Surrendering your Isaac

Rev Gideon Lee

This is the first sermon that I did when I entered the ministry. Before I can preach any sermon, God has to first deal with me. Unless God deals with me, it would just be words from my mouth.

Time is moving very fast and we need to be in tune with what God is doing. There is a lot that is happening in our land, we don't even know who will be our next government. We need to know the time and season of God's move. When we hear the word of God it is like a mirror to us and we see our spiritual condition and if there is something that needs to be corrected we must do it. When we see that it is not right we have to change. I pray that you will have the courage and boldness to change and to repent.

Easter is coming and it is the time I take to look at my life. It is a time to reflect especially at a time when we remember Jesus went to the cross for us.

Genesis 22:1-19
Abraham's Faith Confirmed
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He 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 of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham 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. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”
12 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.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 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.”
15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said:“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

I want you to note the faith that Abraham had. He said we WILL come back.

Genesis 22:5
And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

He didn't say because you sacrificed for me but because you OBEYED me.

Genesis 22:18
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

I just had a new baby boy and I can tell you it is not easy being a father again. Jayden sleeps in our bed and it is not easy even though my wife does most of it. But I still have to do the other things.

And as I read this, I can imagine what Abraham went through. They had a son by the name of Isaac. He was the promised son and if you know the joy of being a father you will understand what it means to Abraham at the age of 100 and 91 for Sarah. They named him Isaac, which means laughter to express the joy that they must have felt.

With God nothing is impossible. Nothing surprises me with God anymore. It is never too late. Isaac is more than just a miracle baby. Let me tell you why.

Isaac is the child of promise. The promises of God was dependent on Isaac. Through Isaac came our messiah, Jesus Christ and through Him comes much blessings to us. We stand sanctified and justified because of the great blessing that Jesus brought.

Not only was he a promised child, but his name laughter shows he probably meant so much to Abraham. He is so precious like "anak emas". Or what we call it in Hokkien? "Poh Poey". It was the fruit of their old age.

Not only was he a miracle child and a promised blessing, he was also God's plan for mankind. Remember how Sarah tried to help God? She felt that God was taking too long so she offered her maiden to Abraham and maybe the promise and blessings would come.

How many of us have tried to help God? Not to say we don't do anything but sometimes we try to do it on our own. Sarah pleaded to God to use Ishmael as the blessing that would come true. But God said no. God will do it right and above board. He does not take under table money. The blessing will come from Sarah and Abraham regardless of what are the physical impossibilities.

Now God tells them to sacrifice this precious child to Him. I want you to take your one and only son and put him in the altar for me. All of us have our own Isaac.

We have our Isaacs in our life that we need to bring to the altar. It could be our dreams and ambitions. I had ambitions. I wanted to just work and be rich. And find the right girl and have many children.

One of the reasons why I didn't want to go into ministry because all the ministers seems to be poor. I told God I don't want to be poor. It could be a relationship. Your boyfriend. Your girlfriend. You will probably say, pastor please don't go there. Things that we put before God, above God and instead of God.

God said it is He who will fulfill His promise. Even without Isaac, God can still fulfill His promise. We are putting our hope in all these other things but it is God that is going to fulfill everything.

God said I bless you with this promises because you OBEYED me. You just need to remember this, obedience is better than sacrifice. Sometimes when we give we say we give sacrificially but God says He loves a cheerful giver.

When we obey God, certain guarantee happens.

1. When we obey God, He is there.

He will be there for you. Look at verse 10 and 11. God is in the midst of that situation. God was there. Do you believe God is in your situation? Of course you have to obey God. It may not be rosy but He will be with you. The whole event God came at just the right time. God comes at the right time, not too early, not too late but always on time. I like that. He is the one who is going to fulfill it.

2. When we obey God, He promises to provide.

Look at verses 8 and 14. Abraham calls the place the Lord will provide. When you obey God, He will provide. You know my story right? From my salary at Reader's Digest at 10,000 to bible school at zero. I survived bible school and was not in debt. Of course I have to make changes. I lowered my liabilities. Clear up all my credit card debts. Whatever savings I had was just enough. God provided. He has done it for me so many times.

I still remember I had to make a mission pledge. Remember I got zero already. All students will make a pledge. I could very easily say bible school students already poor how much can they give.

These are all exercises and discipline that we have to do to prepare us for the ministry. God asked me to pledge 300 for missions. I don't have enough how to pledge 300. But God says pledge 300. But God said just do it. Linken, just do it! So I obeyed and pledged that amount. My highest. But I did not know where the money was coming from.

Then I had a friend in PJ who asked to see me. He came in his car and said I felt led to bless you with some money so here it is. So he went to his car boot and brought out a stack of money. Not a stack la but an envelope of money. He said he didn't know why but God told him to give me. And when I opened the envelope, there was 300. I gave that money to mission. I made sure I didn't use that money for something else.

Look at me. More than enough. Some places more than others (laughs). Friends, God will provide but the question is are you obeying Him.

3. When we obey, He promises that He will fulfill the plan and promises in your life.

As we obey God and walk with Him, He will fulfill His plan for your life. Remember I said all of us have dreams? Nothing wrong with building castles in the sky as long as your foundation is in Jesus. How many of you would not have been here if you had not obeyed God.

All of us have dreams. Earn 10 figure salary. Have a nice car. Nothing wrong with that ok. Have many children. Big house. But sometimes it doesn't happen that way. When we obey Him it will be His plan and purpose. Not our plans.

In all humility I am telling you we have to put our Isaacs on the altar. Some of us have to give to our ambitions or career. We want to make money and more money. We give and sacrifice for our career. We come to church on Sunday but when required we will not hesitate going back to work on Sunday. If we do not obey, we may become slaves to our career.

Some people, once they have children, they are not in church. Pastor, where got time to go to church, and some only one child. I am saying some things that are tough but it is true.

God gave us his best, His only Son. We want our children to be doctors and engineers but if your son wants to go full time in ministry, release him. I have four children and I told God if you want all four of them, please take. I tell you a secret, many times I think of quiting. To go back to fishing. But God has been awesome and He is going to fulfill His plans in my life. He is the one that is going to bless me.

When I was in full time ministry, I had a friend who called me to have lunch with me. He was once a subordinate to me and he came in his Mercedes. When I saw his car, I was thinking see la, go serve God. See that Mercedes could have been yours. Many times you will hear this from the devil. I said yes, it could have been a nice car and that it could be mine but I told the devil my God is able.

I may not be driving a Mercedes now but I know one day Linken will buy for me. (Laughs). Some of us have the Isaacs taking the place of God. We need to lay it down at the altar. This is for your own good. I want you to know what God says. When you obey, He will be there for you, provide for you and fulfill His plan and destiny for you.