How to Have Faith in God’s Provision: Lessons from Abraham | Jonathan Evans

Therefore, if you're unwilling to make the sacrifice, if you're unwilling to move when God calls you, if you're unwilling to step away from something God tells you to step away from, to leave a situation God calls you to leave, to put down something God calls you to put down, you have a fundamental disbelief that God will provide.

That only gets you excited if God kept you. If he didn't keep you, it's easy to sit down and be okay and look cute. But if he kept you, it changes things. We have a testimony of the Lord's goodness in our life and it makes you want to praise.

We gonna keep going. We gonna keep going. We're gonna praise him in his word. So, I want you to stand up on your feet and turn to Genesis 22 in this summer in the sun series. It's all about the sun. Genesis 22. And I'm not going to have you up long because we going to read verse one and verse two.

And this is what it says. Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him,"Abraham," and he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Mariah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you today."

I want to talk to you from the title, the sacrifice of a father. You may be seated. Now we know that fathers sacrifice many things. I know too. We make sacrifices. Sacrifices of time and peace working out in the world. We want to make the sacrifice to provide.

We want to make the emotional sacrifice. A lot of times we may be the last one to be checked on emotionally because we want to make sure everybody else is okay first. Physical sacrifices. If that alarm goes off at 3:00 a.m., you better not tap your wife and say, "Go check."

That ain't going to work. You got to be willing to go out there and sacrifice even yourself because you're the husband, the father. You're the one in that position. There are all types of different sacrifices that fathers are called to make. Now, I know God is not a god of confusion, but this sacrifice we talking about in the Bible in Genesis 22, that's confusing.

That's not a sacrifice that any parent, any father is looking to make. When he tells Abraham to sacrifice his own son, that's not one of them sacrifices we want to be a part of. That's a difficult call that God would put on Abraham to make a sacrifice like that.

This sacrifice, this call of God on Abraham's life is actually a contradiction. It's a contradictory call on his life. How are you going to ask me to puncture your own promises? It doesn't make sense that this is a promise from God given to Abraham. In Genesis 12, Genesis 15, God makes a promise to Abraham that he would have a child, a son from his own body and that he would make a great nation of him.

This was the promise of God on Abraham's life and God tells Abraham to sacrifice it. That's a contradiction. It's not just a contradiction because it's the promise of God. It's a contradiction because of the provision of God that God provided this son miraculously. So he made a way out of now way to provide a son from Sarah who was 90 years old and barren.

So you made you made a way out of nowhere for me to have this provision and now you want me to sacrifice it? That don't make any sense. So it's a contradiction in the promises of God, the provision of God. It's a contradiction in the providence of God that God works out the details for the good of his people.

That he's working it out. that it's a contradiction to that. How are we going to get to this great nation you were talking about when you're asking me to sacrifice the vehicle through which that's going to happen? So, it's a contradiction in several ways. It's a theological biblical contradiction because of the sanctity of life that he would call Abraham to sacrifice his own son even before the law.

In Exodus 20, the written law, there was a moral law. That's why when Cain killed Abel, God went after Cain. Because even prior to the written law, there was still a moral law. If you want to know whether God exists or not, one of the arguments is morality.

How do you know what's good and evil? And where did that even come from? That there is a moral law that exists. And because we're made in the image of God, we recognize thou shalt not kill. And so here Abraham is getting this contradictory word from God. Not only is it contradictory, but it's also crushing that Abraham would not only have to sacrifice his son, but he's sacrificing his son that he waited 25 years for God to provide.

It says that he was 75 in Genesis 12:4 when the promise came to him. In Genesis 21:5, it says that he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. And so my math is right. That's 25 years. 25 years of waiting on God to do what he says he's going to do and then he takes it from you.

This doesn't make any sense. Why would God ask Abraham to participate in a crushing contradiction? Oh, it's because God was testing the priority of Abraham's affection. Come on now. He put Abraham in a situation. Your only son whom you love. You got one of them. And I'm calling you to sacrifice the promise.

I'm calling you to sacrifice even with great provision. I'm calling you to this crushing contradiction in your life. But the reason why I'm calling you to a crushing contradiction is because I want to see if what I gave you has become more important than the one who gave it to you.

God will often call you to crushing contradictions where you were praying for a position and you got it. But then he tells you to go a different direction and you're like, "Why would I do that? You gave me this promise. I prayed for it. You provided it in a miraculous way.

