Worship by faith is demonstrated through Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, illustrating that trials can be opportunities for worship when approached with faith. The sermon traces Abraham's journey through walking, warring, waiting, working, and finally worshipping by faith, culminating in the Genesis 22 account. The core lesson is that focusing on God's promises, power, and purposes, rather than explanations, personal resources, or desires, transforms trials into worship. This transformation leads to a deeper love for God and others, a clearer vision of Christ, and stronger confidence in God, ultimately enabling believers to become a blessing to the world.
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We first of all studied what it means to walk by faith. Genesis thirteen and fourteen. And then how to war by faith. That's Genesis chapters fourteen and fifteen. Genesis twelve and thirteen is how to walk by faith. Genesis fourteen and fifteen, how to war by faith. Genesis sixteen and seventeen, how to wait by faith. And then Genesis eighteen and nineteen, how to work by faith. And now how to worship by faith. Genesis twenty-two.
We began this message last Lord's Day evening. We dealt with one section of it. We dealt basically with Genesis twenty-two, verses one through five. Let us begin our reading at verse five, and we shall read down to verse nineteen. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and Narad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. but there is a lamb for a burnt offering. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him.
For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from thee. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him, a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up. for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it he said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord. For because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee.
And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let's pray together. Our Father, again tonight, as we examine what it means to be in the school of faith, we pray that thou will teach us some lessons, especially what it means to worship by faith.
For thou art the object of our worship, thou art the joy and the rejoicing of our hearts, and we pray that as we examine Abraham, We'll behold ourselves and we'll be blessed because of it. We ask this and pray that thy name will be glorified in our lives and that the Spirit of God will be pleased to take the word of God and to speak to us through it for thy great namesake. Amen. In verse five of chapter twenty-two, you have that amazing statement, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you.
And let's watch the evening as I introduce this. We ask the question, have you ever looked upon the trials of life as opportunities for worship? The trials of life are pictured in many ways in God's word. They're pictured as a furnace. They're pictured as a storm, and they're pictured as a battle. But here in chapter twenty-two, it's pictured as worship. And probably because we don't look at the trials of life as worship, we probably miss something. Now we're able to do this if we meet three conditions of faith.
It takes faith to turn trials into worship. And these three conditions are laid down in this chapter. We looked at one of them last week. If the trials of life are to become a portion of worship to us, we must focus on the promises of God and not on explanations. Faith does not grow on explanations. Faith grows on promises. What God asks of Abraham was unreasonable. It was unthinkable. However, God worked it for the rich blessing of Abraham.
Worship is basically giving something to God. But Abraham got far more from God than he ever gave to God because God is no man's debtor. And one of the greatest illustrations of this is to just trace what God has to say concerning Egypt as a nation. I was dwelling on this the other morning when I was removing the whiskers from my face. And as I was thinking and shaving, shaving is something I'm not particularly happy about doing. As I was shaving, I was thinking of the fact that God is no man's debtor.
And when you go through the scriptures and you see the promises that he made concerning Egypt, God used Egypt to build his nation. And Egypt has continued as a nation down to the history of the world. The oldest nation there is, the nation of Egypt. And it has continued. And when you take... certain chapters in the Old Testament. I'm thinking of Isaiah chapter nineteen. The Word of God has many blessings reserved for Egypt as a nation in the millennium. In other words, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to come to know the Lord out of Muhammad and Egypt in a coming day.
The Word of God gives us that to claim. For God has made promises to Egypt. God is no man's debtor. God is no man's debtor. Faith doesn't grow in explanations. I can't explain what God wanted, but I can lay hold of the promises of God. And the problem with explanations, they only lead to further explanations. And explanations only gratify the pride of the person who wants it explains. We examined Hebrews chapter eleven last week concerning this particular portion that we dealt with, the promises of God.
Abraham went out not knowing where he went. Faith obeys when you don't know where. And then Abraham looked for a city and Abraham looked for a son. Faith obeys when you don't know when. And then Sarah herself received strength to conceive. And how can an old man and an old woman have a son? And faith obeys when you don't know how. And now God asks for Isaac back. Faith obeys when you don't know why. Abraham learned to walk by faith.
