Faith's Four Surrenders

Acts 4, 27 and 28. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.
Note this verse. whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." All of these people were gathered
together against Christ to do what God's hand purposed and
planned and determined to do before the world began. Now, no one here can deny, not
a person here can deny, that the all of them, surrounding
the betrayal, the denial, the suffering, the death, the burial,
the resurrection of our Lord, all of these events were purposed.
They were planned, they were foretold, they were ordained
by the Father, and they were carried out on schedule as he
before determined that they should be done. With wicked hands they
crucified the Lord of glory, but they crucified him who was
appointed to this death. They simply did what God purposed
to be done. Go back to the, don't turn to
it, Micah's hard to find, but in the book of Micah, talking
about his birth, it says, Bethlehem, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
me. That shall be ruler in Israel.
Christ shall be born in Bethlehem. That was determined by the Father.
His betrayal by Judas, even the potter's field which they bought
with the 30 pieces of silver that he cast on the floor in
the temple, that was foretold in Zechariah 11, 12, and 13.
His crucifixion, they pierced my hands and my feet, they plucked
out my beard. All of these things were foretold,
even his cry on the cross that I read a while ago, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? The casting of lots for his garment. All of these things were prophesied,
they were purposed, they were divinely ordained. Nobody can
deny that. And yet, nor can you deny this,
the real subjection of our Lord to the Father's will and the
suffering That is included, you cannot deny that. Though these
events were foretold, yet our Lord must deliberately, willingly
be in subjection to his power. The real trial and temptation
of the flesh, he hungered, he did hunger, he did thirst. He
was taken up into a high mountain by Satan, and there he was tried,
tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. But it was a
real temptation. It was no sham. It was no show.
It was no dress rehearsal. It was the real thing. There
was a real agony in Gethsemane's garden. That's why I read that
a moment ago. Oh, my God! If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. That was agony. Agony so intense
and so extreme that his blood came through the pores of his
skin. That was real It was purpose. There was no avoiding it. There's
no way around it, but it was real That he should die was purpose
but it hurt when they hit him with that Cat of nine tails it
it pained him when they pressed the thorns into his brow. That
was real the real conflict the real surrender and You see what
I'm saying? Our Lord was born in Bethlehem.
He grew up in Nazareth in a carpentry shop. That was foretold, but
it had to be done. Our Lord's trials and tests and
temptations were real. They were foretold, but they
had to be done. Our Lord's betrayal and death and suffering. He was
wounded. He was bruised. It had to be
done with his stripes. There had to be a deliberate
surrender on his part to these things. Thy will be done, not
my will be done. Now then, no matter how strongly
we believe in God's eternal election, and the Scripture tells us that
God elected a people. There's no question about that.
You can't deny that. God does everything on purpose.
Everything. I was talking to a man last week
who does not believe what the Scripture teaches about divine
sovereignty. We were talking about death,
and he mentioned a man related to him who died eighty-some-odd
years of age, and then he said, but it was his time. Well, I
didn't say anything, but I wanted to say, who set that time? Who
determines that time? We know that God determines that
time, the time of death, the time of birth. Everything that
happens in my life is determined and decreed by a sovereign God.
If you'll think how that everything that happens in your life has
its roots in the life of someone else. Everything that happens
in your life has its beginnings way back in your father's life,
in your grandfather's life, in your great-grandfather's life.
These events that take place in our lives, they do not just
suddenly appear, the situation appeared today, but it began
way back there in the life of someone else. And Almighty God,
who determines all things, he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will, is so infinitely wise that he can make
all of these things work together for his glory and good to them
who are called according to his purpose. But I find that even
unbelievers, when someone dies, they say, well, it was his time.
And then they begin to quote, all things work together for
good to them who love God. But we know this, God has a people.
