Heb 11:17-19 Trust and Obey
Notes
Transcript
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
17 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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Recently I came across this story about a tourist that came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side. He was fortunate enough to grab hold of a bush on the way down. Filled with terror, he called out toward heaven, "Is there anyone up there?" A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, "Yes, there is." The tourist pleaded, "Can you help me? Can you help me?" The calm voice replied, "Yes, I most certainly can.” “Good, what should I do?” the tourist said. The voice said, “Let go of the bush and I will catch you!” There was a tense pause, then the tourist yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?"
In this story, because the instruction seemed illogical the tourist chose to not trust or obey. Today we come to the section of Scripture where it describes another seemingly illogical instruction to Abraham, but he chose to trust and obey.
Last week we were studying v 13-16 and we saw that the heart of faith according to Hebrews is a greater desire for God. When you want something so badly you will go to any extreme to obtain what you want, if you want to climb Mount Everest, you will have to spend a lot of money and a lot of energy and risk your life, but if you truly want it, you will pay the price.
If you love pickles, you did consider a little embarrassment in order to get it and have a taste of it. As you tasted the pickles last Sunday, many of you might attest that it was worth the humiliation of doing the chicken dance. Do not worry I’m not going to ask you to do that dance again, but if I do in the future, I’ll be the first one to do it.
The whole point of the humiliation was to point out that when we desire something we make a fool of ourselves, if necessary, in order to obtain what we desire, what we love, especially if it is something that is highly valuable.
When it comes to God, God’s absolute being means that he is the most important and most valuable reality and the most important and most valuable person in the universe. Therefore, if we desire God, He is worthy of everything and anything.
It is in this context that Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34-36 make perfect sense, Jesus said:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?”
Following Christ demands a radical life because He is worthy. If we are following Christ, we are sojourners and exiles on this earth, and we are willing to give up, to sacrifice what we love the most, because our love, our desire for God is even greater than our love for anything or anyone else. That is exactly what we see in v 17- 19 as the author of Hebrews turns back again to Abraham.
17 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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
17 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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
These verses are the last account of Abraham’s faith. Considering all the people that the author of Hebrews mentions it is quite astonishing that Abraham takes so much of the description. As we have seen before, Abraham is an important figure, or model of faith, to both Jews and Gentiles.
Here v 17-19 gives the account of Abraham and his readiness to sacrifice his “only son” Isaac, whom God had designated as the offspring through whom all of his promises would be fulfilled. These verses are recounting the event that is found in Gen 22. Just as a quick side note. In many ways, the book of Hebrews makes so many references to the Old Testament that I love to study it because it is such a great book to study and review a lot of the Old Testament.
But, back to Hebrews 11:17-19 in the account of the sacrifice of Isaac, the author of Hebrews in many ways underscores the gravity of the test of Abraham’s faith in God. The main point is the result of Abraham’s trust and obedience when everything seemed contrary to what God had promised.
However, there are so many aspects of this that must have been extremely difficult for Abraham to trust and obey God. First, in v17 it mentions twice that Abraham offered Isaac. The word “offered” is a very specific word in the original language that is associated with sacrificial bloodshed. There was no doubt in Abraham’s mind of what God was asking him to do, Abraham took a knife with him and wood, and God’s test to Abraham meant that he had to act upon what he was told.
Second, our author describes Isaac as Abraham’s only son, at this point following the Hebrew text of Gen 22. Although Ishmael had been born to Abraham and the slave Hagar, Isaac was Abraham’s only son from the standpoint of God’s covenant promises. Later in life, after Sarah died Abraham had another wife and other sons and daughters as well. However, the promise and the covenant were very specific to the only son from Abraham and Sarah, who was born when Abraham and Sarah were as good as a dead couple.
Third, Isaac’s indispensability to God’s good purpose is reinforced by the description of his father as he who had received the promises and by the quotation of God’s designation of Isaac, not Ishmael, as the son through whom Abraham’s offspring would be named. Abraham knew very clearly that the promises and the many descendants as many as the stars of heaven were going to come through Isaac.
