Lessons of Faith From Abraham's Life

Actually, last Sabbath I began in the Rome congregation. I'm working toward the Passover and continue that today. Brother, why do we sometimes feel that spiritually we seem to make so little progress?

Why do we seem to have the same spiritual weaknesses, faults, problems, hang-ups year after year? All of us have certain things that we wish we could overcome. We thought maybe we had overcome and they still sort of hang around. And maybe that doesn't apply to you, but I think for most of us it's something that we truly do struggle with.

Why do we constantly seem to be going through tests, trials, difficulties, problems? What are we supposed to be learning? We know that the Bible, this book, was written for us to learn from. And there's so much of the Bible that is written that's history, examples. We have the examples of the patriarchs. We have Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 2 Samuel, Kings, Chronicles. We have all of these books. We have the prophets.

Much of it talks about individuals, their lives, what they went through. We have their good examples. We have their bad examples. We learn from the good. We learn from the bad. The examples in the Bible are there for us to learn so that we can not make the same mistakes or that we can follow the right examples.

We have a responsibility as we approach the Passover to really scrutinize our spiritual condition, but it's something that we should be doing all year long. We just wait once a year to look at ourselves. It could be too late. We need to be examining ourselves all the time. The Scriptures imply, obviously, that we should do this prior to the Passover, but it's something that we should be doing on a constant basis.

By inspecting ourselves, we have a greater awareness of what Jesus Christ has done for us, how He intervenes on our behalf, and why we truly do need forgiveness. We become much more aware of that. We also realize that God is testing us and that we need to put ourselves also to the test. You stop and think that there are times that we go through the same like a flurry of trials testing, and then there are other times that it's not as bad.

How do we stand before God? What is your spiritual condition? Let's take a searching look at 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. This is a verse that we could actually spend the whole sermon on. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5, but if we did, we wouldn't go very far. But I want you to notice there are three things highlighted here that you and I need to be looking at.

This is something that we need to do not only at the Passover. The Passover is a good time to be focusing on this, but it's something we need to do all year long. We're told, number one, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. So we need to know, are we truly in the faith? Are we truly in the church? Are we truly converted the way that we should be? And then it goes on to say, test yourselves or other translations. Prove yourself. Put yourself to the test. Prove yourself. Do you not know yourself that Jesus Christ is in you?

So we are told that we need to know, truly, that God's Spirit is in us, that Christ is living his life within us. So we're told to examine, to test or prove, and to know. These are critical issues. We need to understand the tests that we go through. In a book titled Be Obedient by W. W. Wearsby published by Victor Books, he gives an outline of the trials and the tests that Abraham went through.

Now, I don't think we necessarily just need his book to do that, but I thought he laid it out in a way that was very helpful. Abraham is cited in the Bibles as the father of the faithful. And what that means, he is the father of those who are full of faith. That's what faithful means. Full of faith. You and I have faith. He is one of the faithful, and he's the father. He's an outstanding example of faith, but we need to realize that Abraham grew in faith, and there were times that he wasn't always as strong as he should have been.

There were times that he failed lessons. There were times that he passed those lessons. So when you begin to look at the school of faith, and all of us are in school, all of us are having to learn faith. At the age of 75, Abraham enrolled in the school of faith. Even when he was over a hundred, he was still being tested and going through experiences. And what you discover is that, like Abraham, we never get too old to face challenges.

We're never too old to fight new battles, to learn new truths, to grow, to progress, because Abraham certainly had to do it. When we stop learning, when we stop growing, we slow down our spiritual development. And we all want to be in God's kingdom. That's God's purpose for us. In the Bible, in Genesis 22, as we will see as we progress through this sermon, Abraham's life builds up to Genesis 22, and it records the greatest test that Abraham ever faced. It pictures the fact that he had to offer his son. And that, we know, is a picture of what Jesus Christ did for us, his son.

But the main lesson that Abraham had to learn out of that was obedience and faith, that he had to be willing to do what God said. God allows trials, he allows tests. Why? Because he wants us in his family, he wants us in the kingdom. And he knows that there's certain character that you and I have to develop to be there. Back up to 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27. And we find a very interesting scripture that I think sets the tone for what we want to cover today.