The God who determines death determines life. The God who
determines death also determines who shall be his children, who
shall be his bride. We know that. The book of Ephesians
said we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, whom he foreordained, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. We know that. And
we know that God will bring them all to faith. Christ said, All
that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I'll in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I'll lose nothing." That is determined, that's ordained, there's no changing
that. He's not willing that any should
perish, and they won't, not a one. And Almighty God will regenerate
them. Christ said, Other sheep I have,
them I must bring, they shall hear my voice. And they'll be
one foal and one shepherd. You see what I'm saying? I'm
saying that our Lord came down here to fulfill a purpose. Every
step of his life was ordained by the Father. Every trial, every
test, every temptation. Every thorn, every stripe, every
drop of blood. Every cry, every prayer, every
plea, the words that I speak are the words of Him that sent
me. The will that I've come to do
is not my will, but the will of Him that sent me. I believe
that God Almighty ordains all things to fulfill His divine
purpose, and all things are in His directive or permissive will,
but all things are in His will. Now, the people for whom Christ
died, They are determined by God's ordained will too. God
has a people. He chose them. He elected them. He set them apart. He sanctified
them. He sent his love upon them. He
pleased God to make you his people. And our steps are just as sovereignly
ordained as the steps of the Lord who died for us. There are
no accidents with God. Every detail is in his predestinating
purpose. Because the things that happen
in my life do not suddenly arise. The things that happen in my
life have their roots in my father's life. I'm influenced, my life
is influenced by those who've gone before, way back to my great-great-great-great-great grandfather. And God works these
according to his purpose. Paul said, God who separated
me from my mother's womb was pleased to reveal his Son in
me. But This does not rule out personal conflict, personal conviction,
personal trial, personal surrender, and personal recognition, and
personal reception of Christ. Now here's what we're teaching.
Thy people, they are God's people, God has a people, shall be willing,
and they shall be willing. They shall be willing for God's
will to be done. They shall be willing to walk
the path that he chooses. They shall be willing to bow
in submission. They shall be willing to recognize
Christ. They shall be willing to receive
his word. They shall be willing in the
day of thy power. You see those three things? Now,
you look at that verse of Scripture. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Well, they are thy people. And
in the day of thy power they shall be brought to repentance
and faith, but they shall be willing." Our Lord didn't pick
Noah up by the hair of the head and throw him in the ark. He
said, Noah, come into the ark. Come into the ark. Thou and thy
house, come into the ark. And Noah went in just as willingly
as the other people stayed up. But Noah willingly walked through
the door. And God shut the door. Now watch this verse. We're kept. We're kept, we know that. Our
Lord Jesus said, and none of them shall perish. We're kept
by the power of God. That's what keeps us. It's not
the flesh that keeps us, it's the power of God. It's not our
works that keep us, it's the power of God. It's not our faith
that keeps us. Our faith is so small, sometimes
our faith is unbelieved. But it's the power of God that
keeps us through faith. We're kept, that's true, by the
power of God, that's true, but not apart from faith, not without
faith, not whether or not we believe, but through faith. Watch
this verse. All things work together for
good. I hear people quote that verse and stop right there. That's
not true. All things do not work together
for good. All things work together for
good to them who love God. That's what it says. To them
who are called according to his purpose. All things work together
for good to them who really love God. They do love God. They don't just profess to love
God, they do love God. And they're the call according
to his purpose. Now here's what I'm teaching,
and I want to sum it up to bring you four very important things.
Our Lord Jesus Christ died a death that was ordained and purposed
and planned before the world began. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came down here and walked a thorny, rocky road. But that thorny,
rocky road was planned and purposed in the divine counsels of God's
eternal grace. Every step He took was ordained.
He must need to go through Samaria. He must need to go through Jericho.
He must pass by a blind beggar. He must go by the receipt of
customs and call a Matthew. He must be nailed between two
thieves, one of which would confess him. He must be buried in a borrowed
tomb. It said that hundreds of years
before he came to this earth. I'm his child. You're his child. You're his chosen child. You're his begotten child. You're
his child of purpose. And there's a path you're going
to walk. You don't know what it is, but he does. There's a
plan you're going to fulfill. There's a way you're going to
walk. There's a life you're going to touch. There's an event that's
going to take place in your life. There's a bringing you to faith.
