The Faithfulness of Abraham

The was originally preached as a sermon by Grant Troutt on December 10, 2023 as part of our Till He Appears series. You can watch video of the full sermon here.

Harris Creek, how we doing? It's good to be with you guys this morning. My name is Grant. If we have a Met yet, I get to serve here at this body on staff here and it is just a privilege. So my wife and I, we moved to Waco a little over a year ago and it was a week after we had gotten married and we really just kind of picked up our life, moved here to Waco and so we've started a family and started our marriage on this property here at Harris Creek and I'm just so thankful. I just want to say thank you right off the bat for everybody in this church and the leadership here because God has done so much in my life through this year. And I'm sure if you're married, you know that the first year of marriage is a lot of feels, man, you're learning a lot of new things for the first time.

Thank you just to Harris Creek for everything that you've just been for me and my wife. One of the biggest blessings for us is our newly married life group. Last Tuesday we got together and we're going through a book right now and it's called The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller. Phenomenal book. And one of the chapters that really stuck out to us was on love languages. And I don't know if you know this, but there's probably five or six love languages. And what it teaches you is that how you like to receive love is often how you like to extend love. It's really important in marriage that I realized I was not doing a good job on and it just reminded me about a conversation with my wife. And so if you've ever interacted with my wife Maddie, she can be a stern. I mean she has this kind of passionate sternness to her and I got the text that no husband wants to get and it's can we talk and no emojis, no nothing, just kind of the period can we talk?

And I'm like, alright, what happened? What did I do? I'm kind of going through my mind and I show up and she looks at me and just the sweetest face she goes, grant, I'm so thankful for all the notes you give me. And at this point my love language is words of affirmation. So I'm like, yes, fill my tank. How good am I doing? Little backstory, I love to write notes and I feel like I can kind of step into this Shakespeare kind of Bruno Mars. I'll catch a grenade, I'll step in front of the train. I love it. I feel alive because I love to receive words, therefore I love to give words. And Maddie looks at me and she's like, I love your words, I love them and I love how much you tell me you love me. And I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of waiting for the but.

And hey, I love that you say you trust me, but Grant, I hear that. I just want you to show me though. I hear that you love me. I hear that you think I'm beautiful, but what would really demonstrate that is if you showed me with your action and for that first kind of time period in marriage, I would tell her how much I loved her all the while the dishes in the trash aren't getting taken out or being done. And she said, grant, the way that you would show me I'm beautiful is if you would plan a date and ask me intentional questions. And that was a pivotal moment in our marriage because I realized that what I'm saying is not confirmed by what I'm doing. And I think a lot of us in this room tend to have a relationship with God that feels similar to that.

God, I love you. I love you so much. I trust you. I trust you with my life. And it's almost like there's this moment where God wants to kneel down with us in his might in power but his grace and go, I hear you, but would you show me that? And we're stepping into a story today looking at the life of Abraham and there's going to be a moment almost where God looks at Abraham and says, I hear what you've said, but today I'm going to ask you to demonstrate that love through action. And so we're going to be in Genesis 22 today and we're making our way through the series till he appears. And what's so beautiful about this series is that I used to think the Old Testament was just kind of a random collection of 39 books that had nothing to do with me in 2018.

Jesus radically changed my life. I was drinking and smoking. I actually went to jail for a night and then Jesus changed everything about my life. But I thought that my life in the Bible started in Matthew, mark, Luke, and John when Jesus appeared. And it wasn't until 2020 when I was doing a program called the Watermark Institute that I just began to learn the word. And what I learned is that everything in the Old Testament is actually connected and setting up the New Testament. So everything in the old actually holds hands with the new. And I remember just going, what are these stories? And the beautiful thing about this series is that what we're unpacking and unveiling in these characters and these moments in the Old Testament are actually all pointing to a coming savior Jesus Christ. So as you read the Old Testament, Jesus said all of that that Moses, the prophets and the poets wrote, it's all pointing to me.

Jesus said that. And so what we're going to look at today is a story about Abraham and Isaac and we're going to be talking about the faithfulness of Abraham and how he responded to the call of God. In this passage, we're going to see the test of Abraham Abraham's response to the test and ultimately the greater provision God offers. Abraham, before we jump in, we kind of just to give a recap of where we're at. So Genesis 12 is right after the Tower of Babel. Genesis 12 is where God chooses a man named Abraham. God chooses him and he institutes a covenant with Abraham. He says, Abraham, I am going to make you the father of my people Israel. The covenant has three parts, land, seed, and blessing. He says, Abraham, I'm going to give you the promised land. I'm going to give you more descendants than the grains of sand on the seashore and I'm going to bless all those that bless you and curse all those that curse you.