This is talking about the Passover and getting ready for the Passover, being prepared for the Passover. Verse 27 says, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, and a wrong manner, remember some of them were getting drunk, some of them were eating a meal, others went without, so they were certainly not observing it in a proper mode or manner. We'll be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord, but let a man examine himself.

So we're told, examine yourself, look at yourself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Now many read that scripture and say, oh, I've examined myself, I'm so unworthy I can't take the Passover. That's not what it says. It says, examine yourself, then take it.

So the examination is not to get you not to take it, but to help you to be in the right frame of mind to take it. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. So when you take that little piece of bread that symbolizes Christ's broken body, and you drink the wine which symbolizes His shed blood, you have to discern what that means and what it means to you personally, not to somebody else, but to you.

Otherwise we bring judgment on ourselves. And he goes on to show what happened. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Many were dead because they had not done this. For if we would judge ourselves, in other words, correct yourself, examine yourself, we would not be judged. If you correct yourself, you don't have to be corrected or judged. But when we are judged, so there are times that we will be judged or corrected, we are chastened by the Lord. Why? That we may not be condemned with the world.

That's why God does not want us to be condemned. God has to prove us. God must know something about each one of us. He must know that we will obey Him, no matter what the circumstances, that we will put God before any other human being, before wealth, before position, before power, prestige, it doesn't matter what it is, that God comes first. So let's take a look, and we're going to find that most of this sermon is going to be based around Abraham, his life, some of the trials and the tests that he went through. Let's take a look at Abraham's life and the tests that he went through and some of the lessons that you and I can learn from that, and that we need to be learning as we approach the Passover season.

One of the big lessons that Abraham had to learn, and we do, is that life will be full of tests, some of them of our own making, some of them we bring on ourselves, and others will be tests from God. In the school of faith, we will have occasional tests. Remember going to school? Some of you still remember.

You're in school. You study a course, study a lesson. Always somewhere after you've studied it, the teacher says, okay, now we're going to give you a test. And why are you being tested? To see what you learn. Did you learn it? Did you get it? Well, you and I go through life. We experience life. We live. And occasionally there comes a test. And God says, have they gotten it? Are they stronger? Do they have the character? Are they up to par?

Where do they stand? What is their heart like? What is their mind, attitude like? And so we go through the school of faith. God is hoping we pass the test. Pass enough tests, you move up. You go to the next grade. And it always gets a little more difficult as you move along. Abraham had his share of tests right from the very beginning. Let's go back to chapter 11 of the book of Genesis, beginning in verse 31.

Genesis chapter 11. And we will begin in verse 31. Let's notice one of the first tests that are revealed in the Bible about Abraham. Since Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abraham's wife, and they went out with them from Ur, the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. Now why were they headed for the land of Canaan? Well, chapter 12, verse 11. Now the Lord had said to Abram, well where did he say this? Well, when he was in Ur, the Chaldeans, get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

Now let's stop and think about this. This is, if you want to summarize it, a family test. He had to leave his loved ones behind. God says, get out of your country. Now most of us have never had to leave our country. Turn our back on where we've lived and go to a different country. You know, that's just something we haven't done. You know, God said, okay, I want you to move to Haiti, or I want you to move to Zimbabwe, or you where it might be. And you say, yes, Lord, and you go there. You leave your children, you leave your grandchildren, you leave your parents, you leave your grandparents, your uncles, your aunts, you know, whoever.

This is what happened to Abraham and Sarah. They had to leave, turn their back. He had to pass his test. Abraham was willing to give up family, leave his country, and go to where God said to go. I think many are failing that test today. You know, people are not always willing to give up what God may be some time. Not that He always asks them to give it up.

You remember when you were baptized, Luke 14.26? We always read that scripture. Luke 14.26. Anyone who loves father or mother, sister or brother, his wife or his own life also more than we love God is not worthy of God.

