Hebrews 11:17-19 Faith That Lets Go

When faith meets a knife’s edge, what do you hold onto—God’s promise or your grip? We walk through Hebrews 11 and Genesis 22 to watch Abraham rise early, split wood, and carry obedience up Moriah with a strange mix of logic and trust. He knows Isaac is the child of promise, so he reasons that if the sacrifice goes through, the God who cannot lie can raise the boy from the dead. That’s not blind belief; it’s confidence anchored in a Person who keeps His word.

Along the way, we pause on a single word: offered. To offer is to bring and lay down, to open your hands around what you love most. The story becomes uncomfortably close when we name our own Isaacs—our children, future, finances, pride, and dreams. Hold them too tightly and they become idols; release them and they become worship. We explore how discipline is loving training, why tests are whens not ifs, and how faith grows by acting on what God has already said. Isaac’s likely willingness comes into view, pointing our eyes forward to another Son who shouldered wood and yielded Himself without resistance.

When the angel stops Abraham and a ram appears, the mountain gains a name: The Lord will provide. That ridge in Moriah runs through Jerusalem to Calvary, where Jesus becomes the Lamb, turning future tense into finished work. We end at the table with bread and cup—body broken, blood poured out—receiving grace not because we’re worthy, but because He is. If you’re wrestling with surrender, this conversation offers courage, clarity, and a better grip: not on your plans, but on God’s promise and character.

If this moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review telling us where you’ve seen God provide.

https://www.facebook.com/ablossombiblechurch

Chapters

• 0:00 Tempo: 120.0

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Hebrews chapter 11. Yeah. Verse 17 through 19 is where we're at today. If you want to find Genesis 22, we'll be over there too. So that's up to you how you want to do that. Heads up. All right. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17, where we're at. We are moving uh as slow as we want to move through uh the hall of faith, Hebrews chapter 11. Um, it's uh an example of just normal, average, faulty, I think would be a good word to throw in there. Faulty people who trusted God. Um, and the thing that we probably find over and over again, that maybe I don't always mention it, but we find over and over again that it teaches us that one, the life of faith can be done, right? This can be done. You can live a life by faith. And two, it's totally worth it. As we look at each one of these uh people listed here, uh, it can be done, and it's totally worth it. So we have been going through chapter 11, and lately, as of lately, last couple times, we've been looking at the life of Abraham. He is in the book of Romans known as the father of the faithful, father of those who believe. So we find he's a literal father by this point, but he's also a spiritual father, even to us, father in the faith. Um, now verse 17 is really the high point of Abraham's faith. Let's read it, verse 17 through 19. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. So here we are, Abraham, it's that high point in his faith. It's a time of testing. We don't like tests, no matter where we're at, whether it's school or anywhere else in life. We don't like trials, we don't like tests. But here we read Abraham in verse 17 when he was tested. Uh, we test things, we put them through testing to determine sometimes what they're made of, right? Uh we test metals, that's the way that word is used often, to test metals to see what their makeup is, uh, whether they're pure gold or they have contaminants or what, you test them by putting them under pressure and under heat. Um, that's one way we look at testing. But those of you that are still in school, you know they test you through tests, right? No fun to see it what if they if you're learning, if you're not learning, if you're getting it or you're not getting it. Um tests and trials see what we're made of. And Abraham had trials and testing throughout his life, but this one test that we were reading about today is really the top. Uh, Abraham, when he was tested. I think it's important before we move on to realize that tests are when's, not ifs. Abraham, when he was tested, because we are all tested. There's no question that life includes trials and testing. Our buddy James in James 1, verse 2, says this, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. So James puts it out there clear again for us. It's when you fall into various trials and when you are tested. Now, James is going to try to tell us, of course, that it's all worth it. It's all a good part of life that God's working something good, but it's not fun, right? When we look at these testings in our life, they're not fun or enjoyable. Now, if you peek over to Hebrews chapter 12, um Hebrews chapter 12, we also see that