So that's the Abrahamic covenant. We see that all throughout the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament, which Paul brings up back in Romans in Genesis 15, God shows up to Abraham and it's been 10 years and he says, Abraham, you're going to have a son. And at this point Abraham is 85 years and he is going, there's no way. Fast forward to chapter 21, God is faithful to his promise and Isaac is born with Sarah. Here we have this story where God has already shown himself faithful to Abraham and flipped the chapter to chapter 22. We'll start in verse one after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son Isaac whom you love, and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Can you imagine this man waited 100 years for his son, God promised that his son would be the leader of the descendants of Israel through this son would be the promise. And right here, right now, God says, I know you waited. I want you to take him up a mountain and I want you to kill him and I want you to offer him to me.

What would you be feeling if you're Abraham? But we have the upper hand on Abraham in this one sense is that while Abraham is living and experiencing this, you and I are reading this and notice in verse one what it says After these things, God tested Abraham, if you are going to follow Yahweh, follow God. Your faith will be tested, your faith will be tested. And some of you right now may be in a test that feels similar to this where you're going, God, I don't know. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if what you're asking me right now, I don't know if I can lay this down. Point number one, for those who follow God, our faith will be tested. Attest always does two things. A test will always reveal what you truly know. So if college students' in the room or if you've ever taken a test, a test will reveal, did I study or did I not?

A test will reveal, do I know this or do I not? Or if you get your blood tested, a test will reveal what's truly inside of you. A test always reveal a test. Also always refines. We're stepping out of this series we just walked through for months, which was the first Peter series and we almost saw it on every page of the chapter. Your faith will be tested as steel is tested and sharpened as gold is tested and purified. So believer, your faith will be tested, says this in one Peter four 12, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Says this in James one, two, through three, count at all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Abraham was being tested. Why? To reveal what he truly believed and to refine what he knew he believed. Why are we tested? Why would God test us? Because he wants to reveal what's truly inside of us and he wants to strengthen that faith. That's what he does. That's what God does. And so at the core of this message, you can't help but read this. And as we're sitting here, we're going, so what is my Isaac, God, God, God. What would you ask of me that would devastate me to give you? What is that for you? Is that the reputation you've built up for so long that if God asked you to give that over, you're like, I can't. Is that your child's success? Is that the financial wealth that you've accumulated? What if he asked of all that? What would it be?

And as I wrote this message and prayed and thought about it, man, I think it sounds little bit more like this than this big Isaac that God is asking for. I think it sounds, I want you to lay down your pride. I want you to finally call your dad and ask him for forgiveness. We're going, God, what's my Isaac? Is it my company? Is it this relationship? God, what is it? I'll give it to you. We're so good at those big. He's like, no, no, no. I just want you to lay down your time. I just want you to spend more time with your kids and tell them you're proud of them. God. God, what is my Isaac? I'll lay it down. I won't ever do it again. No, I just want you to respect your husband. We're really good at being faithful to God at the things he hasn't asked of us all the while we disregard him and are unfaithful at the day-to-day moments that he's asking us to be faithful in. For some of us in this room, the Isaac that God is asking of you right now today is to finally confess that sin that you've been hiding from your spouse for so long or confess that thing that the enemy has told you. If you say it, people will back away from you and he is having a heyday in your life. What if God is saying, today is the day that I just want you to give that to me.

God tests our faith not because he wants to hurt us, but because he wants to strengthen our faith in him. I remember basketball being such an idol in my life and when I was six years old, I told my dad, I said, dad, all I want to do when I get older is play college basketball. And it really took on just a life of itself. I would travel the country and I worked hard every single day. It was just to be a basketball player and I didn't know it at the time, but it was completely who I was. And growing up in high school I had a lot of injuries. And so I sat out for six years straight with four back to back to back surgeries. And at that time I remember my heart getting hardened to God. God, if you loved me you would let me play.

And finally I made it to college at uc, Santa Barbara and I'm playing basketball and my dorm is on the beach. I'm not following Jesus, although I grew up in church and I just remember this moment where the doctor came to me and he said, Hey, we did an MRI of your hip and your bone on bone and your hip. You're chipping away bone every time you cut and every time you move, if you ever want to walk or play with your kids when you're older, you're done with basketball for forever tonight. And I remember going home to my dorm and it was about this time when I started watching a ministry online and I felt God calling me, but I wasn't ready yet. And I went home and it's like the Lord was simply going, grant, will you lay down basketball? Will you lay down that for me?

And that was the one thing that I was like, God, you cannot have that. You cannot have that. But God doesn't ask something of you to hurt you. He asks something of you to bless you for his glory and the good of others. And so I don't know what that is for you right now. I don't know if you've had that moment, but how do we prepare our hearts to be able to walk in obedience if God asks something of us, you posture your heart like Abraham and you respond with three words. Here I am what God called Abraham. In verse one, he said, Abraham, he said, here I am. That word in the Greek is HeNe. It means certainly or surely. So when God called Abraham, he said Abraham, he said, certainly Abraham, surely why could Abraham be so sure about that? Because Abraham had seen in Genesis 12 when God asked him to leave all of his family, all of his friends, all of his father's blessing, and he went to where God called him to, God was faithful there.