That we have to love God more. And you know, that's right up front that you have to make that decision. Right up front, you said before you were even baptized, I will. Right up front, Abraham had to show God not only that he said, I will do it, he did it. There's a little difference there. We say, yes, I'll do it, hoping that we're never faced with it, but he had to do it. And so he passed the family test, so to speak. He was tested. He obeyed God. He was willing to do it. And God tells him in verses 2 and 3 that if he does so, he'll make him a great nation. All the families of the earth would be blessed through him. So verse 4, Abraham departed. Notice what it says. Very simple. He departed as the Lord had spoken to him. God said, do it, he did it.

And Lot went with him, and Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And they took all of their possessions, and they came to the land of Canaan. Now, this was followed by another test. Let's notice over here in verse 10. Now, I don't know if it's fair to say that Abraham failed the test by not trusting God to take care of him in Canaan, but notice the story. Now, there was a famine in the land in the land, and Abraham went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. Now, sometimes one decision you make leads to you having to make another decision. So he's going into Egypt, and he gets down there, and he begins to think, uh-oh, I've got this beautiful wife over here. And what are they going to do to me? You'll see here in verse 11. He came to pass, and he got close to entering Egypt. He said to Sarai, his wife, indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. Therefore, it will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say, this is his wife, and they'll kill me. Now, you know, you can just hear Abraham saying, you don't want me dead, do you, Sarai? And of course, she said no. Well, verse 13, please say you are my sister. So they go into Egypt. And it was when Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. So she had to be a knockout, you know, just a gorgeous lady. And the princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. She became a part of his harem.

And he rewarded Abram very well for her. But verse 17, the Lord plagued Pharaoh, and Pharaoh called Abram and said, what is this you have done? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Now, did he lack a little faith in this situation? Well, first of all, I don't know if he could have stayed in Canaan or not, but he didn't trust God for protection when he went into Egypt. He worked things out. One decision leads to another decision, and led to a test that he did not pass. How often do we doubt God's ability to supply food, to supply clothing, to supply shelter, and to protect us? What does Matthew 6.33 say?

Seek you first the kingdom of God in his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. So, do we truly believe that? Do we really trust God? So, he was faced with a problem here, and in this case, he stumbled. So, even though Abraham is the father of the faithful, you find that he was tested on many occasions, and he didn't always pass with flying colors. Does that remind you of anybody? How about you, me, us?

We don't always pass with flying colors either, do we? We find sometimes we stumble.

Now, he was confronted with another situation over here in chapter 13. We'll call this the fellowship test, or the greed test, whichever one you want to call it.

In chapter 13, verse 5, Lot also went with Abram, and had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's, and Cain and the parasites were also dwelling in the land.

So Abraham said to Lot, Please let there be no strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and yours. It is not the whole land before you. Please separate from me, and if you take the left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll go to the left.

Now here was Abraham. He's older. He's in charge. He could have told Lot, Look, Lot, we're not getting along. I'm going to go over here, and you can go over there.

If you don't like it, you can lump it. I'm older, I'm in charge, but he didn't do that. Notice he took the humble position. He said, You take whatever you want.

Well, Lot lifted up his eyes, verse 10, saw the plains of Jordan, it was well watered, that it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go toward Zor.

Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan. Now along with decisions come consequences.

What's in the plains of Jordan? Sodom, Gomorrah, a few places like that.

So he goes down there, and he becomes a dweller in the cities. Now if he had stayed out in the country, maybe, avoided the cities. But, verse 12 says, Lot dwelt in the cities of the plains, pitched his tent. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful.

And the Lord told Abram, He said, Look here, Abram, I'm going to give your descendants all of this, and they'll become like the dust. So here, Abraham could have been greedy, could have chosen what he wanted. He took the humble position, he allowed Lot to choose, and he resolved the conflict. So here was a big problem that was resolved by him, by taking the humble approach.

