker that we're given here, we have to quickly review Abraham's life up to this point of the Genesis narrative. And really, Abraham's entire walk with God up to this point has been focused on one consuming issue. The promised son. When God called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, he told him that he would make of him a great nation. Which of course would require that Abraham have at least one son to carry on his name, and at that point he had no sons. And then in Genesis chapter 15, God visits Abraham again, and this issue is on the forefront of Abraham's mind. O Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless. Behold, you have given me no children. And so there in Genesis 15, the Lord promises to Abraham that from Sarah, his wife, God will bring forth a son for Abraham that will be his heir. And through this heir, God will make Abraham's offspring to be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. And then chapter 16, and there's still no son. And so Abraham and Sarah plot a way to bring about the promise in their own strength and in their own power through Hagar. And so Ishmael is born. Chapter 17 and 18, God again affirms to Abraham and Sarah his promise, but yet no son. They are still waiting for the promise to come to fulfillment. in their lives. And all the while Abraham and Sarah are getting older and older. Their bodies drifting further and further into that territory wherein there isn't any human earthly hope of bearing a child. But all of this was God's purpose to manifest His power and His glory in their lives. And so in Abraham's 100th year The Lord visits Sarah, and Isaac, the son of promise, is finally born. The son of promise is finally given. And then after Isaac is born, after he has grown and has been weaned, Sarah grows displeased with Hagar and with Ishmael, and she tells Abraham to cast them out. And Abraham wrestles emotionally over this because Ishmael, though born through sinful means, was nevertheless his son and he loved him. But God comes to Abraham and tells him to listen to Sarah, his wife. Isaac was the son of promise and so it was right for there to be a separation. between these two sons and God assures Abraham that he himself will watch over Hagar and Ishmael and that he will make Ishmael himself also to become a mighty nation. And so Abraham again obeys the voice of the Lord and sends out Hagar and Ishmael. And at this point in his life, Abraham would, I think, be excused for thinking that his hardest trials were behind him. After all, he had left his country and his kindred to become a pilgrim and a sojourner in the land of promise. He had endured years and years of waiting upon God's promise to bring about the son of promise. Lot and his family were now gone. Hagar and Ishmael likewise were gone as well. Finally, Abraham can live out the rest of his days in peace with Sarah and with Isaac. After these things, after all of these things, God tested Abraham and amazingly this is the first time in the Genesis narrative that we read the words God tested Abraham Had not God been testing Abraham all these many years throughout all these many trials Yes, God had been testing him But this next test Would be unlike anything that came before. If through his other trials God had toured Abraham around the perimeter of the crucible, through this trial God would cast Abraham into the very heart of the crucible and so test and refine Abraham's faith with fire more intense than anything he had ever experienced before in his life. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. 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 the mountain that I will show you. Abraham, your entire life of faith has involved this promised son. You have longed for him. You have waited for him. You have yearned for him. And now he has finally been given to you. Now, take your son. And listen again to the way in which God's command unfolds. Now, take your son. Okay, yes, take my son. Your only son, Isaac. Right, my only son Isaac, the son of promise, whom you love. Indeed, Lord, yes, I love him. And go to the land of Moriah. All right, Chuck, going 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 is this thing that God now asks of Abraham? Decades and decades of waiting for and yearning for and hoping against hope for Isaac. Only now to receive the command that he is to kill his son and consign his body to the flames as an offering on the altar of the Lord. Imagine Abraham's response had someone else other than God himself propose such an idea. Hey Abraham, maybe you should consider offering up Isaac to God as a burnt offering. After all, that was a fairly common practice among the nations that surrounded the patriarchs at the time. I would think that Abraham would have had to restrain himself from physically harming that person. Are you completely stupid? Isaac is the son of promise, the one through whom all of God's promises depend. The covenant depends on Isaac's survival and on his subsequent childbearing. What a completely foolish proposition. And besides, Isaac is my son. He is the son of my love. Now get out of my sight before I throttle you with my own hands. But the command didn't come from man. It came from the Lord. It came from the Lord who had for so many years been intimately and powerfully revealing himself to Abraham. Genesis 22 and verse 3, So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. The emphasis of the narrative is on the immediate, unhesitating compliance of Abraham to God's command. How could it be? How could it be that Abraham could respond with such unhesitating immediacy? He didn't delay for a week, a month, a year, a whole lifetime. He didn't fire back at God the most obvious objection. The Lord, how could you possibly fulfill all of your promises if there is no son of promise? He didn't allow his deep natural affections for his son, his love for Isaac, to obscure the clarity of God's command. Rather, what do we read? Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Now, we of course know the end of the story. It is familiar to us. And so often, God's initial command at the beginning of Genesis chapter 22, it therefore doesn't smack us in the face with its intended force. God crafted this test for Abraham such that there would be a profound tension on every level of the situation. First of all, this command seemed to contradict everything that God had promised to Abraham up to this point. And our text in Hebrews 11 emphasizes that. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, 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. And not only that, but also it struck Abraham on the deepest level of his heart. This wasn't a stranger. that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice. This wasn't a close friend or relation. This wasn't even one sung son among many. This was Isaac, his only son, the son of his love, the son upon whom God had concentrated all of his purposes of salvation. on both the objective level of the promises and on the subjective level of his heart and his affections. God designed this test of faith to see if Abraham's faith would rise above all appearances, rise above all affections, to honor and obey the command of God absolutely above all else. and rise it did. Abraham had resolved utterly to obey God's command to him. And he had done all. He had taken the knife into his hand. He had done all save administer the fatal blow when the angel of the Lord intervenes to prevent him from bringing any harm to Isaac. The author of Hebrews is so convinced of Abraham's resolve that he can use the past tense when he says that Abraham offered up Isaac, even though the actual act didn't end up taking place. Abraham had so resolved to go through with the thing that Isaac was already as good as offered in his heart. He had already in his mind and in his heart and according to the resolution of his will given over his son to the flames. It's quite amazing to behold really. The Genesis narrative gives us very little insight into the inner workings of Abraham's heart in this situation. The emphasis of the text again is on Abraham's unswerving and unhesitating obedience to the will of God. All of the obstacles to Abraham's obedience that we have recognized did nothing to deter him from full and complete compliance to God's command. How could this be? How could Abraham so embrace the dreadful act that he was commanded to carry out Was his obedience simply unthinking? Did he just shut off his mind and allow his faith to become something blind and irrational? Not at all. None of these things were true of Abraham. Abraham's faith was founded upon God's character. First of all, that however contradictory the command may have seemed in light of the promises, Abraham knew that God was even more concerned than he was with the accomplishments of his own promises. And secondly, however much Abraham loved his son Isaac, Abraham knew that God loved Isaac even more than he himself ever could. And so in the words of John Owen, Abraham left unto God the care of his own truth and veracity. In other words, God would protect his own promise. God would protect Isaac, in whose body was the coming Messiah. Abraham's faith rose above all appearances and fixed itself on the unchangeable character of God, his steadfast love and his faithfulness, and thus being fixed on the divine nature. Abraham deduced that God's plan must be to resurrect Isaac from the dead. What does our text say in verse 19 of Hebrews chapter 11? He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. And the author to the Hebrews is giving to us in verse 19 the divine interpretation of Abraham's otherwise confusing statement in Genesis chapter 22 and verse 5. He says to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and will come again to you. Abraham plainly tells his servants that he and Isaac are going to go worship God and then he and Isaac are going to come back to them. And he's not lying to them. He's not trying to cover up what he is about to do and what he has resolved in his heart to do. And neither has he weakened at all in his resolve to sacrifice his son. He believes, A, that he is about to sacrifice his son and set conflagration to Isaac's corpse. And he believes, B, that both of them are nevertheless going to descend the mountain together. Abraham rest his faith, not only in God's steadfast love and unfailing faithfulness, but also in his omnipotence, his almighty power. He was convinced Which is a better translation of that verse, not that he considered, but that he reckoned. That he was convinced that God was able even to raise him from the dead. From which he did receive him back. Wasn't Isaac himself already a living example of God's power to bring life from death? God had already miraculously brought forth Isaac from the death of barrenness and old age. He could certainly then bring him back again from the grave. Now look with me again at verse 19 of Hebrews chapter 11. There's a problem in this verse with most modern translations. The ESV reads, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. A much better translation would be something like this, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, as a figure, he did receive him back, or as a parable. The Greek word here is parabolae, and most naturally signifies an analogy or a representative example, and that's where our English word parable comes from. And a clue that we get to the interpretation of this word is that our author has already used this Greek word earlier in chapter 9 and verse 9 to describe the way in which the first section of the tabernacle was symbolic or was parabolic for the present age. Likewise, here in Hebrews 11, our author looks to Abraham's resolute commitment to the sacrificing of his only son. God's intervention in the provision of a substitutionary sacrifice as being symbolic or parabolic of a new covenant reality. Just as all the types and figures of the old covenant are symbolic of new covenant realities that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so we discover that God's purposes there in Genesis chapter 22 can only be properly understood when we are ushered from Mount Moriah to Calvary's mount. A Genesis 22 is ultimately about another father and another son. So many people have failed to properly interpret the significance of Genesis 22 because they have failed to see that this profound and glorious chapter is actually a window into the very heart of God the Father. A very window into the heart of all salvific reality. That at the heart of God's purposes in human history is a divine father who from all eternity had resolutely committed himself to the sacrifice of his only begotten son. Providentially, we read from Romans chapter 8 in our New Testament reading this morning. And what did we see that characterized God the Father in relationship to God the Son? God the Father was unsparing. of his son. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. Paul is so clearly drawing on Genesis chapter 22, there in Romans chapter 8. On Mount Moriah God was able to intervene and to spare Abraham's son. because he had already, from all of eternity, resolutely committed himself to the not sparing of his own beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Isaac's poignant question, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abraham's answer to his son was so profoundly prophetic. God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. And that lamb would ultimately be his own eternal son incarnate in human flesh. Do you remember what God the Father says of Jesus at his baptism? Hundreds and hundreds of years later, God uses the same language with which he addressed Abraham concerning Isaac, but now he is speaking to his own son. You are my son, the son of my love, with whom I am well pleased. Abraham, take your son, your only son, whom you love. And then what does John the Baptist declare in response to Jesus' baptism? Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. You see, John makes the connection. He hears the voice of the Father in heaven, and he realizes, wait, the Son whom he loves, his beloved Son, here is the Lamb. that God Himself will provide. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And just as Abraham and Isaac make a three-day journey together to Mount Moriah, so God the Father and God the Son make a three-year journey together from baptism to crucifixion. One of the key differences being, of course, that every step of that journey Our Lord Jesus knew exactly where the journey was going to lead him. He walked every step with the knowledge that indeed he was the Lamb of God. And he walked every step of that journey in the most humble acquiescence to the will of his Heavenly Father. And when the Father, as it were, lifted the knife and prepared to smite his own son on the cross. There was no one to stop the knife from falling. There was no voice from heaven because the voice from heaven was now nailed to the cross. And so the knife fell and God's wrath was poured out and Jesus drank that cup to its very dregs, and by that most sacred of moments, we all now, who are believing in the Lord Jesus, we are all now spared, because Christ took upon himself the iniquities of us all. That's important to realize when we examine Abraham's example of faith here in Hebrews chapter 11 that God's working in Abraham's life was so unique and singular. Ultimately, God was working through Abraham and through Isaac to reveal to us profound truths about the true promised son who is yet to come and about the mode of salvation that God had ordained for every single person in every age of history. And so God will not repeat Abraham's test in the life of any other. But if this is the case, then how do we look at Abraham's example as the author to Hebrews would have us do and emulate such faith? How do we take this extraordinary example of faith and then go and do likewise and walk in the footsteps of Abraham, the father of all who believe. And so as we close, there are four principles that I'd like for us to consider about the way in which we can truly walk in the footsteps of our father, Abraham. First, that God tests our faith. so that his glory will shine more brightly in our lives. God tests our faith so that his glory will shine more brightly in our lives. Brothers and sisters, trials are an inevitable part of the Christian life. In our own day and age, there is, of course, the notion that difficulties and tragedies somehow indicate that God is not blessing us. But we learn from Abraham, don't we, that often the very opposite is true. That when we go through trials, God is intimately at work in our hearts, refining us and blessing us and increasing our faith and molding us into the image of His Son. First Peter chapter one. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, even though it is test by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. God tests our faith that it might grow hot in the fire so that He might shine forth His glory all the more brightly in our lives. God is not only glorified when He blesses us with prosperity. God is also glorified and He is glorified with a unique pitch of glory when He tests us with tribulation. with difficulty and with trial. Is it not true that some of the people you know or that you've heard about in whom the glory of God has shined brightest are those people who have been tested in the hottest crucible with the most devastating trials? And that's because in those situations, when everything earthly seems to fall apart, the faith of a true believer will shine all the more brightly against the deep darkness of their circumstances. Count it all joy, my brothers, James tells us, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And so our trials and our difficulties are not something to throw us into a spiritual confusion as to whether or not God is truly with us. Rather, they are to be Gloried in and rejoiced in knowing that not despite our sufferings, but through our sufferings God is molding us and shaping us into the image of his only begotten son that we might be more like Jesus Secondly our faith must be anchored in God's character our faith must be anchored in in God's character. Abraham was convinced that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham's peace in the midst of his fiery trial came from the sure conviction about who God is, who God had revealed himself to be. And so Abraham was sure that God would bring about his own perfect resolution to the apparent tension of the situation. Abraham was sure that God would vindicate the holiness of his own promises. His peace came from knowing God deeply. And so, brothers and sisters, if you want to be prepared for the fiery trial of your faith. If you want God to be glorified through your tragedies as well as through your triumphs, then seek God's face every single day. Want for nothing more than to be intimately acquainted with His ways and His attributes and His character. Isaiah chapter 40. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might, he increases strength. We are strengthened in our weakness by feeding our faith on the almighty and everlasting strength of Christ, our Savior. His power is made perfect in our weakness. Without a lively and an experiential knowledge of who God is, our trials would surely overwhelm us. and cast us into despair. And so every day let us fill our minds and our hearts with the glory and the grace of the Lord Jesus. May our deepest desire day by day be to walk with Him more nearly, to love Him more dearly, and to see Him more clearly. Third, our love for all else must be mastered by a controlling and all-surpassing love for God. God was calling Abraham to love Him more than He loved Isaac. If Abraham had loved Isaac more than he loved God, he never would have gone through with any of God's command to him. Abraham had to come to grips with the fact that Isaac belonged to God. And so Isaac was ultimately God's, to doeth as God was pleased. And so too, we have to come to the same realization about everything in this life that we cherish and that we love. Everything that would seem to be our own even our own bodies and our own souls belongs to God absolutely and is therefore God's to do with as He pleases. Remember the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 10, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Our love for Jesus as God Himself incarnate must surpass our love for all else. Nothing in this life, however deserving of our love, should surpass our love for Jesus Christ. Such that if Jesus were to require that thing of us, Though it may bring us deep grief and sadness, may it be that we can testify, along with righteous Job, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Fourth and last, God's trials have a glorious purpose in your life. God's trials have a glorious purpose in your life. Have you ever heard someone say in response to some physical earthly blessing in your life or in their life, you know it's just like God to do that. The unfortunate implication of that statement, intended or not, is that it's more like God to give than it is to take away. But the truth of the matter is that it's like God to take our well-played plans and bring them to ruin so that He might test our faith. It is like God to make our lives so to crash around us that we might bring glory to Him in the way that we testify again along with Job, though He slay me, I will yet hope in him. It is like God to bring into our lives his fatherly chastisements so that he might sanctify our hearts, so that we might glorify him by treasuring him far above any physical or earthly blessing, so that we might testify along with the psalmist, whom have I in heaven besides you? And on earth there is nothing that I desire apart from you. You see, we must interpret God's providences by His promises, not the other way around. We do not measure our blessedness by our relative physical prosperity. We measure our blessedness by our relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you believed in His name? Are you even now trusting in Him alone? Then you are at this very moment as blessed as you could possibly ever be in this life. For God has united you to His Son and He has graciously given to you all of the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Whatever providences God brings into your life, the promise remains sure that nothing in all of creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, your Lord. You can live and die by that promise because God the Father has sealed its truth with the precious sacrificial blood of His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Father was not sparing. The Son was unflinching, and the Spirit was upholding. And because of these things, brothers and sisters, we have been graciously given even an eternal salvation. Let us pray together. Our gracious God and Father, We come before the throne of grace again, crying out, what shall we say to these things? What shall we say, Father, that You loved us so much that You did not withhold from us even Your own Son, but gave Him up to us and for us, that in Him we might have an everlasting salvation that by his work we might be saved to the uttermost for he was delivered over for our transgressions and raised again for our justification. We praise you for Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who bore our iniquities upon his own back, that we might be reconciled to you and that now and for all eternity we might cry out in the power of the Holy Spirit, Abba, Father, and have the most blessed assurance that you hear us from your throne and that you are indeed working all things for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. And so, Father, we do pray that you would work in our hearts such that you would increase our faith, such that we would walk in the footsteps of our father Abraham, such that we would love you above all else. And so lay all that we are and all that we have before you as a thanksgiving offering, that you might glorify yourself in our lives, that you might bring honor and praise at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Father, be with us, your people, and glorify the name of Jesus in all the earth. We do pray now in his most precious name. Amen.