We're working out of Genesis chapter twenty-two tonight, Genesis twenty-two, and we're dealing with a subject how to worship by faith. Let us look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask you now to graciously minister to our soul. cause thy name to be glorified in our midst. We recognize that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save, that which was lost. And the Father seeks worshipers, and therefore the purpose in salvation is to transform none worshipers into worshipers. And therefore we pray that We'll be able to look at this portion of thy word tonight and ask ourselves definite questions concerning our relationship with our Lord Jesus. We're conscious that thy word declares that as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, we ought to so walk in him. May it be so for Jesus' sake in each of our lives. Amen. I know that I'm facing a real difficulty tonight because a remark was made out front tonight that I'm going to have a real time. Better have a good sermon because I'm in competition with all that hot air that was going over with all those balloons, you know. But nevertheless, we've been studying together in the school of faith. And we're in this school if we're saved by God's grace. And we've been walking with the dean of the school, Abraham. Abraham is the dean of the school of faith. In Genesis chapters twelve and thirteen, we examined how to walk by faith, what it means to walk by faith. Then in chapters fourteen and fifteen, how to war by faith, how to win victories for God. In chapters sixteen and seventeen, two difficult chapters, how to wait by faith. Then in chapters eighteen and nineteen, how to work by faith. And not tonight, how to worship by faith. Genesis twenty-two, verse one. And it came to pass after these things that God did test, Abraham. Now you can always tell the difference between a temptation and a test. God doesn't tempt, Satan does. But God does test. The test is from heaven, it's from above. The temptation is from within. Does this come from within or does it come from above? And it's an easy thing to know the difference. Every man is tempted, James Douglas, when he's drawn away or he's don't lust and entice. Temptations come by means of the enemy. And therefore the purpose of devastating us. Testings come from the Lord for the purpose of developing us. There's a big difference. There's a big difference. So we read here in the first verse that God did test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take not thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou love us. And get thee into the land of Mariah, and offer him there. for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of. I wonder tonight how shocked we would be if we got such a message as Abraham got from God. Take the thing that you love most, the thing that I gave you, the thing in which all your future is contained. Kill it! That's what God says. And remember something. Isaac is not a little boy. Like you see in Sunday school pictures. Isaac is a grown young man. And a grown young man would well be able to handle a hundred and twenty year old man by this time. In the area of a hundred and twenty. He would be no match for a young man. This is what God asked him to do. Verse three. And Abraham rose up early in the morning and settled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and claved the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went under the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place so far off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass. And I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. The amazing statement in verse five of Genesis twenty-two, he says, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again unto you. Here is the first time that worship is mentioned in the word of God. Have you ever looked upon the trials of life as opportunities for worship? And that's what we want to think about tonight. I'm not going to get through this message tonight. It'll take another night, as it did with the other subjects that we examined as we walked with Abraham by faith. But this is a good question. Have you ever looked at the trials of life as opportunities for worship? This is the greatest trial that Abraham faced in all his life. And Abraham says about it, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. You know, the trials of life are pictured in many ways in Scripture. One of the pictures of the trials of life in the Bible is a furnace. Job made the statement, when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. And we talk about the furnace of affliction. Peter, when he wrote his first epistle, he said, think, it's not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. The trials of life are pictured for us in the Word of God as a furnace. Now, I can understand the trial of suffering as a furnace because it purifies. It purges. It disciplines. You know, on the other hand, the trials of life in Scripture are sometimes pictured as a storm. David in the Forty-Fifth Psalm, he says, All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. And I'll tell you, when it's dark and you're in the midst of a storm, it is not a Sunday school picnic. And