Now in chapter 14, verse 8, we find he also passed another test, and that was, there were five kings that came up against Sodom, and there were, you have five kings and four kings. As it says here, the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zebulim, and the king of Beelah, that is Zor, went out and joined together and battled in the valley of Zidin. And against them came Shoror Lemir, king of Elam, entitled king of nations, and Amrafel, king of Shinar, and Eroch, king of Elazar. Four against five. Sodom and Gomorrah, and that army was defeated. They fled. Some of them got caught up in slime pits. Some of them fled to the mountains. They took all of the goods of Sodom Gomorrah, so they stripped the cities, got all the wealth, hold off all the people, and they also carried away a lot, and his family, and his possessions and goods. Somebody escaped, came and told Abraham, and Abraham said, this isn't good. So he gathered all of his servants together, pursued them, defeated the army.

And we read here in verse 16. Notice the story here. In verse 16, So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley, and said, thank you, thank you, we're so happy, thank you for delivering us, and all of this.

Now, while all of this is going on, all at once Melchizedek appears.

Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. This is the one who became Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Testament here. And he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High. Notice, verse 20, something we didn't read earlier. Who has delivered your enemies into your hands? Now, when Abraham defeated this army, it wasn't because he was superior, his army was superior. God delivered them into his hands. So, he passed this test, when I say fight test here, that he went out knowing that God would be with him, and God delivered them.

And he gave him a tithe of all. So, all of this booty that had been collected, Abraham turns around and gives one tenth of it to Melchizedek. So, he tithed.

Now, notice, the king of Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons, and you take the goods for yourself.

Give me back my people, and you can have everything else. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I'm not going to do it. He says, I've raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap, that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say I've made Abram rich.

Now, hey, Abram was in a perfect position here. He could have told his fellows, gather all the booty up, let's haul it back, we'll count it out, we'll sell some of it, we'll keep some of it, we'll trade. Boy, I will be so rich! Didn't do that. He depended upon God.

What would you and I have done faced with the same circumstances?

Would we have kept all of that or not? Well, Abraham did not. Not only that, but he gave a tithe of all of it to God. And so he showed, number one, he put God first, that he was not going to take anything that belonged to them, and that he depended upon God to protect him. So here was a major test that Abraham went through and passed.

Now we come to chapter 16, and we find that Abraham fails the test.

Occasionally you find him falling short. Now, what did God tell Abraham?

And Sarah, I'm going to give you a child, and that child will be your offspring, and from him you will come multitudes like the stars of heaven, and every nation will be blessed through you and through that seed. Now, chapter 16, Sarah, Abraham's wife, became impatient.

God said he was going to do something, but says here, Sarah, Abraham's wife, had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maidservant by the name of Hagar. So Sarah, I said to Abraham, see now the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please go into my maid. Perhaps I shall obtain children by her. And Abraham heeded the voice of Sarai. Mistake. Both of them made a mistake. Abraham, in listening to his wife and his wife, in offering Hagar to him. So he went into Hagar, she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. So, you know, I'm pregnant. She can't get pregnant. So she looks down on Sarah.

And you find that Abraham went along with this. We'll call this the fatherhood test.

And Sarah got impatient, and Hagar's pregnant. You find here she fled from Sarah's presence.

And over in verse 11, the angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she was going to have a son. His name would be Ishmael. He'd be a wild man. Verse 12. And then she called the name of the Lord, who spoke to her, you are the God who sees, for she said, have I also here seen him who sees me?

Verse 16, Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Okay, we have 75 to 86, 11 years had passed. Abraham basically didn't think he could have children, although Hagar got pregnant. So the problem wasn't with him. You find Sarah.

Apparently, he had gone through the change of life. She hadn't been able to have children, period. So she had some type of a problem there. And they failed this particular test.

Now, later on, Ishmael is sent away.

Now, Abraham passes this test. How would you like to have a son?

By this time, he's probably a teenager. You've gotten close to him. You love him.

And you have to send him away.

Chapter 21. Let's go over to chapter 21 here.

Beginning in verse 8, it says, So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast, on the same day that Isaac was weaned. Now, Isaac is born by this time.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian whom she had born, to Abraham, scoffing. So he's making fun of Isaac and of her. Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out the bondswoman and her son. For the son of the bondswoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac. Now, remember, Paul quotes this back in Galatians 3, to show the covenants.

