Biblical surrender looks quite a bit different from the “white flag” waving you’ve seen in your favorite cartoons. Is Your All on the Altar? helps us consider what God is actually asking of us and reminds us of the blessings that come with yielding to His will.

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Timestamps

• [00:00] - Historical Context
• [01:02] - Understanding Biblical Surrender
• [02:30] - v1-2: Lack of Surrender Hinders Spiritual Growth
• [03:52] - Surrender Example: Abraham & Isaac
• [07:39] - v3-4: Incalculable Blessings Await!
• [10:48] - Salvation: The Prerequisite to Surrender
• [11:50] - Surrender Takes Daily Effort
• [13:41] - What Are You Withholding from God?

Song Lyrics

Verse 1: You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase, And have earnestly, fervently prayed; But you cannot have rest, or be perfectly blest Until all on the altar is laid.

Verse 2: Would you walk with the Lord, in the light of his word, And have peace and contentment alway, You must do his sweet will, to be free from all ill, On the altar your all you must lay.

Verse 3: Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow Of the blessings for which we have prayed, Till our body and soul he doth fully control, And our all on the altar is laid.

Verse 4: Who can tell all the love he will send from above, And how happy our hearts will be made, Of the fellowship sweet we shall share at his feet, When our all on the altar is laid.

Refrain: Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart, does the Spirit control? You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest, As you yield him your body and soul.

Scripture References

John 14:26-27 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Philippians 4:6-9 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

James 5:13-18 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Genesis 22:1-19 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

James 4:1-4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Matthew 6:7-8 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Psalms 144:15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Proverbs 3:13-18 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Proverbs 16:20 He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

Proverbs 28:13-14 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. 14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Romans 14:19-23 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. 20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. 22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

1 Peter 3:12-17 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

1 Peter 4:12-14 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

1 John 1:5-7 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Philippians 3:13-15 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Research Resources

Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs by Melody Publications (#740)

The Cyber Hymnal (accessed July 1, 2024)

Surrender is a widely misunderstood concept in the Christian life, but that is the topic which this episode's song focuses on. We're looking at the hymn, Is Your All on the Altar? The author, Elijah Hoffman, was raised in a Christian home in which it was standard for his family to sing Christian hymns in the mornings and evenings. Through this practice, he discovered an aptitude for music. But Hoffman was not just gifted in singing and understanding melodies, but also in his use of words to express deep truths of our faith. In his lifetime, he wrote over 2, 000 hymns, including the music to many of them. Such hymns include, Are You Washed in the Blood, Down at the Cross, What a Wonderful Savior, and I Must Tell Jesus. I'm sure as time goes on that we will cover many of his great hymns, but for now, let's focus on Is Your All on the Altar? 


For us to best understand this song, I think we need to explore the biblical perspective of surrender. It seems to me that most Christians misunderstand how God intends to work in our lives. Our giving up and waving the white flag after being beaten, bruised, and crushed, is not what God has in mind. Rather, the surrender that God seeks out of us is one in which we simply recognize that His way is best, and therefore, we willingly offer ourselves to His service. 


Ultimately, it is a barter with God. You trade your will, your plans, and your desires for His will, His plans, and His desires. You trade the temporary pleasures of sin for His everlasting blessings. You offer Him everything that you are, and in return, you gain everything that He is. That is the singular theme of this song. 


You cannot experience all that God wants for your life until you're willing to offer Him that very life which you wish to save. But once you do, you not only get to know him in a way that most people unfortunately will never experience, But you also learn of his powerful working in your life in a way that you would not have gotten to know otherwise. 


The first two verses of the song focus on the obstacle that we have to our spiritual growth. "You have longed for sweet peace and for faith to increase and have earned earnestly, fervently prayed, but you cannot have rest or be perfectly blessed until all on the altar is laid." 


Scripture has much to say about us receiving God's peace and increasing our faith and praying effectually and fervently. But these things are not attained until after we are willing to biblically surrender to God, not just part of us, but all of us. 


The second verse goes on to say, would you walk with the Lord in the light of his word and have peace and contentment all way? You must do his sweet will to be free from all ill on the altar you're all you must lay. 


And again, the refrain hammers on the same idea: "is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the spirit control? You can only be blessed and have peace and sweet rest as you yield him your body and soul." Everything that you are ought to be offered to God. 


A story that demonstrates this truth well is when God tested Abraham and asked him to offer his only son, Isaac. This story is recorded in Genesis chapter 22. And God says to Abraham, "take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of." This request seems impossibly difficult, but wait until you understand the end of the story. 


Abraham obeys. He rises up early. He takes his son and a few servants with him. And as they travel, he leaves the servants behind and he tells them, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you." I believe that while Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son to God, he believed that God was going to raise his son back from the dead. 


As the two alone traveled up to this place of sacrifice, Isaac recognizes that the thing they're missing is an actual sacrifice. And so he asks his father where it is. And Abraham's reply is "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." 


So they arrive at the top of the mountain and Abraham builds the altar, just as God had specified. He binds his son and puts him on the altar and grabs the knife, ready, completely surrendering this thing that he loved more than anything else, completely giving it to God. 


