ABSOLUTE SURRENDER
2 Kings 7:3-4
Because of the sins of Israel, God allowed Benhadad King of Aram to surround Samaria with his Army, so nothing could get in or out of the city. As a result, there was a famine in the city.
Four lepers left outside the city gate said these words:
2 Kings 7:3-4
3 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, 'We'll go into the city'-the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."
This is the situation of all sinners. We are born in sin shaped in iniquity. If we stay in our sins, we will
Die. If we surrender our lives to Jesus, we will live.
Andrew Murry a early 19th century pastor of the Dutch Reform Church of South Africa asked a man Who trained workers for the church in Scotland what was the greatest message that need to be Taught.
He said Absolute Surrender to God. He said those workers who surrender to God can be Taught and improved. Those workers who do not surrender to God, soon leave the work.
Jesus paid the price for our salvation and He claims our entire devotion. You can’t be half for Jesus and half for the world. Our greatest reward is our absolute surrender to God. God loves our desire to please Him.
GOD EXPECTS YOUR SURRENDER
On many occasions, God presents us with situations where we have to make a choice to trust Him or the world.
These 4 lepers through no fault of their own found themselves locked outside the city walls starving.
Through no fault of their own, their bodies were full of sores and were forced to live isolated from the city.
God gives us good sense to make choices to survive. It is good to choose to live.
The 4 lepers had a choice. They could stay where they were and die, or go into the Aramean Camp and surrender themselves where there was a chance to live. God did not select us for death but a blesses life.
2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. “
It is the blessing of God to give us opportunities to surrender to His divine will.
We are not told how long the men suffered with their leprosy or how long they
Had been locked outside the city. What we do know is God gave them the opportunity to change their situation.
God gave each of us a measure of faith to choose Jesus.
Others may abandon us, but God will never leave us or forsake us.
GOD ACCOMPLISHES YOUR SURRENDER.
It is God who encourages us to choose to survive.
It is God who gives us the presence of mind to go where his abundance lies.
God placed the 4 lepers between the locked gates of city and the Aramean camp.
Inside the city walls was a famine. Inside the Armenian camp was food and supplies.
Sometimes your enemies can become your blessing.
You can choose to be hopeless or choose to be optimistic in the Lord.
The hopeless situation of the world has nothing to do with your relationship
With Jesus. You have to make to up your mind to absolutely surrender yourself to
God and live.
Just because the world is suffering, does not mean you suffer with them.
The 4 lepers had been cast out of the city and left to die or be killed. But God had a plan to bless them in mist of the misery of their peers. When your focus is on the Lord, He works things in your favor.
The lepers concluded that surrender to the Aramean King was their best option.
God does not hide His blessings. He put them in front of you.
He opens the door for you to be blessed with eternal life.
Unlike the rules of the city, the lepers did not have to get cleaned up
To go into the Aramean camp.
Jesus says come as you are. He will clean you up on arrival.
GOD ACCEPTS YOUR SURRENDER
2 Kings 7:5-7
At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!" 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
Sometimes choices are hard to make. We don’t always know what choice to make. The best we can do is rely on the intuition God gives us.
Psalms 37:23
“ The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”
How do you know they were good men?
They were obedient enough to follow God’s command even in a life threatening
Situation. In the face of adversity, they stayed where they were until they heard from the Lord.
God had accepted their surrender before that got to the Aramean camp.
When they got to the camp, there was nothing but blessings. The army had
Abandon the camp and left all the supplies.
When you surrender to God, He will make your enemies flee from you.
When you surrender to God, He will make your enemies bless you.
Luke 20:42-43
"'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '
When God got ready to lead the Israelites out 400 years of slavery from Egypt,
He caused the Egyptians to give them silver, gold and all the supplies they needed for the Journey in the desert.
Obedience to the will of God always provides blessing. The abundant blessing of God is a sign that He accepted your surrender.
The Israelites were disobedient to God’s commands and starving. They traded their first love for the love of self.
God position the Lepers to blessed by Him. They humbly surrendered themselves
And their fate to the hands of God.
You and I have been positioned to be blessed by God, if only we will absolutely
surrender ourselves to Him.
GOD MAINTAINS YOUR SURRENDER.
The fleshly thought is to save yourself and forget about everybody else.
The fleshly thought, is you hurt me, I am going to let you hurt.
The 4 lepers had been abandoned by the city and left outside the walls to die.
They had every reason to take all the goods and store them up for themselves.
2 Kings 7:8-10
8 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
9 Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace."
Once you surrender to God you can’t go back to being your old raggedy self.
God want let you slip back into a sinful nature. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Will continue to remind you of God’s righteousness.
Their first thought was to satisfy themselves and store up all the goods for a later date.
But God convicted their hearts that they were selfish. He caused them to repent,
Confess their sin to each other and do the right thing.
God tolerates our sinful state, while He grows us in the spirit.
The Holy Spirit in us want allow us keep good news to ourselves.
They became excited about doing the right thing.
They made up their minds to immediately share the good news
With the city that abandon them.
God can cause you to overlook the faults of others.
God can cause you to be generous to others.
Because God has been generous to you, its your duty to be generous to
Others.
Luke 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
GOD BLESSES YOUR SURRENDER
1. They were the first to be blessed with food and clothing.
2. God blessed them with joy and peace of mind.
3. God blessed them with a loving heart.
4. God blessed them with a generous spirit.
5. God blessed them with a forgiving spirit.
6. God blessed them with the determination to do the right thing.
7. They were blessed with the knowledge that it is God who blessed them.
8. God blessed them with the good sense to store treasures for
Themselves before the city took everything.
A poor man with a lot of money is still a poor man.
The nation of Israel was poor in spirit. They had forfeited their freedom,
In the promise land for the worship of idol gods.
These 4 lepers by their actions showed the love of God.
The lesson from the 4 lepers is God blesses us so we can
Bless others.
Mark 10:29-31
"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
SUMMARY: ABSOLUTE SURRENDER IS THE KEY TO ABUNDANT LIVING
1. GOD EXPECTS YOUR SURRENDER
2. GOD ACCEPTS YOUR SURRENDER
3. GOD ACCOMPLISHES YOUR SURRENDER
4. GOD MAINTAINS YOUR SURRENDER
5. GOD BLESSES YOUR SURRENDER
SURRENDER TO GOD AND RECEIVE HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
Rev. M. Mitchell
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