MOUNT MORIAH
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-19
It must have been night time when God spoke to Abraham, for the Bible says that "he rose up early in the morning" to do the thing that God told him to do.
And I can imagine that when Abraham heard God call his name he was a wondering what new thing God was going to ask of him.
We learn from the Bible that his whole life, it seems, had been one of testing....But the greatest test was yet to come.
God said, "Abraham!". The old man said, "Yes, Lord; what is it?"
And God said; "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, the son thou lovest so much, (the darling of your heart, Abraham), take him up to the Mount Moriah; (& when you get there) build an altar, Bind him up upon it, take a knife and when you have killed him, burn his body to ashes."
(PAUSE)
Daddy...Mom! Its a miracle that Abraham didn't faint, isn't it? I suspect that I might of..You might of.
This was a severe test, wasn't it?
Notice if you will that God asked of Abraham, the very best thing that he had in this world, not just a son, not an only son, but a son who was the child of promise.
This terrible summons that Abraham was listening to was one which must have torn his heart out. This was his most precious treasure and now, his fondest hopes were shattered.
Folks, it wasn't Isaac that God wanted; it was Abraham himself. If anything could ever have stood between God and Abraham, it would have been his pride or his fondness for Isaac.
So God said: "Abraham, he too, must be mine."
Friends, I don't know your heart and you don't know mine, But there's one thing I do know; if your experience with God is a shallow experience, if you lack the power of God in your life that you've seen working in other lives, if you can't get back to the place where you used to pray and reach His grace, or if your Christian experience has disappointed you, it is because there is still something between you and God.
And that thing, whatever it might be, is your Isaac. Because you love it or them more than you love God. And I want you to know, this morning, that God is calling, calling you right now and saying to you; "Go up to Moriah"
And regardless of it or who you'd better obey His divine voice and you'd better get started right now. Can you imagine some of us if we'd been in Abraham's shoes? Oh me, I can just hear us right now....
"Now hold on a minute Lord, let's talk this thing over a little bit. Why, Lord, look at all my herds of cattle out yonder; Lord tell you what, you take 'em all; I need Isaac."
And God would have said, "No, they won't do...Take Isaac." "Well then Lord, take Ishmael, my other son, the one of the bondwoman." "No, you take Isaac up to Moriah."
(But we wouldn't give in that easy, would we?)
"But Lord, Isaac is the child of the covenant and its through Him that all nations are to be blessed. And Lord, he is my son and I love him so much.:
"Yes Abraham, but that's the very Isaac that you must take up to Mount Moriah."
Folks, what's a lesson there is in that account for you and for me! We talk about the free grace of God flowing ever so free; yet its the most costly thing in the universe. And the road that leads to that fountain goes by the altar, on by the cross and right on up to Mount Moriah.
I'll tell you, if a person is satisfied with a part of what God has for him, he can get it by being partly consecrated, but friend, if you would have God cause you to be and to do all that a person can be or do, then it takes all there is of a person to bring it about.
You know and I know that its the thing you love the most that is the last to go. But you and I also know, that if that thing is pushing God out of your life, that's the very thing you need to bring to Moriah, that Holy Altar of God and let it go out of your life forever.
It might be just some little thing. I don't know, I can't speak for you. It might be an unholy imagination; it could be ambition for self; it might be a child that you love more than God; but whatever it is, the road up to Moriah may be a hard road.
Or it may be a big thing to you. (Alcohol, drugs, a dream, a career, whatever). But friends, its not too big for God if you will just "bind it upon the altar" and go all the way with God, like Abraham did.
There is the story of Pierre Hurlet, who was the sharpest gunner in the French army. All his life he had wanted a little cottage, all his own. So he saved his money and did without some things, so that one day he might own his own cottage.
Finally, he had enough, and he bought a little cottage in a small village. Man, that thing was a thing of beauty; it sat right at the foot of a bridge, all covered over with honey-suckle. And he was just looking forward to the time when He and his wife could settle down and spend their last days in the little cottage of his dreams.
