INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• Take a moment and think about something you love dearly, it could be (SHOULD BE) your spouse, children, a possession, maybe you are in a relationship with someone. Just think about the thing you love the most.
• No Sunday school answers think of something other than Jesus on this question.
• Keep the person or object in the back of your mind as we take on the final titan of our series, the Clash of The Titan, the battle between God and the gods we serve.
• When we think of the titan of love, I am not sure too many of us would put love in the same arena as the other titans we have investigated.
• Isn’t love a good thing? Shouldn’t we love others, and on a different level love the things we are blessed with?
• I am supposed to love my spouse, my children, parents, grandchildren, friends, etc...?
• Well the answer is a resounding YES, but remember what we have said about the other Titans we looked at, what was wrong with them? The position we give them in our hearts.
• The great theologian Augustine described false gods as “disordered loves.”
• Basically the point he was making is that often times legitimate loves that are out of order in our lives is the root of the problem.
• Just like pleasure and success, love becomes a problem when what or who we love sits on the top of the heart. When what we love pushes God to a lower level, we have a problem.
• How do we know if we have our love for something else ahead of God?
• Well when we start to compromise what we KNOW is RIGHT and PLEASING to God in order to obtain, maintain, said object. When we would compromise our faith for an object we know our love is out of order.
• How can we tell if our love for another person has been put ahead of God?
• Well when we start to compromise what we KNOW is RIGHT and PLEASING to God in order to obtain, maintain, or please said PERSON. When we would compromise our faith for another PERSON we know our love is out of order.
• I will hammer this more in the second service but if you have to compromise what you know is God’s will for your life to keep a person you are dating, you better watch out!
• SLIDE #2
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3 (HCSB) For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,
• Today we will be turning to Genesis 22. This is the story of Abraham and his beloved son Isaac.
• We will see that Abraham will be forced to make a choice as to who was going to occupy first place in his heart, the Lord or his beloved son Isaac.
• Let’s start in Genesis 22:1-2
• SLIDE #3
• Genesis 22:1–2 (HCSB) 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
• SLIDE #4
SERMON
I. Abraham’s challenge from God.
• Wow! This does not seem right on ANY level when we look at it from our perspective.
• Verse 1 says God tested Abraham. Oh my, what a test!
• Now this passage is the last time we have recorded that God spoke to Abraham.
• Before we call God a monster for what He is asking Abraham to do we need to understand that in the historical context the other gods people worshipped and that Abraham himself may have worshipped at one time sometimes required child sacrifices.
• In a sense God was asking Abraham to show the same level of devotion that those who followed the false gods would give to their god.
• We also need to see that Abraham had a tendency as we all do at times to struggle with using human schemes to see that God fulfilled his promises. Lot going with him when God said to leave everything, Sarah’s plan with Hagar, twice lying about Sara being his wife, etc…
• So here is God, here is Abraham, and as usual three is a crowd, Isaac.
• God is going to put Abraham to the test, by the way, God’s testing of Abraham was not meant for him to fail, but rather to grow in his faith in God.
• God wanted to see if Abraham had succumbed to the titan of love through his son Isaac. Isaac was special to Abraham. Isaac was the son that Abraham and Sara had waited MANY years for, (Sara was 90 and Abraham was 100, Talk about a mid-life surprise!).
• Isaac was the beginning of God starting to fulfill His promises to Abraham.
• God wants to know if HE was Abraham’s first love. God does not mess around; He goes right to the heart of Abraham!
• Isaac is usually thought of as a young boy, the Jewish historian Josephus says Isaac was about 27, other Jewish traditions say he was as old as 37. Well, we can all bet Isaac was not a teen lest Abraham would be anxious to offer him as a burnt offering.
• If God were to ask you to sacrifice something you hold dear, what would you do?
• Would you trust God enough to do it? I see this in relationships a lot.
• A person will compromise their faith to keep a person THEY want.
• I say that if you trust God, you will get the person you are supposed to have, and they will better than the one you are using human schemes to obtain by your compromising of your faith.
• The thing I asked you to think about in the introduction, God is asking you to sacrifice it for Him, would you do it, could you do it? Would you trust that He would provide for any potential loss you would suffer?
• I want to point out before we leave this though one thing. Notice in verse in verse two that God asks Abraham to take the son that you LOVE and…
• DO you realize this is the first time in the bible the word LOVE is used? Love is not used when God created, love is not used of a husband wife or a man to God relationship; it is used of a man’s love of his son.
• Have no doubt, Isaac is special to Abraham even more so than his wife.
• Let’s look at verses 3-8.
• SLIDE # 5
• Genesis 22:3–8 (HCSB) 3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. 7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.
• SLIDE #6
II. Abraham’s journey of love.
• This might have been a good day to call in sick, but Abraham doesn’t operate that way.