And now you're calling me away from it." Yeah. It's a crushing contradiction, isn't it? Because I want to see the priority of your affection. Well, you just gave me this windfall of of money and that I needed and that I prayed for and now you're telling me to give it to somebody else.

Well, I just want to see where your heart is. Cuz where your heart is, your treasures will be there also. So, so I just want to see where you're at. I want to see where your affections really lie. I Well, you got that dream person and now I'm telling you to walk away from the person of your dreams.

And no, I'm not talking about your marriage. Why would you tell me to do that? I thought that this was perfect and now you're telling me to sacrifice it and go in a different direction. Yes, it's a crushing contradiction because I want to measure the priority of your affection.

Wait a minute. My influence is just now growing. I'm just now getting the followers. The residual income is just now starting to come in. And now you're telling me to abstain from social media. Why would I do that? That's a crushing contradiction when you've given me the influence.

Oh, he just wants to know where's the priority of your affection. So often times he will have you move and give you a word that does not make sense because he's trying to see where you really are as a believer on this Father's Day. This did not make sense to Abraham.

Abraham as all fathers and parents, mothers wants to see and be a part of raising their child, pouring into their child, instilling confidence in your child, being celebrating the achievements of your child, protecting and guiding. That's what your desire is. No father wants to sacrifice their child unless you live in America will with fathers who are definitely not getting a call from God to do so will put their children on the altar. of their own self-indulgence and irresponsibility.

Or it's not just fathers. Mothers will even sacrifice their children on the altar of revenge. Using their children as leverage and placing them on the altar of their own sins. What got me the most about this story at first was not my focus on Abraham. My focus was on the innocence of Isaac who's just following his dad, not even knowing that he's the sacrifice.

The innocence of a child is so unfortunate that these innocent children are trusting and following crooked parents. adults who are so selfish that they would use their children as leverage or a ransom just to do something selfish that they want to do. Poor kids 2 3 4 5 6 7 years old 8 years old 10 years old and they're walking behind their mom and dad thinking that this person has the best intent for my life and that I can give them my life and trust them with their life and the whole time they're prepared to bind them up on an altar and sacrifice them on their own sins.

How terrible is that? If you are a parent and you're leveraging your kids in a divorce, you're leveraging your kids in contracts, you're leveraging your kids to try to figure out how to use them to get what you want, stop it. ((applause)) ((music playing)) Shame on us for abusing kids because you're selfish.

((applause)) Isaac shows his innocence in Genesis 22:7. He says, "Um, hey dad, where's the lamb? He's just following his dad. He's trusting in Abraham. He's following his dad. Your kids are trusting you and you're just going to sacrifice them cuz you're selfish, man. That's a hard pill to swallow."

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. That we would do that. You say, "Well, I got too many kids and too many baby mamas." That's on you. Pray for the Lord's provision. But you keep showing up. Well, she won't let me. Don't quit. It's a kid. ((music playing)) Well, I don't I don't I don't like him.

He didn't choose me. He chose some other woman. You slept with him though. And now you have this child and that ain't got nothing to do with the child. If he's a good father, you send that child in there to be with his daddy. And you have to just what I say to my kids, you just got to drink your spit.

Cuz that ain't got nothing to do with the kid. The fact that you don't like your this your baby daddy. If he's a good father, that child needs a father. Stop sacrificing kids. This call that came to Abraham didn't come to you. You imagine Abraham hearing from the Lord.

I'm sorry that was in parenthesis. But now we going back to the story because I'm reading it. I'm thinking, man, poor Isaac, he don't even know. He just he's just following his dad. And these kids are just following us straight to death. And we're supposed to be their parents.

Some of you are that kid. ((music playing)) This call comes to Abraham and Abraham shows us how he responds. Now, if this call came to me, I'd be like, "Nah, Lord, you going to have to figure out a different test?" How does Abraham respond to something like this? Let me show you what Abraham did.

Verse three says, "So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of the young men with him and Isaac his son and split the wood of the burnt offering and rose and went to the place which God told him." That don't sound weird to you?

I mean, hey, sacrifice your only son, your only son whom you love. Alarm goes off. Hey, boys. Let's go. Isaac, get settled up the donkey. Split the wood. Let's hit it early in the morning. I only wake up early if I'm excited about something. He gets up early with no hesy.

