December 16, 2001 Heb. 11:17-19; Gen. 22:1-19
“You want what?!”
INTRODUCTION
There is a difference between giving a gift and making a sacrifice. A pig and a hen were walking down the road when they saw a poster advertising the forthcoming harvest supper. It said that ham and eggs would be served. The hen said to the pig, "How nice it is that we can help the minister." But the pig replied to the hen, "It’s all very well for you you’ll be making a contribution, but I’ll be making a sacrifice!" - 1500 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching compiled by Robert Backhouse
1. Sacrifices are expensive. (vs. 1-2)
Normally, when you are trying to get someone to give up something that they want to hold onto, you downplay how much that thing is going to cost them. For example, if my wife was to do the silly thing of asking for a diamond necklace for Christmas, she might say something like this. “Oh, here’s the one I want. And look; it’s on sale now for 50% off. It’s only $1000 now instead of $2000! That’s a steal! It’s only a month’s pay. Aren’t I worth a month’s pay?”
God didn’t follow that strategy here. He made sure that Abraham knew that what He was asking for was going to cost Abraham more than he could possibly afford. It wasn’t just going to break his bank; it was going to break his heart. Look at how God describes this expensive gift in verse 2. Think about what thoughts each of those descriptive words would have prompted in Abraham’s mind.
“your” “He’s mine God! You gave him to me! You promised me a son!”
“only” “He’s the only one I’ve got! And seeing how long it took me to get this one and how old I am now, it doesn’t look like I’m going to get another one!”
“Isaac” “He’s the source of laughter in my home, God! You remember how depressed Sarah always used to be – she’s been happy ever since you sent Isaac into our lives. How can I tell her that you want me to sacrifice Him?”
“love” “I love him, God. How could I do something like that to a person that I love? That would hurt me so much! And while we’re on the subject of love, how could you, who say you love me, ask me to do something that would cause me so much anguish?”
Abraham had already experienced what it felt like to lose a son. Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son, had been kicked out of Abraham’s house by Sarah only one chapter earlier. True, Ishmael had been a trouble-maker, but he was Abraham’s firstborn. And yes, as much as 13 years and perhaps more had passed since the day that Abraham lost Ishmael. But it still hurt deeply. “God, I can’t go through that pain again.”
When we are asked to make a sacrifice in order to give a gift that we cannot afford, we rationalize. We come up with all kinds of reasons for why that sacrifice just doesn’t make any sense. Abraham could have done the same thing. Abraham knew that child sacrifice was one of the reasons pagan religions and Canaanite religious practices were an abomination to God. To kill his son would be murder. Murder is a sin. God wouldn’t tell him to commit a sin. Besides that, God had specifically said that it was through Isaac that God’s promises to Abraham would be fulfilled. It didn’t make sense for God to command a murder in general. And specifically, it didn’t make sense for God to command him to murder the son of promise. He must have heard God wrong. He needed to get his spiritual hearing aid looked at.
One of Satan’s best tools is getting us to doubt God’s commands, especially when those commands don’t make sense. That’s exactly what he did with Eve. There was a conflict here between God’s goodness and God’s commands. What was Abraham supposed to do – set all reason aside? That’s what Christians have been accused of.
But in fact, the Christian life is not lived without reason and rationality. I am reading a book right now called The Case for Christ. It has a sequel called The Case for Faith. Both of these books are written by a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune. In the books, the author gives evidence for why it is a rational thing to believe in the Bible, the God of the Bible, and to hold to the faith that we have embraced. Reason is a good thing. But when reason and faith come into conflict, faith must prevail for the Christian.
When we don’t like the sacrifices that God’s commands require, we come up with our own detour on God’s plan. Abraham had done this twice before, and the stakes were a lot lower then. Why did it have to be a burnt offering? Why not a peace offering? A peace offering was placed on the altar but then given back to the family to enjoy. “I’ll dedicate my child to you, but don’t ask me to give him up completely or destroy him.” We do things like that with God. We make bargains based on what makes sense to us. It might make sense for God to tell me to give my car away. But for God to say for me to take an ax to it and completely destroy it as an act of worship to Him? That just doesn’t make any sense!
