Surrendering Means Submitting

Surrender is the same, whether you give up to sin or give up to Jesus.


Scripture: John 8:36, Romans 6

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing alright today? I trust so. I know that some of you are going through the wringer. You have your problems. Some of you have physical problems and some of you have home problems with children or your spouse or whatever it may be. I know that.

God never promised us that as believers, we wouldn’t have some trials or troubles or problems or heartaches. But He did promise, our Lord Jesus did, that He’s greater than anything that’ll ever hit you. Anything you’ll ever experience, Jesus is greater. “In the world, ye shall have tribulation,” said He, “but be of good cheer, I have overcome.” Past tense, have, He already did it. “I have overcome the world.” So you, my friend, this very minute, are a victor because Jesus won the victory for you. You can trust Him to see you through. Trust Him, trust Him, look up and trust your Lord no matter what the circumstances are this minute. He’ll see you through.

A small thought here, this has nothing to do with the Bible messages, just a little small thought that I’d like to drop into your heart and mind. You wanna do something thoughtful today for somebody? Try going out of your way to do something thoughtful and gracious and loving for somebody today. How long has it been since you took your pastor to lunch, or bought him a new set of tires for his car, or took him to your favorite haberdasher and got him a new suit? You know, he’d be so grateful if you just showed up and did something like that without making a federal case of it. You don’t have to make something stupendous of it. Just do something thoughtful for that dear man of God. Your church and your pastor is your number one assignment under God. You take care of that dear man. Vote for a raise for him once in a while. He can stand a little more help, prices are going up. [chuckle]

Back in the good old days, in Youth for Christ days, we used to have all night prayer meetings. I remember one night, we were praying about 2 o’clock in the morning and I was walking around here and there trying to cheer people up and wake them up in the process. And one dear brother, Bill Stevens, my precious friend of many years now, was praying. He said, “Lord, you know the price of coffee is going up?” [chuckle] Yeah, I guess God does know when the prices go up. Well, take care of your preacher. That’s one thought.

Do something thoughtful for somebody. Drop in on a shut-in who doesn’t have very much company. He or she is more or less on the shelf and forgotten. Even their kids don’t come to see them very much anymore and they always say, “Oh, I’m too busy, Pop.” Well, there’ll be a day when being busy won’t make much difference ’cause pop or mom or both of them will be gone. Do something thoughtful, drop in on a shut-in today. Bring a little flowering plant with you, sit it on the table there, say a few loving words and have a prayer and get on out before you tire the person out. Calls don’t have to be eternal to be immortal, you know?

Write a letter thanking somebody for something they did for you a while back. I learned from Dr. Clyde Narramore, my dear friend, again, of many years, a good, good man of God and exceedingly smart with all. I learned from Dr. Narramore that it’s the second thank you that counts. Somebody gives you something or does something for you and you say thank you, send a note maybe and then that’s it. Why don’t you try a couple or three months later sending another thank you? Say, “Dear Jim, I’m surely enjoying that Waring blender that you sent us.” Oh, it’s such a joy.

Something thoughtful, why don’t you do that today? You’d be surprised what would happen, really, you would. Have you thought to thank your Christian radio station or any of your Christian broadcasters for their ministries? You know, many of the stations that carry this very program depend upon your gifts to keep them going. Non-commercial, they are and they have their share-a-thons every now and again, but they depend upon you. Have you written to thank them recently or helped them along? Pretty good idea, wouldn’t you think? I think so.

Well, that was on my heart, just to share it with you. Do something thoughtful today for somebody. You’ll be surprised how much blessing you will get out of it as a result. Dear friend of mine passed away back in the ’50s and I went to his funeral, and spoke a few words, and was there, and expressed sympathy to his widow. But as is my custom, I oftentimes do what I’m telling you to do, I follow up with a second note of some sort. And so it was about three months later, I wrote to that dear lady and I said, “You know, people forget that after the funeral is over, the world keeps on and folks forget. I just wanted you to know I didn’t forget and I’m praying for you. Send my love and sympathy and assurance of my prayers. God bless you, may He fill up the lonesome place in your heart with Himself.”

Back came a note and said, “You’ll never know how much that card meant to me. I was just about at the end of myself with loneliness and hurt and sadness. Your card came in just when I needed it.” See, God would use you if you’ll do something thoughtful for people. All right?

