Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Abraham and the Test of Faith

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

How can you live a life so no matter what comes at you, you face it with equilibrium, you face it with poise, you face it with strength?  Today we come to an incident in Abraham’s life which is called a test. In the beginning of this particular brief account, it says God tested Abraham. This is the secret of a great life. The secret of a great life is to understand you become great only through tests.  We have to understand 1) there are tests, 2) how these tests work, 3) why we need these tests, and 4) how we pass these tests. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 30, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 11:17-19. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. While some might think that Christian faith is just a blind leap, a closer look shows us that it requires deep, rational thinking. Join us all month as Tim Keller preaches on genuine faith, which requires both a deep conviction of the heart and a sound understanding of the mind. Teaching this morning is based on the passage that's written out for you. It's in your bulletin. It's Hebrews chapter 11 verses 17 to 19. It's all written out there for you. Hebrews chapter 11, 17 to 19.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. This is God's word. We've been looking at Hebrews 11 because we're this fall asking ourselves, how can you live a life of power? How can you live a life so that no matter what comes at you,

you face it with equilibrium? You face it with poise, you face it with equilibrium, you face it with poise, you face it with strength. And we've said each week in this introduction, Hebrews 11 gives us a series of case studies of men and women who not only were enabled to face life, but they were enabled to actually face down life, to face down the whole world, but they were enabled to actually face down life, to face down the whole world, to spit in its eye if necessary. Now we're looking this week at one particular case study for the third time, that is the case of Abraham.

And today we come perhaps to the thing that all that we've been reading actually points to. We come to an incident in Abraham's life which is called a test. In Genesis 22, which gives us the longer account, which we read earlier during the service, in that great story, it starts off by saying, God tested Abraham. And in the beginning of this particular account, this brief account, it says, God tested Abraham. This is the secret of a great life. The secret of a great life is to understand that you become

great only through tests. And what we have to do is we have to understand that there are tests, how they work, why we need them, and how to pass them. We have to know that they exist, understand how they work, understand why we need them, and know how to pass them. So we're talking about now knowing God's tests, understanding God's tests, needing God's tests, and passing God's tests. And if you understand those four things, you're equipped. Now, let's take a look. First of all, the first point is you have to know that they exist.

So, just to start right off, you see both here and in Genesis 22 we're told God tests. What's that mean? What is a test? Let's be real brief, but let's give a working definition. A test is something that shows you and grows you. A test is something that shows you where you're at in a particular area and then challenges you to grow and meet it. So think about a physics test to be concrete. The physics test is coming up. Well, first of all, it makes you say, do I understand the concept well enough? Do I understand the concept that

is going to be tested? So the first thing that a physics test makes you do is it makes you look at yourself. It makes you examine yourself. Do I know this? And then secondly, it makes you say, how can I grow and advance in this area of knowledge so that I can meet the test? Tests both show you and grow you. Now, just a little sideline. We all know that there's really two ways to administer tests. There are teachers, I've met them, who use tests only for the first purpose. They use tests simply to show you what's wrong with you and leave you in despair. They use tests to get rid of people. They use tests to pare down the program. They use tests to get people out of the class. You can also, however, be just as hard a test giver.

A teacher can be just as hard a test giver, but introduce the test and announce the test and prepare students for the test in such a way that the test doesn't just show them where they are, but grows them. Now by the way, if you want to understand the Bible, you have to understand that the devil tests the first way and God tests in the second way. It's very interesting to read the book of Job, you know, because there you have one guy going through the same set of tests with the devil on the same set of tests with the devil on the one side only hoping that the test will show him he's not a servant so he'll despair and God purposing that those very same tests will

show Job that he's not a servant but that through that he will become a servant. Tests show you and grow you, but regardless of how they're administered, tests are horrible things. Tests fill you with doom, impending doom, a sense of disaster coming. They hang over your head like a sort of Damocles. They're very unpleasant, therefore they're effective. They're very unpleasant, hence their effectiveness. Because it makes you look at yourself in a way you wouldn't otherwise, and it makes you summon up and muster up what you can and grow in a way you wouldn't otherwise. And that's the reason that Hebrews chapter 12 says, all God's tests for the present are painful. Later, they yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness

for those who are trained by it. And anyone who's been mentored, anyone who's been taught, anyone who's been coached well, has been repeatedly tested, formally or informally, and as a result, you've grown. The first thing we see is that God tests. You have to know that he tests. But now secondly, let's talk about how the tests work. What is the nature of those tests? How do they actually operate? And you see that in verse 18 when it says, in verse 18 it says, even though God had said, even though God had said. Now this is the essence of a real test. This is the essence of the way God tests. This is an archetype of all the tests that God gives you in order to make you into something great. And that is, his command seems to contradict his promise.

You see, what's on the other side of the even though? God said in command, offer up your son as a burnt offering. Even though he had said by way of promise, Abraham, I'm gonna bless you and the world through Isaac. I'm going to bring out of Isaac a great nation and a particular descendant through whom all the world will be blessed. So you have a command that to obey

seems to contradict the promise. In other words, the test is this. A test happens when to obey God looks foolish or even wrong. The test is when to obey God appears to you foolish or even wrong. You see, the promises of God are tremendous. The Bible is full of them. Let me give you three that he says to all of us, all of us who believe. He says these three things. He says, not a hair of your head will be hurt. He says, I will give you more than you can even dare ask or think. He says, I will, thirdly, he says, I will meet all of your needs according to my riches and glory. Those are pretty good promises. What is a test? A test is when to obey one

of God's commands appears to pull you right out of the path of blessing. Here's God promising, I will bless you, I love you, I want to shower you with blessings. And yet he says to do this and to obey looks like it will lead to a disaster. It seems to contradict. So let me give you some examples. For example, what if you have a teenage son who's dying of cancer? You are not ultimately in a different place than Abraham was, not ultimately, because you are called by the commands of God, the commands of the Word of God, to continue

to serve and obey God as a powerful and wise and loving God, in spite of the fact that the light of your eyes is dying in the flower of his youth. That's a test. It seems to obey, it seems to trust God in a situation like that is leading you completely out of the path of blessing. His commands seem to contradict his promise. Or any place, your feelings are strong against a command. Your wisdom looks greater than his wisdom. So, for example, if you know that to tell the truth

is going to lead to a loss of a lot of money or even your job, here's the command, but it's taking you out of the path of blessing. Let me give you two that are very, very common in New York. I'm constantly meeting people who say this to me one way or another. They say, for example, I know that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior, but my feelings are so strong that it would be foolish or wrong, unnatural, to do what the Bible says. I'd be going against everything I feel. Or here's another one. People say, I know the Bible says I shouldn't have sex outside

of marriage, but I'm going to lose this relationship, and it feels so right, it feels so natural. Don't you see? The archetype is this. You haven't been tested. The test isn't even happening until you get into a situation in which your wisdom seems to contradict God's wisdom. Until you get into a situation in which it looks like the path of blessing is over here but God says go this way. Or let me put it to you in the most stark way possible, and it's very, very, very, very much what Abraham felt. You have not been tested until you see that to obey God looks

like it will lead to a kind of death, and it will require some resurrection. See, Abraham was walking along and he was saying, if I obey God, if I obey you, this will mean death. And how in the world can death bring blessing? But I know that it must be that if I obey you and it leads to death, somehow you'll bring out a resurrection, somehow. Now listen, whenever you get into one of these situations where you're being tested, that's what's happening. You're saying, here's what the word of God says, here's what the Bible says, it's God says to do this. It looks to me like that will lead to the death. But I guess I will obey, and it will

lead me to some kind of resurrection, some kind of intervention, something that I can't even foresee right now. That's what Abraham did. And whenever you find that the command of God seems to contradict what you feel will bless you, you're in the gymnasium, you're under the coach, you're under the teacher, the test has arrived. How are you going to do? What are you going to do? That's how tests work. Always, even though God says to do this, even though he also promises to bless you and it

looks like his commands contradict his promises. Or actually maybe some of you aren't even in a situation like that because you won't even allow it to happen. The minute you see a command of God that seems to contradict something that you deep down feel will bless you, you don't even struggle. You don't even prepare for the test. You don't even let it make you look at yourself. What you say is, well, God wouldn't want me to do that.

He wouldn't be a loving God. If that's how you define God, as a God of only love, if you have a God who can never tell you to do something utterly against your deepest feelings, you don't have a God. You're your own God. Don't you see? You can say, I believe in God, but if you don't have a God that can cross your will, you don't have a God. You have a figment of your imagination. You've got a projection of yourself. You're godless. Don't look for purpose. Don't look for meaning. If you don't want to let him cross your will, okay.