the trials of life are seen sometimes as a storm. And sometimes the trials of life are pictured as warfare. That's how it goes with Jeremiah, you know, in the twelfth chapter, a portion that I quoted, I think it was either last week or the week before. For if you read that twelfth chapter, I quoted the fifth verse. You see, in the second verse of that twelfth chapter, Jeremiah had a deal with the same problem that the psalmist dealt with in Psalm thirty-seven and in Psalm seventy-three. Why did the wicked prosper? Why did those who were living Godly have such a difficult time of? And the Lord answered him in verse five. He said, now if you run with a footman and in a weary day, How can you run with horses? How can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace when you trust it's going tough, what are you going to do when your very life depends on it? What are you going to do in the swelling of the Jordan? That's the question of Jeremiah chapter twelve. What our Lord said to Jeremiah says, Jeremiah, it's going to get worse. Jeremiah, the problem isn't an easy one. Jeremiah, it's going to get more difficult. So you see, I can understand when the trials of life are pictured as a furnace, when they're pictured as a storm, and when they're pictured as warfare. That isn't too difficult. But here the trials of life are pictured as worship. This is different. This is different. Abraham says, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Now when you're getting ready for surgery, I never heard anybody say, I'm going into that bright room, that white clean room. I'm going in there to worship. You see. We don't go to the grave of a loved one, do we? And say, I'm going to a worship service. Probably we miss so much because we don't. I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. The greatest privilege that a child of God ever has is to worship. It's the greatest privilege here on earth. That's what they do in heaven. They worship God. In the great worship chapters in the book of the Revelation, they're seen before the throne of God, and they worship Him. And if you want to have heaven on earth, you have to worship. The way to have heaven on earth is to worship. That's the only way I can find it in the Word of God. Our walk, our warfare, and our work are the result of our worship. What you do for God is the result of your worship of God. How you walk day by day in the world is the result of your worship of God. You cannot have the one without the other. They go together. Now friends, it takes faith to transform trials into worship. Three conditions are laid down in this chapter. And we're going to examine these three. And if I will meet these conditions by faith. Now we won't get over the three tonight. We're going to get over one of them tonight. But if I meet these conditions by faith, the trials and the sufferings of life can be made into acts of worship. The difference will be, instead of being burned, I'm going to be purified. That's a big difference. Instead of being torn apart, I'm going to be put together. Instead of coming out broken, and bitter, I'm going to come out a better person, having gone through the trials of life and seeing them transformed into an act of worship. I and the last will go younger and worship and come again to you. So in the trials of life, are going to be transformed into an act of worship, we're going to have to focus on God's promises instead of explanation. That's condition number one. We must focus on the promises of God instead of explanation. Now, we don't live on explanation. We live on promises. Faith never grows on explanation. That may sound strange to you. And we're living in an age when people think the more I talk about something, the more I'm going to know. No, it isn't that way at all. You have to explain it to me. No, you take it by faith. Faith grows on promises, not on explanations. Now, we're going to have to spend time with this. I have to ask a question. How do you explain this? It's unnatural for a man to take a son, his only son Isaac, whose name means raptor, the object of his love, the joy of his hope, and kill him. It's unreasonable. You can't explain that. It's unreasonable. I can just hear Abraham say in his heart, God, you gave him to me. Now what? It was God who gave him to me. God, this boy is the answer to my prayer. I waited twenty-five years for him. And now you're telling me, go kill him. It is unnatural. It is unreasonable. It is unthinkable. I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Lord, this is the kind of stuff the pagans do. The pagans build their altars. The pagans put their children in the fire. And do you want me to act like a pagan? But Abraham, he wasn't interested in explanations. Abraham was doing what we sing. He was standing on the premises. And that makes all the difference. You see, we don't live on explanations. Explanations only lead to further explanations. That's all they do. Furthermore, explanations only gratify your pride. And God isn't interested in gratifying anybody's cries by explanation. God doesn't have to explain anything to us anyway. He's not duty-bound to explain anything. God doesn't need our counsel. Nor does he have to say, now this is exactly