Therefore, to obey God’s command that Isaac be slain so young, before marrying or fathering children, would put all God’s promises, offspring, land, and blessing to all nations, in jeopardy. All the promises were dependent on the existence of Isaac. Abraham and Sarah believed in the promise of many descendants, they greeted them from afar, by seeing the one son that was born when Sarah was past the age, and even now the little bit they could see, and hope would be taken away. The only thing they could rely on was that God had spoken, and they believed in Him.
So, how could Abraham’s faithful God issue such a death sentence after issuing such promises? We have the advantage point of looking back and knowing the end of the story and knowing that it was pointing to God offering His only Son for our sake, as a substitute sacrifice. However, for Abraham, it was much more difficult because he didn’t know the end, by faith he obeyed God even if it didn’t make sense. He had to trust that God was much wiser and greater than anything Abraham could see with his physical eyes. Furthermore, even after God provided the substitute sacrifice for Isaac, Abraham didn’t know the full story of why God asked him to offered up Isaac. Abraham had to trust God even after he obeyed.
The author of Hebrews unfolds Abraham’s reasoning in how to reconcile God’s promises with God’s direction to offer up Isaac. It says in v 19 that “He considered that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead”.
This conviction must have been what Abraham hoped and believed before he went to offer his son because Abraham said this to the servants when he and Isaac had left at the foot of the mountain: he said “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you” The verbs will go, worship and come again are plural. We miss this plural sense of the word in our translation, but in the original language, it makes it clear that Abraham was saying that he and his son were going to ascend the mountain, worship, and return together.
The apostle Paul observed that Abraham had already experienced God’s imparting life to the dead in the conception of Isaac from Abraham’s own dead body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb in Rom 4:19. At Mount Moriah, Abraham reasoned that nothing less than God’s power to raise the dead could reconcile Isaac’s early death and the promises God had entrusted in that only son.
Abraham was spared fatherly anguish, and his son the blade of death, through the Lord’s provision of a substitute sacrifice. So it was that Abraham figuratively did receive his son back from the dead, foreshadowing not only physical revivifications later in the OT but also, supremely, the resurrection of God’s Son, brought again from the dead to be our Great High Priest forever. To be our substitute sacrifice so we can be reconciled, forgiven, and adopted as sons and daughters of the King of the Universe.
There is a clear application for us today from the example of Abraham’s faith. We are not living in the same period in history as the time of God’s covenant with Abraham, we are heading towards the end, or the consummation of all things and Christ's return. Therefore, God is not going to ask of us the same as He asked of Abraham.
However, Abraham’s faith and obedience are still an encouragement to us and an example as well. You will not have to offer up your only son.
However, what is one thing that you love the most in this world?
What is that if you lose you couldn’t live without?
What is the one thing if God would ask you to offer you would have a really hard time giving up?
What God could ask you that you will think “no He can’t ask me to give this up”?
What is it that you love the most?
What could you not live without?
For some, it might be their health, their retirement, their savings account, their car, or their house. It might be your loved ones, or maybe you are thinking no God cannot ask me to forgive that person. I cannot show love and grace to this person, they hurt me too much. It might be your dream, what you have worked hard for your entire life.
What if you desired to climb Mt Everest, you spent all the money and time working hard to achieve what you really wanted, then you get to the bottom of the Mountain and God says don’t do it.
For Abraham, it was his only son, the son of the promise, the only hope Abraham had that God was going to keep His promise. I don’t know what God is asking you, it is between you and God. But, know this: He is worthy, all the trouble and suffering in this life are going to be nothing compared to knowing Jesus.
Paul said in Phillippians 3:8-11 “8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
If you are at the bottom of the mountain and everything seems like just perfect, all open doors. However, if it seems God is telling you to not go, then don’t do it, it is better to trust and obey God.
