Real Faith, Full Surrender

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Real Faith, Full Surrender</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id500.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Time To Let Go"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id504.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Promises For Your Lifetime and Beyond"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Real faith, full surrender," </B><B>Genesis 22:1-19 </B></div> <div> <B>January 15-16, 2004, Berean Bible Church</B></div> <bR> <div>      "In 1985 Tim Burke saw his boyhood dream come true the day he was signed to pitch for the Montreal Expos. After four years in the minors, he was finally given a chance to play in the big leagues. And he quickly proved to be worth his salt-setting a record for the most relief appearances by a rookie player. / Along the way, however, Tim and his wife, Christine, adopted four children with very special needs-two daughters from South Korea, a handicapped son from Guatemala, and another son from Vietnam. All of the children were born with very serious illnesses or defects. Neither Tim nor Christine was prepared for the tremendous demands such a family would bring. And with the grueling schedule of major-league baseball, Tim was seldom around to help. So in 1993, only three months after signing a $600,000 contract with the Cincinnati Reds, he decided to retire. / When pressed by reporters to explain this unbelievable decision, he simply said, 'Baseball is going to do just fine without me. But I'm the only father my children have.'" [Dr. James Dobson, <I>Coming Home: Timeless Wisdom for Families</I>, pp. 16-17].</div> <div>      It is only right for parents to sacrifice for their children. It is honorable, and thankfully not uncommon. But how much are you willing to sacrifice and surrender to God because of your faith in him? Does your faith in God mean that he has all of you, that you are fully devoted to him, that you will surrender that which is meaningful to you? On our journey of faith, the quality of our faith will be tested when we are asked to surrender to God. Let's look again at Abraham's journey faith and the test he faced in Genesis 22:1-19.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Abraham faced his final exam: the test of surrender (</B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Gen+22:1-19" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Genesis 22:1-19</B></U></A><B>).</B></div> <div> <B>A. Genesis 22:1-2 - Abraham was called to sacrifice the son of promise, Isaac, as a test.</B></div> <div>      Abraham's life was stable and comfortable. If he thought the call to leave his country and extended family was difficult (in Genesis 12:1-3), he hasn't seen anything yet. I think we are <I>supposed</I> to be shocked at the request, as Abraham was. Culturally, human / child sacrifice was not unheard of (it was thought that it was a way to ensure continued fertility; Walton, p. 510). The whole story of Abraham's faith journey deals with life and death, and God's ability to do what is impossible.</div> <div>      God "tests" people to determine the reality of and quality of their faith, not to tempt them to do evil. He does not tempt us to sin, but he evaluates us as to whether or not we will trust him, even in the most difficult of circumstances. </div> <div> <B>B. Genesis 22:3-10 - Abraham obeyed God's word, in faith, still believing in the promise of God.</B></div> <div>      Notice Abraham's comments : vs. 5, "We will worship, <I>we</I> will return;" vs. 8, "God will provide a lamb." Abraham was doing what God wants him to do, but he was waiting for God to do something special. Hebrews 11:17-19 says "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death."</div> <div> <B>C. Genesis 22:11-14 - Abraham passed the test and God provided a substitute sacrifice.</B></div> <div>      Abraham had passed the test. When God said, "now I know," Abraham's faith and obedience had been confirmed by his actions.</div> <div> <B>D. Genesis 22:15-19 - God reconfirmed and expanded the blessings he promised to Abraham.</B></div> <div>      God took an oath (according to himself; we "swear <I>to God</I>," God swears by himself). This is the first time his descendants are compared in number to the sands on the seashore. God would "greatly" bless him and multiply his descendants.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. Do we trust God enough to surrender all to him, even when his commands don't make much sense to us? </B></div> <div>      Sometimes what we are asked to do by God in his word does not make much sense to us, such as: "Love your enemies," "forgive as Christ has forgiven you," "it's more blessed to give than receive," "tell the truth," keep your vows even when the going gets tough," or when he asks us to serve him in a way that seems beyond our abilities. </div> <div> Here are three simple lessons about our surrender to God.</div> <div> <B>A. True faith results in obedient, costly surrender.</B></div> <div>      <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=James+2:21-24" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>James 2:21-24</U></A> uses this story to tell us that faith without resulting action is dead." Are you willing to give <I>that which matters most</I> to you over to God (your family, reputation, habits, money and possessions, pleasures, your gifts, your dreams, plans and visions ...)? </div> <div> <B>B. God asks us to worship </B><I><B>him</B></I><B>, not the things he gives to us.</B></div> <div>      Do we worship God, or do we worship the things God has given to us? Will we honor God only so long as he gives us what we want and leaves us alone, or will we keep honoring him when he asks us to sacrifice that which is most dear to us? Consider the story of rich young ruler in<A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Luke+18:18-27" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U> Luke 18:18-27</U></A>.</div> <div> <B>C. The greatest blessings from God come into our lives when we give everything over to God.</B></div> <div>      When Abraham was asked to sacrifice, he affirmed, "The Lord will provide." After Abraham surrendered, God reaffirmed and expanded the promises. God has promised us great blessing, and when we follow him, especially in surrender, he will keep is promises and bless us greatly.</div> <bR> <div>      You have to pass little tests of obedience before you are ready to face bigger tests. So make obedience a habit; when you fail, confess it, and get back in the game. It's like exercise - you have to be able to run a mile before you can run a marathon. You have to able to lift 100 pounds before you can lift 200. Fred Craddock, in an address to ministers, caught the practical implications of surrender. "To give my life for Christ appears glorious," he said. "To pour myself out for others...to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom-I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory. / "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table-'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.' / "But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, `Get lost.' Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. / "Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul." [Darryl Bell, Maple Grove, Minnesota, quoted in <I>Leadership</I>, Fall 1984, p. 47].</div> <div>      God is not asking us to do something he himself was not willing to do. Romans 8:31-32 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2005, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>