And the angel of the Lord calls out from heaven, "lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." We see God calls to him and God did not have him sacrifice his son Isaac. In fact, they looked over and there was a ram caught by its thorns in a thicket. And that is what Abraham offered in place of Isaac. 


But even better than that is the prophetic nature that God wasn't just going to provide a lamb for himself. God was going to provide himself as that lamb, Jesus Christ coming into the world, the lamb of God being offered for our sin. 


But notice what God goes on to say to him. "Because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven. ... and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." You see, there was blessing that God wanted to pour out upon Abraham's life, but he was waiting for Abraham's full surrender. For Abraham to come to this point in his life where he held nothing back from God. 


Notice, God does not necessarily intend to take everything away from you. He just wants you to be willing to give him your all. And for those situations where he does seem to take everything away, it is only to free up space in your life so he can replace it with all of the things that are so, so much better. God is waiting for you, for me, to offer our all on the altar. 


The second two verses of the song highlight the incalculable blessings that await if we are willing to trust God in this way. " Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow of the blessings for which we have prayed till our body and soul he doth fully control and our all on the altar is laid. Who can tell all the love He will send from above, and how happy our hearts will be made of the fellowship sweet we shall share at His feet when our all on the altar is laid." 


There are many things in life that we will not have from God unless we ask. He tells us that. "Ye have not because ye ask not." But there are also many things that we will miss out on because we have not lived our lives in such a way that he is enabled to bless us. He is a perfect holy God, and he cannot endorse our sinful lifestyles. He cannot reward our evil without being a bad father and teaching us to live however we want and still expect his same level of blessing. Our God is a merciful God, but there are some things that he wants to give us that he can't simply because of the way we're choosing to live. 


Happiness is a topic that I think has been misrepresented in some of our Christianity. Happiness is not a wicked thing. In fact, God tells us in Scripture how to be happy. It's not what some people make it out to be, where you do whatever you want to make yourself happy and that makes God happy. No, that's not true. 


But God gives us a variety of different ways that he says will guarantee a certain kind of happiness. "Happy is that people whose God is the Lord." "Happy is that man that findeth wisdom." "Happy is the man that feareth alway." "Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth." " If ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye." "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye." 


God is not against happiness; in fact, He's for you finding happiness His way. But His way is for you to surrender. There's fellowship that God wants to have with us. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 


He offered himself completely. Jesus Christ held nothing back as he went to the cross, and for the joy that was set before him endured, not just the physical beatings, but the taking on of our sin. He did so gladly to restore us to God. The Son of God fully surrendered his life to God, the Father. Can we say that we should do any different? 


Salvation is what I call the prerequisite to surrender. You must first receive Him as your necessary Savior before you can fully know Him as perfect Lord. God may well be speaking to your heart right now, inviting you to trust Him for salvation, to receive from Him the gift of eternal life. 


Yes, you can shrug him off yet again and go on living life your way, or you can decide that his way is best. You can start your true heart relationship with him right now by asking him to save you from your sin. It's not about some magical spell prayer that you pray. It's simply seeing your need and trusting him to meet that need, counting on Jesus Christ and the sufficiency of him sacrificing himself for you and rising again. That is what can take you to heaven one day. 


For my listeners who are certain already that they're destined for heaven because you've already accepted Christ's payment for your sin, let me remind you this. Paul said, "I die daily." Salvation is in a single moment when you receive Christ, but surrender is a daily endeavor. 


Could I invite you? Surrender all. God does not ask to be part of your life. He reasonably asks to be your life. Paul wrote to the Romans, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." Note, God is not asking you necessarily to die today for him. He's asking you to live for him, "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Because of what he has done for us, it is in no way unreasonable for him to request our entire lives and everything that we are. 


Paul goes on to say, "be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." In other words, if you are not willing to renew your mind and accept that God's plan is best, you will miss God's good and acceptable and perfect will. But likewise, if you are willing to make that trade, you will prove God's perfect will and you will see his perfect working in your life. 


Paul wrote to the Philippians how he pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And he goes on to say, "if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." 


Take a moment right now and ask him what areas of your life you have not surrendered to him. Maybe he has already brought them to mind as I've been talking. Can you go on like this, assuming you know best? Shrugging off his leading in favor of your own preferences. Surely not. 


He's not going to kick your door in and batter you into giving up. He gently waits for you to come to him as you are and to give him yourself. Right now. Make the trade. 


Lord, most of us know in our heads that your way is best and the key problem lies in our deceitful hearts that fail to trust you. Would you help each soul under the sound of my voice to come to you and fully surrender? May each of us determine to daily trade our foolish ways for your perfect paths. You are always and only good to us, and it is only reasonable for us to reciprocate by willingly offering you everything that we are. Thank you for drawing us to yourself and for giving us your sweet peace and power to follow you. We look with great anticipation toward the blessings you will bestow upon us as we fully surrender. Amen. 


Wherever you are in this world, and in your life, I hope that you leave this moment changed for the glory of our great God and Creator. Thank you for tuning in and may God bless you as you surrender completely to him. 


See you next week.