Surrender to Me | JJ Lane

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

Genesis 22:1

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Genesis 22:2

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Genesis 22:3-4

True faith is not shown in the initial response. True faith is shown on the third day.

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.

Genesis 22:5

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

Genesis 22:6-8

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

Genesis 22:9

Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Genesis 22:10

If Abraham had thought God had told him, ‘Kill Sarah, and then I know you love me,’ he would have never done that - he would have concluded that he was hallucinating because God would not have commanded senseless murder like that. And God would not have said it because it would have been murder. But when God said, ‘offer Isaac,’ Abraham knew exactly what that meant. The firstborn. (It represented his very life and the debt every man owes to God.)

Tim Keller

But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Genesis 22:11-12

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.

Genesis 22:13-14

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,  and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,  because you have obeyed me.”

Genesis 22:15-18

Do you understand the gospel?

In response, have you fully surrendered everything to him?

Faith.

Sacrifice.

God measures generosity not by the size of the gift, but by the size of the sacrifice.

Chip Ingram

Full Surrender.