• He made preparations and he and Isaac and a couple of servants were on their way.
• I would LOVE to know what Abraham was thinking as he embarked on the journey that God had assigned to him.
• The more I think about this situation and the more I see Abraham’s obedience to God, I am not sure he was stressing about this.
• See even with Abraham’s faith struggles he had grown to trust God. He always did on one level, but as each scheme he developed to help God with did not work well, he seems to be learning that since the promises were God’s it was God’s responsibility to see to it the promises were fulfilled!
• We see no indication that Abraham was worried in the least about what was going to happen.
• As they get within sight of the place where the burnt offering was to take place, Abraham asked the young men to wait and notice what he says in verse 5. Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
• Notice he says WE! He knew one way or another he was coming back with Isaac. Because remember, God made a promise and Abraham is in a place in life where he knows if God promises, God will deliver, God will make it happen.
• I call this a journey of love because it was a journey of Abraham’s love for God.
• Would you be willing to make a journey of love for God? Could we without complaint, without doubting that God would keep His promise, go on this journey taking the very thing we love the most to be sacrificed on the alter for God?
• Think about how many times you have sacrificed your children or family to the titans we spoke of the past few weeks?
• Why would we be afraid the sacrifice the same to our God? BY THE WAY, I DO NOT MEAN CUT THEM AND BAR-B-QUE THEM!
• I like verse 6 also, Abraham made Isaac carry the wood he was going to burn him on. Abraham was fully trusting in God!
• Let’s look at verses 9-10
• SLIDE 7
• Genesis 22:9–10 (HCSB) 9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
• SLIDE #8
III. Abraham’s answer to God’s challenge.
• Now it is decision time. What does he do?
• Let me ask the question, did Abraham at the moment he bound his son and lifted the knife, is that when Abraham made his decision?
• No, Abraham made the choice to obey the minute God told him to sacrifice his son.
• Abraham answered God the moment God asked.
• The choice to be obedient should not wait until a said event, the choice to be obedient needs to be made ahead of time because if you wait until something is about to happen we will most likely choose the easy way out.
• I would tell my daughters to decide BEFORE you go on the date that you have boundaries that NO one will cross with them. Do not wait until the heat of passion to work through it.
• Abraham takes his son, and ties him up.
• Now for a moment, think of Isaac. Wonder what was going through his mind? Is my dad crazy?
• Why in the world would Isaac allow dad to do this? What was it in him that allowed him to let dad put him on the altar in the first place?
• I think Isaac trusted his father. He knew that whatever happened his dad would do the right thing and that God would come through. I am sure that Abraham shared the story of Isaac’s birth with Isaac.
• Isaac knew his significance to God, it seems like he trusted God also.
• Now think of what I asked of you before, you are on the journey to offer up the thing you love the most to God, you made the journey, you may have fought it some, but now here you are ready to plunge the knife, Abraham in verse 10 reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
• SLIDE #9
• Genesis 22:11–19 (HCSB) 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the LORD’s mountain.” 15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn,” this is the LORD’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies. 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command.” 19 Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.
• SLIDE #10
IV. Abraham’s blessings for loving God.
• God stopped the sacrifice of Isaac. God KNEW Abraham loved God more than anything else, and as a result God blessed Abraham.
• We need to understand that God did not want to take Isaac away from Abraham; God wanted Abraham to be able to love Isaac even more.
• The way for that to happen is to be sure that Abraham loved and trusted God even more.
• Love is not like a bank account, that you only have so much, love has no end.
• Abraham knew that if he obeyed God that God would bless him.
• SLIDE #11
• Psalm 37:4 (HCSB) Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desires.
• God does not want to take people or things from you, He wants you to realize that when you put God first what you have you will be able to love and appreciate more.
• When you have everything the world offers, but those things come ahead of God, they will be empty and unsatisfying.
• When you put God first, when you love God first, life will take on new meaning and will have more fulfillment!
• Psalm 37:4 is not about getting stuff, it is about getting your priorities right.
• When we live with our priorities in the right order, life is SO good!
• God always wants what is best for you. When we love God first, we know that and we will trust God.
• We will be willing to lose a relationship if it is not God’s will.
• Just because you want it does not make it God’s will.
CONCLUSION
• What are you putting a head of God today. DO you love God enough to give it up?
• I want to offer you some free advice and counsel. It is about priorities of the family.
• First, love God, love God above all else. This will make you a better husband, wife, father or mother.
• Next, love your SPOUSE. Love them the way God wants you to. Do not put your children ahead of God or your spouse. Why? Because the greatest gift you can give your children is a LOVING STABLE HOME! That happens when God is first, spouse is second.
• Third, love your children. They are not first or second, sorry kids, they are third. Your spouse needs to know this.
• Finally, the rest of your family. IF you will abide by these priorities you will have an AWESOME home and a home in which your marriage will be one you want your children to have!
