Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today you're going to hear a powerful sermon. But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness.

It's published by our partners at Lifeway. The reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. As I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well. I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see.

You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format. Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can even get it in audio where you can listen to it. I hope you'll go right now to the official website, which is blindfaith.life. Again, that's blindfaith.life, and I hope you'll not only get a copy for you, but pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

Let's go to Genesis chapter 22. As most of you know, we're in a series right now entitled "The God Of." So far in this series, this is part three, we've covered the name Elohim, which means God the Creator. We called that the God of new beginnings. Last week we covered El Shaddai, God Almighty. We entitled that the God of blessings.

Today I want to talk about Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. How many of us have seen God's faithfulness in our life? God has a great track record of being faithful in our lives. Today we're going to look at the word "provision," and it's my hope that you learn a great deal from today. In the few moments that we have today, God will share with you many things that are going to carry you and help you going forward.

Now, today as we read Genesis 22, I want you to know first of all that there is a dual application. We're going to see the great spiritual application, how Christ was the provision for the forgiveness of our sins. Not only is there the great spiritual application, that great salvation that was accomplished by Jesus, but then we're going to see today the great personal application: how God knows every single need that you face.

As a matter of fact, He not only knows the need, but He sees the need before it ever even enters our lives. I'm going to show you today, based upon this text, how God has an answer. God has a solution for every single need that we face today. So let's begin Genesis chapter 22, verse number one. As you know, I'm unable to see right now until the Lord changes that, but for now we go from memory.

So you pray for me as we go. I'm not going to try to go word for word as I do in most sermons, but I'm going to walk you through the next several verses. It begins in verse one, "After these things, God tested Abraham." It's important to understand what's going on. We know based upon the book of James, God never tempts with evil. But does God send tests into our lives? Oh, you bet He does.

If you don't remember, if you haven't heard the sermon from last summer, I would encourage you to go on our free mobile app, Awakened to Grace, and listen to that sermon. Go to our website and watch that sermon. It was on tests versus temptations. We saw that tests originate from outside experiences and they're sent from God, and they're designed to cause us to grow.

But temptations originate from within. Temptations come from Satan and they're designed to cause us to fall. If you can learn the difference between tests and temptations, it will help you through the difficult seasons of life. What we see first of all is God is going to test the great faith of Abraham. Then in verse two, listen to what God says. It's fascinating.

And God said to him, "Take your son, your only son whom you love, and go to the land I tell you. Offer him there a burnt offering unto me. Offer him as a sacrifice, a burnt offering unto me." How could God do this? How could God who promised Isaac to Abraham—Isaac was God's blessing, it was God's plan, it was His design from the very beginning.

It was God who told Abraham and Sarah in their old age, "You're going to conceive, you're going to have a son." And now God wants him to offer him as a sacrifice? For those who perhaps have grown up with a very distorted view of God—perhaps you didn't grow up seeing God as kind or loving or the righteous God that He is. Maybe you always saw God just as mean or wrathful or angry all the time. Maybe this sounds like the God you grew up knowing.

Let me share something with you today, and this is key to understanding Genesis chapter 22. You and I cannot read this text through human eyes only. If we read the text through human eyes only, then it leaves us with more questions than it does answers. We step away going, "What kind of God would require this? What kind of God would demand this? What kind of God would ask this of a father?"

It's very distorted if you read it through human eyes only. We walk away going, "What kind of father would even entertain the idea of sacrificing a child?" There are days I would consider it with one of mine, they're so mean. But what kind of father would even entertain the thought of it? The story doesn't make sense. The story is very gut-wrenching. As a matter of fact, it's one of the most gut-wrenching stories of the Bible.

But you and I cannot read it through human eyes only. You and I have to read this story through God's eyes. We have to see from God's perspective when God says to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, the son whom you love." God the Father was talking to Himself. You and I know the end of the story. We know that when Abraham takes the knife and he's ready to slaughter his son, God stops him. The angel says, "No, Abraham, don't do this."

But when Jesus, the Son of God, was nailed to a cross and when He was lifted high, there was no changing the mind. If you and I read this story and we see only ourselves in the story, we walk away missing the entire point. The point is that God the Father did sacrifice His only Son whom He loved on your behalf and on my behalf. That's the point of the story.

Let me take it a little further. In verse three, we see that Abraham got up and he obeyed God. In verse four, they go on a three-day journey to wherever God is telling them. That wasn't a problem for Abraham. Abraham was used to obeying God like that because remember when he lived in Ur of the Chaldeans and God said, "Leave, go, I'll show you where you're going"? Abraham left.

Abraham was a man of faith. But can you imagine the gut-wrenching three-day journey that was? Can you imagine God telling you to do something this grieving, and yet you take every step toward it for three days? Listen to what the Bible says. The Bible says that after the third day, in verse four, Abraham, lifting up his eyes, saw where God wanted him.

