Genesis 22: Regeneration

Genesis 22

What would you do if God told you to give up that which you treasure the most?

What would you do if God commanded you to do something that sounded… completely wrong?

That’s what we’re going to look at today:
1. God’s ridiculous command
2. Obedience brings rewards
3. Regeneration

What would you have done if you were Abraham, and heard God say

1. God’s ridiculous command (the test)

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Can you imagine hearing such a command from God? Can you imagine the confusion, the inner turmoil? Really? Really God? That is what you want me to do?

The author makes it clear what is going on: “God tested Abraham’s faith”. This is a test – the death of Isaac was never God’s intention. This is a test for Abraham to uncover what he loves: does he love God, or does he love what God gives him? Does he love God? Does he trust God?

“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much”

Abraham’s response is remarkable. 3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.

That’s faith in God. The story doesn’t tell us what Abraham was feeling – the conflicting emotions, the worry, the hope that God would rescue – it just tells us what he DID. He obeyed. He obeyed quickly. God’s word sounded ridiculous – but it was God’s word. And so he listened. That’s what Abraham did. But what about me?

How often does God’s word sound ridiculous to us. Forgive, do not take revenge. Pay your taxes. Honour the government. Keep sex for marriage only. Submit to your husband. Love your wife as Christ loved the church – sacrifice yourself for her! (“Seriously, God, have you MET my wife”, some might say). God’s ways so often run counter to ours. For we say take revenge. It’s a dog eat dog. Get away with what you can. Politicians are swine. Sex isn’t special, it’s just a need that people have like eating so eat wherever you find food. SUBMIT???? Hahahaha. Sacrifice for your WIFE? Are you crazy. And so on.

What is it that you struggle with? What part of God’s word do you carefully avoid? Or pretend you haven’t heard? Or try to explain away with a great number of words?

This is where the rubber hits the road – this is where your faith is revealed to be genuine or not: NOT where YOU agree with God, but where God’s word and your word are opposed.
Will I submit? Or will I follow my own path.
Who’s really God in my life? God? Or me?

Your obedience reveals your faith. Your trust reveals your heart. Listen to Abraham’s heart.

4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

In Heb 11:17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.

God can do the impossible – even raise someone from the dead. So Abraham had full confidence in the God who keeps his promises. That’s what we saw last week, that God keeps his promises – he kept his promise to Abraham of the miracle son, Isaac. He kept his promise to Hagar and Ishmael, to hear their cry and to look after them. And he will keep his promise to bless the whole world through Abraham and his son Isaac.

Abraham knew that Isaac was part of God’s promises, and so knew that if he died, God would, must, raise him back to life again. Only through the resurrection life of the son could the world be blessed.

He knew the character of God. He knew God’s promises. And so he was able to act in faith, in full confidence that, no matter what happened, we will worship there, and then we will come right back.

He trusted God’s word, ridiculous as it seemed, because he knew God.

That is why we gather together on Sundays and on Wednesdays to read the Bible together. If we do not read God’s word we will not know what he is like, what he says, who he is. And if we do not know him, we can never obey him in joy and gladness. Our Christian lives will be crippled. How can you trust someone you do not know?

6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

Wow. Can you imagine the emotions raging through Abraham as his beloved son asks him “where is the sacrifice?”. And think of the amazing control, the amazing faith in the God whom he knows, to answer “God will provide”.
Not surprising that when they did return from the mountain, Abraham called that place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”) (v14).

Abraham knew God, and so trusted him.

What about you? Do you know God? Do you trust him? What are you doing to get to know God? Have you asked him?
And if you do know him, are you obeying him as God, no matter what? He is God, and I am not. Where am I avoiding obeying God?

2. Obedience brings rewards

The result of Abraham’s obedience is a restatement of the promises made to Abraham back in chapter 12, and repeated in chapters 13, 15, 17, and 18, - but this time with a difference. Did you notice it?

15 Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

Because you have obeyed me. All the nations of the earth will be blessed – all because you have obeyed me. Wow.

Now, at this point I’m going to share with you some “deleted scenes” from this sermon. Like on a movie when they cut out scenes that are wrong or just didn’t fit the movie – these are the deleted parts of this talk – the bits left on the cutting room floor. Try and see why I would have cut these out.

“At last we see the reason why God chose Abraham. His heart is finally revealed as a heart that obeys. And because he obeys, God could go ahead with his plan.

God didn’t know if he could use Abraham. After all, in verse 12 the angel says “now I know that you truly fear God”. Lucky God. Because if Abraham didn’t fear God, if he hadn’t obeyed – well, the nations would not be blessed. God would have to try to find someone else, someone worthy of being chosen by God.”

That’s one deleted scene. You could call it the Armenian version: the God who does not know, the dependant God.

But there’s another deleted scene, similar but a bit different.