There's a death you're going to die. There's a place you're
going to die. There's a God you're going to
glorify. There's a crown you're going to wear. There's a kingdom
you're going to enter. And every step you take has been determined
in absolute predestination by a sovereign God who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. But that road's got
to be walked, and that blood's got to be shed. And that agony
has got to be endured, and that suffering has got to be passed
through. And those tears have got to be
shed. And those decisions have got
to be made, and those surrenders have got to be made. And they're
going to be made. All right? And for example, we're
going to turn to Genesis 12. And I want to show you, no one
can deny, and I'm choosing from God's Word, the sure and the
certain. We don't take our doubts into
the pulpit. We keep those in the study. We take the sure message
into the pulpit. Abraham. Abraham is called the
father of those who believe. He, no question about his faith.
Not one doubt about his faith. Oh, I hear four surrenders that
Abraham, he's a good example of what we're studying. No question
in our minds regarding what God intended for Abraham. In Genesis
12, verse 1, the Lord said unto Abram, Abraham, Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, from thy father's house
to land, I'll show thee, I will make of thee a great nation.
I will bless thee. I'll make thy name great, thou
shalt be a blessing. I'll bless them that bless thee,
and I'll curse them that curse thee, and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed." That is a foregone conclusion, right? No question about it. Abraham's call was a call from
a sovereign God. Do you know Abraham was an idolater
at this time? Turn to Joshua 24, let me show
you that. This call of Abraham, just like
your call, was a sovereign call. Just like Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord, you found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
Abraham found grace in the eyes of the Lord. His daddy was an
idol worshiper. He lived in a family, in a home
of heathens. That's what it says here in Joshua
24.2. Look, Joshua said to the people, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel. Your fathers dwelt on the other
side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham. and the father of Nacor, and
they served other gods." The little letter G, they served
other gods. Abraham lived in a community,
in a family of idol worshipers, serving other gods. But God sovereignly
chose him, and God sovereignly called him. It was a personal
call. I believe there's a general call that goes to all people.
I believe there's a call of conscience. Scripture says the law is written
on the heart, the conscience bearing witness, excusing or
accusing. I believe there's a call of law,
the law of God written on the heart, the call of providence
as the gospel preaching. But our Lord knows his sheep.
Abraham was one of his sheep, and he called him by name. Our
Lord said, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. The call of
Abraham was a separating call. Now watch this. God said to Abraham,
Get thee out. Get thee out. Get thee out away
from thy present way of life. Abraham is God's child, right? God has sovereignly put his love
upon him, right? God has sovereignly chosen him.
God has shown grace to him. God is going to bless him. But
he comes to Abraham and he says, Get out. Get out of heathenism. Get out of idolatry. Get out
of this situation where you are. Get out. And Abraham, you go
to a place that I will show you. It involved total commitment.
Now, Abraham is God's child. But there's a call which comes
from the Lord, a personal call, a sovereign call, an exclusive
call. He says, Abraham, you've got
a decision to make. Get out of your father's house
and go to a place, to a land, I'll show you. Now turn with
me to Matthew 10, and that's just as real in your life and
my life as it was in the life of Abraham. Though we're God's
chosen, though God's love is upon us, And though God has sovereignly,
personally called us and sent his affections upon us, there's
a decision that's got to be made, a separating, dedicated decision. We've got to get out and go where
he shows us. And Matthew 10, verse 32 says
this, "...whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven."
