Love Worth Finding

Narrator: Have you experienced the testing of your faith? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: God is going to give you some trials to see if your faith is real. Now, tests come in two kinds. The devil tempts us to do evil, to cause us to stumble. God tests us to cause us to stand. What God wants to do is to make our faith strong and pure.

God means you no harm. God wants you to understand whether or not you have the real thing.

Narrator: Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the profound truth of the gospel simply stated in the messages of Adrian Rogers. As we just heard, we will experience two kinds of tests throughout life, those that cause us to stumble and those that cause us to stand.

God may ask us to do something that surprises us, and our response will reveal our true faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, we're reminded of when Abraham's faith was tested. If you have your Bible, turn there now. We'll begin in verse 17 as Adrian Rogers reveals more about the testing of your faith.

Adrian Rogers: I want to talk to you today about the testing of your faith. Warren Wiersbe has reminded us that a faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. For example, how would you like to get on an airplane that had never been tested? How would you like to have a doctor do surgery on you who had not passed some tests in medical school?

I heard of a man who was having surgery, and the doctor said, "You seem nervous." He said, "Yes, this is my first surgery." The doctor said, "Yes, I know how you feel. It's mine also." We want people to have a faith that can be trusted, so therefore it has to be a faith that can be tested.

Now look, if you will please, here in verse 17: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried"—do you see that? That word tried means when he was tested, when he was put to the test—"offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

That is, he's the hope of all your descendancy. Your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are going to come through Isaac. That in Isaac thy seed shall be called. And the Bible says that Abraham offered him up. That means he gave him as a sacrifice.

Now, how could he do that? Well, look in verse 19: "Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure," in a type, he received him. Now, friend, God is going to give you some trials, some tests to see if your faith is real.

Now, in the Old Testament, as we're going to see in a moment, the King James says God did tempt Abraham and said, "Offer up Isaac." Well, the word tempt does not mean a solicitation to do evil there. It means a testing, a trial. Now, tests and trials come in two kinds.

The devil tempts us to do evil in order to cause us to stumble. God tests us to do good in order to cause us to stand. Now, this is one of those testings that we have. What God wants to do is to make our faith strong and pure. Put in your margin this ancillary verse, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 7:

"That the trial," that is the testing, "of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tested or tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus." When Jesus comes, don't you want to have a pure faith like purified gold?

Then God's going to put your faith in the fire. Some of you right now probably have faith in the fire. Some of you are going through a test, an ordeal. God means you no harm. God wants you to understand whether or not you have the real thing.

Now, temptation from Satan, these are pretty well standardized. But the trials that come from God, these are tailor-made. God knows where you are, God knows your circumstances, and God may put you through a test. Now, this is the New Testament commentary on the Old Testament story.

To understand what the writer of Hebrews is talking about here in Hebrews chapter 11, you have to go back to the Old Testament. So let's just put a bookmark in Hebrews 11 and go back to Genesis 22. Let's get the story. Let's find out what happened here when the Bible says that God put Abraham to the test.

I'm going to read 14 verses in a row, so just open your Bible, look along with me, and hang on. Genesis 22:1-14: "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham." Now remember, God's not trying to get Abraham to sin but to stand.

The Bible says, "God tempteth no man with evil, neither can he be tempted." God is testing Abraham and said unto him, "Abraham." And he said, "Behold, here I am." And he, God, said, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest." By the way, this is the first time the word love is found in the Bible, right here.

"Whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Can you imagine? Take your son and offer him as a burnt sacrifice. Verse 3:

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went into the place of which God had told him." Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said unto his young men, "Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship"—now watch this—"and come again unto you." God had just said put him to death. And he said, "We're going to go up there and worship God, make a sacrifice, and both of us are coming back again."

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here am I, my son."

And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of;

and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

And he said, "Here am I." And he said, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead, in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day: "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." Ladies and gentlemen, that is an incredible story.

God had never before commanded human sacrifice, and now he has commanded Abraham to take the son of promise, the beloved son, and put him to death. Now, the liberal theologians try to explain this away. But you cannot believe the inerrant, infallible word of God and say this never happened.

