The Faith of Abraham

[0:00] A series on this chapter on faith. And what really started out was just no intentions of going through the chapter.

[0:10] It was just some thoughts about faith, some simple thoughts that I wanted to put forth one Wednesday night. And it just spilled into the next portion and it just, here we go.

[0:22] And so we are up to verse 17 now. And we're learning about New Testament faith, studying Old Testament examples that teach us what faith should look like, teach us what faith should accomplish, teach us what faith should produce in our lives here on this side of Calvary.

[0:41] And so we've studied Abel, we've studied Enoch, we've studied Noah. Last Wednesday night we studied Abraham and Sarah. And I'll just quickly review the things we've covered with them because it's going to, like, we're going to still be with Abraham tonight.

[0:55] So last week we saw that Abraham and Sarah embarked upon a new life of faith. Abraham was called and when he was called he went out, not knowing whither he went.

[1:06] That man took his wife and they just obeyed the word of God and just left. And they didn't know how it was going to work out. You know what that is?

[1:16] That's a life of faith right there. That's what New Testament faith looks like. What they found out, what they believed was the word of God was sufficient. Amen. Faith deems the word of God sufficient.

[1:29] Doesn't need signs, doesn't need stars, doesn't need everything to have it all planned out and know how it's going to be. Faith believes the word of God and says, that's good enough for me. I'll trust the Lord.

[1:40] I'll go. And so they went. They embarked on a new life. Secondly, they endured some things in that life. Remember that they were sojourned. It said in the passage, this is, if I could find the place in verse 9, sojourned, dwelling in tabernacles.

[1:59] It's kind of strange because Abraham's a wealthy, powerful man, a wise man. He's an old man and he's dwelling in a tent. And I don't think Sarah was too excited about dwelling in a tent.

[2:11] I showed you that his nephew Lot dwelt in Sodom in a house like everybody else in a fortified city in a solid structure home. But no, Abraham and Sarah dwelt in tents.

[2:23] And it had to be a bit embarrassing. It had to be a bit weird to have such a powerful, wealthy man to just live in a tent. But that was the life of faith. That was something he had to endure.

[2:34] And we learned that the easy road doesn't demand faith. Why would it? But the struggles demand faith. The hardships demand faith.

[2:44] And there's something to endure. And God, we're going to see that tonight even much stronger. There's some things that the life of faith must endure. And then thirdly, they embraced that life of faith because this is what God had for them.

[2:57] They confessed in this passage. They confessed in verse 13 that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. And they said, we don't have a home here. This land is not our home.

[3:08] This tent is not our home. Our home is somewhere else. They were looking for a city, one whose builder and maker is God. And so Abraham and Sarah learned that faith lives with tomorrow in view.

[3:21] Faith lives today with tomorrow in view. So again, we're going to learn from Abraham tonight. And we're going to pick it up in verse 17. Because Abraham has a lot to teach us about faith.

[3:33] And it should come as no surprise, the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4 said that Abraham is the father of us all who walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham.

[3:43] And so this man's life has much to teach about faith. And there's a big thing that's not even brought up here in when he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

[3:54] And so that's not even brought up into this account. But here's another thing that we will learn from Abraham. So let's read together Hebrews 11, verse 17, 18, and 19. The Bible says, Now this is a completely separate and distinct situation in the life of Abraham from what we've read and studied last week with them.

[4:34] And sojourning in sojourning in tents and leaving and all of that obedience. What we're looking at right here in these three verses, it only took a couple of days at the most. The experience was a short-lived experience in the life of Abraham.

[4:49] And then it was over. And so I want to read with you the details of this. Keep your place in Hebrews. We'll be back. But find Genesis chapter 22. And let's read this account to just really nail down the events and the details of what we're learning about here.

[5:08] Genesis 22. And I'm going to read a good portion of this chapter. So just be patient and follow along.

[5:19] If you're not very familiar with it, then follow closely along. And if you are familiar with it, follow closely along anyway. Genesis 22, verse 1. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am.