Our Lord does not have silent partners or secret disciples. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on this earth. I came not
to send peace but a sword. I have come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be they of
his own household. But he that loveth father, mother
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh
not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. And look at verse 4 of Genesis
12, So Abraham departed. Now faith has a surrender, and
that first surrender is always unto the Lord. That first surrender
is unto the Lord when our God comes in a personal manner, in
a sovereign way, and is pleased to reveal his grace to you. He
doesn't reveal it to everybody, but he reveals it to you, his
grace, his gospel, his mercy, his son. And he says to you,
you get out, you go to a place I'll show you. You go where my
people are, you go where my name is declared, you go where my
gospels preached, you go where you can hear my words. You can't stay in idolatry, you
can't stay in Arminianism, you can't stay in freewillism, you
can't stay with those who worship in a false god. You can't stay
and eat garbage, you can't stay in the pigpen and slop with the
hogs. You can't stay and be identified with those things that are enemies
to Christ. You've got to get out. And that's
the first surrender. That's the first surrender. All
right, Genesis 13. Faith had another conflict, and
that was real. Nothing unreal about that. Some
of you can testify to that. It's not easy. wasn't easy for
Christ our Lord to go to the cross either, but he had to go.
It wasn't easy for our Lord to be betrayed by his own loved
ones, but he did. It wasn't easy for him to pray
for his enemy, but he did. These things are not easy. Who said they were? But they've
got to be done. And we're not dead cans and tin
cans and dead logs and robots that sit around in God's picked
us out, and God chose us, and God's going to bless us, and
must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while
others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody sea?
No, I'm going to sail through them too. And it's going to come
to the crossroads, shall I preach that which men despise, or shall
I preach that which they delight in? And it looks as if it's my
own decision, and it is my own decision, but God knows which
way I'm going. He decreed that I should go that
way, but I'm going to make that decision. Shall I worship the
Lord and be identified with His people, or shall I continue in
this place of compromise and idolatry? Well, God knows which
way you're going, but you've got to make that decision. And
it's going to be a difficult decision, and you've got to bear
the brunt of it, and you've got to bear the suffering of it,
and you've got to bear the shame of it, and you've got to bear
the persecution that comes with it. And it's real. There's nothing
unreal about it. It's real. Abraham had to do
it. This wasn't nothing easy about
it. Abraham was 70 years old. He
had lived there 70 years. He had his friends, he had his
job, he had his cattle, he had his father and his mother, and
he had his brothers and sisters, and he had all his kinfolks,
and he was settled. This was his home. This was my
old Kentucky home. And he won't leave there. It
wasn't easy, but that faith had to surrender. All right, Genesis
13, verse 6. All right, let's bring you up
to date. Abraham, Lot went with him as his nephew, called him
his brother because he was his nephew. But they traveled. Now watch this, something rose
here. And the land, in verse 5, Genesis 13, and Lot also,
which went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents. And
the land was not able to bear both of them, that they might
dwell together. For their substance was great,
rich men, so that they couldn't dwell together. There was a strife
between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's
cattle, and the Canaanites and the Perezites dwelled in the
land. And Abraham said, Lot, let's
don't have any strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between
my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, we be brethren. It's not the
whole land before thee. Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me." Hold it right there. Hold it. Now, Abraham's the oldest. Abraham's the one God called.
Abraham is the leader. Abraham is the pastor of that
bus. Abraham's the spiritual father.
Abraham's the priest of this bus. Abraham is this man's uncle, his father's
brother. Now, there's a lot, there's a
conflict between your herdsmen and mine. Now, your cattle and
mine, there's not enough room for both of us on this particular
land. We got to part. So tell you what
you do now, this is mine here, and you go down yonder, over
on the hillside, and start over, son, and put your nose to the
grindstone like I did, and you'll make something out of yourself.
That's the way we'd have done it. That's natural. That's human. The average, that's not faith,
that's not God, that's not spiritual. Let me show you what faith is.
Look at the next line. And Abraham said, Lot, separate
yourself from me, I pray thee. If you take the left hand, I'll
go to the right. If you go to the right, I'll
go to the left. In other words, faith has this
surrender. Faith surrenders to the feelings
of others and not to its own people. That's real faith, that's
spirituality. Abraham stood there with that
young man and he said, Lord, take your pick, son, and whatever
you pick, I'll take what's left. Do you know why he did that?