God not only tests us, but he disciplines us. Um notice uh there in verse 5. Have you forgotten the exhortation that speaks to you as sons? My son, do not despise the chastening or the discipline of the Lord. Um, notice there in verse 6, whom the Lord loves, he chastens, or another word there is discipline. So I just figured I'd throw that in. That not only is life include testings, but also discipline. Uh, the author to the Hebrews here says, uh, discipline is good. Now we think of discipline, and maybe we flash back to our childhood when we were disciplined, and that maybe wasn't fun for us. Um, but that word is a little, it's a little more enlightening, I think, than just that kind of discipline. It's training. It's when a coach takes a person through some training to make them better. So we see these trials, these testings, this discipline, this training to make us better. We know that, but Abraham here is going to go through some training, some discipline, some testing. Um, now notice Abraham's testing in verse 17. When he was tested, uh, he offered up Isaac. So we flash back here uh to Abraham's testing when he offered up Isaac. Before we move on, notice that word offered uh there an offering. This is also the process of offering Isaac. That word there means to bring and to lay down, is the idea behind that word offering. Another place we see this word offering, and picture this, follow this. Another place we see this word offering is in Matthew chapter 2, it's the wise men, as we call them, the magi from the east, who came to see the baby Jesus. He was uh a young child at that point, but they came with gifts. Remember the gifts? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And they took and they put those gifts in front of Jesus, and they offered these gifts to him. I think that's important to see as we look at this thing that God's doing through testing, and in Abraham's life, offering Isaac, it's it's an offering. Picture this, look, it's laying something down, it's bringing something to God and laying it down. Uh, it's this idea, this painful idea of loosing your grip on something. I think that's why this idea of offering is so vivid for us, because we can picture it as we bring something to God and we open up our hands, right? Now, this is not hard for me to do, but it's very hard to let go of things in our life. And it depends on how much we value those things, right? Uh, you know, I can build up a bunch of trash in my back seat. That's just kind of how I live. I'm just being honest. Whenever we stop at a gas station, though, with my wife, the idea is to grab whatever trash you can and throw it away now so we don't have to put up with it, right? And you know, I've never had a hard time throwing trash away, right? I go and I pick it up and I put it over the trash can and I open my grip and I let it go. I don't hoard trash, I hoard a lot of other things, but I don't hoard trash because I don't value it. But check it out. Then there's things in our life that we do value. Everything else. I value a lot of things, little things. But but but notice the big things in our life that we value. Uh, I can still picture 25 years ago when our foster kids who had lived with us for a year went back to live with their mother. And the little boy, we got him when he was one, and and he had this thick, curly brown hair. And there's something about thick, curly brown hair on a one-year-old that you just want to go, yes, you know, I would say goodnight to him and it was mess up that hair, you know. And I remember when I said goodbye to those two foster kids that we loved, and one last time messed his hair up, and I turned around and I walked away 25 years ago. And I remember that feeling of letting go of something that I loved so much, and and that really is the picture here as Abraham offers Isaac. This is the story of life. Now, God is not a taker, I would say he's a giver, but many times in life he has us offer things, he has us loose our grip over something that means a lot to us. Um, something we want, a dream, our accomplishments, our pride, laying down our pride and looking to forgive someone. Um, it's that opening the grip that's just so traumatic in the offering. And here we get to watch Abraham go through it as he offers Isaac. Now let's turn to Genesis 22. You can hold your place in Hebrews, but turn to Genesis 22, and I think it's verse one. Now, Abraham's account goes to chapter 25. So we've been through a lot. Abraham, you know, and Sarah, his wife, were promised uh a nation, a family, offspring. Uh, and and it took decades before they experienced that in their life, before Isaac was born. But now at this point, chapter 22, uh, Isaac has arrived. And he's a grown man, likely, at this point. And Genesis 22, verse 1. It came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham. And Abraham said, Here I am. God said, Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell the shall tell you. So here's where the testing