1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,100 This week we are continuing our sermon series, Heroes of Faith. 3 00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:17,440 And when we're talking about hockey, Wayne Gretzky is often called the Great One. 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,100 But when we're talking about faith, the Great One is Abraham. 5 00:00:21,100 --> 00:00:26,220 And Abraham's faith carried him through some turbulent times, including three big tests 6 00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:27,220 from God. 7 00:00:27,220 --> 00:00:32,600 So today, Rob is going to help us unpack those tests and show us what Abraham's faith has 8 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:39,600 to teach us today. 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,040 Our first reading this morning is from the book of Genesis, chapter 12, verses one to 10 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,080 three. 11 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,560 The Lord has said to Abraham, go from your country, your people, and your father's household 12 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,800 to the land I will show you. 13 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,240 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. 14 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,240 I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 15 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:04,960 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. 16 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:08,840 And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 17 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:15,820 Our second reading is from Hebrews, chapter 11, verses eight through 12, and 17 to 19. 18 00:01:15,820 --> 00:01:20,920 By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, 19 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,560 obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 20 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:30,880 By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. 21 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:38,480 He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 22 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:43,480 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is 23 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:44,640 God. 24 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:50,640 And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was unable to bear children because she 25 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:54,560 considered him faithful who had made the promise. 26 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:59,760 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the 27 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:05,640 stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 28 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:11,600 By faith, Abraham, when tested by God, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. 29 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,420 He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son. 30 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:22,800 Even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. 31 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,520 For the same reason that God could even raise the dead. 32 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:29,800 And so in a manner of speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. 33 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,920 The word of the Lord. 34 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:35,680 If you've been to the Hockey Hall of Fame, you know that there are something like 300 35 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,480 inductees that are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. 36 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:43,200 They've been putting people in there for like 80 years, and you can walk around from room 37 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,760 to room, from display to display to see all these amazing hockey players. 38 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,560 But there is one display. 39 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:57,340 There is one inductee in particular, which is greater and I will say even more important 40 00:02:57,340 --> 00:02:59,080 than all the others. 41 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:05,840 There is one hockey player who stands above them all, and that of course is Wayne Gretzky. 42 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:10,760 Wayne Gretzky is known as the great one, the great one. 43 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,540 And surely he's the greatest one probably to put on skates and play the game. 44 00:03:15,540 --> 00:03:20,960 He has the record right now for points, for assists, for goals. 45 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:26,000 Although Alexander Ovechkin apparently is just 10 or 20 goals behind him and could likely 46 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,760 will catch him on the goal thing. 47 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:34,700 But he's surpassed all other hockey players with his vision, his hockey IQ, the legacy 48 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:35,700 that he has left. 49 00:03:35,700 --> 00:03:39,120 He won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers. 50 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:44,960 And he inspired so many generations that followed him to play the game. 51 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:47,480 So that's the great one, Wayne Gretzky. 52 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:52,480 Well for the past five weeks we have been looking at a different Hall of Fame. 53 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,080 It's not a Hall of Fame that honors pro athletes. 54 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,560 It's a Hall of Fame that honors those who live by faith. 55 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:03,080 And it's not located in any city, this Hall of Fame, this Hall of Faith. 56 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,020 It's actually located in your Bibles. 57 00:04:05,020 --> 00:04:10,240 It's located in the Book of Hebrews and in Chapter 11. 58 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:17,120 And if you look there you will see a whole host of inductees into the Hall of Faith. 59 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,280 So for example a few weeks ago we walked into one room in the Hall of Faith and there was 60 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:22,280 Abel. 61 00:04:22,280 --> 00:04:28,240 Abel is this guy who worshiped God perhaps for the very first time and offered an appropriate 62 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:34,120 sacrifice to God and thereby earned himself a statue in the Hall of Faith. 63 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:38,400 And then you walk into another room and we did and we saw this other fellow. 64 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,000 His name was Enoch. 65 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:44,760 And Enoch is in the Hall of Faith because he walked with God throughout his life and 66 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,280 actually walked with God so closely that he walked right around death itself right into 67 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:50,400 the presence of God. 68 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:52,880 Enoch in the Hall of Faith. 