[5:36] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claved the wood for a burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

[5:59] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

[6:09] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father.

[6:21] And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

[6:34] So they went both of them together. And they came to the place which the God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

[6:48] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham.

[6:59] And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.

[7:12] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked. And behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said unto this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

[7:28] And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee.

[7:41] And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.

[7:55] And Abraham returned unto the young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. So the promises that God had already made to Abraham, no, the covenant that God had made with Abraham.

[8:09] Let me show you that. Let's not just take that for granted. Flip back. I'll show you two places. Look at chapter 13. Genesis 13. Let's get that first, and then we'll get to chapter 15.

[8:25] Chapter 13 and verse 14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward, For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.

[8:44] And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, and the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee.

[8:55] But the trouble is, Abraham does not have a son. He has no seed. He has a promise. But he has no seed yet. Look at chapter 15. And at the end of this chapter, God covenants with him.

[9:07] Verse number 18. 15, 18. And then the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt and the great river of the river Euphrates.

[9:19] And he gives several of the Canaanites living in the land. And so there's a covenant that God makes with him. So when Hebrews talks about the promises, it's talking about this stuff right here.

[9:31] God made a promise and a covenant with Abraham. And all of that, that I'll give you the land, and it will be for your seed to possess it and to inherit it forever. All of that hinges upon this son, Isaac.

[9:45] Isaac. He's the one of the child of promise. The son given of promise in Galatians chapter 3, I think.

[9:56] One of those. I think it's three. Maybe four. The promises that God made to Abraham completely hinge upon this boy's life, Isaac. Abraham is going to die. He's going to get buried in this dirt.

[10:09] And what good is it to him if he's dead, burying in that dirt? He doesn't have anybody to inherit the land after him unless he has a son. And God gives him a son. He names him Isaac.

[10:20] He gives him a son when he's a hundred years old. An old, old man with his wife being old as well. The son is the most necessary aspect of God fulfilling his promises to Abraham.

[10:34] But then God tests him. He tests him out with that boy. Because without the boy, the covenant's void. There's no seed.

[10:45] There's no... Who cares about the land if there's no seed? So God tries him. God tried Abraham's faith. Look back at verse number 1 in Genesis 22.

[10:56] Genesis 22 and verse 1. It says, It came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. Now what we read in Hebrews, if you don't remember, I'll read it to you again.

[11:10] In verse 17, By faith Abraham, when he was tried. So what God did in tempting him, it was a trial. It was a test.

[11:21] He's checking him out. God tested Abraham. He said, Offer your son. Your only son. In Hebrews it says, His only begotten son.

[11:34] The test is, Offer him to me for a burnt offering. But Abraham could have said, God, I need that son. You gave me that son.

[11:46] Without that son, there's no race. There's no great nations. There's nobody to inherit this land that I left my father's land for. Came to this land that you said would be for me and for my seed.

[12:00] And now you want to just eliminate that promised seed? It doesn't make any sense. Abraham could have said, I can't do that. You covenanted with me about this boy.

[12:12] How is it that you're going to say you're going to take him? That makes no sense to me. Abraham could have looked at it that way. But God is testing. He's trying the man.

[12:23] He's trying his faith. And throughout tonight, we're going to learn three things here from this man's faith. That's what we're trying to learn here is faith. We're supposed to live by faith.

[12:34] We're supposed to walk by faith. And these examples in Hebrews 11 are given to us to teach us some things about what it's supposed to look like. And one of the things we're going to learn right away is that God can and God will test your faith.

[12:49] Absolutely. If he doesn't test your faith, what's it for? Think of it like this. Students get tested.

[13:01] Why do they get tested? To see if they absorb the information. To see if they are what they suppose. They're going to graduate high school in a few days. You better test them to make sure that they're capable and worthy.

[13:15] It has to be tested. Or it's invalid. You test products. The government tests pills. They test anything that comes out on the market. It has to be tested and tried. And find out, does it work?

[13:26] Is it what it claims to be? I got a job one time. I worked a job for a couple years. And when I moved to go to Bible school in Florida, I immediately thought, well, I'm going to seek that occupation, since that's pretty much all I know.

[13:42] And so I went to get this job. And the boss there, he sat down and interviewed me. And I told him, okay, I've done this, this, this, and this, and this. I've got experience in this. I've been running my own jobs on this particular trade.

[13:55] And the guy said, okay, okay. Well, if that's all true, then here's what I'll pay you. But he said, but I'm going to check you out first. And he said, so I want you to go with such and such a guy who is kind of like his right-hand man.

[14:09] And I want you to work with him for two weeks. And then he'll report to me and tell me if you're worth it and if you know what you're talking about. Because I could be blowing smoke. I could have been telling him, yeah, I did everything under the sun.

[14:22] I can do it all. Pay me. But he said, no, I'm going to test you first. I'm going to try you. And God's going to try you and I. He'll try your faith. You say, why would he test me? Why wouldn't he test you?

[14:34] Think about it like that. You test everything in this world. He is God. He operates in an unseen realm. And he requires faith.

[14:45] He's not interested in your strength. He's not interested in your brains. He's not interested in your ability. He wants to know, will you trust me? Will you lean on me?

[14:56] Will you walk with me and obey me by faith? He has to test you. And that's what he does. And he tested Abraham.

[15:07] He'll test you and me. Peter said that to think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you. You should actually expect it. A trial to come.

[15:18] James says to count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have her perfect work.

[15:30] Why? That ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Expect it. You remember Job, the story of Job and the fierce trial of his life.

[15:40] You know, two of the most famous things that came out of that book, out of that man's testimony. He said, when I am tried, I shall come forth as gold. Another thing he said is, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

[15:56] God's going to try his faith. Peter said he's going to try you. James said he's going to try you. So you can count on it. God will test your faith. It may be in a big way. It may be in a small way.

[16:07] It may be in a dozen small ways. It may be in all of those ways. But your faith will be tested. It has to be. It absolutely has to be. And so maybe if you're going through something, maybe if you've got something that's pressing on you, maybe if you can't see the light at the end of something, you might want to consider tonight that God could be testing your faith.

[16:27] Look at it differently. Look at it like God's put me through this. God's allowed this into my life. God's put me, my feet in this place to see if I'll trust him, to see if I'll walk with him and lean on him and depend upon him to get me through.

[16:46] So God tries your faith. How are you going to respond? Well, I'll show you what you should do. Let's keep your place now in Genesis, but let's go back to Hebrews again. Chapter 11.

[16:58] Hebrews chapter 11. So we learn that God will test your faith, just like he tested his servant Abraham. In Hebrews 11, and let's notice verse 17, just the very beginning.

[17:12] It says, By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. Now, if we reposition the words, we're not changing the King James Bible, just repositioning to simplify the phrasing for your hearing, it would say this, When he was tried, Abraham offered up Isaac by faith.

[17:35] And I'm not changing the Bible at all. That's what it says. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. Abraham offered up his only begotten son, Isaac.

[17:46] How did he do that? By faith. He did it by faith. He was able to comply with what would otherwise be a completely absurd command from a holy God.

[17:59] And the only reason he could do that is because he exercised faith. Faith is what is needed and necessary to do this. Faith is what counters all the doubts.

[18:09] Faith is what overcomes those questions and the uncertainties of a situation. Faith is what just pushes past all the hesitation that your flesh has and the fears that your flesh has.

[18:26] Faith just pushes beyond that because faith encourages obedience. Faith encourages action. By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac.

[18:38] There's something we can learn from this. It's faith, Christian, that enables the child of God to operate in that spiritual realm that God calls us into.

[18:52] It's faith alone that causes us, that gives us that substance that we need. It's, I don't know what to call it. It's that something. Earlier months or weeks ago, I called it fuel or energy.