“We know that in chapter 15 after God had given Abraham the promises Abraham believed God and he was credited with righteousness. But now Abraham had a test to pass. Fail it, and he was out – pass it and all the blessings of God were his. He was blessed because he obeyed. So shape up, Christian! Pull up your bootstraps and try harder. Otherwise you’ll find yourself out on your ear.”

This deleted scene you could might call that the “try-harder” version. Like the first deleted scene, it’s found in many, many Western churches, and we in Norway have not been spared: God opens the door with salvation, but the rest is up to you. Be a good boy, try hard, and God will like you.

But those are the deleted scenes. Because that’s not the gospel – and not actually what this story teaches us.
Because this story is NOT the beginning of Abraham’s story. It is NOT the only story in the book of Genesis. It does not stand alone. False teachers love to rip stories (or even better, single verses) out of their context and use them to make God say what they want him to say. V18 is a great example of a verse that you can rip out of context and make is say whatever you want.

The thing is that chapter 22 is CHAPTER 22 – and we’ve had 10 other chapters before this informing us of the relationship between God and Abraham. And we have learned that Abraham is a total sinner! God doesn’t love Abraham because he obeys him! God loves Abraham because he loves Abraham by grace alone. Abraham is weak in faith, disobedient to God, abuses Hagar, commits adultery against his wife, and then sends his son Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die. No, we’ve seen time and time again that Abraham is saved by grace – yes - and continues to be blessed by grace and grace alone.

It has NOT been dependant on his performance. The try-harder version is wrong. How often has he failed yet been blessed anyway, simply because God had promised to bless? God keeps his promises.

And his promises are secure. The idea of God not being in control of the future – whether he limits his view somehow or whether he lacks power – if he is dependent on finding out what people are really like to see whether his plan works or not – how could we ever trust him? His words would be flimsy, fickle, changeable – just like ours.

And that’s not the God we have met through the life of Abraham, is it? We’ve seen threat after threat to God’s promises rise up – only to be simply dismissed, swatted away like nothing. His words are secure, unshakeable.

So if this isn’t telling us that God doesn’t know the future, or that God is waiting for us to slip up and fail a test then he’s going to get us – what does it mean? Well, it’s about

3. Regeneration

Regeneration means that we are being transformed, changed from the inside out to be more like God. And as we are changed we are drawn up into God’s plans for the salvation of the world: revealing Christ through us to those around us. It’s all about him.

16 “This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

We are very strong on grace in this church. We understand the salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone.
But we also understand that that grace makes demands on you. It is not cheap grace, pie in the sky when you die (that is, you’re forgiven in the future but there’s no effect on your life now).

James says faith without works is dead. Jas 2:17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. It’s not real faith.
A Christian life unaffected by the gospel is not a Christian life.

Why?
Because the Christian life is evidence of God’s Spirit at work in you.
If there’s no fruit, there’s no root.

James carries on Jas 2:21–24 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.

Abraham’s righteous obedience reveals that God is at work – that he has living faith. He was working out what God had worked in.
Same with us. We belong to Christ. And are now called to work out what God has worked in.

And as we obey – as we kneel in our room to pray (or pray as we are driving, or walking around Tinnemyra), as we share the gospel with a friend, as we hold our tongue with our wife, or happily change the tyres on the car, or put down the paper and “sacrifice” some time to engage with your kids, playing with them, talking with them, as we live as Christian men and women, treating people as eternal beings, infinitely valuable – as we do these things to the glory of God we find that we are lifted up into the very plans of God. We find that our actions, our words are what God is using to achieve his plans in the world. Me? Little old me? Part of God’s plan? Me, bringing glory to God. Yes, you.

Abraham, because you obeyed me, all nations of the earth will be blessed.

It’s like when was putting together our dining room chairs and tables. My kids were there helping me. Holding the legs in place. Screwing in the screws. Who built the chairs? Well, I did, of course. Without me the kids wouldn’t have got very far. I didn’t need their help. I would have achieved my purposes anyway. But because I love them, they joined with me, and so we built the chairs together. And they can say, in truth, “I built those chairs”.
Or like when we wash the car together. “I washed the car”. And they did.

Or I led this person to Christ. I prayed for them for years and God heard my prayer. That’s true! Because God is at work in you, your obedience is taken up to the throne room of heaven and you become part of God’s glorious work in the world!

Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of earth will be blessed.

Lift up your eyes! We are on a tremendous, world-changing adventure. And it starts right here.

Not because we are special, but because God is. And because he keeps his word. And he is at work in you.

So don’t be afraid to step out in obedience. Whatever it is that you have been avoiding, whatever command of his that you have been ignoring – repent now. Say “Lord, I trust you, I will obey you”. And you will not regret it. You will not be made a fool of. He will not let you down. Your obedience will ring true in the throne-room of heaven, another example of the grace of God placed in you being worked out in faith. And that little spark of obedience will be fanned into a flame of glory to God!

Wait and see what God will do. Abraham’s obedience blessed the whole world.

What will he do with yours? “Se hva som skjer!” Wait and see. Our obedience will change the world.