But he knew that God had spoken. He couldn’t reason it away. So his only other option was to do what we are tempted to do at Christmas. When someone that we love wants a gift that is too expensive for us to buy, we delay the expense and its pain. We put it on credit. Someone has said that “when we face a tough challenge, we don’t refuse; we just procrastinate.” Abraham could have reasoned that since God took 25 years to fulfill His promise of a son, then surely Abraham could take at least that long to give him up. After all, God gave him no time frame. I guess Abraham could have stalled and waited days, weeks, months, years to follow through. But he realized that the more time that elapsed the less likely he was to respond to God’s call. So regardless of his feelings, he acted quickly in his obedience to God. Verse 3 begins by saying that Abraham got up early the next morning to take his son on this journey. He didn’t wait until his next birthday, or until the next hunting season was over. He began this task the next morning.
Whenever you get a call from God, no matter how high the cost of what He demands and no matter how much it is going to hurt, don’t drag your feet. Act quickly. Of all the places that VISA is accepted, heaven is not one of them. The more time that you allow to go by between God’s command of a sacrifice and your offering it, the less likely it will be that you will give it, and the more miserable you will be as you fight with God.
Two little brothers were playing in the bathtub with a brand-new, brightly painted Noah’s Ark, and imagining a flood. After the bath water was let out, one brother said, "Now we ought to do what Noah did - build an altar and offer a sacrifice."
So taking some matches from the kitchen, they went outside, and found some sticks and built an altar. But they needed animals to sacrifice. Looking at the nice animals in their new ark, they felt they were too good to burn.
"I know," said the other brother, "there’s an old Noah’s Ark in the attic." So he ran upstairs and returned with a little lamb which had two legs broken off and the tail gone. Solemnly they placed the broken, useless lamb on the altar, offering that which cost them nothing.
This command of God’s to Abraham was painful. Part of the pain was because sacrifices are expensive. But another part was because sacrifices are lonely. That’s our second characteristic.
2. Sacrifices are lonely. (vs. 3-4)
Abraham may have made this same journey before. It was not unusual. Maybe Isaac had been anticipating the day that he would get to go with his father. Today was the day. He was so excited. (illus. Tom Smith was telling me about taking Josh with him to go deer hunting the other day. It was a special father and son experience.) Little did Isaac know what the end of this journey would be.
Isaac was excited. Abraham was lonely. That may seem like an odd thing to say. Abraham had two servants with him and his son. How could he be lonely? Have you ever been in a crowded room and felt like you were the only person in the world? You’re alone in your thoughts and your pain. You’ve got a burden so heavy that you feel like you can’t share it with anyone.
Abraham had been totally silent about what the goal of this journey was. He hadn’t shared this with anyone. God had spoken directly and he knew what he had to do.
Why wouldn’t he have shared it his wife or the servants or Isaac? They might have talked him out of it. Isaac was a loyal and obedient son, but I suspect he might have made Abraham rethink his word from God.
Imagine how it might have been if Abraham had lived today and he announced what he was getting ready to do. Tomorrow morning, you might read something in the paper that went a little bit like this: “A man was arrested today after police received an anonymous tip about a bizarre religious practice that was to take place. The man’s son was freed by police as the father was in the act of taking the boy’s life with a butcher knife. Police said the man told them he had heard the voice of God command him to sacrifice the boy. Names have been withheld to protect the juvenile boy’s identity and the father is in custody pending examinations by state psychiatrists.” That’s the way it would look today, right?
If you choose to live a life of sacrifice, you will find that life can be very lonely. Sacrifice is a whole lot easier when everyone else is sacrificing too or at least when you have others who will support your decision. But as a norm, people do not live a life of sacrifice. They don’t even encourage sacrifice in others, because if they saw someone else sacrificing, that would make them feel guilty for being unwilling to do the same. It’s kind of like how you feel when you see someone put money into the Salvation Army bucket. It makes you feel guilty then if you don’t do the same. So people discourage sacrifice, and they don’t want to be around sacrificial people. That requires you to walk your own path.
Making a decision for God is easy at church. There are lots of people to support you and even a few people to join with you in your decision. But what happens when you take your faith to school or work? You’re faced with a decision between right and wrong. If you go along you keep good standing with co-workers or other students. If you draw a line in the sand and refuse to cross it, they’ll probably laugh at you. You with your old fashioned, Puritanical standards. You might get laughed at or rejected. How would that feel? It would feel lonely.