Now, the matter was very displeasing to Abraham and Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said to Abraham, Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondswoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice, For in Isaac your seed shall be called. And she's right in that. So Abraham rose early in the morning, verse 14, took bread and a skin of water, put it on her shoulder, gave the boy to Hagar, and sent her away.

And she departed and wandered in the wilderness.

So here Hagar is sent off, and Ishmael goes with her.

Now, he had to give up that son, and he loved Ishmael.

And God told him to go ahead and to do so.

Now, even though he did it, it still wasn't easy to do.

And he was willing to go ahead and do that at that time.

In chapter 20, we find that sometimes when you fail a test, you get the same test all over again.

Chapter 20, Abraham's journey to the south is going to dwell somewhere down around Kadesh and Sir.

And Abraham told Sarah, his wife, he said, She's my sister. Now, where have we heard this before?

He went down into Egypt, got Pharaoh into trouble.

Now, here's Abimelech. He says, She's my sister.

And verse 3, God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, You're a dead man. Well, that startled Abimelech.

And Abimelech came out and said, Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Again, same test. He, again, did not pass this particular test.

And yet, you find that Abraham and Sarah believed God, and God gave them a son in their old age. Let's notice chapter 21.

The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah, as he had spoken, and Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time which God had spoken to him. Now, I want you to notice, God had a set time.

Abraham and Sarah were not depending upon God.

They were, you know, God said, I'll do it, but he had a particular time when he wanted it done. Sarah's 90, Abraham's 100 here.

So, you know, they couldn't say, well, you know, we just found some type of verb.

They realized this was a miracle.

Abraham called the name of their son, was born to him, Sarah bore to him. Isaac circumcised him on the eighth day.

And you find he was, verse 500 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Now, the gist of all of this is all of this builds up until we come here to chapter 22. Let's go over to chapter 22 in the book of Genesis. Everything that Abraham and Sarah have gone through builds up to a final crescendo here in Genesis 22, the greatest test of Abraham's life.

He is told by God to go offer up his son.

Let's notice, verse 1, He came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, he said, here I am.

And he said, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain which I shall tell you. So, Abraham rose up early in the morning, then said he slept in the midnight, excuse me, I mean, at 11 o'clock in the morning or noon, but he got up early, saddled his donkey, took two young men with him, took Isaac his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering. He rose, went to the place which God told him to go. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes. Now, stop and think about this. God tells him, he immediately springs to action. He's got three days to think about it.

He's traveling along for three days. Got to offer up my son, got to kill my son, and, you know, he's thinking about this. Now, God knew his heart and his attitude, and God, though, had to know something about Abraham. Would Abraham follow God anywhere, everywhere? Would he be willing to give all up and to serve God? The same thing is true about us. There will come a point in all of our lives that all of the life experiences we go through, all of the tests that we go through, all of the difficulties we have will lead to a point to where God will give us the ultimate test.

Will we put him first above all things? Now, not every difficult experience in life is necessary a personal test from God. I think we know that. Any test that we have could become a temptation depending on how we deal with it. You could have a test. You could have a great deal of stress in your life. You're going through a test, and you decide, well, think I'll have something to drink. Satan comes along and says, not only do you need a drink, have another.

And then he says, get drunk, and then you get drunk. And he turns something that's a test into a temptation. And the next night, you know, you're tempted to do the same thing again. And the next night, the next night, and pretty soon you find that you get hooked. Well, this is what Satan the devil does. Sometimes our own disobedience causes the pain or disappointment, as when Abraham went into Egypt and when he was in gear with of Emile, you find he brought the problem on himself at that time. Sometimes our hurts are simply a part of the normal human life as we grow older.

We have friends and loved ones who relocate. We have people we've known all of our life who die, family members. Life changes around us. We have to make very powerful adjustments in our lives sometimes. Norm and I have had 12 major moves in the ministry. And over the years, we have known thousands of people. We lived in Chicago. We pastored 900 people. Lived in Bethlehem. We pastored over 700 people. We've known thousands of people over the years that we have pastored.

