Faith's Only Window

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What is true faith? What does true faith do? Those are two separate questions. If I were to ask you what a flashlight is you might describe it as a metal tube with a bulb inside. If I were to ask you what a flashlight does, then you would tell me that it shines light. 

The same is true of faith. The question "What is faith?" is different from "What does it do?" To hear from our own catechism what faith is: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel." That is what faith is. Faith alone is what saves you. Faith isn't works. It is a grace to trust Christ, to count on Him alone for your salvation. Even the book of James is very careful to make a distinction between faith and works as we will see in a moment. 

Now, the question that our particular passage prompts us to ask is, "What does faith do?" It will focus our attention on externals. Works is the arena where true faith is displayed. And this is what we are going to see from our passage today. Our two points are: True faith works and true works only come from faith. 

True faith works. 

As we saw last week, Abraham has been called to a very serious task: sacrificing his son. God gave him the task, and he has set right to it. Three days is a long time to think through what God has asked him, but he remains resolute. This is what faith looks like, so let's see faith undergo the torture test and see how it behaves when the unimaginable is asked. 

As Isaac and Abraham go up the mountain, Isaac notices that something is wrong. They are missing a lamb! Abraham responds that God will provide (literally, the Lord will see) for the lamb. Interestingly, one scholar noticed that the Hebrew can be a bit flexible here. It is possible to read this as saying "my son" is the lamb (Matthews, 294)! Whether that is intended or not, the more important part of that sentence is the leaving the answer to that question to God, as one scholar notes: "Hence, the issue lay with the Lord, not Abraham, for he left it to God to resolve the theological and moral problems he himself created." (Matthews, 285). Abraham doesn't know how this is going to work exactly, but he is leaving it up to God. Abraham doesn't have to know how this test will end in order to obey it. 

We ascend the mountain and reach the climax of Abraham's test. Kierkegaard, a danish theologian of the mid 1800s vividly paints for us what Abraham is doing: 

"There was many a father who lost his child; but then it was God, it was the unalterable, the unsearchable will of the Almighty, it was His hand took the child. Not so with Abraham. For him was reserved a harder trial, and Isaac's fate was laid along with the knife in Abraham's hand. And there he stood, the old man, with his only hope! But he did not doubt, he did not look anxiously to the right or to the left, he did not challenge heaven with his prayers. He knew that it was God the Almighty who was trying him, he knew that it was the hardest sacrifice that could be required of him; but he knew also, that no sacrifice was too hard when God required it – and he drew the knife." (quoted in Ross, 399) 

Did you catch all that? This Isaac is Abraham's hope for everything. The covenant with Abimelech, a legacy for him, children to carry his name, live in his land, carry the blessings of nations, and Abraham is about to put a knife through him and turn him to ash. Abraham is not a psycho. Abraham isn't a product of a harsher time that somehow makes child sacrifice easy. We saw how he didn't want to send Ishmael away because he loved him. It's one thing to send away, but it is quite another thing to be the very agent of death for the one you love. 

True works only come from faith. 

How does Abraham do that? Because he believes God. There is a hint about what that looks like in Abraham's mind buried in verse 5. It isn't seen in English, but in the Hebrew Abraham is using all plural verbs. The last part of the verse could be translated, "and we will come again to you." Somehow, Abraham expected Isaac to return with him from the mountain. Even if you don't read Hebrew, the book of Hebrews 11:19 tells us Abraham's thought process: "He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." That doesn't mean that this test isn't difficult. Stabbing your son, even if you are convinced that God is able to raise him from the dead, isn't easy. 

It is hard to know precisely what Abraham is displaying here, and it might be because Abraham's emotions aren't really the point. The point is Abraham believes God so much that he obeys. Or we could even phrase it, Abraham believes God just enough to obey. 

What is your level of faith? Does it lead you to obey God? James 2 is very clear that a faith that isn't obedient to God is a dead faith and no faith at all. A stone that won't shine underwater isn't a diamond. If your faith in God has never lead you to obey what you read in His word, then your faith isn't real. I'm not asking you if you have done something radical. I'm not even asking if you have done something emotionally difficult. I'm asking you the simple question: do you obey God? If not, what are you withholding from Him and why?