69 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:57,680 And then last week we walked into this big immersive room filled with raindrops and clouds 70 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:03,040 and it was a special room that was recognizing the hero of faith, Noah. 71 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:08,240 Noah who listened carefully to God and stood up for God in a world that was going the other 72 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,840 way and that earned Noah a place in the Hall of Faith. 73 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:16,080 And in the weeks ahead, next week we're going to visit this room over here where Sarah is 74 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:22,080 located and this next week or the week after that we're going to visit Rahab's memorial 75 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,400 in the Hall of Faith and we're going to keep on going. 76 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:32,040 But today, today we enter into the biggest room in the whole Hall of Faith. 77 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:38,840 Today we are going to see a display that is completely devoted to the Great One. 78 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:41,120 And I'm not talking about Wayne Gretzky. 79 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,280 I'm talking about Abraham. 80 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,960 Abraham is the Great One in the Hall of Faith. 81 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:49,640 And today we're going to find out why. 82 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:55,640 We're going to find out by reading his little excerpt there in Hebrews chapter 11. 83 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:01,520 But really Abraham's story is so big it begins in Genesis chapter 12 and goes on for like 84 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:03,560 10 or 20 chapters after that. 85 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:09,760 Why, you might say, is Abraham of all the people considered the Great One? 86 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:15,520 Well first of all, Abraham is widely viewed as the father of faith. 87 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:21,680 There are three major world religions that all claim Abraham as their father of faith. 88 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,080 Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. 89 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,060 They all see themselves as children of Abraham. 90 00:06:28,060 --> 00:06:31,440 Even our own children in kids church will sing the song. 91 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,440 Father Abraham had many sons, had many sons, had father Abraham. 92 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:36,560 How's it go? 93 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:44,440 I am one of them and so are, so let's just praise the Lord. 94 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,040 So that, we are one of them. 95 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,640 Father Abraham, he's our father of faith too. 96 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,640 He's mentioned 300 times throughout the Bible. 97 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:55,760 14 whole chapters in Genesis. 98 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,480 74 mentions in the New Testament. 99 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,640 And in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, he's got the most space given to him than anybody 100 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,520 else in that chapter. 101 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:12,240 Paul calls Abraham the father of all who believe. 102 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,700 It's interesting as a preacher, some of these people in the hall of faith, there's so little 103 00:07:15,700 --> 00:07:20,960 written about them in the Bible that the hard work is to kind of build a 20 or 25 minute 104 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,840 sermon out of such little material. 105 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:25,400 The problem with Abraham is exactly the opposite. 106 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:30,280 There's so much on him, how do you distill it down to a 20 or 25 minute sermon? 107 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,520 The answer is you preach a 45 minute sermon. 108 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:34,520 Which is no, just joking. 109 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,880 We're not going to do that today. 110 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,560 But anyways, that was the first thing. 111 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,020 That's why he is the great one. 112 00:07:41,020 --> 00:07:45,280 But another reason why he's considered the great one is that he had a title that was 113 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,040 given to nobody else in the whole Bible. 114 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:52,100 And that was Abraham was called a friend of God. 115 00:07:52,100 --> 00:07:56,840 For example, three times in the Bible, but here's one from James, Abraham believed God 116 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,520 and he was called God's friend. 117 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:10,160 And you know, to this day, Arabs and Muslims will refer to Abraham as Abraham Khalil Allah, 118 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,920 which means Abraham, the friend of God. 119 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:14,920 He's the great one. 120 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:16,820 He was the friend of God. 121 00:08:16,820 --> 00:08:20,960 And the third reason Abraham is considered the great one in the hall of faith is because 122 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:26,120 his faith was tested and proven more than anyone else's. 123 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:30,140 He was tested again and again and again by God and he always passed the test. 124 00:08:30,140 --> 00:08:33,080 He was tried and true. 125 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:39,680 Did you know that testing your faith is an essential part of spiritual growth? 126 00:08:39,680 --> 00:08:40,760 Think of it this way. 127 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,000 Let's say you are baking a cake and you mix up the recipe just perfectly. 128 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,520 You turn the oven to 350 degrees. 129 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:49,240 You slide the cake in the oven. 130 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:50,440 You set the dinger. 131 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:55,000 You set the beeper, the timer for the right amount of time and then you wait and you wait 132 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,940 and it goes beep and it lets you know it's done and that means what? 133 00:08:57,940 --> 00:09:01,060 You can take the cake out and it's done perfectly. 134 00:09:01,060 --> 00:09:02,340 Not necessarily though. 135 00:09:02,340 --> 00:09:03,340 Not necessarily. 136 00:09:03,340 --> 00:09:04,340 What do you have to do? 137 00:09:04,340 --> 00:09:08,440 You got to take the fork and you got to do the fork test and you stick the fork into 138 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,840 the cake and you pull it out and if it comes out goopy, it's not done. 139 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,480 Even if you put it in for the right time at the right temperature, it could still come 140 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:16,680 out goopy. 