And there comes a time when you have to move to another area. And we are told in the ministry you must walk away. And what I mean by that is you're not supposed to be meddling in the old church area. You pastors there. It doesn't mean they're no longer your friends, but you don't get yourself involved in what's going on. And so you walk away. And there have been literally thousands of people that we've known over the years that you're with them one day and the next day you're over here with a few more hundred people. And you get to know that. Well, we all go through that. We all have to move or we see people die or circumstances change. And so that's just part of life. That's part of living. That's part of what all of us go through. We go through that. We go through tests that maybe God will bring on us. We bring our own tests on ourselves.

And then sometimes Satan the devil will hurl temptations at us. We need to be able to learn to distinguish between what is a trial and what is a temptation. Temptations come from desires within us. Let's go back to James 1. James 1. We'll come back here to Genesis.

But in James chapter 1, beginning here in verse 12, "...blessed is the man who endures temptations. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life." So you and I have to pass the test. We have to be approved.

It says, "...which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt any one.

But each one is tempted, how? When he is drawn away by his own desires." King James says, "...his own lust and enticed. And when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death." So the word here for temptation and the word for trial or test are the same.

You have to tell by context which one it's talking about.

A temptation, Satan tempts, is to entice you to do wrong, to do evil, to sin.

That's what Satan is trying to do. He's trying to get you to go out of the church, to leave God's way, to sin, to do something wrong. God will test us to see what our mettle is like, to see what we're made of, to develop our character, to strengthen us, to help us. He wants us in his kingdom. And so temptations come from desires within us, while trials come from God who has a special purpose that he's working out in our life.

Temptations can come by the devil, as I said. Temptations are used by Satan the devil to bring out the worst in us. And trials are used by God to bring out the best in us. Big difference.

Satan tempts to lead us into sin. God will test to see what our character is like.

Temptations sometimes, when they occur, seem reasonable.

You know, why would God give Abraham a son, then ask Abraham to kill him? That didn't sound reasonable. And yet that's exactly what we find. In 1 Corinthians 10.13, we discover that all of us, as human beings, go through similar tests, similar trials, similar problems. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. No temptation is overtaking you, except such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted or tested beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So God's testing are tailor-made for each one of us. It's His children.

And each one of our experiences is unique.

I don't go through your life experiences. You don't go through mine.

We all have separate minds. We're developing our own character. And Lot was not being tested in the same way that Abraham was. Lot didn't have to worry about going down to Egypt and somebody stealing his wife. He didn't have to worry about some of the problems that Abraham had.

But he had different problems, didn't he? He had to learn how to contend with Sodom and Gomorrah and the ungodly society in which he lived. And so, you know, he was faced with that.

So God will give each one of us tests and trials. They're similar, but God knows what's best for each one of us. In one sense, it's a compliment when God sends us a test. It shows that God is promoting us in the school of faith. We're about to pass to the next grade. You to step up.

God will never send a test that you and I are not ready for and that, you know, he knows.

You and I, with all of that in mind about Abraham, need to make sure that we focus on God's promises and not always on trying to find explanation.

Our faith is not really tested until God asked to bear something that seems unbearable or do what seems unreasonable or expect what seems impossible to us.

When you look at some of the men in the Bible, you have to ask yourself, you know, what about what they went through? What about Joseph being thrown in prison?

That didn't seem fair, didn't seem right, but here he is, he's thrown in prison.

What about Moses and Israel coming to the Red Sea? How do you explain that to them?

God said, I'll lead you out of Egypt, don't have to worry.

The first thing you know, they're stuck between two mountains in the army and the Red Sea.

Well, there was something else God wanted them to learn. What about David hiding like a common criminal in caves while Saul chased him all over? You know, Palestine, Daniel and the lion's dead, Shadrach, Meshach, and the Bendigo being thrown in the fiery furnace. Jeremiah up to his lower lip in the pit and would have died if God hadn't intervened at the last moment.