Let me tell you an unbelievable verse to me. John chapter 8, verse 56, Jesus tells the Pharisees, he tells the scribes, he tells all the Jews, "Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced. Abraham saw my day and was glad." Do you know what Abraham saw when he lifted up his eyes? He saw the place where God designed. It was Mount Moriah. Do you know where Mount Moriah is?

Today the Dome of the Rock sits on Mount Moriah. Do you know what is literally hundreds of feet away from Mount Moriah? Golgotha, Calvary, where Christ's blood was shed. Jesus said Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced. This is all about the sacrifice of God's Son. And God, Jehovah Jireh, what did He provide? Forgiveness for my sin and for yours. That's the point of the story.

Where does the personal application come? If John 8:56 links this experience to Jesus and His sacrifice, listen to what Romans chapter 8, verse 32 says. Romans chapter 8, verse 32 says that if God did not spare His own Son—if He did not spare His own Son, listen to what Paul said, "How much more freely, how much more graciously will He give us all things with Him?"

Do you know what this verse is saying? Every need of ours will be provided through Christ because if God did not spare—He spared Abraham, He spared Isaac, but if God did not spare His only Son but graciously gave him up, how much more freely will He give all things to us that we need through Christ? That's why the devil will tell you, you'll try to pray and Satan will try to say, "God's not interested."

You'll pray and Satan will try to tell you, "God loves everybody except you." You'll pray and Satan will be right there to remind you, trying to say God isn't listening. My friends, if God so gave up His only Son, the Son whom He loved, on our behalf, for the sake of our sin, don't you dare think God doesn't hear your prayers. Don't you dare think God doesn't see your life and that He doesn't see the needs that you have.

Don't think that He doesn't see the problems that you face. And don't you think for a second that if God so gave up His Son for that need of sin, that God won't supply all other needs in your life. Of course He will. Do you see what I'm saying today? This is all about the sacrifice of Jesus and it's all about the heart of the Father. That's why if we're not careful, we'll read this passage today and we'll think to ourselves, "God's not fair."

No, my friend, you missed the whole point. God spared Isaac, but yet He gave Jesus. We read it and we'll say Abraham wasn't thinking right. No, my friend, Abraham had faith. Abraham acted in faith. So let's walk through the text and let's understand this. God is going to test Abraham. God, in verse number two, tells him what He wants. "I want you to sacrifice your son, your only son whom you love."

And then in verse number three—if you're taking notes, you should write this down. When Abraham hears God, the Bible says that early the next morning he arose and prepared the wood and went on the journey. I don't know where your faith is, but let me tell you what I would have done had I heard the Lord tell me this. I would have said, "Let's give it a few weeks and see if I feel different. Let's give it three or four months. Let's wait until the boy's birthday."

Let's wait until after Christmas. Let's wait and see if I'm hearing this right. Would you not be the same? I want you to write this down today: delayed obedience is the same as disobedience. Delayed obedience is the same as disobedience in our lives. When you know that God wants you to do something, you need to act. You need to respond. You need to do it.

Even when it doesn't make sense, you need to do what God wants you to do because as we're going to see in the end of this text, there are times that God doesn't make sense, but in the end He always makes sense. In the end, it always comes through. Why God does what God does, why He allows what He allows, why He calls what He calls—it will make sense. But you don't see it on the first hand. You have to obey by faith.

So here we are in verse three. Abraham gets up early, he obeys God. One question I want to ask Abraham when I get to heaven is, "Did you tell your wife what you were doing?" Because let me tell you, Sarah was not easy to live with. She was not. Don't tell me she was easy to live with. Look how she treated Ishmael and Hagar. She wasn't easy to get along with. I really want to ask Abraham, "Did your wife have any idea what you were doing?" because I bet she didn't.

Anyway, they get ready to go in verse four. They're on a three-day journey. He takes two of his young men, two of his servants, and when they come to the place of Moriah, the place where the Lord chose him, he tells the servants, "Stay here with the donkeys." Listen to what he says, "The boy and I are going to go worship and we'll return." Now why would Abraham say that?

Do you think it's because Abraham thought in his head, "Now God's going to stop me. God's not going to let me do this. I'm going to get my knife up here and God's going to stop me"? No, he had no idea. Do you realize that Hebrews chapter 11 tells us what Abraham was thinking? Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, verse 18, and verse 19. It teaches that by faith, Abraham, when he was called to sacrifice his son to the Lord, went and built an altar by faith.

Verse 19 says that Abraham, by faith, believed that God would raise the boy from the dead. That's how much faith Abraham had. Isaac was the promise. Do you realize that Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac? 25 years. He was 75 years old, he didn't come until he was 100. 25 years he waited on Isaac, on the promise. Do you know what just staggers me this morning?