You cannot explain it away. Others who doubt that God is sovereign say God couldn't do this. God is sovereign God. God can do anything he pleases. He doesn't have to get your permission or mine either one. The command is given: "Take your son."

Now remember, this son Isaac was the son of miracle birth. He is the son of promise. He is the beloved son. And the Bible says that Abraham, with no hesitation whatsoever, sets out for Mount Moriah. If you look in verse 3, and Abraham rose up early in the morning.

That is, he begins now with no hesitation to do exactly what God told him to do. Use your imagination. Can you imagine before starting up that mountain that Abraham and Isaac are sitting there around the campfire? Can you imagine what Abraham must have felt as he looked into the face of his dear son,

wondering, "How will I say this to him? How will I explain it?" The memories that he had raising this little boy, all of these things. What will Isaac say? What will his last look at me be like? Put yourself in Abraham's place. Now, God is going to test your faith by asking you to do something that may surprise you.

Not by giving up the wrong things and the bad things, but by giving up the good things. It would be relatively easy if God asked us to give up the bad things—give up lying and stealing and cheating and pride to show that we love him. But that's not what God is asking.

God had given to Abraham a possession, a wonderful son. God had given to Abraham a program: "I'll make of you a great nation. You're going to bless the whole world." And that program is going to come through that possession. And God had given to Abraham a promise: "I will do it."

And now God just seems to be asking for all of it back. God is just saying, "Now Abraham, give all of this back to me." Now, there's some things we give up for the Lord. But the test of faith that Abraham is facing is not what he is giving up for the Lord, but what he is giving back to the Lord.

Now, here's the question that I'm going to ask you and that I've had to wrestle with before I preached this message: Are you able to give your blessings back to God? Not are you willing to give up your sins for God. Are you willing to give your blessings back to God? That's what Abraham was asked to do.

I want to lay three questions on your heart today and let's see if your faith can pass the test. Question number one: Can I trust God with the possessions he has given to me? Can I trust God with the possessions he has given to me? Now back to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 17:

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Now, the test was over a gift that God had given to him. Why the test? Could it be that Abraham is coming to love Isaac more than he is loving God?

Could it be that he is coming to love the gift more than the giver? Could it be that God now is moving into second place? The angel said the test was to find out whether that is true or not. Listen to me. Let me tell you something about our God. God will never take second place in your life to anything or to anyone.

Now many of us want to give God a place in our lives. May I say clearly, God does not want a place in your life. Well, you say, "Then I'll give him prominence in my life." God does not want prominence in your life. God desires, deserves, and demands preeminence in your life.

He will not be a part-time God with a duplex for a throne. Now, many of us like to have God in our lives. But how many of us say, "God, I love you supremely"? You see, we have to be very careful that our blessings don't become curses. Let me give you a significant verse.

Put it in your margin, Malachi chapter 2 and verse 2: "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you"—now listen to this next phrase—"and I will curse your blessings." Did you hear that? "I will curse your blessings."

Blessings can become a curse. And God goes on to say, "Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. You will not listen." May I tell you what is wrong in God-blessed America today? God is beginning to curse our blessings. We have been blessed like no other nation

on the face of the earth, and we spit in the face of God. More vileness, more immorality, more slaughter of the unborn, more disregard for God, more arrogance strutting through the earth. America has been blessed like no other nation, but we've put God aside and have concentrated on our blessings.

America has been blessed, but I'm just afraid that God is going to turn our blessings to curses unless we turn back to Almighty God. Does that frighten you? It frightens me. Friend, God says I will not take second place to anybody, anything. Now, it was not wrong for Abraham to love Isaac.

I love my children with all of my heart. As a matter of fact, no one can truly love his son until he loves God as he ought. God is not asking Abraham do you love Isaac. He knew he loved Isaac. What God wants to know is, "Abraham, do you love me more than you love Isaac?"

After the resurrection, Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon Peter, lovest thou me more than these?" Now, some people think that means do you love me more than all these other disciples love me, but I don't think that's what he meant. I think he's standing there by the seashore and he's saying,

"Simon, do you love me more than you love these your brothers? Do you love me more than you love these fish and these nets and these boats and this way of life? Do you love me more than these things, Simon Peter? I will not take second place in your life." Are you listening?