all happens, right? In Genesis 22, 1. At one moment, God comes to Abraham and he tests him. Um, and he says, here's the test, take now your son, your only son, whom you love. God throws that in and offers him as a sacrifice. Now, you have to remember the whole story, right? Isaac is not Abraham's only son. You remember there was a little bit of a detour in chapter 16 where Sarah said, This isn't happening, Abe. Uh, you take my handmaiden Hagar and have a son with her, and we'll just call it good. And so Abraham has another son uh named Ishmael, right? But God doesn't recognize him. Now God will protect Ishmael and he will raise him up. He becomes really the Arab nations that we know even today, our descended from Ishmael. Um, so God takes care of him, but he only recognizes the son of promise. And he says, Abraham, take your son, your only son, whom you love. Now that's a tall order, right? Uh any of us could see that. That's a tall order. But notice verse three. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac, his son. He split wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place which God had told him. Then on the third day, you could always underline that, that's interesting. Third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Abraham said to his young men, You stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So here Abraham moves right out to do it. He doesn't waste time early in the morning. Uh, he does. Um, and Abraham goes to follow through with what God had told him to. Um now, Abraham is growing in logic here, I think, and faith. We see Abraham's logic, and we also see his faith because Abraham knew that God was going to use Isaac to bless the world. He was a son of promise. He was going to build a nation through him. Uh, he really believed it. Uh, but he's also in faith. He's growing in faith as God tests him. Flip back real quick, hold your place here, but flip back real quick to uh Hebrews verse uh uh chapter 11, verse 18. Uh talking about Isaac, of whom it is said, in Isaac, your she seed will be called. God promised, right? Uh, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. So we know what's going on in Abraham's mind at this point back in Genesis 22. He's thinking, I'm gonna follow through what God has told me to do, offer my son as an offering, a burnt sacrifice on this mountain. But I know that he's promised that Isaac will become a nation. Now, Abraham's doing all this in his head, I think. He's saying, I know the promise, and I know the God who made this promise. God will not let me down. God will be faithful to do what he said he's going to do. And so Abraham concludes that God would raise him from the dead if that's what it takes. If he sacrificed Isaac, God would, at the worst case scenario, God's going to raise this kid from the dead because he made a promise. So there's some logic in this of who God is. He will not break his promise. I trust that. There's this faith that's in God's heart. And so God is teaching him already this thing uh to trust him more. It's logical to trust God, that God will do what he says he's gonna do. Um, and that's what God wants to provide in testing, just kind of on the surface. God wants to produce that in our life that we really do trust God with our heart. Um, and of course, that's what we do daily, right? God is always encouraging us to go a little deeper, to trust Him a little more. And it's varied in all of our lives. Uh, do you trust me with your future? God, I trust you with my future. Well, loose a grip and let me take it. Uh, do you trust me with your finances? I trust you with my finances. Well, loose your grip and let me take care of it. Do you trust me with your kids? Now, see, this is where I'm at in life, right? And I have great kids, but you know I've learned that you know, you have a hard time trusting God sometimes when they're little. You know, when they're little, God, you're gonna have to take care of these kids. They're just they're toddlers and they're all over the place, or whatever it is, you know, sicknesses in the world, you know, you got to trust God with your kids. But then they get older. And, you know, we always did, as we've talked about, we looked at 18 as like the finish line. There it is, 18. I won't have to worry about him anymore. And yet, you have to trust God even more at that point. You guys know the story. But the real punchline here is do we trust God with the things in our life? Do we trust God with all the things in in our life? And that's what God really wants to bring about in our life. Um God wants us to offer, now picture it, offer these things and these people to Him, the loosing of the grip. Because here's the thing: if we don't, if we don't open our grip on these things in our life, it's idolatry. There's really nothing else you can say about it. There's something in my heart that I refuse to open up my grip to God over, it's an idol, and that's not okay. And so God says, Abraham, do you trust me? Your son, whom you love, God points out, do you trust me? And by God's grace, I think, Abraham does. He reasons it out, but he also trusts God just simply. God, you made a promise, I know you're not gonna break it. Yes, I trust you. Now, there's a final picture here in chapter 22, and it is way worth looking at, especially as we're gonna spend a little bit of time here at the end in communion today. Um, I think it's verse 6. So, picture this. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and he laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father, Abraham said, Here I am, my son. Uh, then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Picture what's going on in Isaac's mind here, perhaps. We have a, you know, I don't think he's totally naive to this, right? We have uh fire and wood, and you're gonna have an offering, but I don't see any sacrifice. How what are we gonna sacrifice? And as things went on in this story, maybe you know, Isaac brightened up even more over what was going on. Um, but but realize this, it's gonna be a willing sacrifice for Isaac. There's a lot of misunderstanding, I think, in our Sunday school world that Isaac is, you know, like a 10-year-old, a seven-year-old. It really doesn't matter because Abraham's like over a hundred at this point, right? So even if he is, Isaac's got the upper hand. But it's probably more likely that Isaac is really an adult by this point. So as this goes on, Isaac's a willing sacrifice here. Now, notice again what happens. Then he came to the place which God had told him. And Abraham, verse 9, uh, built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. So this goes down, and Isaac trusts his father, lets him tie him up. And then I think when God stops him, there's a little bit of uh, whoo, okay, all right, glad that that's done, you know. Uh quite a bit of relief. But but notice Abraham's gonna make this kind of monumental here in verse 13. Then Abraham um lifted up his eyes and looked. There behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided. So the testing being over, God does provide an alternate sacrifice, and we're all very happy about that. An alternate sacrifice. But here's the thing that most of you may know, but is so surprising is where this place is. Where is this Mount Moriah? It's in Jerusalem. If you've seen the Dome of the Rock, uh the theory, part of the theory of what they believe that rock is, is this rock that Abraham was gonna sacrifice his son. Now, in their book, it's Ishmael, not Isaac, but but but this is that place. So you can picture the city of Jerusalem. It's on that mountain that the temple would stand, that Abraham went to offer his son Isaac. It's on the same mountain that Jesus would give his life a sacrifice for us. And isn't it amazing what God through Abraham says about this place? In the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. He was in the same spot where years later he could have looked over and seen Jesus dying on the cross in that very spot. And it's huge, right? How God, the Father, offers his only begotten son. He loves the world so much. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. And I think that's where we come to the deeper point of offering our lives, is have we offered our lives in that sense? Daily we all learn to offer something else. We lose the grip of something else that's important to us, sanctification, getting to trust God more and more. But ultimately, we got to come to that same place of sacrifice and come back. We got to come to that same place of sacrifice where we see Jesus dying in our place, a ransom for us. And God says, Do you want it? Yeah, yeah, I do. Well, give me your life. Loose your life. And and the trade-off is a good one for us, but we have to come to that place where we say, You bought me, it's not my life anymore. Uh, you you've saved me, it's not my will anymore. Here it is. And so I thought today would be a really good time. We kind of hit and miss, do uh do communion whenever we can. But I thought today would be the perfect day to spend some time remembering what God has done for us. Uh so I'll pray, and uh someone will uh pass out the bread and the cup, and uh we'll take them together as we remember what God's done for us. So God, I just admit I've been through this passage so many times in my life that I can lose the wonder of how amazing it is that it would be on that very spot that Jesus would willingly lay down his life for us and not just die, but become a sacrifice for us, a sacrifice that would actually produce something. And God, you've been so good to us in our life, you've been so loving and kind. I just pray that in all the big things and the little things, we would be able to just loosen our grip on all those things in our life. We would just offer them to you because God, it just makes sense. God, you've purchased us. You deserve everything of our life. I pray that as we just take some time to remember your cross today, that