God was with him there in chapter 21. Abraham was a hundred years old and he had a miracle child. God showed up for Abraham. So now in 22, when God says Abraham, he says certainly, and I just want to ask, do we have a, here I am posture. When God calls our name, do we have here I am Christians that when God calls us, we go, certainly, I don't know what it is and it may sound really, really scary, but as I look back, you have never failed me yet. You have never failed me yet.

What is that for you in your life right now? What would God ask of you? And I just want to ask, do we have available Christians? Do we have here I am Christians, your faith will be tested to reveal and refine what you believe about God. Let's keep reading verse three. So after that, ask that crazy ass Abraham rose Early in the morning he 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 in a rose 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, who's got to be questioning everything, said to his father, Abraham, my father. And he said, here I am my son. He said, behold the fire in the wood, but where's the lamb for a burn offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burn offering my son. So they went both of them together. How do I know if I have faith? How do I quantify if I have faith? Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever asked yourself, how do you know if you have faith? I can tell you, you can know if you have faith when you look at your feet because faith is always followed by footsteps. Faith is always confirmed by movement. Faith is never stagnant. Verse three, so Abraham rose, he took his son, Isaac took the two on a donkey and he went, faith is confirmed by action, which is point number two.

Faith in God is followed by obedience to God. Jesus makes this clear in John 14 verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will obey me. And a lot of us are really, really good at I love you, I love you, I love you. Jesus says, if you do, then your life will reflect that you do. So what does our fruit look like? How are we obeying what God has called us to walk in? What is your faithful step? Is it to just write a note during the holidays to every family member to encourage them with the verse? And I know that'd be super weird for a lot of us in our families. What's that small step? Because I think when we're like, God, what's my Isaac? He's like, why didn't you share the gospel with your server at dinner last night? He's like, I'm not asking that right now. I just want you when you walk to HEB to actually obey the nudge you feel when I say go tell them about me.

Faith in God is followed by obedience to God. If you want to know if you love God, very simple litmus test, do you obey him? What does our alcohol consumption look like? How is our sexual purity? How are we obeying him? And by the way, he's not a mad God. He's a good God to remind everybody this morning of his character slow to anger, abounding and steadfast love. I don't know what you're in here with. I don't know if it's your first time in church in a long time. God is not a God that has George Washington hair with the judge going, I'm waiting for you to mess up. He's a loving father that bends down with a twinkle in his eyes and he says, I'm here. Would you come to me? I know what's best for you. I'm not going to ask you to do something to hurt you.

And so why are we so afraid of hearing what God wants to ask of us? Because we do not trust his character. If you're Abraham in this moment and God says, I need you to go kill your son, if you don't trust God's character, there's no way you'll obey him. When we are asked to do something that feels scary, we have got to draw upon the character of God when it makes no sense. I know that you are good and that you work all things for the good of those who love me. So in your moment, in your situation right now, draw upon his character and you remember what he's done for you, he will always provide for his children.

Abraham knew God would because he knew God could. There's a recent story I heard about members of this body, Harris Creek, and we were all together as a staff and one of our coworkers was telling this story. He's helping out with passion of God, which is a ministry all about explaining God's heart for the nations. And one of the application steps was that there are many international students that come over and live in Waco and one of the needs that we can actually offer is to house them. And so you have this empty nester couple that is wanting to learn more about God's heart for the nations. And there's an email sent out right after the class and it just says, Hey guys, this is a long shot. But there's a girl from Italy that was planning on moving here and her host home actually fell through.

She has nowhere to stay. And this couple responded the first one to the email and they just said, Hey, we've got to open room, we can do it. And my friend was telling the story and he said, are you sure? Hey, it's not just a few months, it's actually through the summer. It is a while. And they're like, no question. We got it. We're in. And my friend said, so I finally called them and I just said, why are you so in? How could you be so ready? And they just said, Hey, if we're going to read about it and we're going to pray about it, we want to be about it. We don't want our faith just to have a mouthpiece but to have legs. Our faith is confirmed by obedience. And that encourages me. That's a here I am, Christian, I'm available and I'm ready to follow.

And guess what a, here I am, Christian is never allowed to stay comfortable. What's so hard about America? That's what's so hard about Christianity is that we just love to stay comfortable. We want to follow God the best way we can while staying the most comfortable we can. And God says they cannot coexist. If you want to follow me, Jesus says, you'll deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. A here I am Christian is never allowed to stay comfortable, but it is always worth it because here's the thing, we are either living for this world or the next if we are living for this world, I am the biggest fool in this room up here on the stage. If this is it, if we are living for this world, but if we're living for the next, he is worth it. He's worth it to get uncomfortable because he loves us. Are you storing up treasure for yourself here or in heaven?