what I am doing, and he doesn't have to hand me a script or give me a timetable. Now, when you listen to certain prophetic preachers, you'd think that he did. You'd think that he did. But God doesn't have to do that. God makes promises. And when God promised I'm coming again, when the Lord Jesus said that, He told us to live in the expectancy of His promise, for we live by promises, we don't live by explanations. You see, when I come to God and say to him, you have to explain to me what I'm really saying is, God, I'm important. And God, I want you to know that I'm smart enough to understand something when you tell me. And that's saying an awful lot. That isn't true. You know, if God were to explain everything to me, I wouldn't be able to take it. And neither would you. Now there's some people in the Bible who did ask why. David did in Psalm twenty-two verse one. I know we usually take that verse and we refer it to our Lord Jesus who asked why on the cross. But David did. But you see, sometimes we ask the word why, not out of unbelief. but out of hurt. David was hurting. So was the Lord, by the way. No one ever suffered like he did. When he bore our sin on the cross, we're entering into an area that we know nothing about, suffering for sin. We know nothing about it. And of course, there was a question why. Jeremiah raised the question, Chapter fifteen. He even accused the Lord of being a mirage. In chapter fifteen. And our Lord told him, when you're ready to separate that which is real from that which is vile and take a stand, I'll meet with you. He tells him that in the fifteenth chapter. Job asked why. Jeremiah asked why. But explanations just leave them our explanations. And we still don't have... the answer. You see, explanations have a way of puffing up our head rather than humbling our heart. The man who has the answer for everything has a puffed up head rather than a humble heart. Explanations don't solve problems. You can't live on them and they will not help you anywhere. And you see, faith doesn't grow on a big head. Faith grows on a humble heart, on a burning heart. That's where faith grows. Let me explain this matter of explanation. Last winter when Mrs. Hill fell in the ice and she was in severe pain over in Memorial Hospital, I was over that night. I was sitting with Mr. Hill. We were waiting and waiting and I must confess he was a bit impatient. He said, I should have gone to Chapel Hill with her. I'd get much better service, you know. And finally the doctor came out and he took us in. And the doctor was very nice. He explained a lot. He had the lights lit. He put the x-rays up there. And he said there's no fracture. And this and this and this and this. It didn't take away any hurt. In fact, the next day she was worse than she was the night before. In fact, the next day when the bone specialist looked at it, he said it's broken. There is a fracture there. You see, explanation solved nothing. But if a doctor came in and said, you know what, you're going to have a little pain for a couple weeks, but here's a promise. You're going to walk again. You're going to be out of here. You're going to be doing well. You can live on a promise. But in explanation, they don't help you anyway. Now, we need God's promises, beloved, because faith grows on promises, not on explanation. Our problem is, when we go through a trial, when we're going through a difficulty, the first thing is we start to rationalize and think, and then we try to figure things out. And then we forget the promises of God, and when we should be looking at the promises of God, we're not. That's what usually happens when we go through a difficulty. But, oh, we need to look at Hebrews eleven. Let's turn over to Hebrews eleven. Hebrews chapter eleven. And we'll begin at verse eight. We'll begin at verse eight. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should have to receive for inheritance, for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. In other words, I learned something here. Faith obeys when you don't know where. Where are you going, Abraham? I don't know. So how do you know when you get there? The one who told me to go, he couldn't tell me when I'm there. That's all he has. Faith obeys when you don't know where. Now look over at verse ten. For he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. Faith obeys not only when you don't know where, but faith obeys when you don't know when. He didn't know when he'd see the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. And he waited all those years for Isaac to come. He had a weight on him. But faith obeys when you don't know where, faith obeys when you don't know when. Notice verse eleven. To faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even a one and him as good as dead. as many as the stars of the sky and multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Faith not only obeys when you don't know where, he went out not knowing whether he went, Faith obeys when you don't know when, but faith obeys when you don't know how. How am I going to have a son? Through faith. Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. He couldn't explain it. Sarah God waited till their bodies were dead. Now he says it's time for you to have a son, Abraham. Faith obeys when you don't know when. See, how can an old man and an old woman have a son? Faith obeys when you don't know how. You see, as we look down to Hebrews eleven, we see the faith of Abraham growing. It's a growing thing. You see, he learned to walk by faith, for he obeyed when he didn't know where. Then he learned to wait by faith. He obeyed when he didn't know when. And he learned how to work by faith. He obeyed when he didn't know how. But now look at verse seventeen. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said. that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. Now he's learning to worship by faith, for he obeyed now when he didn't know why. Isn't that something? He didn't know where, but he obeyed. He didn't know when. But he obeyed. He didn't know how. But he obeyed. And he didn't know why. But he worshiped. The eleven. When we get to the point. That we obey God when we don't know why. We're in graduate school. In the school of faith. God didn't give this kind of a test to walk. Ever think of that? God never gave this kind of a test to loss. Not every saint goes through this kind of an experience. Oh no. God didn't waste this on loss. And he doesn't waste it on a lot of his saints today. You know why? We're not ready for it. We're not ready for it. Oh, we can talk big about this and about that. This is reality, God. This is reality. You see, God didn't even need to be tested by God. He didn't need that. He was tempted by the world. The world was nothing for Abraham. But for all, You see, there's a lesson here. The level at which you are tested reveals the level at which you are living. And you know when I see Christians today falling for the world, falling for this and for that, I know right where they're living, so it is God. We don't fool anybody. When other things other than the person of Christ. You see this is one of the reasons why many times when you come to the worship service on a Sunday morning a lot of believers miss. They miss often. It reveals a lot more. than just the fact of their absence. You see, the level of the test reveals where we're living. Where are we living, friends? How to worship by faith? Because we can take the test that comes from God and transform that test into an act of worship. You know, it doesn't take much of a test for some people. It doesn't take much at all. Where are you living? Well, if you're here tonight, you're not saved. You're not living at all. You're not living at all. Where are you living? To be able to say, first of all, I'm living means that you have a definite relationship with Jesus Christ by the blood of his cross. That took place in the life of Abraham years before when he went out one night and God said, take a look into the sky. You don't have any child yet, but your seed is going to be as numerous as the stars of heaven. The scripture says in Genesis chapter fifteen and verse six, Abraham, believe God. and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. When God told the Israelites in Egypt to take the blood of the slain lamb and put it on the lintel and the two-side post, those who believed that the messenger of death was coming through that night, and only the blood would save them, they applied the blood. In the same way tonight, the person who believes that they're lost and under the condemnation of God, and only the blood of God's dear son slain on Calvary Hill can ever save them. They're the ones who cry out for that redemption that is in the blood of Jesus Christ and believe the message and receive Christ as Lord and Savior. Are you living tonight? Are you living? Do you have life? Well, if you can say tonight, I am living, I'd like to ask you a question. Where are you living? Where are you living? Are you standing on the premises? Are you looking for explanations, which? If the trials of life are going to be transformed into an act of worship, it will be not because you're looking for explanations, but because you are standing on the premises. Where are you? I and the lad will go yonder and worship. This makes the worship service exciting, doesn't it? You see, we don't have to wait for Sunday morning at nine-thirty. We can worship under every situation in life and know the reality of walking and growing in the school of faith. I think we ought to sing that hymn and closing tonight. Standing on the promises. I don't know the number. I know a few of the numbers in the book, but I don't know that one. And if you'll find it, and if you ladies will play, we're going to sing it. Standing on the promises of Christ my King. I trust you're standing there. And that is the reality to you. What's the number, Paul? Two hundred twenty? All right. Two hundred twenty. But before we sing, let's pray. Our Father, you have so many ways of revealing to us where we are. We cry out to thee tonight to take this word and with us speak to us. We thank you for the trials of life. It's not always easy to do. Often it's quite difficult. but they're sent by a loving Father who cares for us. We pray, O God, that I would enable us to go through these trials and to cause them to be acts of worship for thy glory. Hear us in these things. For the Lord Jesus' sake, amen.