He obeyed when he didn't know where. Abraham learned to wait by faith. He obeyed when he didn't know when. Abraham learned how to work by faith. He obeyed when he didn't know how. And Abraham is now learning how to worship by faith. He obeys when he doesn't know why. When we get to the place where we obey God, when we don't know why, then we're in graduate school in the school of faith. And I pointed out last week that God didn't give this kind of a test a lot. Lot didn't get this kind of a test. You see, why?
Not every saint goes through this kind of an experience. God doesn't waste these experiences on people like Lot. Lot didn't need to be tested by God. Lot was tempted by the world. The world tempted a lot. He didn't need a test from God. And I mentioned last week the level at which you're tested reveals a level at which you're living. And that's very important. Where are you living? Are you standing on the promises or are you looking for explanations?
That brings us to the second requirement if we're going to take the trials of life and transform them into acts of worship. We must focus on God's power and not on our own resources. We must focus on God's power and not on our own resources. There's a danger to spiritual growth. And the danger to spiritual growth is a sense of our own adequacy. We may begin well. We may learn the truth of a few doctrines of the Bible, and then we may get the idea, we have arrived. That often happens. You see, we may think we have arrived, or we may think we are arriving, but arriving where?
Oh, you may cry out, oh, I'm having a mountaintop experience. Well, look ahead. There's another range of mountains in the distance. Until you get there, you've got to go through some valleys. We must learn to and focus on God's power, not on our own resources. Abraham had a tremendous experience of faith. He had been walking with God now for many years. God had been saying to Abraham all these years, do not trust your own resources. When Abraham left Herod of Chaldees, he took his father with him and he took Lot.
Well, his father died in Heron. God says, Abraham, you don't need him. Abraham could say, but I still have Lot. God said, Abraham, you don't need Lot either. You see, and Lot steps off the scene. famine enters into the land, and Abraham was a wise man. He had Moxie, as we use the term today. He had Moxie, you know. but he made a mistake and he went down to Egypt. Abraham, it's not your wisdom. Now don't lean on your own understanding. That's the book of Proverbs, chapter three. Lean not onto your own understanding.
Use your brain, but don't lean on your own understanding. Abraham waited for a son, but nothing happened. Well, here's Hagar. So he married Hagar. But God said, you don't need Hagar. Well, we got Ishmael. God said, you don't need Ishmael. So Hagar goes. Ishmael goes. God takes everything out of Abraham's life. You see. And finally, the womb of Sarah is dead. And the body of Abraham is dead. And that's what God was waiting for. And that's what Paul tells us in Romans chapter four.
The deadness of Sarah's womb and the deadness of Abraham's body. And out of that, he brings life. God loves to do the impossible. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a chapter that deals with ordinary people that God used to do extraordinary things. God loves to do the impossible. And by faith, they did extraordinary things. How often have you asked God to bless your resources? Now, God, I've studied theology, and for all these years, and I really know my Bible, bless my resources.
Lord, I've studied voice for all these years, and I can really vocalize. I have a wonderful singing voice. Bless my resources. Whatever it may be, all these things are good, friends. There is no special blessing on ignorance. John Wesley was a very intelligent man. He wrote over a hundred books. He wrote a Latin grammar and he wrote a Greek grammar among the books that he wrote. And he encouraged education. One day a woman said to John Wesley it is reported that she said to him, God doesn't need your education.
And it is said that he answered her back. No, he doesn't. But he doesn't need your ignorance either. What an answer. You see, you and I need all that we can learn, all that we can learn for God, and ask God to use it, but don't depend on it. I remember what an old man, well, he wasn't too old. He was a Mennonite preacher. What a Mennonite preacher said to me one time, he said, education is like fertilizer. It has to be brought under. Pretty good. Now while God works in our lives, He wants to put to death that carnal self-confidence that keeps us from realizing His power and His glory.
When Abraham got dead enough and Sarah got dead enough, God said, now it's time. Now I'm going to work. And it happens. And resurrection power came into their body and into their lives. And it happened. Now this same resurrection power, beloved, is available to us. How often we quote, Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we may ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.