Ezekiel laid on one side 390 days, flipped over and laid on the other side for 40 days.

You and I can look at those and some of them seemed unreasonable.

Some of them seemed, you know, impossible. You know, how could you bear to lay on your side for 390 days? You know, do what Ezekiel did. But, brethren, you and I live by the promises of God, not by explanations. As the New Testament says, we live by faith, not by sight.

If God promises something, illustration, God says, tithe, if you tithe, I'll bless you.

And we say, well, my income is not as good as it used to be. I can't tithe.

What does God say? What is the promise from God? You obey, I will bless. You know, we can look for all kinds of explanations to justify, but you and I live by faith.

Now consider how unreasonable the request was to Abraham, or one might consider it unreasonable.

Isaac was Abraham's only son. The future of the covenant rested upon Isaac.

Isaac was a miracle child, a gift from God to Abraham and Sarah in response to their faith.

Abraham and Sarah loved Isaac very much. They built their whole future around him.

God said, this is the heir. When God asked Abraham to offer his son, he was testing Abraham's faith, yes. He was also testing Abraham's hope and Abraham's love. And it looked like God was going to wipe everything out that Abraham and Sarah had lived for. But what happens when you and I go through a trial, especially a severe trial? What's the first question we ask? Why, Lord?

Why am I going through this? Or we say, why me? And not somebody else. Why do these things always happen to me? And we ask those questions. Right away, we want God to give an explanation. Now, God will, over a period of time, normally reveal to us why we go through what we go.

But God is purifying our faith. He's perfecting our character. He's helping us to see ourselves.

God wants us in His kingdom. Abraham heard God's word and immediately obeyed it by faith. Let's go back to Genesis again. Genesis 21.

In verse 12, God had made a promise to Abraham.

And, brethren, this is what Abraham clung to. Verse 12. God said to Abraham, Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondswoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice. For in Isaac your seed shall be called. So what's Abraham to think? God says, go kill him.

Abraham knows that God has said that through Isaac his seed would be called.

Abraham believed God. He even believed God to the point he knew that if he slayed his son that God would resurrect him. Hold your place here. Let's go back to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11, chapter 11, verse 17.

The faith chapter here.

It says, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, notice it was a test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it is said, And Isaac your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.

So he knew that if Isaac died, God would raise him up, from which he received him in a figurative sense. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and so on.

So faith doesn't always demand explanation. Faith is based upon the promises of what God says. Remember the old hymn, standing on the promises? Well, you and I stand on God's promises.

Now, it doesn't mean we don't learn lessons. God will teach us lessons as we go through any trial, any test, and we learn those lessons. But we must build on faith.

We must put our trust in God and in faith. Now, if you'll back up here to chapter 22, the book of Genesis, verse 5, I want you to notice what Abraham told the two servants.

And it reveals the same thing that we just read over in the book of Hebrews. Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkeys. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.

We're both going to come back, even though God said, Slay him.

Now, because he believed God, Abraham had no intention of bringing a corpse back.

He said, We will come back.

Now, when you go back to the book of Hebrews and you read the life of Abraham, beginning in verse 8 through about verse 19 or so, you find that Abraham believed God.

And it's pointed out in the book of Hebrews that Abraham believed God and obeyed him when he did not know where he was going.

He believed God when he did not know when God was going to bring about what he said he was going to do.

When he did not know how God was going to bring about what he said he was going to do. And he did not know why God was going to do what he said he was going to do.

Another lesson that Abraham learned, and you and I have to learn, is we have to depend upon God for provisions.

In other words, we trust the promises of God. We look to what he says.

But then we have to look to God to also work things out.

Here, back in Genesis 22 again, verses 7 and 8, I want you to notice.

Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father.

He said, Here I am, my son. Then he said, Look, the fire, Abraham had a torch, he had the fire, and the wood, where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So the two of them went together.

Now, verse 10, Abraham stretched out his hand, took the knife to slay his son. Now, I want you to notice, it doesn't say Isaac fought him every step of the way. It doesn't say Isaac ran, it doesn't say Isaac picked up a club. Isaac didn't do anything.