141 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:20,840 What you got to do is wait until it comes out clean. 142 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:22,320 I don't mind if it's a little bit goopy. 143 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:25,080 I think that tastes pretty good still. 144 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:31,640 But the point is something can look done on the outside and not be done on the inside 145 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:33,200 and the same is true for people of faith. 146 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,640 You might meet people who look like their faith is fully formed and they're fully baked 147 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,400 in the best sense of the word and yet actually on the inside they're not done. 148 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,720 So what God does is God has to stick a fork in you from time to time. 149 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:47,440 He has to test us. 150 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,320 God tested Abraham in this way. 151 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:54,960 And by the way, it's very different for me to say that God tests people than to say that 152 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:56,720 God tempts people. 153 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,440 Those are very different words. 154 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,280 Satan in the Bible is the one who does the tempting. 155 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,200 God in the Bible is the one who does the testing. 156 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:11,960 A guy I read this week, Skip Hetzig says, tempting brings out the worst in us. 157 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,360 Testing brings out the best in us. 158 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,560 Now in Hebrews 11, we're going to look at this, but they summarize Abraham's life around 159 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:22,560 three tests of faith. 160 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:24,160 And we're going to look at each one of those. 161 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,480 We did provide you with sermon notes so we can follow along and get the most out of this. 162 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:32,480 Let's look at the three big tests that Abraham faced. 163 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:37,680 The first is what you might call the test of leaving. 164 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:43,320 Many think that faith is really, really put to the test when you have to step into some 165 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,720 new challenge or new opportunity that's in front of you. 166 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:46,720 And that's true. 167 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:53,680 But it is also a huge test to just leave behind something that is familiar and something that 168 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,880 is very comfortable, trusting that there's something greater ahead. 169 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,240 And that is what Abraham learned in his first test. 170 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:02,840 It was the test of leaving. 171 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:07,200 We read that by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out. 172 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,880 He had to leave the place where he would receive as an inheritance. 173 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:17,120 And he went out, and get this, not knowing where he was going. 174 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:18,440 Isn't that amazing? 175 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,520 He left without knowing where he was going. 176 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,240 This leaving, this test of leaving shows us three things. 177 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:30,280 The first is that Abraham had to break from his past. 178 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:31,720 Abraham lived in this city at the time. 179 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:33,600 It was a city called Ur. 180 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,840 It was in present-day Iraq. 181 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:42,160 And archaeologists have actually discovered that the city of Ur was a major city. 182 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,360 200 or 300,000 people lived there. 183 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:45,360 There was lots of culture. 184 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:46,360 There was a library. 185 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:47,360 There was a museum. 186 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:51,280 There was astronomers did stuff there. 187 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,520 There was even maybe some form of a university there. 188 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:54,520 It was a great city. 189 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,560 It wasn't a little hick town. 190 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:00,200 But God says, Abraham, I want you to leave that place. 191 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,360 I want you to break from that place. 192 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:06,600 In fact, God's first words to Abraham are not, hey, Abraham, how are you doing? 193 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:07,600 My name's God. 194 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:08,600 Oh, hi, God. 195 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:09,600 No. 196 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:10,600 His first words are go. 197 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,440 Abraham, go from your country. 198 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,120 Go from your people. 199 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:18,640 And go from your father's household. 200 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,000 Do you see how important those three things are to most people? 201 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Those are the things that form you, your country, your household, your people. 202 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,720 And Abraham's being asked to leave all that behind, to have a complete break from all 203 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:34,720 of that. 204 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,720 It's a huge ask. 205 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:42,160 In some ways, this is still what followers of Jesus are asked to do today. 206 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:47,920 We are asked to go and leave behind old ways of thinking and leave behind old patterns 207 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:55,180 of behavior and leave behind anything that is holding us back from fully trusting Jesus. 208 00:12:55,180 --> 00:12:59,960 We cannot really step into the future that God has for us if we are still clinging to 209 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,720 these things from the past. 210 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:09,320 But faith says, I believe that whatever it is God is calling me to is way better than 211 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,600 anything that I am leaving behind. 212 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:12,600 Right? 213 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,280 So that is the first part about leaving, is he had to just break from his past. 214 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:21,100 But secondly, he had to follow God step by step. 215 00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:24,160 When I go on a trip, I want to know the full itinerary. 216 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:27,640 I want to know where we're going, when we're getting there, every turn, every twist, every 217 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:28,840 stop along the way. 218 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:34,000 But God did not reveal any of that to Abraham whatsoever, as I already showed you. 219 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,960 It just said, go to the land that I will show you. 220 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,200 I will show you. 221 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:49,560 Faith, Abraham teaches us, involves stepping out even if you don't know the destination. 222 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:57,520 When we moved from Toronto to take this job at Trinity, we had to, of course, call the 223 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,480 moving van and get everything packed up and loaded up and come on over here. 224 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:02,480 And you know what? 225 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:08,160 We knew where we were going and we did have a sense where God was calling us and we were 226 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,320 ready to get there. 227 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:16,320 But imagine, for example, if the moment that we've got everything loaded into the vehicle, 228 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,880 we were ready to pull out of Toronto and the driver rolls down his window and says, okay, 229 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:22,200 boss, where are we going to? 230 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:25,720 And I said, actually, I don't know. 231 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,120 He'd be like, okay, very funny. 232 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:30,480 You know, I'm moving all your stuff. 233 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,960 Are you saying you do not have a destination? 234 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,480 And I would say, well, actually, that's true. 235 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,040 We don't quite know where we're going. 236 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:42,240 Well, then he'd be like, well, how am if you don't know where you're going, how are we 237 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:44,480 going to know when we get there? 238 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,760 And if I just said, you know what, I hear your point. 239 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:57,600 I actually don't know exactly, but I believe that God will tell me when we get there. 240 00:14:57,600 --> 00:14:59,360 Abraham was not given a roadmap. 241 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,800 He was not given a five year plan. 242 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,280 He was just called to take this first step, one step and trust that God then would lead 243 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:10,120 him on the next step and the next step and the next step. 244 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:16,080 Some of us, we really hesitate, I think, to follow God because we don't know exactly where 245 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,200 God is leading us. 246 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,360 But do we know enough to take the first step? 247 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,480 Because even taking the first step toward God is better than just saying stuck in the 248 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:26,680 mess that we're in. 249 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:31,240 And it's certainly better than taking a step in the other direction. 250 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:36,640 Taking a step toward God's best, even one step is always the right step. 251 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,840 And God is calling each of us to take that step. 252 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,640 The question is, are we willing to go? 253 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:47,720 Even if we don't know exactly where we're going to end up. 254 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:54,040 The third thing about Abraham's leaving was that he was going to always be on the move. 255 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,080 Him leaving wasn't a one time deal. 256 00:15:57,080 --> 00:15:58,840 He would be on the go for the rest of his life. 257 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:05,040 Can you imagine leaving for a place and never, ever, ever feeling like you arrive? 258 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,960 Abraham lived as a nomad his whole life. 259 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,600 Yes, God promised him this land. 260 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:13,520 And yes, he did live in that land for a while. 261 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:16,240 He even died in that land. 262 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,560 But he never owned a piece of that land himself. 263 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,560 Never. 264 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:21,560 Actually, not true. 265 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:22,560 He did own one piece. 266 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:27,440 He bought a cave in the promised land to bury his wife when she died. 267 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:28,440 But that was it. 268 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:29,560 That was it. 269 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:34,820 We read that by faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger. 270 00:16:34,820 --> 00:16:39,040 In a foreign country, he lived in tents. 271 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:44,880 You know, there are groups of people today in our world who are nomads, like the Bedouins. 272 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:49,360 The Bedouin people, they go from place to place with their flocks and with their cattle 273 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:53,320 and their sheep, just looking for grazing land, just looking for water. 274 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:54,880 They're not on the run. 275 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:55,880 They're not on the run. 276 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:56,880 They're not refugees. 277 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:58,400 They're not being chased by anyone. 278 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,040 It's just part of their lifestyle. 279 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,560 They travel all over Jordan and Egypt and the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. 280 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:06,880 And that's just their identity. 281 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:14,400 Their identity is tied to movement, and their homes are not in any one fixed place. 282 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,560 Abraham lived as a stranger and as a nomad. 