Well, he loved God and he loved Lot, but faith, seek it like
love, seek it not her own. Let me show you that in Philippians
2. Turn over there with me to Philippians 2. Philippians 2,
verse 2, Look at verse 2, "...fulfilled
ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man on the things of others." In other words,
Abraham was supposed to look out for Lot. God is looking out
for Abraham. He's supposed to look out for
love. Romans 12, look at Romans 12, verse 10. I know this is
contrary to human nature, but so is the new birth, so is faith,
so is eternal life, so is Christ. In Romans 12, verse 10, "...be
kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor
preferring one another. And that's not talking about
words, that's deeds. Actually preferring one another. This
is the Christian way. This is the way of faith, to
keep unity of spirit. To look not on our own things,
to provide not for our own selves, but to look on the things of
others. Now watch this. In giving Lot his choice, Abraham
fulfilled God's choice. That's right. When we plan our
own way, how can God plan it? I know all of us have got a way
of saying, well, the Lord wants me to do this. I don't know.
I just don't know. I've never had
a telephone to heaven. I've always found that in finding
the will of God, it is submission to God's will and a surrender
to God's will, and after a while, by His grace and according to
His word, over a period of time, he opens a door. But every time
I've ever reached out and opened one, it's been the wrong door.
Every time I've ever closed one behind me and reached for another
one, it's been the wrong door. When we plan our way, how can
God plan it? When we seek to provide our needs,
how can God provide them? When we seek to open doors, how
can God open them? When we clamor for our rights,
when we clamor for our honor, How can God honor us supernaturally? When I stand and demand recognition,
and men recognize me, then I've got the recognition of men, but
I've sought not the honor of God. But when I humble myself
and subject myself to others, esteeming them better than me,
someday God's way, in God's purpose, in God's own time, He will exalt. But as long as I'm doing it,
he's not going to do it. So Abraham stood here, and they
had that conflict, and he said, Lot, take what you want, and
I'll go to the mountains. And look back here at verse 14.
And the Lord said, Abraham, after Lot was separated from him, he
went to the mountains. He said, Lift up your eyes, look
on the place where thou art, northward, southward, eastward,
and westward, all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it. I guarantee you. Guarantee you
if Abraham had said a lot. I'm going down here. This is
the fertile land That's what Lot chose. Look at verse 10.
Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all that bottom land 190 acres
of bottom land think of it all the plains of Jordan well watered
everywhere And Lot said that's what I wore That's what I wore
and he took it And you know what he did he lost every bit of it
God burned it up, remember? Lost his wife, lost his children,
lost his land, he lost every bit of it. But old Abraham, unselfishly,
depending on God, said, son, take all you want. I'll go the
other way. He went the other way. When he
got up there, God said, now that you're separated from Lot, look
everywhere, it's all yours. We're so hard-headed, aren't
we? with so hard that he that loseth his life for my sake will
find it. Cast your bread on the water.
You don't have to sow rice, a whole field of water. You take it and
throw it out there in the water. Can't even see where it went.
It's gone. A few days later, it comes up.
And that's what it's, cast your bread on the water, and God will
bring it back. But just throw it away. Give
it away. I dare you. Give it away. Look not on your
own things, look on the things of others. One of these days,
God'll say, lift up your eyes, old boy, everything's yours.
All right, Genesis 14. Genesis 14. Now, Olot got in
trouble. It wasn't long and he got in
trouble. There was a bunch of kings there that made war against Sodom
and Gomorrah and Lot and all the rest of them. Came down and
captured them. Took them all. Everything. Abraham had 318 men. And somebody told him, said,
Lot's been captured, and the king of Sodom, and the king of
Gomorrah, and they've taken all the gold, and silver, and cattle,
and herds, and everything, the servants, the wives, the children,
and they're in captivity down there where these kings live.
Abraham took 318 men, went down there, and whipped every one
of them by God's power. And he came back, bringing all
the spoils with him. My goodness alive, if you could
have just seen it. He came back with all the people,
children, servants, wives, of kinfolks, all that gold and silver
and wagons and herds, the valley could hardly hold the people.
