Untitled Sermon (14)

The Four Surrenders of Abraham:

Intro: I find it often times that people are somewhat afraid or hesitant of the will of God. Yet they believe and love the greatest submission to God’s will that the world has ever known. That of course is Christ dying on the cross of Calvary. In today’s lesson we will consider Abraham as he surrenders his will to God’s.

The First Surrender: His home land… Gen. 11:31-32 - 12:1-3

Abram lived in the Ur of the Chaldees and we don’t know why they moved but I believe God is at work. Ur was roughly 140 miles south east of the Chaldean city of Babylon and was near the mouth of the Euphrates were the river dumps into the Persian Gulf. The Chaldean’s were a an ancient Assyrian people which we know will later carry the nation away into captivity. Haran is roughly 480 miles north west of Babylon and is roughly 400 miles north east of Canaan. They traveled along the “Fertile Crescent” which is along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. From his original place of Ur to his new home in Canaan, Abram traveled over 1000 miles.

Abram obeyed God, not knowing where he was going. While men were busy building up Babylon, God called out his servant from that nation of the Chaldeans. We don’t know how long Abraham was in Haran but we know that God called him out of “thy country” and from “thy kindred” and from “thy father’s house”.

Imagine the surprise it was to Abram, when he arrived to the land of promise only to find it inhabited by many great nations.... He had traveled all this way following his God to find himself surrounded by a warring people and then shortly after his arrival the land is smote with a famine. Abram was being tested but he fled and went to Egypt.

The Second Surrender: The land by giving his nephew first choice… Gen. 13:5-13

Abraham might have had right to the best of everything but instead he used his position and power to bless another. Lot could have chosen anywhere and he made his choice. We see following these events that God renews His covenant with Abram and that Abram for the first time builds an altar and worships God. Gen. 13:14-18.

The Third Surrender was of riches by the hands of the King of Sodom: Gen. 14:12-24

These are interesting events for sure for Abram and his family. He defeats the four kings who defeated Sodom and Gomorrah took away his nephew Lot. Upon defeating the kings and returning the king of Sodom goes out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh. It is here the Melchizedek king of Salem arrives and blesses Abram. Abrams responds through this to the king of Sodom by stating (vs. 22-23). Abram could have sold out as his nephew did, he could have engrossed himself with the wealth of this world but he refused and trusted God.

The Fourth Surrender is of his son Isaac before the Lord on Mt. Moriah: Gen. 22:1-14

Abraham had spent 25 years in the Promised land without the promised heir. God had promised him that He would bless all the nations of the earth through him, and through his seed, yet he had no son. Abrahams faith was tested many times in this area and he staggered when trying to fulfill God’s promise on his own. His son Ishmael is still a problem for the promised seed to this day. After casting out Ishmael and his mother and watching his son Isaac grow, God commands Abraham to surrender his son by sacrificing him to God. Imagine what goes through ones head during this three day journey to the place where God calls him… Although God didn’t require Abraham to kill his son, he did require him to surrender him to the will of God, which Abraham did willingly.

Closing: Surrender is maybe the most difficult thing that we have to do in this life. When we watch little ones play, we often times see them argue over what is their’s and how they are the only who can play with it. The nature of our flesh clings on to very things that God wants us to surrender to him. The boy who had five loaves and 2 fishes. Brother Ray and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned how those loaves where given, God broke them, and then God used them.

James 4:10 KJV 1900

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Close with Hebrews 11:8-19