The test of faith is not primarily between love and hate, but between two loves—those things we love dearly and that which we must love supremely. Here's the question I had to ask myself before I could preach this message: Adrian, do you have in your heart any love that is greater than your love for Jesus Christ?

I challenge you to ask yourself that question. Now, if there is in your heart, in your life, or if you consider there may be a love greater than a love you have for God, God's message to you from this passage of scripture is get thee up to Moriah and put it on the altar and sacrifice it as a burnt offering.

You have to ask yourself this question: Is there anything—what could it be? I have to ask myself that question. As a matter of fact, I do this from time to time when I find perhaps my heart is getting cold or perhaps I'm getting perfunctory or professional in the ministry. I get alone and I don't make a list of my sins.

Those are relatively easy to deal with. But I list my blessings: my life, my health, my family, my darling precious wife, my children, my incredible grandchildren, my knowledge of the Word of God, my ability to preach the Word, the gift of being the pastor of this church,

my house, my clothes, any retirement income I may have laid by, and just give it to him. It's yours. With an open hand, God, they and these are thine. That's not easy to do, and you know when you've done it and you know when you've just said it and didn't mean it.

May I ask you a question? Is there anything you would not give back to God that God has already given to you if he asked you for it? That's a big question. You say, "Well, God, you gave it to me. Why would you ask it back?" That's none of your business.

Is there anything God has given to you that you would not willingly give back to him if he asked you for it? Now listen to me carefully. Anything God has given you, you can trust him with. And anything God has not given to you, you don't need. Does that make sense?

Anything God has given to you, you can trust him with. Anything God has not given to you, you don't need. Yes, I gave you Isaac. Now take him up to the mountain and sacrifice him to me. We're talking about the testing of your faith. Second question I want to ask you:

Can I trust God with the purpose he has for me? We've talked about the possessions he's given to us. What about the purpose he has for us? Again, Hebrews chapter 11, verses 17 through 18: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac"—that's the possession—"and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son

of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Now here's the plan, here's the purpose. God had given Abraham a purpose and Abraham said, "Okay, I'm tracking along. Now I know what's going to happen. I'm going to have a son and this son's going to have sons and sons and I'm going to have a great descendancy, people of faith."

And now God says put it to death. You know, that didn't make sense. That did not make sense. Faith is not primarily believing God in spite of the evidence; it is obeying God in spite of the consequences. In spite of the consequences. Not knowing why, not having to know why.

Obedience is the great proof of our trust and our faith. When we know that we know that we know we have a word from God, we don't pass it past the judgment bar of our understanding. We just simply obey.

Narrator: Maybe today you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus, how to fully follow him. We'd love to offer an insightful resource on our website. It's the Find Answers page. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about beginning a relationship with God.

We also want to invite you to check out our Grow Your Faith page. You can get grounded and dig deeper in your faith right there. Simply go to LWF.org/radio and click on the tab that says Grow Your Faith or Find Answers. Again, LWF.org/radio. We can't wait to hear from you today.

Cary Vaughn: Hi, this is Cary Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you.

To give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVEGOD, that's 1-877-LOVEGOD, or write to us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38-600, Memphis, Tennessee, 38183. You can also connect with us online by going to LWF.org/radio. There we offer helpful resources inspired by the timely teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers.

Additionally, you can sign up for daily emails, donate to the ministry, and learn more about how to become an ambassador of the Word. Thank you so much for listening today. Be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

Narrator: We were so blessed to read this story from a friend of the ministry who shared: "I am a pastor's daughter. I tuned in my radio and found Adrian Rogers preaching. I was so moved and impressed by his presentation and style and truth he told, along with scriptures. It reminds me of home.

I still listen to Dr. Rogers as often as I can online. Amazing how his sermons still hold true with today's situations. Thank you for keeping him alive online." If you resonate with that, I'd like for you to reach out to us here at Love Worth Finding because we continue to be passionate about helping believers cultivate a vibrant faith in Jesus.

And when you donate to the ministry right now, we'd love to send you The Word Proclaimed Collection, featuring the Gospel of John from the Adrian Rogers Legacy Bible, alongside the Preaching for Impact book. Request this bundle when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD.