Our confident trust in God’s promises is proven by our obedience to God’s word...

This week we have been looking at one of the most disturbing conversations that is recorded for us in the entire Bible. Wednesday, we looked on as a man named Abraham responded by preparing to obey the Lord’s disturbing command to kill and sacrifice as an act of worship to God his only son, who was the one person who could fulfill God’s promise that had been made to him.  

Now, as we asked ourselves on Tuesday, what would possess Abraham to go through with this? What was Abraham thinking here? We find the answer to this question from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 11:17, we read the following:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED." He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

You see, Abraham so trusted in God that he believed and placed his confident trust in the reality that God would raise him from the dead in order to keep His promises. Abraham obeyed God’s command trusting that his obedience would be rewarded by God. So in obedience to God’s command, Abraham prepared to slaughter his one and only son. And as Abraham prepared to prove his obedience to God, we see God enter into this situation in a powerful way in verse 11:

 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided."

The Lord Himself called from Heaven and commanded Abraham to do nothing to his son Isaac. The Lord then reveals the reason for the change in His command: “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."?

Now when God says now I know, God is not saying that He previously did not know something. Instead God is saying that Abraham had proven and demonstrated something what He already knew about him. Abraham had provided the evidence to humanity throughout history along with every spiritual being that did not know what God did know. And what Abraham had proven and demonstrated; the evidence that Abraham had provided, was that he feared God.

Now when the Bible uses the phrase fear God, or the fear of the Lord, this phrase is not talking about being afraid of God. Instead the phrase fear God conveys the sense of having a reverent awe of God that results in submission and obedience. Abraham’s obedience to God was evidence of His reverence and awe of God. Abraham’s obedience was evidence that he had submitted his life to God as the one who sets the agenda and is large and in charge. And as Moses continues we see God respond to the evidence that Abraham had provided in verse 13:

 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

Abraham’s trust in God that was revealed by His obedience to God resulted in God reaffirming His promises to him. The Lord reminds Abraham that his obedience would result in a life of blessing for himself and his family and in a family tree that would reached across continents and centuries. The Lord reminds Abraham that his obedience would result in all humanity having the opportunity to find blessing as Abram found blessing.

And that promise was fulfilled a little over 2,000 years ago, when a descendant from Abraham, named Jesus Christ entered into the temple at Jerusalem that was built on Mount Moriah and proclaimed “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”. You see Jesus Christ, as God in a bod, was chosen by God to enter into humanity in order to live the life we refused to live, and then  allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

And it is in this disturbing conversation and what happened after that we see God reveal to us a timeless truth when it comes to God’s promises. And that timeless truth is that our confident trust in God’s promises is proven by our obedience to God’s word. Just as it was for Abraham and Isaac; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; our confident trust in God’s promises is proven by our obedience to God’s word.

You see it is one’s obedience to God that reveals our trust in God and God’s promises. It is one’s obedience to God that provides the evidence of our reverence and awe of God. It is one’s obedience to God that provides the evidence that we had submitted our life to God as the one who sets the agenda and is large and in charge.

Where we tend to get into trouble, however, is when we attempt to claim the promises of God in our lives without being obedient to God’s word in our lives. Where we tend to get into trouble, however, is when we attempt to claim that we hold God in awe and reverence while we rebel against God and God’s word. Where we tend to get into trouble, however, is when we attempt to claim that God is large and in charge of our lives while we claim to be the ones who set the agenda and are large and in charge of our lives.

We get in trouble because the timeless reality is that our selfish rebellion and disobedience reveals that reality that we do not trust God and God’s promises. Because our confident trust in God’s promises is proven by our obedience to God’s word.

 So here is the question for us to consider: What does the level of your obedience to God reveal about the level of your confident trust in God?  Does your obedience to God demonstrate and provide the proof of your trust in God? Or does your lifestyle of selfish rebellion and disobedience to God demonstrate and provide the proof of your lack of trust in God?