But then came the war between France and Prussia, and Pierre was called. The Germans had taken possession of that little village and Pierre was standing by his cannon, on a hill overlooking that little town.
The General went up to him and said: "Pierre, do you see that little cottage at the foot of the bridge?" And a cold sweat broke out over the old, brave soldier.
Then the General said; "Well, there's a nest of Germans in that little cottage and I want you to turn your cannon on it and see what you can do about it."
And all of the old skill of the eye and all the nerve were there as the brave old man pointed the huge barrel of his gun toward the little house. There was a smoke, then the roar and the General exclaimed: "Fine aim, Great shooting; the house is demolished."
But then he looked at Pierre and his face was covered with tears and he said, "Pierre, what's the matter?" And the broken-hearted old soldier answered; "Ah, General, it was my own house."
My friend, today you bring out your Isaac. You bring the most precious thing you have; the dearest thing you own and let God have His way with you.
And then, watch out, you see if the place where you sacrifice doesn't become the very gate of Heaven, to your Soul.
Abraham's test was severe test, and so is yours.
But look at the beauty of the Sacrifice!
You know, unless you read the account very carefully you might think Abraham didn't have any struggle at all. And you might think that he had started to build without counting the cost and might not have been able to finish.
In the 2nd verse, he receives his orders. And in verse 3 he's made all the preparations and is on his way to the place of sacrifice as though the whole matter was settled forever.
But look again! Its night in verse 2 and its early in the morning in verse 3.
Now, in your mind, just think of the meantime between verse 2 and verse 3. Don't you know that all night long, Abraham had fought to the finish that awful battle in his soul. There by his bed that night, he passed through his Gethsemane; and he went up to Calvary and there he crucified his will, his hopes, his ambitions and the most precious desires of his life.
He had already gone to his spiritual Moriah, and there he had driven that knife in his precious son a thousand times over...and early in the morning, it was settled, the sacrifice had been made.
No wonder he could be calm, you see, the Storm was over. And so he was on his way with the wood and most likely coals to start the fire. The spiritual storm was over, but the human storm was still there.
What a picture! Two days; two servants; an old man and his precious little boy; a happy little boy, glad to be on a trip with his daddy; headed for Moriah.
The third day, they came to that hill. There Abraham told his servant to stay and watch out for the donkeys; and he and the boy started up that hill. The father with the coals and the knife; the boy with the wood.
And as they climbed together, worlds apart in their thoughts, Isaac said. "Father, we've got the coals and the wood; where's the lamb for the sacrifice?"
Every Daddy here this morning; every mother present knows that Abraham must've already been to his spiritual Moriah; it had to be settled, or else "how" could he have gone on?
But he did. He went on up that hill and calmly made everything ready. And then he tied up his little boy; the dearest thing on earth to him and put him on top of that wood on the altar. Then he raised the knife that would end forever the life of his son of promise.
But as he did an angel stopped his arm and said; "Abraham, don't hurt the child, (My paraphrase), it was you yourself that God wanted and now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thine son, thine only son from me."
No doubt some of you are saying, "AL, is it really as hard as that?" Yes sir, it is, for it means a death struggle with yourself.
And for some of us, it won't be easy; but its a struggle we've just got to face, because this is the road to pardon and peace, and purity and power and to glory.
Beauty, even in sacrifice.
Last, look at the Blessing that followed.
Abraham named that place Jehovah-Jireh, which means "the Lord will provide". And all of you know what the Lord did for Abraham; the Father of nations; perhaps the greatest of the patriarchs.
I heard the story of Mahmoud the Conqueror of India. He went to the temple one day and found an expensive idol 15 feet tall facing the entrance. And he ordered that thing to be destroyed, but the people threw themselves in front of him and begged him to spare their god. They even offered him large sums of money if he would let it stay.
Mahmoud hesitated a minute--it was tempting--but finally he told them that he'd rather be known as a Destroyer of idols than a seller of idols, and he ordered it to be struck with a huge hammer.
That old idol was hollow and when it was struck, it splattered and out came at the feet of Mahmoud, a big pile of the most costly diamonds and jewels, worth far more than what the people had offered him not to destroy it.