[19:07] Like a car needs it to do something, to act, to operate. Faith is what the believer needs inside of him. And God puts it inside of you.

[19:18] And so he gives you faith to obey him. It takes faith or you're left to your five senses. You're left to what you can see, to what you can observe and how you can plan and think.

[19:35] And the details that work with you and for you or against you and you try to put it all together, the pros and the cons. That's not faith. That's you calculating.

[19:46] That's flesh. And faith is what enables a child of God to operate in a spiritual realm and to comply with God's will. In other words, in order to obey God, you must have faith.

[20:00] That's just, that's what it is. In order to obey God, you must exercise faith. If there's no faith, there's no obedience. If there's no faith, then this is the craziest demand a holy God has ever, ever.

[20:17] I mean, that doesn't make any sense without faith. You must have faith. It's mandatory. Without faith, this book says, verse 6, it's impossible to please him.

[20:27] So faith is what provides the believer the ability to obey the word of God. It's what enables you and I to act when it makes no sense otherwise at all.

[20:40] You're stepping into a spiritual operation. And that requires faith. For a farmer, he needs a plow to prepare the soil. A soldier, he needs a weapon to fight against an enemy.

[20:54] The repairman needs his tools to go fix all those broken appliances. And a believer needs faith to obey the word of God. You have to have faith.

[21:06] You have to exercise faith. That's what God has given you to obey him, to act, to do his will. It's your sword. It's your tools.

[21:18] It's your plow. It's your energy. It's your substance. It's your fuel. You can't operate in that spiritual realm where God resides. You can't communicate with him.

[21:30] You can't. When he calls, you can't hear it. When he tries you, you don't see it. So Abraham offered up Isaac by faith. Now in Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse 19.

[21:43] You still should be there. Hebrews 11. Look at verse 19. It says, accounting, this is Abraham, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.

[21:55] So Abraham offered up Isaac by faith. Believing in his heart. Well, God, you're able to raise him up from the dead. Because you covenanted with me with that boy.

[22:09] So you're not going to take him. And if you do, you're going to give him back. That's the only thing that makes sense. That's the only way this thing works. I'll do what you told me to in faith.

[22:21] He believed so strongly the word of God, the promises of God, that he thought, you'll raise him up. You have to. Look back in Genesis.

[22:33] You can lose Hebrews. We'll be back around there a little bit later. But come back to Genesis 22. And notice from this passage we read, the faith of Abraham.

[22:49] This doesn't work without it. So chapter 22 and verse number 3. When God says, Abraham, take your son, offer him there for a burnt offering.

[23:04] Verse 3 says, and Abraham rose up early in the morning. Saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him. Isaac his son, claved the wood, split the wood for the burnt offering, rose up and went.

[23:18] Early in the morning. What's that show you? That shows you his immediate compliance to this, what we would say, this is nuts, what God's asking of him.

[23:30] But his immediate compliance reveals to us his faith. That he believed God. Not only that, verse number 5, whether you caught this as we read through or not, his very words testify of his faith.

[23:44] Verse number 5. Abraham said unto the young men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Do you believe that, Abraham, or were you just talking?

[23:56] Oh, he believed it. When his son said, where's the lamb, God? I mean, dad, where's the lamb? His answer in verse 8 was, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. He had faith.

[24:09] His words testified to that faith. His immediate response and compliance to God's demand displayed his faith. And then look at verses 9 and 10 again. They came to a place which God told him of.

[24:20] He built the altar, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son. He's called a lad. And laid him on the altar upon the wood.

[24:31] And he didn't stop there and he didn't cry. He got a knife out. He's not a demented man. He's not messed up.

[24:42] He's got all soberness. And he has all faith. And his complete obedience to God proved his complete faith.

[24:55] So God will test your faith. Faith is essential for operating in the realm that God operates in, that he calls us into.

[25:05] You can't get into that. You can't fulfill his word and his will. You can't please him. You can't obey him if you're not exercising faith. It's enabling you to act.