But sacrifices are not based on feelings. They’re based on faith.
3. Sacrifices are faith-based not feelings based (vs. 5-8).
Compared to the first journey that God had put Abraham on, this trip was nothing. The journey from Ur to Canaan was some 2000km and probably took several months. The journey from Beersheba to Mt. Moriah was about 80km and took 3 days. But which of the two journeys do you think was longer for Abraham? On that 3 day journey that seemed to be an eternity, Abraham must have been tempted to give into his feelings. His feelings told him, “Take your boy, and go home! You can’t do this to your son!”
Feelings are supreme in our world today. Your assertions don’t have to be rational or even right as long as you feel it deeply. This perspective has crept into Christianity too.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with feelings in and of themselves. God did create us as emotional beings. The problem arises when we put feelings in control. We’re in trouble when goose bumps are our guide. As a culture more and more people let feelings run the show. As a church it is often feelings and not faith that tend to determine how we live.
I submit to you that faith based on feelings is no faith at all because it moves at the whim of emotion and not the will of God. If we’re to follow God and please him with our lives we must take feelings out of the driver’s seat and put faith in control.
“I am a lowly sinner who sought redemption and found it. That doesn’t make me better than anybody; it just adds perspective, I hope. I think people are going to find that in tough times they’re going to see a steady hand because the rock on which I stand is something other than the moment, the emotion of the day. Faith can be a steadying influence.” – President George Bush, USA Today, May 19, 2001
What is it that causes our fear and other negative feelings when God calls us to do something uncomfortable? Isn’t the problem our lack of complete trust in God? We fear that he’s going to let us down. We fear that life will never be sweet again. We fear that maybe God himself isn’t good after all.
Leadership Magazine carried a story about 4 young men, Bible College students, who were renting a house together. One Saturday morning someone knocked on their door. And when they opened it, there stood this bedraggled-looking old man. His eyes were kind of marbleized, & he had a silvery stub of whiskers on his face. His clothes were ragged & torn. His shoes didn’t match. In fact, they were both for the same foot. And he carried a wicker basket full of unappealing vegetables that he was trying to sell. The boys felt sorry for him & bought some of his vegetables just to help him out. Then he went on his way.
But from that time on, every Saturday he appeared at their door with his basket of vegetables. As the boys got to know him a little bit better, they began inviting him in to visit a while before continuing on his rounds.
They soon discovered that his eyes looked marbleized, not because of drugs or alcohol, but because of cataracts. They learned that he lived just down the street in an old shack. They also found out that he could play the harmonica, & that he loved to play Christian hymns, & that he really loved God.
So every Saturday they would invite him in, & he would play his harmonica & they would sing Christian hymns together. They became good friends, & the boys began trying to figure out ways to help him.
One Saturday morning, the story says, right in the middle of all their singing & praising, he suddenly said to them, "God is so good!" And they all agreed, "Yes, God is so good." He went on, "You know why he is so good?" They said, "Why?" He said, "Because yesterday, when I got up & opened my door, there were boxes full of clothes & shoes & coats & gloves. Yes, God is so good!" And the boys smiled at each other & chimed in, "Yes, God is so good."
He went on, "You know why He is so good?" They answered, "You already told us why. What more?" He said, "Because I found a family who could use those things, & I gave them all away."
Abraham must have been pretty excited when he heard God speak to him. But “imagine Abraham’s shock and despair when he heard what God had to say. Most of us think that if we were to speak to God face to face we’d suddenly feel better about life. Even when we worship, we think we’ve heard from God if we feel good and excited or maybe even ecstatic. Abraham was one of the few men to even speak to God as a friend and how do you think he felt after the encounter. Disturbed? Frightened? Sick to his stomach? Get past the idea that your only going to get a spiritual buzz when you encounter God. Sometimes, maybe most of the time we don’t feel too good about what he has to say. Why? Sinners in the presence of a holy God should be at least slightly uncomfortable.
“To Abraham’s credit, he ignored his feelings of anguish and grief and acted quickly on what God called him to do.
“The author of Genesis gives us a lot of extraneous details here. A good question to ask is, "Why?" It’s to give us a sense of the agony Abraham was going through. What was going through his mind while he did all this preparatory work? "Where and how was this miserable journey going to end?" "What will the neighbors and friends, not to mention my elderly wife think of a crazed old man sacrificing his only son?" "Can I really bring myself to kill and burn my son when the time comes?"”