But then don't turn around and say, but I have a God, who will care for me? A God, who will give me purpose? A God who will give me meaning? You don't have a God. You've got something that you've drawn up. You put them on your contact lenses and then you look around and you see them everywhere. It's a projection of your own heart and everything that's in it. Okay, thirdly, you say, oh wow, so that's what a test is. That's pretty severe. Why

do we need such a thing? Why do we need tests? What would be the importance of it? Why would God send such severe tests to cross our wills, to say, my wisdom of against your wisdom? And the answer is, again, in the very request that God makes to Abraham, he says, I want you to offer him up. He says back in Genesis 22, take your son and offer him as a whole burnt offering. Now it's important to see what kind of sacrifice God has asked for. See in the Old Testament there were a lot of different sacrifices. If you had a thank offering, you would bring the offering, whether it was an animal or whether it was wheat from your field, you'd bring something and you would offer a part

of it, you'd burn it as a way of saying this is God's, but on the other and you would offer a part of it, you'd burn it as a way of saying, this is God's, but on the other hand, you would eat part of it too. But the whole burnt offering was different. A whole burnt offering was to be burnt entirely. Why? Because a whole burnt offering represented the giving of yourself all that you have and all that you are to God without reserve or remainder. And that's what the whole burn offering meant. Now, why do you say, why did God ask for that from Abraham? Why did Abraham need to give this particular son as a whole burn offering? When God originally came to Abraham, and again we read it in Genesis 22, he says, Abraham. Abraham says, here I am. And God says, take your son, but he doesn't just say

your son and offer him as a burn offering. Oh no, there's an emphasis. He says, take your son, your only son, whom you love, and offer him up as a burnt offering. Now the fact of the matter is actually, Isaac wasn't Abraham's only son. Abraham also had a son through Hagar named Ishmael. The point of the matter, however, is as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was his only. Isaac was the little only of his life. The reason he needed this test, the old, the Canadian pastor, A.W. Tozer, put it this way. He says Abraham had become the love slave of his son. And you know what's so ironic about it is that he became the love slave of his son all for good reasons.

There was nothing bad about Isaac. Isaac was a wonderful thing. Abraham had waited and waited and waited for years because God had said, I will give you a son through your wife Sarah who will be your heir. And he waited for years and when Isaac came, Isaac was special because he represented the faithfulness of God. And not only that, Abraham was very old when Isaac was born. And of course, he was special because he represented youth when Abraham was very old. See, for all the good reasons, all the good reasons, Abraham became a love slave of Isaac, and therein is a lesson for us. Sin is a judo

expert. What does a judo expert do? A judo expert says, the bigger they come, doesn't bother me. I don't care that my assailant is 400 pounds and I am 110. It doesn't bother me because a judo expert uses your enemy's forward motion and weight against him. And what sin does is he takes the best motives and the best things in your life and it turns it up too high. The real enemy of God in your life are not your sins, it's your good things. It's these wonderful things that become your little onlys.

You know what it means? Thine only. Take thine only and offer it up. What's your only? Your only is when sin takes a good thing and turns it into your only, your bottom line. What is a little only? Well, if only I was married, everything would be great. You don't say that out loud, but at a deep level you believe it. And what happens to you if you do? If only I had my career would just get to this place. If only my achievements got to this place. If only I had a certain kind of beauty. If only, if only, then my life would be fine.

Those things, good things have become Isaacs. And they're sapping your energy and they're sapping your strength because when those things become your only's and they get in your life, your life is full of drivenness. An Isaac fills your life with drivenness to achieve it. And an Isaac fills your life with despair and anger and bitterness when your Isaacs are taken from you. And Isaacs fill your life with tremendous anxiety when they're threatened. And you see, concern becomes drivenness only

if something has become an Isaac. Anger becomes bitterness. Worry becomes despair only if these things have become Isaac's. There's no greater hope for you today than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, His resurrection is the key to understanding the whole Bible and the greatest resource we have for facing the challenges of life. Discover how to anchor your life in the meaning of the resurrection by reading Tim Keller's book, Hope in Times of Fear, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter. Hope in Times of Fear is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel in Life share Christ's