To be very clear, I am not saying that you are saved by works. Even going to James 2:21-24 we will see this. James isn't talking about the reason for your salvation but the result of your salvation. The word "justify" here means "proven." (McCartney, "An Epistle of Straw" The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls, 289). Going back to verse 20, we see that even demons can believe right things. Your giving mental assent to Jesus doesn't show that you have faith. Faith isn't in your head but your heart. Your faith is shown to be really in your heart when it shows up in your hands, the things you do. That's also what is meant by "completed." (McCartney, 281). This doesn't mean that your faith starts the process and your works finish your salvation. No! But as one scholar explains, the point of faith in Christ is that you will become more righteous (McCartney, 281). We don't just check a box so we won't burn in hell. We come to Christ to begin the process of becoming holier! So if we never obey, we never grow closer to God, then we have to take a look at our lives to see what we have really signed up for. 

God commends Abraham for not withholding his son. Abraham's action in this way shows that his ultimate hope was in God not Isaac. What do you withhold from God? What do you think you can protect and nurture better than God can? Do you think disobeying God's commands to be generous with your money will protect your money? What kind of faith is that? Do you think that raising your kids in the way the world wants you to rather than God will result in better children? Do you think that spending your time, especially on Sunday, the way you want rather than the way God wants will result in better spent time? Do you think that using your sexuality the way that you think is right because it feels good despite what God says about it will result in blessings in that area? Abraham trusted that God could protect his son better than he could, such that even if God commanded him to plunge a knife into him then that was what was needed. 

Now, to be clear, this test was for Abraham, not us. We get our marching orders from God's Word, and God hasn't called us to do specifically what Abraham has done. That said, we are called to the faith that Abraham has displayed. There will be times in the future where raising godly children and grandchildren is going to put them out of step with our culture. They could face a jail sentence. They could face the inability to find prestigious work because of their "extreme" views. They could find themselves on the outs of a culture, having to secretly meet under threat of arrest in order to carry on what you have taught them. Now maybe they wont, but maybe they will. Are you ok with that? Do you trust God enough to teach them to fear God rather than man? Do you trust God enough to face the same fate yourself? If not, then what is your faith? 

I'm not asking these questions to be dramatic. I'm not asking these questions because this is how you wrap up a sermon. I'm asking these questions because I'm afraid that you haven't asked yourself these yet and your soul is in danger. I'm afraid that you haven't sat on the back porch with a cup of tea and seriously reflected on this like it matters. If you haven't, why do you think your children will? 

If you need some help in this, let's consider this story from another angle. Most of the time, I think we legitimately cast ourselves as Abraham in this story. This is a story to encourage us to have the faith of Abraham. This is how we have been looking at it for the past couple of weeks. But there is another character that often is just a supporting role in the story, and that is Isaac. One scholar suggested this approach, and I think this is another good application of this story (Belcher, 156). 

Instead of considering ourselves as Abraham, let's consider ourselves as Isaac. Isaac is led up the mountain and is going to be killed at God's command. That is our position. God's justice screams out for our execution. We have broken those laws that He has given to us thus committing high treason against the God of the universe. There is no reason that we should live for God has called us to be executed. He is just. He is the definition of justice. So God's wrath stands over us, knife in hand when suddenly, God calls out for it stop. God then provides a substitute, the ram, or I guess we should say, the Lamb is offered in our place. The knife is moved away from our chest. We are set free from the altar, and Christ climbs onto it instead. It wasn't as if Jesus stepped in to save us from His Father. It was the Father Who sent a willing Son to spare us from the judgement that we so richly deserved. 

We must never forget what should have happened to us. We must never forget what has been done for us. And it is really only on that basis that works will come. If you are deciding here this morning that it is time to recommit to something here this morning because the pastor said so, we'll take it, but it won't last long. My warning voice will fade in your ears as the days and temptations pile on. Instead, preach the gospel to yourself. Remind yourself what you deserved, and then remind yourself of what God has granted to you.  

So what is our takeaway here? Our takeaway is that faith in God is the only thing that will save you, but if your faith never alters anything about your life, then your faith is dead. True faith will produce holiness in your life. It won't be perfect holiness, but it will be growing holiness. 

The world is and always was too dangerous for dead faith. If your faith is dead, now is the time to notice that. And if you do find that your faith is dead, then you need to run to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Come to Him asking for that faith; it is a gift He loves to give. He loves not waiting until you're in heaven to make you more like Himself. He loves you. He wants to lead you down the paths of righteousness that, yes, are hard, but He is good.