The author uses all these details to help us empathize with Abraham. All these feelings and more must have been flowing through his heart. But instead of basing life on his feelings, he based life on his faith in the promises of God. Did you catch what Abraham said at the end of vs. 5? “We will worship and we will return.” He had confidence that he and Isaac were coming back down from that mountain even though he thought he was going to have to kill the boy.
Why did he believe God? Why did he believe when everything that he felt and everything that he knew and believed went contrary to what he was getting ready to do? Abraham could trust God now and do what God said without questioning because God had proved Himself faithful in all the other tests that He and Abraham had gone through. Abraham remembered the times that he had done things his own way and he remembered the consequences of those actions. But he also remembered the times that he had trusted God and how everything had eventually worked out all right.
One of God’s promises was that Abraham’s descendants would come through this son – through Isaac – the son that he was getting ready to sacrifice. Abraham totally believed God’s promise. He trusted that God would not renege on that promise. And the only way that he could reconcile God’s promise and the fact that he was getting ready to kill his son was to believe that God would raise Isaac from the dead. That’s what it says in Hebrews 11:19.
But Abraham had to believe even more than this. Did you catch that his son was to be a burnt offering? Once Abraham killed Isaac, he was to burn his body. Abraham had to believe that God would restore Isaac’s body and then restore his life. In spite of all the obstacles, he fully expected God to raise Isaac from the dead. That’s how he was able to follow through. He had real, tough faith.
You know marriage also is a venture that requires living by faith and not feeling. “You stand before God and a church full of witnesses and say, "I do. Till death do us part." It’s fun at first. Then come kids and responsibilities and hurt feelings and conflicts. It doesn’t feel so good anymore. Where’s the romance? Where the excitement? Do you stay with your commitment for better or worse?”
The same could be said about being part of a church or even being a Christian. It feels really good at first, but when God or your church start asking you to make sacrifices and give more of yourself than you had intended on giving, the temptation to back away becomes overwhelming.
“Think about something as small as spiritual disciplines. You commit to pray and read you Bible each morning. You’re 100% on go for the first few days. Then comes the morning after you stayed up too late. The alarm goes off and you don’t feel like getting up.” (illus. Man who hears the alarm go off on Sunday morning. Says to his wife, “Honey, I don’t feel like getting up and going to church today. Can we just sleep in this morning?” To which, she replies, “You have to get up, dummy. You’re the pastor!)
It seems that almost every store that you go to during the Christmas season has a Salvation Army bell ringing in front of it. They are asking you to make a sacrifice for someone else. You don’t feel like it though. After all, what right have they got to ask you to make a sacrifice? As the ship Empress of Ireland sank, the crew discovered that the ship was not carrying enough life jackets for everyone. There were 130 Salvation Army officers on board. 109 of them drowned. Not one of them had a life vest. As the ship went down The Salvation Army officers removed theirs and strapped them on the passengers. - Herb Miller, "What Constitutes a Healthy Congregation?" The Parish Paper (American Baptist Churches of Indiana, 1997) That’s what gives them a right to ask for a sacrifice. Did they feel like drowning in the ocean that day? No, but their faith told them that as soon as they left this world behind, they would be with the Savior who had sacrificed everything for them. And speaking of that Savior, do you think Jesus felt like dying on a cross for you? No, but He knew that His sacrifice would provide the way for you to be set from your sins. His sacrifice is what gives Him the right to demand sacrifice from me and you.
What about you? Are you going to follow through with your sacrifice or are you going to cave in to touchy feely faith?
Abraham had to set aside all reason and control all emotion.
Abraham thought he had settled this thing in his mind, and he thought that he had his feelings under control. But then his son asked a question that almost caused him to lose it. Isaac had been wondering something ever since they had left home 3 days earlier. He just hadn’t had the courage to ask it. But they were almost to their destination. He could restrain his curiosity no longer. “Dad, we have the wood and the fire, but we’re missing something. Where is the sacrifice?” Abraham had been anticipating that question ever since they left home. But he didn’t know how much it would hurt when it came. That question stabbed into his heart just as surely as the knife that he planned to plunge into his son’s heart. His eyes filled with water, and he said through a choked up voice, “God will provide a lamb.” And they walked on.