283 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:20,440 And here's why. 284 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:26,200 Because he felt like what he had left behind was actually not a home. 285 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,240 It was a great and prosperous city, but it didn't feel like home. 286 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:36,680 He was looking for another home, what he calls a city with foundations, whose architect and 287 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:38,280 builder was God. 288 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,640 I don't know if you've ever felt this way. 289 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,360 Do you ever feel like you're a bit of a nomad? 290 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:48,920 There's a lot of what I would call spiritual nomads in our world today. 291 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,520 They're just going from one belief system to another belief system, to another way of 292 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:54,120 life, to another way of thinking. 293 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,080 They don't really know what they're looking for. 294 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,760 They're just bouncing around from one thing to the next. 295 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:04,100 And many of us, we also spend our lives as nomads in the sense that we're looking for 296 00:18:04,100 --> 00:18:05,560 something solid. 297 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:11,320 We're looking for that great city, whether that's money or a reputation or a career. 298 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,440 But careers fade. 299 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:20,920 And reputations can fade and relationships can disappoint and security can vanish overnight. 300 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:22,400 You may live in a house. 301 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:29,240 You may have lived there 10 years, 20 years, even 60 years, but that's still only temporary. 302 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:33,160 The only piece of land you're ever going to permanently own will be a six-foot hole in 303 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,520 the ground at some point. 304 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:44,040 We have to also, like Abraham, embrace movement as a way of life, trusting that this earth 305 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,440 is not entirely our home. 306 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,440 Our home is really with God. 307 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:54,680 And we therefore, we kind of have to embrace this idea of living as nomads, not settling 308 00:18:54,680 --> 00:19:00,520 for just something temporary comforts of this world, but longing and always moving toward 309 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:06,280 this eternal city, this kingdom of God that God has prepared for us. 310 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,640 So that was Abraham's very first test. 311 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:10,640 It was the test of leaving. 312 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,400 He had to break from his past. 313 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,200 He had to follow God one step at a time. 314 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,640 And he ended up always being on the move in his life. 315 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:19,640 Now, could you pass that test? 316 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,400 I don't know if I could, but Abraham did. 317 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:30,680 There was a second test related to that, and that was Abraham's test of waiting. 318 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:32,640 Now, I don't like waiting. 319 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:33,640 You don't like waiting. 320 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:34,640 None of us like waiting. 321 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,240 We like to order something and have it arrive the next day. 322 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:38,560 We don't like to cook full meals. 323 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,880 We'd rather microwave them. 324 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:46,040 We find it bothersome if it takes more than a few seconds for a web page to load, right? 325 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:51,200 But waiting is one of the tests that God gave Abraham, and it's also one of the tests that 326 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,480 I'm sure you know he's given us from time to time. 327 00:19:54,480 --> 00:20:01,300 It's a test to see what we would do, what Abraham would do when it seems like nothing 328 00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:03,140 is happening. 329 00:20:03,140 --> 00:20:07,520 And we see this waiting in Abraham's life in two ways. 330 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,400 First of all, Abraham had to live by a promise. 331 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:12,400 A promise. 332 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:13,400 Abraham left his home. 333 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:18,100 He didn't leave his home because he had personal ambition or he had a dream he was following. 334 00:20:18,100 --> 00:20:19,100 He left his home. 335 00:20:19,100 --> 00:20:20,100 Why? 336 00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:22,160 Because God made him a promise. 337 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:28,280 It's a promise about that one day he would have this great big family. 338 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:29,280 God promised. 339 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:30,280 God promised. 340 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:36,160 He said, hey, Abraham, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you and I 341 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:40,440 will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 342 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,760 Abraham, again, didn't have all the details. 343 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,680 He didn't know how this was going to happen, but he believed it. 344 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:46,680 He believed it. 345 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,880 God said, go and I will do this, he trusted the promise, but that promise, of course, 346 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:56,920 meant a lot of waiting because how many children did Abraham have when God made this promise? 347 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:57,920 Zero. 348 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:58,920 Zero. 349 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,320 His wife, Sarah, was barren. 350 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,320 He was old. 351 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,280 Clearly this promise was going to take a lot of time. 352 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:12,800 And yet, thousands of years later, when the author of Hebrews tells the story of what 353 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,440 happened, he says it happened. 