Do you ever quote that? That's a great text. But notice what it says. According to his power that worketh in us, not in the angels. In us. In us. In us. You see, a good illustration of this is the tenth chapter of the act. An angel of the Lord was sent to Cornelius. He wasn't saved yet. And he said to Cornelius, go send to Peter at Joppa. He's living in the house of Simon the Tenor. And he'll come and tell you words of eternal life. Why didn't the angel tell it?
Could have saved a lot of traveling. No, it's for us to tell. It is according to the power that worketh in us. What is your weakness tonight? Do you have any weakness? That weakness, if you know it is weakness, can become strength. What is your strength tonight? And that strength of yours that you know to be strength can become weakness if you know it to be strength. It can. So we must be careful. We must focus on God's power and not on our own resources.
There seems to be a principle. in Christian living which says God gives we give it back to God then God uses it through us God gave Isaac to Abraham and Sarah now God says give him back to me and when Abraham was willing to give Isaac back to God in worship then God says now I can use him I can use him Abraham gave him back figure it in a belief speaking for Isaac was as good as dead on that altar in Genesis twenty two so that book of Hebrews chapter eleven tells us he was as good as dead for God raised Isaac from the dead in a figure God used him he is on the altar he was slain Isaac by the way is the first living sacrifice in the Bible Romans twelve one says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Isaac was on the altar. Isaac was willing to die, but he came off the altar a living sacrifice. We have in heaven tonight a living sacrifice. Our Lord went back to heaven. bearing the wounds, the marks of Calvary. He is there a living sacrifice, and he wants you and me to be a living sacrifice. Oh, I can hear somebody say, but I can't give that up. Oh, yes, you can. Oh, yes, you can. You see, friends, if God has to take it from you, then it's going to rob you of growth.
There comes times when people are so adamant in having their own way that God has to take things from them. And then it robs them of growth. But if you give it freely to God, it enriches you. And when you get it back, you get it back with resurrection power. And that's what happened to Abraham and Mount Moriah. He got Isaac back in resurrection power. He received Isaac again from the dead in a figure. You see, I can't go through the difficulties of life by myself. I need the power of God, the power that's in the Word of God, the promises of God.
I need the power that comes through prayer, through fellowship with other believers, through fellowship with the Holy Spirit of God who indwells us. Now, if the trials of life are going to become times of worship in our lives, not only must we focus on the promises of God and not on explanations, not only must we focus on God's power and not our own resources, but we must focus on God's purposes and not our own desires. It's interesting when you read this, The second chapter of the scripture says they went both of them together.
Isaac with a wood on his back. And Isaac could look at his father and say, behold, the fire and the wood. Where is a lamb for a burnt offering? And finally they came to the place that God had told them about. Abraham built the altar. Then he took Isaac and he bound him to the altar. He laid him on the altar, and Isaac was willing to be laid on the altar. And at that moment, God called Abraham out of heaven, and he stopped Abraham. As he raised the knife to slay his son, God's purposes were fulfilled. They were fulfilled.
Now, we've got to stop here. Not all the experiences of life that you have are trials from God. When you read the life of Abraham, you find that he had experiences that were not trials from God. You see, some problems we have in life that we create ourselves. We create a lot of them. Often we must pray for patience with people who blame God because of what they did. They tell you that they did what they did, and then they say, why is God testing me? Why is God testing me?
God isn't testing them. They're just dumb, and they did some dumb things, and I've been there. I've done some awfully dumb things in my life. But a lot of times these same people come to you with that super pious look in their eye, and a halo so tight that it gives you a headache. I tell you. And then they say, why is God testing me? Why is God testing me? Now, I don't believe for one minute that God is testing me. I don't believe that for one minute. You see, when Abraham listened to his wife and he married Hagar and trouble came into the home, can he blame God for that?
No. Abraham did it. It was a dumb thing and God never recognized Hagar as Abraham's wife. Don't blame God for the dumb mistakes that you make. There are some problems in life that we bring on ourselves. Then there are some problems in life that are caused by other people. Every morning, Abraham probably heard the report. There's a fight yesterday between the herdmen of Lot and the herdmen and your herdmen. The cowboys have been playing and they've been fighting. They were heard of him.