And the King of Sodom met him, and here in verse 21, and the
King of Sodom said, Abraham, you give me the people and keep
all that stuff. Huh? You keep it all. Keep all
these chariots and oxen and camels and all goats and milk cows and
steers and gold and silver and all the precious stones. It's
all yours, Abraham. You just keep it. Let me take
the people." And Abraham said to the king of Sodom, Now listen,
I've lifted up my hand to the Lord. the Most High God, the
Possessor of Heaven and Earth, and I won't take a thread even
to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take anything that's yours,
lest you say, I made Abraham rich. God's going to meet my
need, and I'm not taking anything from you. I'm not taking anything
from you. Money and possession. Let me
tell you something here. It's down where we live. Money
and possessions are not the root of evil. It's the love of money
and the love of possessions. God had his children who were
rich. Abraham was rich. God had his children who were
poor, materially poor. None of them were poor. They
were all rich in grace, but they were materially poor. But there
are three areas in which care needs to be exercised. Now watch
this. God cares how you acquire your possessions. He cares how
you get them. That's what Abraham is saying
right here. I've lifted my hand to the Lord. He'll meet my need. He'll fill my hand. I'm not taken
from you. In other words, God's going to
supply my need according to his riches in glory through Christ
Jesus. I'm not dependent upon the natural man to meet my need.
God's going to meet my need. And even so, the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not to be supported by raffles and bazaars
and cake sales and candy sales and the gifts of this world.
That's evil. God will meet our needs when
we open our hands to him. He may not give us all we expect,
all we want, all we think we ought to have. He'll give us
what we need for his glory. Can we say that? You're not going
to make me rich, Sodom. You're not going to make me rich,
Gomorrah. I'm not going to say, well, I didn't get this from
God. I got it from the world. And you're not going to say you
made Abraham rich. You didn't give Abraham a thread. Everything
Abraham got, God gave him. God cares how you get your money.
And I'll tell you something else, God cares how you look on it,
too. How you look on it. Turn to Matthew 6. This is a
problem here, in Matthew 6. Listen to this, Matthew 6, 24.
God cares how you look upon it. He says, No man can serve two
masters. Now, people think that's talking
about Satan and God, but it's not. No, sir. No, it's just talking
about he'll hate the one love the other else He'll hold the
one and despise. Yeah, you can't serve God and
mammon. You know what mammon is there?
Look it up. Don't take my word for it Riches, that's exactly
what that word is. No man can serve God and possessions
You can't have two gods. You can't have two goals Therefore
I say don't take any anxious thought what you shall eat what
you shall drink what you shall put on the bodies more than meat
and Life is more than meat, body more than raiment. Look at the
birds of the air. God takes care of them. Look at the lilies of
the field. Solomon never saw the day he
was that beautiful. God clothed them. Why take ye thought for
raiment? Verse 28. And verse 30, Wherefore,
if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is the
marsh cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe ye, O
ye of little faith? Therefore I say, take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? After these things do the heathen seek. Your
Father knows you have need of these things. He knows it. You seek first the kingdom of
God, His righteousness, and all these things will be added. But
you've got to be like Abraham. You've got to come to that place
where faith says, All right, Lord, you supply my need. I didn't
keep Abraham going out milking his cows and cleaning out the
chicken lot and plowing the ground and sowing the seed, but he knew
God would supply his needs. And I tell you, God cares how
you use your possessions, too. Turn to Luke 12, Luke 12. God cares how you get them, God
cares how you look upon them, and God cares how you use them.
Luke 12, verse 15. And he said, take heed and beware
of covetousness. A man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth. He spake a parable
unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought
forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
What shall I do? I have no room where to bestow my fruit. I bet
the man down the road had some room for him. I bet the fellow across the creek
had some room for him. I bet that poor family down the
road had a place they could put some of those fruits. But he
said, I'm going to tear down my barns and build bigger barns
where I can bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I'll say to
my soul, thou hast goods laid up for many years. You're all
right now. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. You're retired
now. God said, you fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee. And then whose shall these things be? Well, old Abraham
was faced with great riches. Abraham, that's all you need,
right there. No, I don't want it. I don't want it that way.