Faith in God is followed by obedience to God. So a lot of us we're hearing this grant, that's great, but I just can't get past why God would ask him to kill his son. Like what? It doesn't sit right with me. Let's keep reading. Let's see what God does. 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, 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, you see this response, here I am. 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 up his eyes, looked and behold behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his thorns, 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 Jehovah Gyra as it is said to this day on the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. Do you see what God does? Do you see what God did for Abraham? This story is not about Abraham's faithfulness to God. It is about God's faithfulness to Abraham and to you and to me because this story actually is not pointing to the ram. It's actually all pointing to Jesus Christ. Everything about this story is pointing us to what we're about to celebrate in a couple of weeks. The coming Savior, the lamb that was to be sacrificed for our sins. Look at this.

Isaac was a miracle child, born of the promise of God. Jesus was a miracle child conceived of the Holy Spirit. Isaac was the one and only son whom he loved. Jesus was the one and only son whom the father loved. Isaac wrote in on a donkey to be sacrificed. Jesus wrote in on a donkey to Jerusalem to be sacrificed. Isaac carried the wood for his sacrifice up the mountain. Jesus carried the wooden cross for his sacrifice up the mountain. And right before Abraham slaughters at his son, God looks at him, he looks up and there is a silent ram caught in a thicket of thorns around his head waiting to be sacrificed. This is all about Jesus. This is all pointing to Jesus. And that's what makes the Old Testament come to life. And that is why we celebrate Christmas because God didn't say, I want you to kill your son.

God said, I will offer mine to be sacrificed for you and for me. God didn't ask Abraham to kill his son. God gave his son to be killed for the forgiveness of sins. And if that's not it, that's not enough to convince you. This is about Jesus. 2000 years later on that same mountain range, Jesus would be lifted up on a cross on the mountain Jehovah Gyre and be crucified for you and for me. That is what he does for us. That is who He is. And if you don't know that Jesus, you have not started to live yet I was dead and now I'm alive. Don't know how else to explain it. My friends will come to me and they're, look, grant, what happened to you? Are you some like, are you religious now? I heard you have a caller and stuff and there's just no category for what I'm doing right now.

And I'm like, no, no, no, no. All I know John 9 25 is that I was blind. And now I see, I don't know a time, but I encountered Jesus and he changed everything. And so do you know him? A lot of us know him. Do you know him? Has he changed everything about your life? And as we get near Christmas, it's why we anticipate it because we didn't have to sacrifice ourselves. The innocent lamb stepped in and said, I will take the sacrifice. Jesus came while we were still sinners, while we were stuck in our most dark secret sin. Jesus saw that moment. Think about your worst moment ever. He opens the door, he looks at you and sees you and he says, you are worth it. And as they nail my hands to this cross, as I bleed out, I'm going to hang on so that you can let go.

And if that is true, if Jesus is true and this is real, then I cannot operate in my life without telling everybody I come into contact with. The application of this is to one, posture our hearts. Two, be obedient. But three, simply say, thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. He's so good to us. And so in summary, what we see from this story is that our faith will be tested. And if you're in a test right now, how do we prepare our hearts to be obedient it? We say, Lord, I'm available. I don't know how it's going to happen, but I'm available. Faith in God is followed by obedience to God. What is your next step? What can we do just like Abraham when we don't understand it? I don't know how God's going to provide, but I know he's going to because he's good.

And point number three, God faithfully provided for the sacrifice to wrap up just kind of thinking about everything just with my wife. And she kind of had this moment with me and she was just like, grant, will you show me? Will you show me? And I think there's just a lot of people in here that could be feeling like God is asking you to just show him you love him. And that's not the point of this message. The point of this message is that while we're sitting in here and during the holiday season, it can also be a really hard time for a lot of people. God is saying, I will show you by my action how much I love you. How much are you worth His very own son? And as we're about to sing this song, I want you to have a moment with God. And as we sing these words, he is showing you that He went and he took that step to show you he loved you. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, lemme pray.

Father God, you are in every page of our Old Testament all pointing to your son Jesus. And so Father, thank you for the Bible that we get to read it and we get to know it and love it. And Father, I pray that it would change us. And Lord, as we gear up for this holiday season, I pray that we would just take a moment to recognize why we celebrate Christmas because you sent your son Jesus. And Lord, I know that I have sinned so much against you, but you promised me that on that cross every ounce of it was paid for. And so remind the person in the room that is questioning if they're forgiven, that they are forgiven indeed, that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And remind us that you've given us authority over death because you came. Jesus. Thank you for the story of Abraham and Isaac to encourage our faith, but also to point to the lamb with the crown of thorns that said, I will take your place, Jesus move in our hearts and your name. Amen.