What it feels to me like many years ago, when I was finishing up my undergrad studies in Forestry Engineering. I had an opportunity to do a Master’s in that field in Vienna Austria. Everything was just perfect, it would not even cost me anything, I had obtained scholarships, and everything was just so perfect. However, it hadn’t been many years since I started following Jesus, so I knew I had to ask God for direction, and I had a sense God was telling me no, but that didn’t make sense to me, it was too illogical to say no to such an offer. In my mind, everything was so perfect, so I couldn’t say no.
After several months, everything was lined up. I had my passport, flight tickets, enrollment, a scholarship, and a place to stay. I just had to wait a few months before boarding and embark on an exciting new journey.
Then only a couple months away from my departure everything fell flat. There was a change in the program, there was an unexpected change in the scholarship and my dream was dashed to pieces. It took me about 6 months to deal with my disappointment and try to figure out what I was going to do instead. However, one thing became very clear from that experience. Early on I asked God, and I didn’t listen to Him, I would have saved a lot of headaches if I had just done what seemed crazy and illogical, I should have just trusted and obeyed God.
I don’t think I would have been here today if I had taken the path that I had created for myself and my future. However, through that, I learned the hard way that is better to submit to God, even when it hurts and is hard. Trust and obey there is no other way, it is always the better choice, even when it seems illogical.
It is better to consider, to remember that God can do the impossible, but He will keep His word. He doesn’t ask us to figure it out or to understand how everything is going to work. He doesn’t ask us to know all the little next steps to follow God’s direction.
All that God is asking us is to trust Him, trust who He is, trust in His Word. God is going to do His part, our part is to be dependent on Him. To rest in Him, knowing that if we love Jesus, we will trust and obey and He will take care of us.
It is for our encouragement today, that God has given us this text about Abraham, so we would be encouraged and emboldened to trust God. Abraham gives us an example of someone who fully trusted and obeyed God in the worst possible scenario, the most impossible situation. Abraham didn’t know all the “whys” and “hows”, he focused his mind and heart on remembering who God is, what He can do, and how powerful He is.
My plan for this sermon was to cover until v22. However, it seemed that God wanted me to focus only on these verses and that we are called to trust and obey, just like Abraham was. Our job is to trust and obey, there is no better way. I don’t know what God is asking of you specifically, what He is asking you to trust Him and obey. Just ask God and He will bring it to your mind. God might bring someone across your path and you might feel God’s prompting to share about Jesus, Don’t ignore it but be quick to do it. If you feel like you don’t know how even to start, or what to say I encourage you to come this coming Saturday to the training that we will have in the morning, I’m confident that you will be emboldened and better equipped to be a witness for Christ in this dying world.
Whatever God is asking you, don’t look at the circumstances, but fix your eyes on Jesus and who God is, remember that God is utterly independent, that the entire universe depends on God for its existence;
God does whatever he pleases, and it is always right, always beautiful, and always in accord with truth. There are no constraints on him from outside him that could hinder him from doing anything he pleases. All reality that is outside of him he created and designed and governs. So he is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from the counsel of his own will.
God’s absolute being means that he is the most important and most valuable reality and the most important and most valuable person in the universe. He is more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all other realities, including the entire universe.
This is the God we need to keep your eyes fixed, our job is trust Him and Obey him.
Trust and obey; For there's no other way; To be happy in Jesus; But to trust and obey
When we walk with the Lord; In the light of His Word; What a glory He sheds on our way; While we do His good will; He abides with us still; And with all who will trust and obey
Verse 2
Not a shadow can rise; Not a cloud in the skies; But His smile quickly drives it away; Not a doubt nor a fear; Not a sigh nor a tear; Can abide while we trust and obey
Verse 3
But we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay; For the favor, He shows and the joys he bestows are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet; We will sit at His feet; Or we’ll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do; Where He sends we will go; Never fear only trust and obey
Trust and obey; For there's no other way; To be happy in Jesus; But to trust and obey