That means hesitation for those of you who don't. He gets up early in the morning with no hesitation and saddles up the donkey, grabs two boys, gets Isaac, splits the wood, and starts heading to the place where God told him. How is he able to trust God in a crushing contradiction?

Where does that level of faith come from where he can move on God's word when there's a great sacrifice that God is calling him to make? Let me tell you, Abraham had a fundamental belief. His fundamental belief was this. My God will provide. When Isaac asked in Genesis 22:7, "Where is the lamb?"

Abraham's response to his son was God will provide. He had a fundamental belief that I can move and make sacrifices that God calls me to make because either way, God will provide for me. Okay? Therefore, if you're unwilling to make the sacrifice, if you're unwilling to move when God calls you, if you're unwilling to step away from something God tells you to step away from, to leave a situation God calls you to leave, to put down something God calls you to put down, you have a fundamental disbelief that God will provide.

The reason why you're not moving is because you're hesitant on what's going to be on the other end of your obedience. And so you have a fundamental disbelief that God is actually going to provide. And so you stop. Psalm 37:5 though says, "I was young and now I'm old and I have never seen the righteous forsaken."

Romans 8:32 says, "If God would give his own son, would he not also give you all things freely with him?" That we have to believe that God will provide or you will struggle as a Christian to move when God speaks. He had a fundamental belief. And what would it look like if dads were like, "God has spoken.

Saddle up the donkey. You two come with me. Isaac, let's go split the wood. Let's go make an sacrifice." What it look like if women were to saddle up the donkey, split the wood, grab two girls and their daughters, and show them what an experience of God is about to look like.

What would it look like if the believers in the church weren't just sitting in a church, but were ready to move on the call of God? What would it look like if the believers in the church really believe that God would provide? We didn't just raise our hands, we raised our life up to the call of God. because of that fundamental belief.

Now, let me show you what happened next. Abraham got up and he moved. Saddle up the donkey, split the wood. Boys, y'all come with me. Isaac, let's go. Look at what Abraham says. Look at what the word says. Verse four says, "On the third day, he raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

Abraham said to his young men, the two he brought with him, "Stay here with the donkey. I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship and return to you." Abraham a beast. Abraham said, "Hey, y'all stay here. We're going to go worship and we'll be right back."

((applause)) What you know we don't know, Abraham? Would you know Abraham had a belief that God would provide? And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking he believed that God would provide a ram in the bush. That's not what he was thinking at all. Abraham's belief in what God would do was at a whole another level. that you would not believe what he was thinking.

I'm going to give you a few clues. Verse four starts out by saying, "On the third day, ((applause)) son, your only son whom you love. And then he says, "Don't worry, we going to go, but we going to return." I don't want you to take it from me. Hebrews 11:1 17 and verse 19.

We're going to read what Abraham was thinking when he went up there and said, "We going to be right back." In Hebrews 11:17, it says, "By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who received the promise was offering up his only begotten son." Verse 19 says, watch this.

He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead from which he also received back as a type. What Abraham said, we'll be right back because I'm going to kill my only son whom I love and then I'm going to stand there and watch God raise him from the dead and we going to come right back down the hill.

Abraham believed in the resurrection who he also received back as a type. A type means a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. This whole story is about the sacrifice of a father. That's telling you about the sacrifice of the father. His only begotten son. His only son. And Abraham is thinking, "We going to be right back.

I'm just going to kill my son and watch him be raised. He's already thinking and foreshadowing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This means that you have to have a spiritual belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You also have to have a practical belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A spiritual belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ says, "I believe that he died and was raised on the third day." so that I can place faith in him. And those who place faith in him will live even if they die. You are now a participant in the resurrection.

Which is why when you get baptized, you die with Christ. You go under the water and then you are raised with him to the newness of life. It's all about the resurrection. Which means if you don't believe, you're in church, but you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, when you die, you're going to be dead.

You cannot be saved and forsake the resurrection. Your life comes through the resurrection. So you have to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ spiritually. If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The Bible says, but you also have to have a practical belief in the resurrection. that the same power that raised Jesus up from the grave is the same power that can raise up any situation I have to sacrifice.

See the reason why you won't walk away from that person, that thing, that job, that money, and you believe God is telling you to abstain from it, sacrifice it, walk away from it, put it down, but you won't walk away is because you have a fundamental disbelief in the practical power of the resurrection.