redemptive love with people all over the world. Just visit gospelinlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's gospelinlife.com slash give to request your copy. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now, here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. In Jeremiah 17, it says, Blessed are the ones who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord, they are like a tree planted by water. They do not fear when the heat comes. Their leaves are evergreen." You know what it's saying? It says, if you are despondent, if you are in despair, if you are bitter, it's because

something besides God has become your trust. God looked at something in Abraham's life that had become his little only. It had become the ultimate. It had become the bottom line. And as a result, Abraham was a slave. God had to do something about that. You're not going to be a person of greatness. You see, if you want to master life, your only has to not be subject to the vicissitudes of life and the circumstances of life. Don't you see that? It has to be God. Because the only way you can overcome that kind of tremendous worry, up and down, tremendous despair,

is if those things which are in your center get decentered. And that's what tests do. It's God coming and saying, these things are sapping you of your strength and sapping you of your greatness and sapping you of your energy. We've got to move it off the center. We've got to get it to the periphery. We've got to demote it, don't you see? We need tests.

Because what he's saying, Abraham, I want your heart as a whole burnt offering and you won't be free until it's up there. All that you have and all that you are without reserve and without remainder. Alright. There's the fact of the test. That's how the tests work. That's why we need them. But how do you pass them? How do you pass the tests? And Abraham passed the tests in two ways. Let me mention them and then let me go back over them. He passed the tests in two ways. Let me mention them and then let me go back over them. He passed the test in two ways. One of the ways in which he did it was he reasoned. That's the one we're told here in the Hebrews 11 account. He reasoned. But the second thing he did was he looked to the lamb. He reasoned and he looked to the lamb. Let's look at the both of them. First of all, he reasoned.

Notice it says there in that last verse, it's just amazing. Abraham was told by God, offer your son up as a burnt offering. And he went, it says Abraham went. Why? He reasoned that God could raise the dead and figuratively speaking, he did. reasoned that God could raise the dead and figuratively speaking, he did. Now, what does that mean? This is wonderful. First of all, it shows that Christian obedience is never thoughtless. It always comes through reasoning. It's always filled with thinking. Okay? It's never a blind leap, though it's constantly a leap. But it's because of your thinking. Well, what did Abraham do?

Some people say, well, Abraham knew that God would raise Isaac from the dead. That's not what it says. That would have been presumption, not faith. You don't see Abraham whistling a happy tune going up. He says, this is going to be great. I wonder how to do it. There's nothing like that because it does not say Abraham reasoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead. It says Abraham reasoned that God could. Abraham looked at the capability of God and he began to think about the big picture. So the first principle

is this. something that in the narrow looks crazy. It looks crazy to obey God, but if you stand back and look at the whole picture, if you look at who God is and who you are and what he's done in the past for you, obedience is always utterly reasonable. If right, in other words, there's nothing more reasonable than to obey God when it looks crazy. Did you hear that? There's nothing more reasonable than to obey God when it looks crazy. If you stand back and look at the whole, it only ever looks crazy if you're narrowed down. So listen, this is why Abraham could reason. Abraham, this is the final test. This is not his first test. Abraham was continually tested. He was told get out, but I won't tell you where. He was told, I'll settle down, but I won't

tell you when. He was told, I'll give you a son, but I won't tell you when or how. And if you read the story of Abraham, you will see that again and again Abraham failed the tests because he didn't trust God. He saw the command of God going this way and the apparent blessing going this way and he took the apparent road. You know, the place where twice he lied about Sarah being his sister, not his wife, because he didn't trust God to protect him? That's another story. Wouldn't that be interesting to go into? The fact is he did not also trust God's promise that he would give him Isaac. And he slept with his slave woman, Hagar, and had a son by her, but all kinds of tremendous problems came

about in the family. And polygamy, of course, is a terrible thing and it always oppresses everybody. And so all kinds of problems went that way. So here's Abraham and he's reasoning and he's saying, Lord God, every time I have tried to pit my wisdom against you, I've lost. Every time I've thought that I was wiser than you, I've screwed my life up. Every time I tried to save my life, I lost it. And every time I tried to lose my life through obedience to you, I saved it. I found new joy. I will not be fooled again. You're capable of raising him from the dead.