4. Sacrifices are evidence. (vs. 9-12)
“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Genesis 22:9-10”
Maybe Abraham hoped God would interrupt before this point in the process. “God Himself will provide”, not has provided a lamb. Was Abraham expecting, hoping that he would not have to go through with this? He kept expecting God to stop him. When no miraculous intervention occurred he had to follow through.
That’s where we give evidence that our faith is real; when we follow through despite how bad it hurts. One night, a man decided to show his wife how much he loved her. After dinner he began to recite romantic poetry, telling her he would climb high mountains to be near her, swim wide oceans, cross deserts in the burning heat of day, and even sit at her window and sing love songs to her in the moonlight. After listening to him go on for some time about this immense love he had, she ended the conversation when she asked, "But will you do the dishes for me?"
When it comes to sacrifice, good intentions count for squat. God’s concern is whether or not our faith follows through wherever he’s called.
The best way for God and us to know if we’re going to stand up to pressure when called upon is for us to go through testing. We live in an age of testing. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent every year on testing. Such items as the food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear and now, even the mail we receive are all subjected to countless tests before they reach us. Although these tests are expensive and often time-consuming, we accept them as a part of our complicated lifestyle. When we visit a physician’s office, we are likely to be tested so that he can make a better diagnosis of our ailments. Our automobiles are safer than ever because they have been tested both in the designing and the manufacturing process. We must pass a test to receive a driver’s license, and if we should be caught driving erratically, we may be tested by an officer for our sobriety. And the word “school” is one that for many students becomes synonymous with tests.
Just as our everyday life involves testing, so does our relationship to God. In school, testing gives evidence of what we know. In life, testing gives evidence of what we’re made of and what we really believe. Satan tempts – he wants to destroy us. God tests – He wants to see what we’re made of and then refine us. (James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7) “On rare occasions that test may come in one defining moment, as did Abraham’s when he was told to sacrifice Isaac. But most of us will never have an experience like that with all of its intensity and drama. Our tests usually come frequently, even daily. They arise in the seemingly small, insignificant events of life. They come when we are exasperated by another person and cut him down with a sarcastic remark. They arise when we “forget” about the posted speed limits on the highway. They occur when, in a group that may be critical of Christ or the church, we remain silent rather than speak up for our Lord.”
God didn’t make it easy for Abraham to pass this test. In fact, he made it as difficult as possible. If I had been God, I probably would have provided the wood for the fire and I would have made the place of sacrifice somewhere that was nearby so that there would be as few obstacles to Abraham’s obedience as possible. But God doesn’t work that way. God makes his tests difficult so that it develops character within us. (illus. That’s the way that the armed forces train their soldiers. Difficult tests. We wouldn’t want it any other way. Lonnie Martin has recently been going through school and testing to help him be able to do more things at his job. Lonnie works with the maintenance of airplanes at Bombardier. Pauline has shared with us how difficult some of those tests have been. Lonnie, I’m glad that you passed all your tests. But I’m glad that they were difficult too. I wouldn’t want it any other way knowing that you might be working on a plane that I might be a passenger on one day or that might be flying over my house one day.)
Maybe God has called you to stick a knife in something or some relationship in your life - not literally. You know it’s the right thing to do. You made your decision, but it hurts to follow through. It’s much more difficult than you ever thought it could be. God is looking for evidence that you really believe what you say you believe. He is looking for evidence that you are willing to sacrifice everything to Him and that you are ready to trust Him with it all.
Abraham had had 2 previous tests. He got an “F” on the first one and a “C” on the second one. This time, he got an “A”. Look at verse 12. Abraham didn’t question God. He didn’t try to change God’s plan. He simply listened to God and did what God said. His actions proved to God that he had changed. Because of that, he was rewarded.
5. Sacrifices are rewarded. (13-19)
Because of his faithful obedience, Abraham was rewarded with three things on that day. He was rewarded with the rescue of his son, the approval of God and a new and deeper relationship with God.
Abraham had to overcome a lot to get to the place of God’s reward. True faith, tough faith is revealed when we get past our feelings and hand the consequences over to God. Abraham had no idea what was going to happen, but he knew God would provide. He knew God was in control. He knew that God is good and seeks our very best. He was able to surrender control because of his faith. Abraham experienced God’s answer to his faithfulness. Look at vs. 13.