There have been fights between them. He got the report. And then when you get to the next chapter, chapter twenty-three, Sarah, Abraham's wife, died. That was just one of the normal experiences of life. There are problems that come into believers' lives because of other people. There are problems that come because of the normal experiences of life. And there are problems that come because of our own dumb mistakes that we make. Now beside that there are temptations from the devil and there are testings from the Lord. Now you can always tell the difference.
Temptations are bound to come. Because first Corinthians ten thirteen says there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is come unto man. Temptations are come unto man. Now what is the difference between a temptation and a test? A temptation is from Satan and it doesn't come from above, it comes from within. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and entice. Temptations are from within, but testing, they come from above, not from within. God's providence arranges the testing.
Satan tempts me to bring out the worst in me, to devastate me. God tests me to bring out the best in me in order that I may develop as his child. Testings come to those who are growing in the Lord. Now, if you're not being tested, if you're not being tested, it may mean that God may be looking at you in your bassinet, wishing and waiting for you to grow up. For God is saying, I have some wonderful blessings in store for that person.
I'm waiting for him to develop. I have wonderful blessings in store for him. So when we come to a passage like this, Abraham said, let us go yonder and worship and come again. And if the trials of life are going to be a time of worship, and since we must focus on God's purposes, And not on our own desires. We can say, what did this test do for Abraham? What were God's purposes? What were the purposes of God here in the chapter? Well, I'll tell you this.
Abraham didn't know beforehand what they were. He only learned it afterwards. He would have never learned it apart from the test. The test was necessary. Well, in verse thirteen we read the first thing. In verse thirteen we read, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a picket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And the angel of the Lord spoke unto him. What were the purposes? In other words, what did Abraham get from this experience?
What did he take home with him? First of all, he took a deeper love for his son. Abraham was a father. For when God told him what to do, he says, Take now thy son, thy only son, whom thou lovest. And he had all the feelings that a father would have when he laid Isaac on the altar. Can you imagine how he received him off the altar? I know how I'd do, what I'd do. He received Isaac as he never did before. He had a deeper love for his son.
You see, the trials of life, beloved, give us a deeper love for other people and for the Lord. In Ephesians chapter three, Paul prayed that the saints at Ephesus might know the love of Christ in its length, in its breadth, in its height, and in its depth, a fourfold dimension. Well, when Abraham came into the land of Canaan, God said to him, Walk through the length and the breadth of the land. There is length and breadth. Then one night he said, Now Abraham, take a look up. Can you count the stars? Here we have the height.
But here in this experience, he's learning the depth of the love of Christ, the love of God. He not only had a deeper love for his son, but Abraham received a clearer vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus in John eight says, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it. and was glad. In other words, when he received Isaac from the dead in a figure, there's something about it. He saw Christ there.
For Isaac speaks of Christ. Isaac is a unique picture of Christ. You see, Isaac was a child of promise. Our word Jesus was a child of promise. Isaac was born miraculously, not a virgin birth, as our Lord, but a miraculous birth. Isaac brought joy. Our Lord Jesus brought joy. Isaac was persecuted. Our Lord Jesus was persecuted. Isaac willingly walked with his father and laid down his life. Our Lord Jesus could say, no man take up my life from me.
I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to raise it again, to take it again. Isaac was raised from the dead in a figure. Our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead in reality. God raised Christ from the dead. But there's something very interesting in verse nineteen. So Abraham returned unto his young men and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Isaac is left on the mountain. Now I believe Isaac returned, but it isn't mentioned. Why not? I believe we have a beautiful type here.
You don't read of Isaac again until Isaac is claiming his bride. And our Lord Jesus after he went back to the glory, to the great mountain of God, he's not seen again until that when the shout comes and the dead in Christ are raised, and the bride of Christ goes home to meet the Lord in the air. Our Lord isn't seen until he receives his bride and beloved. Isaac is left on the mountain, as it were. By the way, there's something interesting. There are a lot of names in the remaining verses in this chapter. It's in this chapter where you first read about Rebecca.