354 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:19,960 It's from this one man, and he is good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the 355 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,360 stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 356 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:29,000 Quick trivia, which is more numerous, the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore? 357 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:30,000 Anyone know? 358 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,120 Yeah, I looked it up. 359 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:39,480 There are approximately 7.5 quintillion grains of sand on earth, but the number of stars 360 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,240 is estimated to be in the sextillions or the septillions, which means there's something 361 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:49,520 like 10,000 more stars in the universe that we know of than grains of sand on the whole 362 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:50,520 earth. 363 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:51,520 Isn't that amazing? 364 00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:52,520 That's crazy. 365 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:58,040 But anyways, if God can take one man's faith and multiply it like that over time, just 366 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:04,000 imagine what God can do if you trust in his promise, if you trust him over time, over 367 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:05,640 your life. 368 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:11,240 Abraham lived by this promise, and that also meant Abraham had to live with patience because 369 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,660 the promises God makes us are not fulfilled according to our timelines. 370 00:22:15,660 --> 00:22:20,480 When Abraham got this promise from God, he was 75 years old, according to Genesis. 371 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:26,240 The first child of this promise, Isaac, was not born to him until 25 years later, when 372 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,000 the Bible says he was 100 years old. 373 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:35,280 He waited 25 years just to see the first shred of evidence that this nation that God promised 374 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,520 was actually going to happen. 375 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:38,820 And he had to walk. 376 00:22:38,820 --> 00:22:44,080 He had to walk by faith, not by sight for 25 years. 377 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,480 I sometimes think I must have been so embarrassing for Abraham because do you guys, Abraham's 378 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,120 name, you know what it means? 379 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:53,160 Abraham means father of a multitude. 380 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,520 So imagine, you know, meeting someone, hey, how are you? 381 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:56,520 Nice to meet you. 382 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:57,520 What's your name? 383 00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:58,520 Well, my name is Brian. 384 00:22:58,520 --> 00:22:59,520 What's your name? 385 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:00,520 Abraham. 386 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:01,520 Oh, father of a multitude. 387 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:02,520 Great. 388 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:03,520 How many kids do you have? 389 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,520 Well, so far, zero. 390 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:07,520 So far zero. 391 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:12,200 But I have a promise and I'm waiting patiently. 392 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:13,840 I have faith. 393 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,160 So far zero, though. 394 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:17,160 That's what faith is. 395 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:24,320 Faith is believing when things are not happening when you want or how you want. 396 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:29,080 It's somehow holding on to God's promise, even when it seems nothing is happening. 397 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,320 And I know you've experienced this. 398 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:36,240 I'll just take a moment right now and ask yourself, what are you waiting for? 399 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:41,640 Is there some prayer that you've been praying for years and it just seems to go unanswered? 400 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:47,920 Some promise you feel God made to you and it has just been delayed and delayed and delayed. 401 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,960 You may be in a situation and you just do not see a way forward. 402 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:59,280 Faith means trusting that God is still working even when you can't see it. 403 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:07,280 Like Abraham, will you choose to trust God even in this time of waiting for you? 404 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,560 But God saves the biggest test for last for Abraham. 405 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,880 Oh, Abraham passed the test of leaving. 406 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:17,320 He passed the test of waiting, but would he pass the test of offering? 407 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,880 You're going to have to go over this one pretty quickly. 408 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:25,280 But you see, eventually, 25 years later, Abraham and his wife Sarah, they had their first child. 409 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,360 Yay, it's Isaac. 410 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:29,720 And then comes the biggest test. 411 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,040 Oh, God tested Abraham. 412 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:32,880 See, the Bible doesn't even hide it. 413 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:38,720 God tested Abraham and God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and 414 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:45,240 go to the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain that 415 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,760 I will show you. 416 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,840 Gosh, of course, this sounds completely outrageous. 417 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,880 I have a hard time with this story. 418 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,640 Many people have a hard time with this story. 419 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:55,640 But can you imagine? 420 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,360 Can you imagine the anguish in Abraham right now? 421 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:04,840 Not only was Isaac his son, his beloved son, but Isaac was the promise, right? 422 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:05,840 Isaac was the hope. 423 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,440 He was supposed to be the golden child, the one that was going to bring about this great 424 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:10,440 future. 425 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:17,640 What an incredible test for Abraham and what a dilemma it creates for him. 426 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:23,800 There's an ethical and spiritual dilemma for Abraham because on the one hand, you had God's 427 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:29,080 promise, Abraham, through this child, I'm going to make you a great nation, stars and 428 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,080 sand on the beach, right? 