God provides for His children. But how? Usually at the time when we desperately need it. Usually not in abundance or ahead of time, but after our faith has been tested…

Genesis 22:9-14 (The Names of God #2)

 

Sermon Transcript:

The God who provides
Introduction: Context-Abraham has claimed his hope and displayed his trust in God before, but in a time of panic and unbelief, instead of trusting God to fulfill His promise (of having a son). Abraham in his unbelief is persuaded by his wife’s unbelief and decides to have a baby with their servant, Hagar. This creates a lot of confusion and problems in their life, all stemming from his distrust in God to provide what He promised…

Genesis 16:1-6-Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

*Abraham struggled that God would provide…-so Abraham had to learn how to trust, like us all..
-we usually don’t need any help to struggle in unbelief-this is what we hope the church helps you fight against
Ex: The worship service of music, preaching, fellowship etc.-Church should be about the majesty of God and faith in His promises to provide over our ways of provision…
-growth to be encouraged daily that “God will provide”-Trusting in His character and knowing His promises (His Word)
Ex: “forgive and God will forgive you”…a promise-that if heeded you will have peace with God and others=so we believe the promise over holding a grudge
Mark 9:23-25-And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
-we are here to help your unbelief, and work for your joy, through a growing faith and trust in God..

*Like Abraham, we all struggle with the unbelieving tendency to doubt whether God will provide…
-So we need to be encouraged to believe in God’s provisions-this is the goal of a body of believers
Proverbs 11:14-Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
-this is why isolation is dangerous-because when you don’t surround yourself with like minded people & His promises, you trust yourself…
-Abraham and his wife needed someone to remind them of God’s promise to them-to deter their unbelief from trusting their ways over God’s promise

By the time Abraham gets to this point in his life his lack of faith in God’s promise (or trust in himself and others) has caused him more problems than anything else…It is through his failures to trust God in the past and the consequences of them, where he learns to trust God to the ultimate degree in his life.

Our response to God…as Provider

Genesis 22:1-4-After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son, the son he has been waiting all his life for…but because he has seen the results of trusting himself, he does not question God…

*The best self realization we can have is a poor spirit…
Matthew 5:3-“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven-”I don’t have what it takes” I need God!
-so the goal is not for me to prove I know everything, or I trust myself-but I live for the Kingdom!
-Abraham’s biggest problem was that before this, he had an arrogant spirit, living for himself-”I don’t need God for this or wait on His promises, I trust my own ways”
-(vs3)-Abraham could have argued with God-but he is so humbled by the consequences of trusting himself that he doesn’t hesitate when told…
Ex: my son and his rebuttals-he rebuttals what is said because he trust himself over us…untested ideas about life
-Once your philosophy and ideas of life cause you trouble, you tend to distrust yourself…
-even though it sounds crazy to sacrifice your child, he trust God in his lack of understanding!-he doesn’t trust himself
Proverbs 16:25-There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

*But distrusting yourself must be replaced by trusting God, not other people for provision…
Abraham’s wife is the one who told him to sleep with Hagar the servant to bring about God’s promise…
-but Abraham recalls his relationship with God and His faithfulness-Ex: Which we should look back on His goodness and faithfulness
-reminding Him that God has been better to him than other people have been to him-He is truly poor in spirit…
Ex: he is not networking, seeing who he can help him progress in his life-he has moved beyond people being his help and provision…
-True wisdom teaches a person how not to trust his own spirit over God-such people see themselves in need of God…

Confirming our worship
Genesis 22:4-8 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

*(vs5)-Abraham didn’t see the request from God as ridiculous or crazy,
-Abraham sees this request as an opportunity to worship-so he wants to reciprocate that love because he is grateful
-He knows God has been so good to him!-how do you see a request or a command to sacrifice from God?-are you selfish by complaining?
Ex: this is why disobedience from children angers a good parent/teacher-we ask them “why won’t you reciprocate love”-in other words, “why won’t you obey my request”
-God asks us, “what is wrong with our relationship that you won’t do what I ask you to do? Haven’t I been good to you?
-So when God gives us a command, it is an opportunity to reciprocate love-Why don’t you see this request as an opportunity to worship Me? Seeing that I gave you the blessing anyway!
Abraham understood this,-he realized to scoff at God’s request is forget who Isaac belonged to, God!

*In order to worship you must believe that the person or object is your provider…
-God tested Abraham’s worship by wanting to prove who is the provider of your life?
“Is the child the substance of your life or am I?”-”prove to Me that this is not what you serve Me for…go kill him!”
(Remember Abraham and Sara waited 100 years to have a child, and God says go kill him as a sacrifice!)
James 2:17-So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
-this is why obedience to God’s Word or commands affirm our worship-it answers that God is my provider!
-because what if Abraham gets the child and now is disobedient to the command to sacrifice him?-”I have been serving God in order to get this blessing…-I go from being poor in spirit to being arrogant in spirit…
-because now I have what I have always desired, forget obedience and sacrifice-”So God is my provider, until he ask me to sacrifice something=not true worship”
Matthew 7:21-23-”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
-it is not worship when you replace what God told you to do (His will), with what you think is a better idea=lawlessness
Ex: my children have a rebuttal for a command-the threat of discipline teaches them to obey commands
-discipline teaches you to do what God tells you to do-Discipline taught Abraham that God was His provider

*Worship submits even when you don’t totally understand…you trust

-Though Abraham might have been confused-he knew 2 important things
1) He personally trusted the character of God by faith-regardless of what other people thought
-imagine his wife fearful as a mother, but he trusted God.-he recalled when he did trust her and not God…
2) He didn’t trust Himself and what he thought-he remained poor in spirit, remembering his own foolishness
(vs8) Abraham says, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.)
2 Timothy 2:13-if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
-Abraham knew the character of God was faithful- his confidence was not in himself anymore

The real Provider
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

*(vs 9)-Abraham is proving that life is about knowing God…
-the idol of family he placed before God failed him-Abraham lays his potential idol (Isaac) on the altar to prove to God He loves Him more than his potential idols
Leviticus 19:4-Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

*(vs12-14)-True love will always fight to give you what is best-God detest idols because they are not enough to provide!
-When God is not your provider, think about how limited you are in the possibilities of being provided for-worry, manipulate, lie, cheat, and steal all out of knowing you are limited…
-Abraham allowed God to bring about a provision he would have never considered-trusting God expanded His faith to trust the possibilities of God providing His way.
-If Abraham never offered up Isaac, because of being settled with being his own provider, he would never know that God could be His provider…-Abraham would be stuck living with his own means of purpose, peace, joy, love, and worth
Philippians 4:19-And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
-Are you regulating your provider to be people, money, a mentality, etc.
What is the Lord calling you to sacrifice in order to allow Him to prove He is your Provider?