You may check it for yourself. You first read about me, Becca, the bride of Isaac, in this chapter. Oh, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, the Lord said. He saw it and was glad. So what did this do for Isaac? It gave him a deeper love. Or what did this do for Abraham? It gave him a deeper love for Isaac. He got a clearer vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, beloved, there is no place. where we learn this better than in the furnace of suffering. We become more like our Lord in suffering than in any other time.
But there's a third thing that it brought to Abraham, a stronger confidence and dependence on the Lord. From now on, Abraham just trusts God for everything. He met God, Jehovah Jireh. He named the place. this is Jehovah Jireh the Lord will see to it in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen and he had a greater assurance from the Lord you know from this point on when I read this we have the I wills again of the Lord and he says in verse sixteen by myself I have I sworn saith the Lord For because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, not only son.
And in blessing, I will bless thee. I will multiply thy seed. Verse eighteen. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Greater assurance from the Lord. Abraham came forth with a greater blessing for others. It's found in the I wills. I want you to just consider this for a moment. Here we have a father and a son on a mountain by themselves doing business for God. And through that little meeting, the whole world is blessed.
You and I are here today, tonight, because Abraham did this. In fact, all the world is blessed because Abraham did that. Now, we have an idea today that in order to have real blessing, you have to have two million people, an arena, and great sound systems, and a lot of advertising, but lights and all the rest. You see, here's only two men, and the Lord was there. Remember Mary of Bethany, an obscure town, just a simple woman.
She took an alabaster box of ointment and she anointed the feet of the Lord. Who knows about Bethany? The Lord says the whole world is going to know what you're doing. I enjoyed Warren Grisby Thursday morning, by the way, as he's on the series. On what shall we name the baby? On various children that were born in Scripture. And he happened to be on Moses on Thursday morning. And in First Corinthians chapter one, we read that God uses things that are not to bring to nothing things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.
Things that are not. Very insignificant thing. What did he use to bring Egypt to its knees? Just tears. That's all. A baby's tears. When Mark Gersby mentioned this, I actually rejoiced in the car as I thought about it. There is little Moses. By faith when he was born, his parents saw he was a beautiful child, a proper child. There was something unusual about him. They didn't kill him, as the order of the Pharaoh was. They saved him. They put him in a little ark of Bull Russia, into the Nile River, the place of death.
And when Pharaoh's daughter had the little ark open, there Moses, that little boy with his tears. And she drew him out of the water. She raised him for her own son. But God used that man to bring Egypt to its knees and to bring Israel out of Egypt. No flesh shall glory in his presence. He uses things that are not to bring to nothing things that are that no flesh shall glory in his presence. You know, when we are doing what God wants us to do, we can become a blessing to the whole world.
Oh, if I could only get this across. We're living in a day that if we're not in the spotlight, if things aren't big, we're not doing anything for God. Beloved, our Lord told us when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret, And thy Father, who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Do I believe this? Beloved, we can go into our closet and shut the door and pray, and we can touch the whole world. Because we are praying to the God who is in heaven, who has all things under control.
Well, you see, because of this experience, God says so, I have sworn by myself because you've done this. In blessing I will bless thee. In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Well, very quickly, it's not easy to see the trials of life as an act of worship, isn't it? An empty pay envelope. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. An open grave. It isn't always easy, but it can be an act of worship.
It was for Abraham. This was the greatest trial of his life. This is a test that came from God himself. And it can be an act of worship if we do three things. Number one, if we focus on God's promises and not on explanations. Number two, if we focus on God's power and not our own resources. And number three, if we focus on God's purposes and not on our own desires. If you long to be a blessing, learn to worship.
Worship is a Christian's highest occupation. Abraham may have gone up that mountain with a heavy heart, but he certainly didn't come down with one. He had been in the presence of God. Our Father, we thank you for the school of faith. We confess to thee. it is contrary to most of our own thinking but we also rejoice in the knowledge that it's right because thou art God we thank you that we can walk by faith that we can war by faith we can wait by faith we can work by faith that all we pray that we may learn to worship by faith it will give us a deeper love for thee and it will enable us to see a fuller picture of the work of thy dear son and we can become a blessing to the whole world granted our God that through
us this little assembly thy name will be glorified and thy people will be blessed and that the world will get the message the message of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.