[25:17] But now there's something else. And one final thing. Abraham was told to offer up his only begotten son, Isaac. And Abraham did that.

[25:28] He took it all the way up to the very moment of it. It was the Lord that stopped him from following through. He did that by faith. That tells me that Abraham had enough faith to obey what God told him to do.

[25:46] Now, I'll run you back through this. We've studied this. It's been a month and two months now. Look at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Let's just review a little bit.

[25:58] Something we've already learned about faith is that faith is measured. It's proportionate. It has in the Gospels, Christ rebuked them for having no faith.

[26:12] Then he rebuked his disciples for having little faith. And then he commended others for having great faith. And so there's quantities of faith or quantities that are exercised at the very least.

[26:25] But in Romans chapter 12, we learn something that faith has a measure to it. Verse number 3. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

[26:44] God has dealt to every man individually a measure of faith. Now verse 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

[27:01] As God gifts different men and calls different men to do different things, he gives a proportion of faith equal to the ask. And here's Abraham's ask.

[27:16] Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and offer him up as a burnt offering unto me. It tells me that Abraham had enough faith to do that.

[27:32] The evidence is he did it. And now we're going to learn something. Flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. If Abraham had enough faith to obey what God asked him to do, and 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13 is true, then this tells me that you have enough faith to do whatever God asks you to do.

[28:05] Look at verse 13. There hath no temptation. Remember that word in Genesis 22? There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

[28:16] But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

[28:30] Not escape like don't ever have to deal with it. They had to go through the trial, the testing. But a faithful God is there, and he doesn't put more on you than you can handle.

[28:43] Abraham, what else would God ask of him? That's a big ask. But Abraham did it.

[28:53] That shows he did it by faith. That shows he had enough faith to do that. And if Abraham did, and if this Bible is true, that God won't suffer me and you to be tempted above that we are able to be tempted, and tested, and tried, then that tells me that God has given us enough faith for whatever he puts in our lives.

[29:15] Now, he may give one of us more than another. It may be a different proportion. Therein, he's going to give you, the ask he has for you is going to be in proportion to the faith he's given you.

[29:27] God will never test a man outside of his ability to obey. That's not the way God operates. That'd be cruel. That'd be wrong. You'd be set out, he'd set you up for failure.

[29:38] You could never succeed. So the truth then comes to light from the scriptures that God gives enough faith to match what God asks. And that teaches us this.

[29:51] The faith that you have now, right here, today, is sufficient for whatever God tries you with today. Whatever God commands, whatever God asks you to endure, whatever he allows in your life, you have it in you.

[30:13] You and I have it in us to obey whatever it is. Oh, but it's big. So is God. So is God.

[30:27] So you have the faith to exercise and to believe his word or you have a choice to walk by sight. And you have a choice to just exercise your senses and your feelings and your emotions.

[30:41] That's your choice. To walk by faith or to be controlled by your earthly senses. And the faith can push that out. It can override that.

[30:52] It can overcome that to look to God. God's put that in you. But I want to finish with a warning before we're dismissed. Flip over to Hebrews now, chapter 3.

[31:04] And this is our last passage tonight. Hebrews chapter 3. If you don't exercise the faith that God has given you when he allows a trial or a test, if you don't exercise faith, the result is likely you'll become bitter, you'll become angry, or you'll walk away from the Lord and say, he's not a good God.

[31:33] Why would he do that? And you'll look at it carnally. And here's the warning. Look at Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 15. Just kind of picking it up right in the middle of something.

[31:46] He says, While it is said, quote, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. Now we're dealing with those Jews in the wilderness that provoked God, that would not exercise faith, would not go into the promised land and fight those Canaanites.

[32:04] And so they hardened their hearts instead. Verse 16. For some, when they had heard, did provoke. Howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years?

[32:16] Was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

[32:32] What happened was it led to their own destruction. Their refusal to walk in faith. They refused. They hardened their hearts and refused to soften their heart toward God in their trial.

[32:45] And in this test, and they wouldn't exercise faith and believe God and go forward. And it ended up being their own destruction. And there's a warning in this for us.