You don't believe if you leave that person, God can just raise it back up. If it's a promise, he just give it right back to you. If you have that belief, you can walk away like Abraham did. Because if that's the promised person, the promised place, the promised provision, then I don't have to worry about it.

God, I can sacrifice it and God can raise it. We're hesitant because we believe in it for heaven, but we don't believe in that power on earth. ((applause)) Where in the world did Abraham get this thinking from? He don't have no not that I remember. I mean, somebody can correct me, but I'm like Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Genesis 3, 222.

I don't know. No resurrections. I don't Where did he get the He has no frame of reference for him to just be like, I'm going to kill my son and I'm going to stand there and wait for God to raise him. Where did he get this belief from when he doesn't have a frame of reference in his life to know that that's what God can do?

Actually, yes, he does because Sarah had a dead womb. Sarah was 90 years old. It was supposed to be impossible for them to have a child. And God made that dead womb come alive. put a baby in it that gave birth to Isaac. So Abraham remembered that God can make dead things come alive because he did that with Sarah so that same power can resurrect my son from the dead.

In other words, Abraham had experienced a supernatural pregnancy and birth. ((applause)) Because he had experienced supernatural conception, supernatural birth, it wasn't hard for him to believe in the resurrection ((applause)) because he had experienced supernatural conception. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. That's an impossibility for a 90year-old woman who's barren to get pregnant.

That's an impossible conception and an impossible birth. I know somebody named the Virgin Mary. That's an impossible conception and an impossible birth. It's not supposed to be that way. But if he can be born of a virgin and be conceived in that level of power and greatness, certainly I can believe in the resurrection.

Abraham believed in both. And you must believe in both in order to be raised. Abraham had a testimony. I wonder if there's anybody that has a testimony that God can make dead things come alive. He can make your hope come alive, your purpose come alive, your marriage come alive, your family come alive, your child come back, your joy come alive.

He can make dead things come alive. That's just if you have a testimony that God has done. He can do exceedingly abundantly abundantly beyond all that you can ask or think. But you have to believe it to walk this walk. ((music playing)) Abraham said, "We'll be right back because we just going to see a resurrection today."

Oo. The belief of Abraham. He wasn't thinking about a ram in the bush. was thinking that he would have to go through with it. And he takes his son Isaac. The Bible says in verse 9, "Then they came to the place which God had told him. And Abraham had built an altar and there they arranged the wood and bound his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood."

Okay, stop reading these stories like these ain't real people. ((applause)) Isaac like, "Uh, wait a minute. What's wait a minute?" Think about it. Can you Can you imagine when he starts figuring out now? I I I got like this just with spankings. I'm over 40. So if you over 40, spankings wasn't no problem.

We was growing up. Your village would spank you. Your teacher would spanky. Your dad would spank you. Your mom would spank you. Your siblings would try to get in on it. And when nobody calling CPS, they'd be cheering. That's right. That boy need to get spanked. That's right.

Now we got kids spanking parents. ((applause)) ((music playing)) Shame on you. You let your kids spank you. That's And when I was young getting a spanking, it was a natural tendency for me to do this. You know, you try to look to see it coming. This is not no spanking man.

This a sacrifice. His father has a dagger. You look back and see the one that you trusted. Your father with a dagger. Abraham don't want to do it. He the same. And as he's about to go through the act of his submission to God, the angel of the Lord, stop it.

((applause)) The angel of the Lord comes through in the midnight hour at the last moment, at the last second. Yes, Lord. Before Abraham goes through and is just going to expect and stand and wait for that thing, his boy to be raised, the angel of the Lord says something to Abraham.

He says in verse 11, "But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said,"Abraham, Abraham." And he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him." Watch this. This is a Tony Evansism right here. 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. What does God know about your fear level of him? Well, it'll all be contingent on what you're withholding from him. because many of us are proving that the thing that he gave us is more important than the one who gave it to us.

And he says a remarkable statement. He says, "For now I know you fear me." Wait a minute. Now what you mean now? Do you know you didn't know before? Isn't God omnisient? Doesn't he know all things all the time? So what you mean now you know as if you have a current knowledge that you previously didn't have.

