Have You Misunderstood the Conditions of Following Jesus?

After Abraham had passed the test with his son Isaac, God said an amazing thing to him.

"Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring . . ."
Genesis 22:16-17

Did you catch that? God said he would fulfill his covenant promises to Abraham because he had obeyed. So, if Abraham had not obeyed, God would not have fulfilled his promises? Is that how our relationship with God works? What did Jesus say about it?

"Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."
Luke 14:33

As we continue to study the life of Abraham and observe his obedience without limits, we will understand more deeply what it means to follow Jesus in the New Covenant. Listen to Part 2 of a teaching series on Obedience Without Limits from Genesis 22.

Obedience Without Limits

God tested Abraham. He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, whom he loved! God knew what was most important to Abraham, what he would be tempted to withhold from the Lord.

When the rich young man asked what else he needed to do to receive eternal life, Jesus asked him to sell all he had give it to the poor (Matthew 19:16-22). God knew what was most important to this young man, what he would be tempted to withhold from the Lord.

God wants to know what the limits of our obedience are. You can be sure he knows what to ask for, what we would be tempted to withhold from him. We can also be sure that he plans to give us 100x back whatever we give him, plus eternal life!

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”
— Matthew 19:29

Listen to this sermon from Genesis 22 about Obedience Without Limits!

What If Noah Only Built Half an Ark?

This is an interesting warning from Paul to Timothy:

"Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers." (1 Tim 4:16)

Most of us are pretty confident that we know how to be saved. Let us be watchful and make sure that we have a biblical understanding of how God offers us salvation from judgment.

Genesis 6:8-7:5 conveys the story of how Noah and his family were saved from the judgment of the flood. Today God offers salvation from judgment through Jesus Christ! How does God offer salvation from judgment? In this passage there are four descriptions of the coming of salvation from judgment.

  1. Salvation from judgment comes by grace.
  2. Salvation from judgment comes to the righteous.
  3. Salvation from judgment comes through God's design.
  4. Salvation from judgment comes through covenant.

Before I began this teaching, I showed a brief video of Ken Ham discussing Noah and the ark. You can view it here.

The Eternal Covenant Maker and Almighty Creator [Yahweh Elohim]


This recording is the first in a series from Genesis 2, Our God Given Design. This teaching focuses on Genesis 2:4-6 and the name of God, Yahweh Elohim.

He is the Eternal Covenant Maker and Almighty Creator!

We also get a chance to answer the question of why the order of creation in Genesis 2 does not seem to be the same as the order in Genesis 1.


If you have any questions or want to add in, please leave a comment below.