Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 22:1-19

Theme: God reveals the authenticity of our faith by testing it, and we authenticate our faith by being obedient to the will of god.

Date: 06/01/14 File name: Patriarch_Lessons_04-2022.wpd ID Number: 60

This morning we look at the Binding of Isaac.

You will notice that this portion of Scripture is really just as much about Abraham as it is Isaac.

In fact, this is the only glimpse of Isaac that we are going to examine in this series on the Patriarchs.

This event, by far, is the most important story in the life of Isaac; and it doesn’t take much thought to figure out why.

To our modern minds this passage is, at the very least confounding, and at the very worst offensive.

In this account, Abraham is told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering.

Immediately everything inside of us wonders how God could demand such a thing.

This is one of those stories that unbelievers and atheists pounce on in order to attack belief in God as unreasonable superstition.

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University, and perhaps the most outspoken atheist of our time.

In 2006 he authored a book entitled The God Delusion in which he contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion.

Based partly on the passage before us he concludes: “The God of the Old Testament is jealous, petty, unjust, unforgiving, revengeful; a bloodthirsty racist, a hater of women, fearful of homosexuals, a baby killer, a mass murderer, someone who commands people to kill their own children, having an inflated ego while enjoying watching others endure pain.

He is a mean-hearted, evil bully and loves himself for it.

I cannot imagine a more twisted and erroneous understanding of God.

But that’s what certain intellectuals believe about our God.

And this story is one of the accounts they use to justify their view.

So we must take great care in understanding, interpreting, and applying it.

Let’s read the passage first, then we will see if the God Dawkins sees is really there.

And if not (and most of us are already assuming not), what does this actually tell us about God?

[Genesis 22:1-19]

What I want you to notice right off the bat here is that God never intended for Abraham to kill Isaac.

Even Abraham seems to recognize this.

In verse 8 Abraham tells Isaac, “God will provide for himself the lamb ... .”

The word provide is the Hebrew word to see to or to reveal.

Here’s what Abraham is saying, “My son, you can’t see the lamb.

I can’t see the lamb.

But God will see to the lamb.

God has no desire for Abraham to commit filicide.

In other words, He doesn’t want to see Abraham kill his own son.

Jewish theologians believe the Binding of Isaac actually demonstrates to the Jews that human sacrifice is abhorrent to God.

What God wants to see is Abraham’s faith, which was credited to him as righteousness, in action.

So he asks Abraham to do the most unimaginable thing we could think of in order to reveal the genuineness of Abraham’s faith.

And that is the first thing we should notice about this passage:

I. GOD REVEALS THE AUTHENTICITY OF OUR FAITH BY TESTING IT

“Some time later God tested Abraham.

He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.””

(Genesis 22:1–2, NIV)

1. the first verse of Genesis 22 is very important

a. it says that God tested Abraham

2. Moses, the author of this account gives us an explanatory statement before the story begins

a. it’s almost as if Moses knows the story is going to raise eyebrows, so he helps us out

1) he gives us information that Abraham didn’t have

b. he tells us that what God is doing is testing Abraham’s faith

3. that’s comforting for those who read the story, but there is no such explanation from God to Abraham

a. but when the command comes, Abraham goes

1) why?

b.

Abraham took refuge in the character of God

“Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked!

Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”” (Genesis 18:25, ESV)

1) that’s Abraham speaking to God back in Genesis 18

2) Abraham knows Who his God is ... he knows what His promises are ... Abraham knows Yahweh’s character and he knows Yahweh’s record and says, “OK.

I’ll do it”

A. TESTED FAITH IS A PERFECTED FAITH

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1, NIV)

1. in both Old and New Testaments, God demands holiness in the lives of His followers

a. “Be ye holy because I am holy” is God’s admonition to all those who would call upon His grace and seek His face

2. God makes us holy through the redemptive work of his Son

a. but sanctification remains a continuous process in which believers must assiduously apply themselves to fostering practical holiness of heart and life

1) this is what the Apostle Paul refers to when he writes perfecting holiness out of reverence for God

b. our holiness is accentuated when we respond by faith to the life-situations we providentially find ourselves in

c.

God uses all kinds of day-to-day experiences to test our faith

1) some trials are small, even trivial events

ILLUS.

Flying is an experience that always tests my faith.

I can’t say that I’m afraid of flying, but neither can I say it’s my favorite experience in life.

There is that moment in every flight when my heart sings “My Faith Looks up to Thee” because my rational mind is saying, “If we were meant to fly, God would have given us wings!”

The faith-moment for me comes when that Boeing 737 begins hurtling down the runway and 87 tons of metal, plastic, fuel and human beings begins to lift up into the air when it reaches 160 mph.

Some of you know that moment of hesitancy when the thrust of the engines begins to lift the plane, but the moment those wheels leave the ground, gravity says, “No you don’t!” and you can ever-so-briefly feel the reluctance of that huge object to actually defy gravity.

At that moment — and usually just for a few seconds — my mind contemplates the Newton’s primary law, and my faith says, “Lord, I’m in your hands.”

2) other trials can be serious, life-altering events

3. this test of Abraham’s faith is an example of a serious, life-altering event

a. having sent Ishmael away with Hagar, Abraham now has only one son, Isaac; and the future of the covenant promise rested with him

1) he was the promised child that God gave to Abraham and Sarah in their old age by a supernatural work

b. all of the promises of God were to come to pass, according to God himself, through Isaac and his seed

“Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

(Genesis 17:19 (NIV)

4. killing Isaac would, seemingly, ruin everything

a. so there IS no greater thing God could have asked Abraham to do than to sacrifice his son Isaac

ILLUS.

Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes this in his commentary on the Pentateuch: “Our faith is not really tested until God asks us to bear what seems unbearable, do what seems unreasonable, and expect what seems impossible.

We need to understand that God does to us what he did here to Abraham.

He tests us through various difficulties and trials.

He does this, according to James 1, in order to perfect our character and our faith.

And according to 1 Peter 1, that perfected, genuine faith will glorify Jesus Christ when he returns to this earth.”

b. for most of us, this is not a new concept, but it is one we quickly forget or fail to apply

1) we want the good life 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

2) we want our lives to be the big easy; indeed some pastors will actually promise you ‘your best life now’ ... all you have to do is buy their book from Amazon.com at $15.99 to find out how

a) and sometimes life is easy ... sometimes it flows peaceably along

b) sometimes we go through periods when it seems like nothing is going wrong

c. but most of us know, that’s just temporary, because our lives will be flipped upside down at some point

1) but we learn more about who we are and what our faith is all about when the big easy is flipped upside down

B. A TESTED FAITH IS A PERSEVERING FAITH