See, while God knows everything. Oh, I feel so Tony Evansy right now. I'm about to kick next. I'm about to kick you. ((applause)) See why? While God knows everything actual and potential, he knows even the whatifs. He knows everything. I'm going to tell you something. He does not know.

Everything experiential. If you were to ask God, what does it feel like to sin? He don't know. He knows everything about sin. But he himself has not sinned. through the person of Jesus Christ. Second member of the Trinity come in through the person of Jesus Christ. He always knew what tired was but now he knows what it is.

He always knew what hungry was, but now he knows what it is. He always knew in his omniscience what pain was and is, but now through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he now he knows something that he already knew. That's why Luke 2:52 says Jesus grew in all wisdom.

What do you mean he grew in all wisdom? Wisdom is the experience of the knowledge. Now he's experiencing the knowledge that he already has because Jesus is omnisient even in his earthly life. How do I know? Well, the Pharisees were always thinking to themselves and Jesus would respond to it.

That's right. So even as a man he was omnisient but he was still growing in wisdom because now he was getting the experience of his omniscience that he already had in heavenly places. Therefore when God experiences you now he knows what as he experiences us holding on not letting go or letting go not holding on or abstaining or not abstaining.

What is he now? I know she he what? We just want to leave it at God knows my heart. No, you got to throw away that get out of jail free card. God wants to see your feet. ((applause)) And he says this theological conundrum of the experience of Abraham.

And he says, "Now I know you fear me." And then that's so Tony Evans, too. What's that? He looks up. He lifts his eyes and behind him the word says there was a ram in the bush. ((applause)) Thank you, Lord. Let me let me read the language here because the language says, "Then Abraham, verse 13, 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. In the place of his son. A burnt offering, Leviticus 1-3, is for the purposes of devotion and faith, but it's also for the purposes of atonement. Atonement is the restoration or reconciliation because of sin to God.

Okay? Restoring you to God or reconciling you to God. That's what atonement means. He was told to sacrifice his son at the beginning as a burnt offering. Okay? That's atonement for sins. Let me just say it this way. You ought to be sacrificed for your sins. That's right.

For the wages of sin is death. That's supposed to be on you. Then there was a ram in the bush that he put in place of his son for the same atonement. Okay. Okay. Um that moment when Abraham looked up and saw the ram in the bush, he saw way more than a ram in a bush.

((music playing)) when he looked up and saw that ram in a bush. He saw the sacrifice of a father. Hold on. You say, "Wait a minute. Abraham was the father. He didn't have to make the sacrifice." No, he saw a different sacrifice from a different father. Okay. All right. You saying, "No, no, no.

I don't I don't Okay, let me John 8:56. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. And he makes this statement. He says, "Your father Abraham was glad to see my day. And when he saw it, he rejoiced." ((music playing)) Wait a minute. Now the Pharisees said, "But Jesus, you ain't even close to 50.

What you know about Abraham?" Oh, he said, "Abraham saw me and when he saw me, he was glad. When he saw me, he rejoiced. When he saw me, he had a worship service. Trust me. You see, when Abraham looked over and saw that ram, he didn't just see a goat.

He didn't just see a lamb. He didn't just see a ram. Abraham looked up and saw substitutionary atonement. Abraham looked up and he saw a redeemer. Abraham looked up and saw a deliverer. Abraham looked up and saw a savior. Abraham looked up and saw a rescuer. When he looked up, he saw the foreshadowing of the King Jesus, who would be the substitutionary atonement, the true and final burnt offering so that you and I wouldn't have to put ourselves on an altar.

((music playing)) Abraham looked up and saw a father who would sacrifice his only son, his only begotten son. Who would make such a sacrifice? This is a sacrifice not just of a father. This is a sacrifice of the father. And what should our lives look like knowing that we are no longer bound?

Knowing that we are no longer on the altar because Jesus came by the will of the father and allowed himself to be bound and placed on a cursed tree. Yeah. so that you and I can walk away with your life. This is the father's sacrifice. This is the reason why we praise.

This is the reason why we worship because it should be you. ((music playing)) So if you're in the house or you're online and you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, that means by definition you remain on the altar. ((music playing)) If you have not allowed him to come out of the bush and put himself on the altar for you, The Bible says he has died for the world, especially believers, which means believers have a unique experience with Jesus Christ.

His life, his death, and resurrection. He did it for everybody, but only some will get the benefit.