Well, I’ve talked for seven minutes on something that had nothing to do with the texts before us. Now we’ll go to John 8 and finish up our thought on that and then go on into the ninth chapter in the next broadcast. Our Lord Jesus said, “Who so committeth sin is the servant of sin.” Paul the Apostle zeroes in on this very thought, and he said, “You don’t have to serve sin. You can be free.” I’m turning the pages of my big Bible now over into Romans 6. He said, “Our old nature is crucified with Christ. And so, if we’re dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him. Sin shall not have dominion over you for you’re not under Moses’ law any longer, but under God’s grace.”

So he says, “Don’t you know?” Now, here’s the parallel passage with John 8:34, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin,” Jesus said. Paul the Apostle said, “Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants,” same word, doula, slave, “slaves to obey his slaves you are. To whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.”

“God be thanked,” he said, “you were the slaves of sin, but you’ve obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being made then free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness. Being made free from sin, become servants of God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end, everlasting life.” So he says, “As you have yielded.” This is Romans 6:19, “As you have yielded your members,” that’s the members of your body, “slaves to uncleanness and slaves to iniquity, and the result was more iniquity.” I’m paraphrasing a little there. Even so, now yield your members, members of your body, slaves to righteousness, and the result will be holiness.

Surrender is the same, whether you give up to sin or give up to Jesus. You make the choice. Now this, whereas the young people say, “Where the rubber meets the road.” That is the moment of truth. Because if we were to be brutally frank about it, many times we don’t want to make that choice. We want to have our own way and still enjoy the grace and mercy of God.

I had a letter the other day from someone that says, “I’m so ashamed to come to God for forgiveness when I have done something deliberately that I knew was wrong. I’m embarrassed and it’s hard for me to come to Him.” Well, I know that. But you better come to Him, and you better let Him cleanse you. 1 John 1:9 has two things in it. One is forgiveness, and the other is cleansing. “Forgiveness takes care of fixing the relationship that has been marred. Cleansing takes care of keeping you from repeating your error.” God wants to do both of those things in your life, but the choice, beloved, is yours.

Surrender is built into your bones. You’re gonna give up to something, ultimately. Without question, you’ll be giving up to something. Yourself and sin and all of its dreadful results on one hand or your Savior the Lord Jesus and His righteousness and the holiness of God poured out into your life by the indwelling Holy Spirit on the other hand. But you must make the choice. As you have yielded even so, now yield. You did surrender to sin, now yield, surrender to Jesus. How does that work? It works simply by requiring you to do your praying the moment temptation hits you rather than waiting to pray until after you’ve collapsed.

Most of us are pretty good prayers after we’ve struck out. The trick in it is this. Do your praying before you fall. Do your praying before you give up. You’re tempted to do wrong and the little mental moral monitor somewhere back in your brain says, “Shall I? Shall I not?” And you think about it and you think it over and you talk to yourself about it. And you say, “I know I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t. Shall I? Shall I not?” By and by, you get tired of all that and you give up.

Now, the time to pray is the moment the temptation or testing or trial hits you. Then you pray and say, “Jesus, I give up to you. Handle this thing for me.” Now, anything I tell you, I’ve been there, and I know for a fact that Jesus Christ can defuse anger. I have felt anger going out of my heart and mind like steam out of a pressure cooker when the valve thing is taken off.

I know Jesus can take away the pressure of temptation. Yes, I do. I have prayed, as have many of you, “Lord Jesus, handle this. I can’t handle it.” And I have found that He is strong to deliver, and to help, and to guide, and to protect. I know that God can change my moods and I know that God can handle my mind because I’ve been there. I want you to have that same experience as well. Pray when temptation hits you. Give up, but give up to Jesus. Good idea, wouldn’t you say?

Say, by the way, this eighth chapter of John is one of the great chapters proving the deed of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anybody who tells you that Jesus never claimed to be God, have him read the eighth chapter of John. John 7 and 8 is enough to convince anybody that the Lord Jesus claimed to be divine. You find Him saying there in the closing verses of chapter eight, “Before Abraham even was, I am. Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad before Abraham was, I am.” The Lord Jesus is the great “I am”.

Second person that God had. God the Father, God the son, God the Holy Ghost. One God, three persons. The Lord Jesus Christ came down the stairways of the stars to reveal God’s love to us and He said, “Before Abraham ever was, I am”. He’s the eternal Son of God.

We worship and love and adore Thee, blessed Jesus our Savior. Jesus, we love and worship thee, we pray in Thy name for victory today. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!



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