I lifted my hand to God, and He'll meet my need. And then
Genesis 22, and I'll close with this. Faith, force, surrender. Every one of us has got to face
them. There's a surrender to God. I'll leave and go. where he'll show me. There's
a surrender to my friends, when I begin to look not on what I
think, what I want, what I treasure, and what I covet in my way, but
when faith comes to the place where it's willing to surrender.
Let's be sure that we provide for what somebody else wants.
And then when I've come to that place where I'm determined to
depend on God for my daily bread. Depend on God. And then when I come to surrender
my family, Genesis 22, verse 1, it came to pass after these
things, after all these things, well, Abraham, you've been through
enough. No, not yet. Faith's got one more threshold
to cross. Abraham, you've been through enough. No, faith's got
one more trial. Faith's got one more test. The
test of his loyalty to God has been determined. The test of
his loyalty to his friends has been determined. The test of
his attitude towards possessions has been determined. Now God's
got to find out where he stands with his family. God's got to
find out where he stands with that boy that's got his blood
running through his veins, where he stands with that wife that
has shared his ups and downs, and whether he's willing to buck
her and follow God's way, whether he's willing to lay it all on
the So God says, All right, Abraham. God tested him. He said, Here
I am, Lord. He said, All right. Verse 2, Take your son, your
only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and
offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains that
I'll tell you of. That's tough, isn't it? But you
know, all the way through this we've been reading one thing.
So Abraham departed. And here in verse 3, And Abraham
rose And he saddled his ass and started for the mountain. God
was firm. And no boy or girl or wife or
children or anything else is going to stop me from loving
God. That's what it's all about, worshiping God, following God. We like to talk about being the
children of Abraham. and sharing Abraham's faith,
but Abraham's faith, my friend, was a lot deeper than sound doctrine.
You're not a child of Abraham because you're an Orthodox theologian. You're not a child of Abraham
because you profess a higher holiness than anybody else. Abraham
could lie. Two or three times he denied
that Sarah was his wife. He was concerned about something. He had some trouble. Just because
you've got a little higher holiness doesn't mean you're a son of
Abraham. And being a son of Abraham is broader than this boastful
bragging about your talents and ability. Abraham didn't have
a whole lot of talent. He just walked with God. And it's a whole lot wider in
good works. He did a good deed for the King of Sodom and Lot
and the rest of them. But this thing of faith, Abraham's
faith, was a surrender to the will of God. It was a surrender
to personal honor. It was a surrender of possessions.
It was a surrender of family. It was a commitment, total commitment,
to the King. I want you to listen to this
word in closing. And this has all four of these
tests, these trials. To God I lift my waiting eyes. In him all my hopes are laid. The Lord who built the earth
and skies, through grace my soul is saved. That's it. Now, Lord,
make me wise to love true friends who travel this heavenly road.
give me a hand that daily sins help, not grief that adds to
their load. However bright and brilliant
and fair all earthly treasures seem to shine, the best short-lived
and fading are, they'll perish in a little time. But in heavenly
things there's no change, they never can grow old. Ten thousand
years they'll be the same, their beauties continually unfold. And when the Savior moves his
hand to take my dearest friend below, O that he may, rich grace
command, and make me content to let him go. It is the Lord
I would bestill for Christ to take his soul above, nor murmur
at the Savior's will I'll find it is an act of love, O for faith
that will not shrink, though pressed by every foe, that will
not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe." Faith for surrender. And it don't all happen when
you walk down the aisle and accept Jesus. They happen through life. God gives us a little light.
God brings us to a crossroad. God brings us to a Jordan. God
brings us to a trial. And God's true people will endure. They will. It may take them a
while. They may get knocked down and
have to get up. They get their nose bloodied. They may make
a fool out of themselves. But when God sends his light
to them and his Word, they'll get it straightened out. They're
going to walk with him. They're going to walk with him. Let's sing a closing hymn. Don,
you come lead us.

Faith's Four Surrenders

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