you would help that to be real in our lives, even now. In Jesus' name we pray. So, um, there it is. We have our hands, bread and the cup. So let's look at the bread first. Um, Jesus, if you'll remember on the night before the cross, um, it was Passover, a little different scenario than our little cracker and cup here, but he took bread. It was part of the meal, and he he looked at it and said to his disciples, This bread is my body, broken for you. And they had no idea, obviously, what he was talking about because it hadn't happened yet, but within a few hours his body would be broken, and they would see him beaten up, whipped, uh, crown of thorns put on his head, mocked, and maybe they flashed back to that, my body broken for you, and and the wonderful thing is that it was done for us, he took it all for us um so that we could be made whole. He was broken, and um you know, one of the things that I flash back to a lot in comedian, I won't take too long here, but uh, is there in Corinthians, first Corinthians, where Paul says, Don't anyone take this in an unworthy manner? Because uh, you know, folks have taken it in an unworthy manner, and some are actually sleeping, they're dead. I remember being again, and I would think, oh man, I don't want to take this in an unworthy manner because I'm like, die, right? Now, the whole story there was that people were just kind of taking it like snacks, you know, they were just taking it like it was part of a love feast that they had, and they would take communion to build up their friendship with one another, to build up the race and relationship with God. And some people were getting drunk, and some people were just taking it like it was no big deal. And so the unworthy manner is not just that we're not perfect. I think that's just important to say because I I looked at my life when I was a kid and I said, Well, I'm not perfect, you don't know what I did, you know, you know what I thought. And but none of us are perfect. That's the whole reason why his body was broken, was to make us whole. And um, and so don't let that stop you. If perhaps in the back of your head you think, well, I'm not perfect. This is what we need because we're not perfect. We we need what God's done for us, that he laid down his life to forgive us and make us whole. And so, as we just thank God for this bread that represents his body broken for us, let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for for laying down your life for us, willing, more willing than Isaac did there in that account. God, you could have gone back to heaven anytime, and yet you didn't, because you loved us, and you let them torture you and beat you because you loved us, and there in Hebrews chapter 12 it says it was for the joy that was set before you. It's so hard to imagine that there was joy laying down your life, but you knew what it would bring. God, thank you for offering us this forgiveness, not because of anything we've done or that we get it, but God, because everything that you've done, you've provided the sacrifice for us. So, God, as we take this bread, remind us of those things, even in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Take the bread. And also that same night, Jesus took a cup and held it up, and he told his disciples, This cup is my blood shed for you. And I'm sure they had no idea. idea what that meant. But a few hours later he would bleed. He would be pierced by nails. He would bleed. And and with that blood, he would wash away our sins. He said it's the blood of the new covenant, a promise, not because of what we do, because we didn't do anything at the cross, but because of what he did, that we can be totally and completely forgiven, justified. God makes it just as if we never sinned because of what Jesus did. And he looks at us and not only are we forgiven and washed, but we're perfect and righteous. 2 Corinthians 521 says and so as maybe they remembered a little later they definitely remembered. They would see this cup and they would say this is a picture of his blood. Man and I think about it often I needed that. I feel like I you know I probably won't even get out this door without experiencing sin in my life. You know that's just how good I am at it. And every single day I just need God to make me clean because I feel messed up. But then he cleans us he washes it away and takes it far away from us and as if we had never done it at all. So let's thank God for this cup and his blood. God thank you for shedding blood for us, becoming the sacrifice for us. God we feel so dirty with the things in our life and our past and yet you wash it away. God thank you that you've made us clean and thank you that at the end of the day you'll make us clean then too. God we're righteous in your sight because of Jesus. And God we thank you for that. Work that into our heart that we would absolutely know it as we go on to this life that we're covered by your blood. Thank you. Pray all these things in Jesus' name amen.