He laid there.

So, you've got two things going on here. Isaac is willing to allow his dad to do this.

And Abraham is willing to do it.

And in Abraham's mind, he killed his son. He had the knife poised, he was ready to plunge it, and God stopped him. You know, at that point.

Verse 14.

Well, you'll notice here, verse 11, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, so he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now, notice, God knew something about Abraham, that he didn't fully know before.

Now, I know.

Now, put your name in here.

My name. Now, does God know this about me, about you?

That you fear God, and since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket.

So God provided a sacrifice.

And Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide.

And you'll notice in the margin, it says, Yave-Yira, or Yave-Jira, whichever way you want to pronounce it.

Word means, the Lord will see to it, or that is, the Lord will provide.

And when it comes to many of these things that we go through, we need to realize that God says, I will see to it.

I'll do it. I will provide.

On whom could Abraham depend?

He certainly couldn't depend upon his feelings, because every feeling, everything within his body would tell him, don't do this.

There had to be a terrible thing to think, I'm going to kill my own son, even if God resurrects him. I mean, how would you like to be guilty of doing that?

And yet, of course, God didn't allow that to take place.

The one thing that God learned from Abraham is that Abraham loved God more than he loved his son.

He loved God more than he loved his wife.

He loved God above all.

And is that not what God is looking for in all of us?

That we love him above all.

Abraham couldn't depend upon other people. He couldn't depend upon himself, his feelings. He couldn't depend upon other people. Sarah was home. The two lads came with him. They were down at the bottom of the hill.

There was nobody up there to rush him, grab him, say, tackle him, don't let him do this.

There wasn't any of that.

There are times that we're faced with difficulties that we have to depend upon God, and there's nobody else there to help.

We have to depend upon God.

Abraham could depend upon the promises of God, the provisions of God.

He already knew and had experienced the resurrection power of God.

Romans 4, 19-21 tells us that Abraham and Sarah were dead.

Sarah's body was dead.

Abraham's body was dead.

And yet, God healed them and allowed them to have a child.

So, he knew that God could raise Isaac from the dead if that was his plan.

Now, you can search the Scriptures.

Prior to this, I don't know of any example taking place where God had resurrected somebody.

Now, we have some examples, you know, later on. But we don't have an example here of God resurrecting someone.

Abraham had to have faith in something that had never occurred before, that he knew up, that God would resurrect a human being, you know, after he died.

When the situation appears to be hopeless for us, ask yourself the question that God posed to Abraham and Sarah back in chapter 18 and verse 14.

Remember here when Sarah laughed when God said, you're going to have a baby?

And God said, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too difficult for God?

What kind of a God do we worship? You know, who is God?

Well, he's the Almighty God, the all-powerful God.

And as the New Testament says in Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, that you and I can do all things.

So you discover that what happened here was a type of what happened with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of the Father.

He was willing to give his life and to die for the sins of mankind.

The Father was willing to give his Son. And instead of a sacrifice to replace him, what did John say? In John, I think, 1.29, when he saw Christ coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world.

So there was no substitute for Jesus Christ. Christ was that Lamb. And what Isaac and Abraham went through was a type of what Christ and the Father have experienced.

One last scripture here in 1 Peter 1.9. Brethren, what is the end result of our faith, of our tests, our trials, our living as Christians, going through what we go through?

Well, 1 Peter 1, verse 9, New King James Version, says, Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

So the end result of our faith is ultimately the salvation of our souls.

The SV translation says, Obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The NIV says, For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul.

Brethren, God is interested in our salvation, that we become members of his family. And in 1 Peter 1, reading up to verse 9, you'll find it's talking about the trials and the tests that we go through. Jot down Job 23, verse 10, because it summarizes exactly what we've been talking about here. Job 23, 10. Job said, He knows the way that I take. When He has tested me, talking about God, I shall come forth as gold. Brethren, when God tests us, let's all pray that we come forth as gold.