[32:58] Was not God able? Was not God willing to bring them into that promised land? Then what stopped that from happening? It was their unbelief, their refusal to exercise faith.

[33:11] Some were willing and some were ready, but most of them chose not to exercise faith. after they have experienced so much.

[33:24] The manna, the water out of a rock, the defeat of Pharaoh and his armies, and all of the life they lived up to that point. And then they said, oh, the sons of Anak are there.

[33:36] We'd be grasshoppers in their sight. And they didn't pass the test. But the point here, the greater point, is that you have it in you.

[33:48] They had it in them, but refused to exercise faith and instead hardened their hearts. You have it in you. So don't give in to unbelief, because it'll destroy you.

[34:00] We walk by sight. No. No. No. We walk by faith. We walk by faith. That's what we do.

[34:12] We're the children of God. He's given us faith. He's, we have all confidence in his ability and in his righteousness and in his care and in his divine authority and plans for our lives.

[34:34] And so we exercise faith. God will test your faith. It has to happen. It has to. And the faith that you have is the only thing you need to engage in order to be victorious.

[34:49] And if he tries you, then know that the faith you have is sufficient to be obedient because he promised he would not try you more than you can handle.

[34:59] So, you have enough faith. It's up to you to exercise it and let God be true. And I know it can be tough because who likes a good old-fashioned trial?

[35:13] Not me. You know what we do? We want to avoid it at all costs. And when it comes, we turn to God and cry. Get me out of this mess. Oh, help.

[35:23] Oh, help. And he's just, he's growing our faith. He doesn't take you as a newborn Christian and put you in the fire in something that's just over your head.

[35:36] But he takes you to a step and he tests you in that step and he watches you grow and he puts you in the next step and he watches you please him as you walk by faith.

[35:48] And you're growing and you think, well, God's just growing me just to go into a fire? There, Job went in one and he said, I'm coming forth from this thing.

[35:58] You will too. I'm going to show you one more verse. I lied. And so I'm going to show you one more. It just hit me. Look back at Zechariah. This is a beautiful thing. Zechariah.

[36:22] Oh, where is it at? It's toward the end, right? Toward the end. Yeah, Zechariah 13.

[36:39] You walk by faith. You believe God. You put your face toward heaven and trust him. And look at verse number nine.

[36:54] And I will bring the third part through the fire. Through. They're coming out the other side. And we'll refine them as silver is refined.

[37:07] And we'll try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name by faith. And I will hear them.

[37:19] I will say, it is my people. And they shall say, the Lord is my God. That's you coming through the fire by faith.

[37:32] The relationship gets sweeter. You get stronger. If you refuse it, it's to your own destruction. And so let that be a warning.

[37:43] Let it be a help. And let us learn some lessons and have some expectations of this New Testament life of faith. That God will try us. And he has every right to.

[37:55] He has to do it. So, that's where we'll stop tonight. Thanks for being here. And, Lord willing, we'll see you Sunday morning. And let's have a word of prayer.

[38:07] We'll be dismissed with prayer. And then, enjoy some time with each other before you go. Father, thank you for this example in Abraham's life, for his obedience, and for his walk of faith with you.

[38:19] Lord, it's a, it's a, man, it's a hard thought to be propositioned with what he was. But thank you for this truth that, that he passed the test, giving us encouragement and an example to teach us we can too.

[38:40] God, would you be gracious to us tonight? And would you lift up anyone that's hurting and give, give grace and strength and faith to each one who's in the trial?

[38:51] And would you give, give us peace? Would you, uh, respond to our cries? And let us know that you are true and that you are our God. And, Lord, we love you.

[39:03] You've, uh, been nothing but good. Even though some things we don't understand, you're still true and you're still right. And, Lord, we long to be with you and to put this world behind us and to, um, to have it all be finished and over with, but we know that's not what you want yet.

[39:23] And so, please give us strength, help us to exercise faith. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, good night.