Friend, its always like that. And if you will surrender yourself to God and lay the most precious idol of your heart on His altar; you'll hear Him say: "Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things."
Or as God told Abraham, in verse 17, "in blessing I will bless thee.." (Friend, He'll do it too.)
I wonder if there's somebody here, this morning, who's willing to pay the price?
God is calling just as surely, just as clearly as He called Abraham--calling you to go up to Moriah; calling you to "bind upon the altar" this thing or that thing; whatever is between you and God.
There's only two who knows what it may be--you know and God knows--but Why don't you sacrifice if all? Bind your own life on that altar there. Let His fire burn all of yourself out of it so that you might be filled as Paul says, "With all the fullness of God" Himself.
Friends, I want you to hear me this morning as I make my confession. I know what it is to be defeated. I know what it is to have my ideals shattered and lay broken at my feet. I know what it is to be humiliated and shamed in my soul.
But I want you to know that I know something, too, of the experience of life molded by the thought of God and moved by the will of God.
And I say to you honestly and sincerely today, that if an experience such as that can be a continuous thing in any human life, folks, I want it in mine. Don't you?
And I want you to know that I am sure that it is possible. But the road that leads to it goes by the altar up Mount Moriah.
Now, as I look out at you; I see folks who have been Christians for many years, some of you since before i was even born. And no doubt you're saying, "But, Al, I've made my surrender and I want you to know it was complete, too."
But, my friend, regardless of who you are, if your experience is constantly spelling defeat, then the truth of the matter is that you have not made your surrender complete.
Everybody here knows how to give themselves to God. Like Abraham, you're the gift that God wants; all of you. And if you haven't given Him yourself, its because you don't want to.
Curtis Hinson said he asked a man why he didn't go to Sunday School, and the man said, "Because I've got a quart of milk in the refrigerator." And the preacher said, "What, you mean a quart of milk in the refrigerator keeps you from going to Sunday School?" And the man grinned and said, "When you really don't want to do something, one excuse is as good as another."
Friend, if there's defeat in your life, you really don't want it out. If you do, then just go on up to Mount Moriah.
God wants your life as a gift. There's 4 characteristics of a gift that is really a gift.
(1) It must be voluntary, of course. And the giving of yourself to God must be prompted from within, because as the Bible says, "It is our reasonable service."
(2) It has to be unselfish. Do you remember what Jesus said to the multitudes who swarmed about Him one day? "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." And folks, Christ has never, at any time, sought disciples like that....(gotta be unselfish).
(3) Its gotta be deliberate. This was the beauty of Abraham's sacrifice, that I spoke of. You've gotta put your mind into it as well as your heart. God wants us to stop and count the cost.
(4) Its gotta be irrevocable. Read your Old Testament. When an Israelite took his offering to the priest, he never dreamed of going back the next day and asking for it back. The gift was God's for keeps.
Now if you've failed at any of these 4 points, no doubt it has been at one or the other of the last two, or maybe at both.
So let me ask you in a very pointed and piercing way these questions, as we prepare to sing hymn #_____.
Do you want a new experience in Christ?
Do you want a peace in your heart that is deep and satisfying?
Do you desire a power such as you always hoped you might have?
Do you want to be done with defeat?
Do you want Christ, as Paul said, "to reign in your life?"
Then if you've never given, that is never presented yourself to God, as described in the Scriptures, today...or maybe you have made a surrender before, perhaps here in this very place, but now you find your experience disappoints you, that your surrender wasn't complete... then friends, make this little mountain right here before God your Mount Moriah and let it be done now; this very hour, this minute.
Listen and I believe you can hear Him calling, saying to you: "Go up...Go up to Mount Moriah...I want you...
You come to the mountain, this morning.
You come. Right now. Who'll be the first, this morning to move on up to Mount Moriah?
And I long for His staff and His rod;
When the cares of this life overtake me,
Then I look through my tears and see God.
Do you want to see God, this morning? Then just come to Jehovah-Jireh, "the Lord Provides".
Climb that Mountain!