Can you imagine the joy that Abraham must have felt when he caught sight of the ram caught in the bushes? The tears that had been streaming down his face quickly turned into an outburst of uncontrollable laughter. He could laugh again. God had provided. His son was saved.
Only people who take their feelings out of the driver’s seat and put faith in control know the exhilaration seeing God’s promises fulfilled. There was still a sacrifice on that day, but it was not Isaac. God provided the sacrifice.
Some of you might be tempted to conclude that this example means that when you sacrifice things to God, He will give them right back to you. That would make sacrificing easy. I’ll gladly put $10,000 in the offering plate if God will give it back to me 3 days later…with interest. That’s not the way it works. But “if we will trust Him enough to give everything to Him, God will always replace whatever we’re holding onto with a better alternative.”
Along with his son, Abraham also got the approval of God. (vs. 15-18) Tough faith gets God’s approval. If you want the approval of God, if you want to stand before Jesus Christ one day and hear him say "Well done, good and faithful servant," go with faith and not feelings. If you want to make an impact on this world and be living breathing proof of a good God, take feelings out of the driver seat and put faith in control.
But the best reward of all – better than getting his son back, better than receiving God’s approval – was gaining a new and deeper understanding of God. Abraham got to know God as the God who provides – Jehovah Jireh. God’s provision was found in the place of His assignment. “We have no right to expect the provision of God if we are not in the place of His will.” Charles Stanley’s grandfather used to say, “if God says [to] run your head through a brick wall, you take off running, and God will put a hole there when you need it.”
“Abraham came back down off that mountain closer to God than he had ever been in his life. Why? Because he had laid it all on the altar.” It is possible to allow God’s blessings in our life to get in the way of our relationship with Him. Abraham had done that. The gift can become more important than the Giver. (Mat 10:37 KJV) “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” But now, things were back in their proper order in Abraham’s life. He was right with God. Verse 19 says that Abraham then returned to his servants, and he and his son went to Beersheba – they went home. He could go home with his son now, and because of his faith, one day He could go home to be with his Father in heaven.
Jesus said, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt. 10:39)
CONCLUSION
Can anyone see any similarity between what God did here and what He did for us at Calvary almost 2000 years ago? You and I were the ones on the altar who were getting ready to be sacrificed as penalty for our sins. When it seemed like all hope was lost, God provided a substitute. “Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, died on the cross in our place on the black day we call Good Friday. It is Good Friday because on that day God did not stop His hand and His only Son bore the weight of our sins in order to provide us with salvation unto eternal life.”
Abraham’s hand was stopped by God and another sacrifice was provided. What God would not allow Abraham to do (i.e. sacrificing his son), God did Himself. There was no one to stop God’s hand in the sacrifice of Jesus! God’s hand could not be stopped because no other sacrifice could be provided in the place of Jesus! No other sacrifice was sufficient to pay for our sins! All because God loves you and me - loves us enough to not withhold even His only Son from the sacrifice. “For the love of God, Abraham had been willing, no matter how painfully it tore his heart, to sacrifice his only son.” For the love of you and me, God was willing, no matter how painfully it tore His heart, to sacrifice His only Son.
INVITATION
The invitation this morning is to two groups of people. Maybe you are here this morning, and you have not yet trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. If not, then you are still on the altar. You are in danger of facing God’s judgment. God has provided a substitute sacrifice for you. God has provided a way for you to escape your own death. Won’t you accept the death of Jesus Christ as substitute payment for your sins? Won’t you invite Him this morning to become your Savior?
There are others of you here who have taken the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for your sins. But you haven’t allowed the sacrifice of Jesus to motivate you to live a life of sacrifice. You’ve been living for yourself. You’ve allowed some things to come between you and the Savior. He’s told you that you need to give something up, but you’ve been holding onto it with every ounce of strength that you have. Give it up today! Don’t put it off. It will only make you miserable. Sacrifice it to God today as an act of worship, and then you will get to know God as the God who miraculously provides.
NOTE: Much of the third point of this sermon material was taken from a sermon preached by Joel Smith called “ Tough Faith vs. Touchy Feely Faith” ( Genesis 22:1-18 ) at Wellspring Community Church on 9-5-01. To see the full text of his sermon, look up “Gen22” file on the hard drive.