He waited 25 years for Isaac, and yet the moment God says, "I want him back, sacrifice him," he obeys the next morning. I hate to say it, but I think I would say, "God, I waited 25 years. Why don't you give me half of that with him? Why don't you give me more time?" In my human thinking, I would have been like Sarah. I would have stirred the pot, I would have gotten in the way.

In my human thinking, I would say, "God, if this is true—I mean, this is crazy, but even if it's true, God, wait until the boy's married. Wait until I have grandkids. That was your promise, is that you would give me, you would multiply my seed." The boy's not even married yet. We don't know how old he is. Scholars think he was late teens, but we at least know he's not married yet, he doesn't have children.

As a matter of fact, at the end of this chapter is when Rebecca, his wife, is born. I would have said, "God, wait until I have grandkids. This is crazy." But see, Abraham knew. He knew what God wanted and he was willing. I'm going to show you some things here that I hope will change your life. I can't imagine that three days. In my mind's eye, I imagine Abraham very quiet.

I imagine him stone-faced. I imagine him grieving inwardly, questioning constantly. I just imagine that he's very quiet. He tells the servants, "Stay here. The boy and I are going to go worship and we're going to come back." He puts the wood in Isaac's arms. He's at least old enough—I think by the fact he calls him "boy," I think that tells us that he's a tender age. But he's at least old enough he can carry all the wood instead of his 100-and-something-year-old dad.

And they begin to walk up the mountain. Abraham says nothing. Finally, at least in my mind's eye, Isaac breaks the silence and he says, "Father, I see the wood, I see the fire, but where's the sacrifice? Where's the lamb?" Do you remember those famous words that Abraham said? "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb." Praise God.

Let's talk about that word for just a moment because it's the first time we encounter it in the Bible. What does the word "provide" mean? Why is God called Jehovah Jireh, the God of provision, the God who provides? It's actually a fascinating word, even in our language. The word "provide" where we get our English word "provide" is fascinating because that little root word "pro"—it actually means "before."

"Pro" means "before." "Vide" is where we get our English word "video." It's where we get our English word "to watch." Provision—you put the word together. "Pro," before; "vision," to see. "Provide" means that before there's ever a need, the need is saw, it's seen by God and the need is provided for. What a beautiful word.

Do you realize how this changes the way that we pray? When I realize that God has provided—"pro," before; "vide," to watch, to see—when I realize that God sees a need in my life before it even arises, before it even touches me, before it even comes into my life, God's already seen it, God's already met it, God's already got the solution for it, then it changes the way that I pray.

Then instead of fretting and worrying and being anxious and wringing my hands and worrying constantly, instead of praying in a way that isn't filled with faith, instead of praying in a way that, "Well God, I don't know if You can help me," of course He can help me. He provides. He's already seen the need before I had the need. Praise God.

I tell you, the vision loss that I'm suffering, the blindness that I'm suffering, I never in a million years would have ever dreamed that before I was 40 years old that I would lose my eyesight. If you had told me that when I was 20 or 25 or 30 or, crying out loud, even 35, I wouldn't have believed it. But do you know what this text tells me? It's that before a need ever even arose within my life, God has already provided the need.

All of the strength that I need, all of the hope that I need, all of the faith that I need, all the grace that I need, every single thing that I need—and I believe even the vision that I need, the healing that I need—is already provided through Christ Jesus. Before there's ever a need, God has already saw the need. Do you realize that when things happen in our life, God never is shocked, ever? God doesn't go, "Oh my goodness! Oh! Chad, I never meant for that to happen."

Do you think God ever says that? Absolutely not. Before there's ever a need, God sees it. That's why there is provision for the needs of my life and your life. That's why we can say with confidence, 1 Peter 1:3, He has given us all things. What things? All things that pertain to what? Life and godliness. Praise God. You say, Chad, where's that confidence? Romans 8:32, if God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not graciously give us all things with Him?

Praise God. So Abraham's going up the mountain. Isaac's with him. He's got the wood, he's got the fire, but where's the lamb? Don't worry, son, God will provide Himself. Let me tell you, sometimes you get in circumstances where nobody can help you except God. Let me tell you, that's the best place to be. Satan will tell you that you're in trouble, but let me tell you, you're right in the hands of God.

You're in the best place you could ever be because there's no one that can help us like the Lord can help us. And when Abraham said the Lord will provide Himself the lamb, you take that to heart. You take that to God in prayer and you say, "God, I don't know what You're going to do. I don't know how You're going to work. I don't know how You're going to intervene. I have no idea what You're doing, but provide for Yourself the glory out of my life."

And God will do it, and He'll help you. But what does He require? Obedience. Delayed obedience is the same as disobedience. Don't forget that. So Abraham and Isaac, they're walking up the mountain. Isaac is a smart kid, he's putting two and two together. "We got this, but we don't got that, Dad. What's up?" Picture Abraham quiet, quiet. I picture in my mind's eye that they get to the top of Moriah where Calvary is within view.

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