Okay, maybe it'll be a literal resurrection. Maybe not. I don't know what it is, but I know this. This obedience, though it looks like death, will lead to a resurrection I cannot foresee. Friends, if right now you know to tell a truth, it looks like death. To your business. Death. To a lot of money. Obey. Stand back and look at the whole. This is the one of all power. This is one who created the world. This is the one who knows far more than you do. How

reasonable is it for you to put your wisdom against him? That's what Abraham was saying. It'll look like a death, but there'll be a resurrection. There'll be some way in which he'll bring glory and redemption out of it. Some of you know the Bible says, don't marry outside of your faith. You say, if I obey that, that'll be a death, a death. Abraham says, look at who this is. He'll bring a resurrection of glory and redemption out of it that you cannot now foresee. All good tests, in all tests, obedience looks like a death, but it'll bring about. He stands back and he looks at everything that he's done. He looks at everything God has been to him. He says, you know what, this looks crazy in the small, but in the large

it looks absolutely reasonable. How unreasonable would it be to go against him? He thinks about his past, and maybe he's the one who wrote the little hymn, his love in time's past forbids me to think he'll leave me at last in troubles to sink. You see, Abraham didn't, Abraham felt to obey about Isaac would be a death. Moses thought to obey and go to Pharaoh would be a death. Jesus thought that to obey and go to the cross would be a death. And in the first obey and go to the cross would be a death. And in the first case, it was a near death. In the second case, it was no death.

In the third case, it was a real death. But in every case, God brought redemption and glory out of it. And everybody who was inside of that test and outside of that test will praise God for the rest of eternity that those people obeyed. It's unreasonable to disobey God, and it's reasonable to obey even when it looks crazy. But that second thing and the last thing, the way to pass the test, Abraham looked to the lamb. Abraham looked to the lamb. Abraham looked to the lamb.

Now look, you're not going to understand how he did that unless you understand just a problem that people have had with this over the years. A lot of people have said, what bothers me most about this example is that God's command to Abraham in this case doesn't just contradict his promises, it contradicts his other commands. God is asking Abraham to do an immoral act. God is asking Abraham to murder. That's just ridiculous. But you don't understand. God does not say, please go tonight into Isaac's tent and slit his throat, stab him in the heart. That's not what he's saying.

He says, make him an offering. And the reason that Abraham is not complaining that this is unjust is for this reason. We know in the Old Testament that God came to his people. You can read about it at the end of Exodus 22. You can read about it at the end of Numbers 5, Numbers 3, excuse me. In those passages, God came and said, the firstborn sons are mine. Their life is forfeit, but you can ransom their lives. If you pay five shekels to me, I'll save them from death. You'll see it in Exodus 22 and Numbers 3. Now, why did God do such a thing?

Why that symbolism? Here's the reason why. In the Near Eastern cultures, not just the Jewish culture, but all the Near Eastern cultures, the firstborn son got every bit of the wealth. It was passed to him. And because of that, the firstborn son represented everything that the family was.

The firstborn son was the representative of the family, the representative of the family's hopes, the representative of the family. And what God was saying is, your firstborn son, as a representative of the family, his life is forfeit. Why? Because you're sinners. See, the symbolism taught that because all of you are sinners, your representative should be slain. But, he says, I will take payment. I won't judge your firstborn sons for your sins. I will take payment.

Five shekels, please. And over the years, the Israelites would pay this, and they only vaguely understood what the imagery was. They understood that the imagery meant that they were all sinners and their lives were forfeit to him. They understood that the imagery meant that they were all sinners and their lives were forfeit to him. They understood that. But they must have been thinking over the years, what does the payment point to? How is it that God would let us off the hook year after year with only symbolic sacrifices?

How is it that God would let us off the hook year after year with only symbolic payments? What does this payment mean? And so you see, when God comes to Abraham and says what he says, Abraham doesn't say, this is immoral. Abraham realizes that God is saying, you must pass judgment. I will not take payment for him. You must take his life for real. And see, Abraham's struggle was not that this was immoral. Abraham's struggle was, I know you're just, I know you're just, I know you have the right. I'm a sinner, he's a sinner, you have a right to his life.