429 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:32,440 It's going to be huge. 430 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:33,440 That's the promise. 431 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,200 But on the other hand, you've got this command. 432 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:44,200 The command is go and sacrifice this child and give him an offer, this child up to me, 433 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:45,200 right? 434 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,960 It's the craziest dilemma. 435 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,600 Abraham had to decide, well, what am I going to do here? 436 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:54,000 Am I going to trust the promise or trust the command? 437 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,000 Is God erratic? 438 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:56,440 Is that's what's going on? 439 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:02,680 Many people think this looks totally erratic or could he actually somehow sacrifice Isaac 440 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,600 and the promise would still come true? 441 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:07,860 I struggle with this, but you know what? 442 00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:12,840 The book of Hebrews actually puts a spin on it that I had never, never thought about. 443 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,160 This has been really helpful for me this week. 444 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,520 It says that Abraham reasoned. 445 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:25,520 Now, this is from this is the Greek word logismai, which was where we get our word for logic. 446 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:30,960 In other words, faced with this dilemma, Abraham really logic the heck out of this. 447 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,560 He really thought about it and really reason and really tried to think it through. 448 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,800 He said, okay, okay, okay, God has given me this promise. 449 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:39,800 Okay. 450 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,720 But God has also commanded me to do this impossible thing. 451 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,520 Therefore, how do I reason these two together? 452 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:53,960 How can God's promise on the one hand be trustworthy and God's command also be something I can 453 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:54,960 do? 454 00:26:54,960 --> 00:27:01,800 And therefore, according to his logic, according to his reason, Abraham reasoned that God was 455 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:02,800 able to raise the dead. 456 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:03,800 Isn't that fascinating? 457 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:13,200 I never realized that that the only conclusion he could come to was that if I offer up Isaac, 458 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:14,200 God will raise him from the dead. 459 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,680 That's the only way to reconcile these two things. 460 00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:25,600 And early Christians, the author of Hebrews deduced that Abraham did this because he believed 461 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:27,520 in the power of resurrection. 462 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,160 We believe in the power of resurrection because we, of course, have seen Jesus and the empty 463 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:37,600 tomb, but Abraham believed it way beforehand. 464 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:38,840 He believed it by faith. 465 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,560 He believed it by logic. 466 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,160 Right. 467 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,960 And actually, if you read the story again, you can kind of see that maybe this is what 468 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:47,960 he was thinking. 469 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:48,960 Right. 470 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,080 Abraham, when he went off to sacrifice Isaac, he told disturbance. 471 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:53,960 He said, listen, stay here with the donkeys. 472 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:59,320 I'm going to go over there with the boy and we're going to worship and then we will come 473 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:00,320 back to you. 474 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:05,360 It's like Abraham knew that I don't know what's going to happen, but even if he dies, he's 475 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,360 going to be raised from the dead. 476 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:15,120 Anyways, and then because he obeyed and offered up that which was most precious to him, God 477 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,720 provided a substitute. 478 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:24,600 The last minute, man, Abraham, the great one passes the third and final test of faith, 479 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,760 the test of offering. 480 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:35,320 Let me just close by zeroing in on one phrase. 481 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,720 One phrase from that piece of scripture. 482 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:45,320 It says that Abraham reasoned that God was able to raise the dead. 483 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,880 God was able to solve the problem. 484 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,320 God was able to make the way. 485 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:58,160 And I want to challenge you this morning to come to the same conclusion that Abraham did. 486 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:03,440 Whatever you're dealing with, God is able. 487 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,960 Whatever you're afraid of, God is able. 488 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,560 Whatever feels impossible, God is able. 489 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:18,440 Whatever burden you are carrying, God is able. 490 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:26,280 Whatever taxes and tariffs may be levied against us, God is able. 491 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,040 Whatever you're waiting for, God is able. 492 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:31,040 He was able for Abraham. 493 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,040 He was able for you. 494 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:40,280 Abraham did not know how God was going to come through, but he knew that God would come 495 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:41,280 through. 496 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:51,440 Will you trust that God is able even when you don't see how? 497 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,440 Thanks be to God. 498 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,640 Amen. 499 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,800 Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 500 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:07,760 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church, Streetsville on February 2nd, 2025.