But you promised. You promised that you would let him live. You promised that the great things would come out of him. Oh, Lord God, how can you be both just and justifier of Isaac? How can you both be just and you have a right to be just and this merciful God that you've promised to be? I don't see. Why can't Isaac be paid for? Why can't Isaac be redeemed? Why do I have to actually carry out the sentence? You see the old man under the stars wrestling, not knowing why. But he got up and he went. And we're told, when he got to the foot of the mountain, he told the servants to stay behind. And he said,

we're going up alone. And he put the wood on which Isaac would be sacrificed on his back and they walked up the hill. And suddenly Isaac cried out and said, wait a minute, there's something wrong here. Here's the wood. Here's the fire. There's the knife. Where's the lamb? And at that moment, Abraham said, in the top of the mountain, God will show us a lamb. You see, I know that the translation that you read said, God will provide, but it's literally the Hebrew word see, which means God will show us. God will show us the lamb. Because at that moment Abraham said, some kind of payment must be possible. God will do it. God will finally show us a way in which he can be both just and the justifier of us. And he got up and he laid the sticks out and he put Isaac on it and he raised the dagger

and then God said, stay thy hand. Now I know that you fear and love me for you did not withhold your son, your only son. He's no longer lonely. He's out of the center. He can't kill you the way he was. He can't sap you the way he was. He's yours. Here is an offering, a ram in the thicket." Now, Abraham was able to meet the need, pass the test, because he vaguely looked to the Lamb of God, but we actually see it. See, Abraham said,

I can obey because God will show with me the Lamb. But we're in a position of even greater advantage. We should be far more true to our principles, far more courageous, far more unflappable because God has already shown us the lamb. You know where this was, Mount Moriah? Do you know what Mount Moriah was? It was the place where the temple was built. It was right next to Calvary. Here's what we see. Like Abraham, we see God, centuries later, walking up into those same mountains with his son. Like Isaac, Jesus cried out to his father. Isaac said,

Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, I don't know, and kept going. But in the end, all that Abraham offered was his heart. But God, when Jesus cried out and said, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? God kept going. And there was nobody there to say to him, Stay thy hand. And because God did offer up his firstborn as a sacrifice for sin, Abraham didn't have to offer his, and I don't have to offer mine, and none of us have to go up there. Now what does this all mean? If Abraham could have seen what God did on Mount Calvary, and maybe he did, you know what he

would have said? Remember how God said to Abraham, now I know, now I know. Abraham would have said to God what all of us should be saying, and if you want to have lives of greatness, you will say it, now I know how you can both be the God of command and the God of promise. Now I know how you can both be a God of justice and the justifier of those who believe. Now I know that you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love." That is how you get to be a great person. What are you facing right now? Can't you see it in terms of this?

What is it you're facing? You feel like, oh my gosh, there's an assault on my life. Well, yeah. What you're facing right now seems to be an assault on your life because your whole life is wrapped up in these things that God's trying to de-center. That's why it looks like an assault on your life. It's not. You need to say, now I know that you love me, and therefore, what do I stand to lose

by being faithful to you? It's nothing compared to what you lost by being faithful to me. Your love overwhelms me. This is good news. Great news. What are you facing right now? Don't you see that no matter what it is,

no matter what anger you're struggling with, what dishonesty you're struggling with, what anxiety you're struggling with, it's because something needs to be de-centered. How can it be de-centered? How can you obey God and trust God and move that thing off the center? Only by looking at him and say, as you see him go up the mountain, now I know that you love me. And if you were willing to give this up for me, I'll give up what I have to give up for you. It's nothing compared to

what you've done for me. And you know what they named the mountain? In the mountain of the Lord it will be revealed. Don't say before you go up, I want the script. I want to know exactly what's going to happen up there. If I'm going to face death, I want to know how the resurrection is going to come. You can't because this is what Abraham said, in the mountain of the Lord it will be revealed, in the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. You have to go through the mountain of obedience to get clarity. It's only as you obey, not before you obey, that the wisdom comes. It's only as you obey, not before you obey, that the resurrection happens. Don't

demand something that would destroy the test. Now we know how to pass the test, and now we know why. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord God, that you love us so much that you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us." We pray that we would see all of our tests in terms of that great test that you had when your son refused to give up and stayed on the cross, refused to give up and stayed there through the garden, when you raised your dagger and no one said stay thy hand.

We pray that as we see that and we're overwhelmed by that love we will be able to continually obey you in the test of life and find ourselves growing more and more in upward spiraling levels, more and more in assurance and power and greatness of heart. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel in Life podcast. It's our hope that today's teaching challenges you to go deeper into God's Word. We invite you to help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great Gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit GospelInLife.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 1994.

The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel In Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.