It's Balanced With a Disciplined Obedience - Surrender

It was Judson W. Vand who in 1896 wrote this hymn, you know it well, it goes like this. All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give I will ever love and trust Him in His presence daily live. All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow Worldly pleasures all forsaken Take me, Jesus, take me now If you're going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got to let go of a lot of things. My wife and I just moved to a new home this past December. The main reason that we moved was because we had a pool in our previous house.

And my youngest daughter, who is just now two, does not know how to swim but loves to swim. And on five separate occasions over the last year, she fell into the pool. All five occasions I happened to be nearby. But there was something unique that happened each time she fell. I was doing something else. I was either edging the lawn or reading the paper or talking with someone on the phone. It was impossible for me to dive into the pool and continue to hold on to those things that I had. In order to save my daughter, I had to drop what I had in order to get into the pool to save her life.

So too, in the spiritual realm, our hearts have got to drop whatever it is we're holding on to so that God could use us fully to be involved in the salvation of the souls of man. And so tonight, we're going to talk about the discipline of surrender. And it is a discipline. Paul said these words, very familiar. Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered him up for me.

Closeness to God, intimacy with the Lord Jesus, requires our willingness to turn loose of the interest. That keeps us at arm's distance from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what surrender is. And so tonight, we don't mean to meddle in anybody's life. That's not our desire. Our desire is to look at the Word of God and see what He says.

And we have two main points. The first is what I call the five articles of surrender. What is going to. Get me into surrender mode. And then I want to look at four areas that need to be surrendered.

Okay? So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. And I want to give you what I call the five articles of surrender. Hebrews 12, verses 1 to 3. There, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against him, so that you may not grow weary and lo. heart. Article number one is this.

There needs to be an investigation of his witnesses. The writer of Hebrews says that we have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. And contrary to popular opinion, that does not mean that these heroes of faith are up in heaven looking down upon us and rooting us on. That's not what that means. They have gone before us. And it's their lives that have testified to the fact that when you run God's way, when you do God's work, When you follow the Lord by faith, stepping out and trusting Him, you run the race.

That's victorious. When was the last time you ever. Sat down and investigated the heroes of faith. Spent time going over their lives. Men like Joshua. M like Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Gideon, Barak, Noah, Enoch, Abel. They 're all listed. They were men and women of faith. Rah. Look at their lives.

See how God used them. They were people who lived a life of surrender. And if you and I are going to live that kind of life, then we need to investigate them. Spend time turning over the pages that describe in detail what they did and what they went through. And see how God used them in a mighty way. Article number one, there needs to be an investigation of his witnesses.

Number two, there needs to be a separation from my weights. And my worries. Take, for instance, a relationship. We know people who have been involved in relationships that have dated for months and even years, but they seem to be going nowhere. And yet, that relationship, because it's not progressing, because it's not rooted in the will of the Lord, they stay together, and yet nothing seems to be happening in that relationship. And that person needs to move on. How many times have we seen people not go to the mission field, not enter the ministry because of a friend or because of someone they were dating or someone close to them who hindered them from doing the will of the Lord?

Keeping them back. The relationship's not bad, but it was weight that kept them from being all that God wanted them to be. Sometimes our activities can become weights. We can be involved in so many activities at the church that, although they're good activities, they keep us from being excellent in the one area God wants us to excel in. And therefore, because we're not excelling in one area, but mediocre in many areas, people begin to suffer spiritually because we're not able to focus in in the area in which God has called me.

To live. And also, the sin which so easily besets us. Sin, that thing that holds us down. And particularly in the context of Hebrews chapter 12, it's a sin of unbelief, it a sin of, oh, Of doubts, because that's the context of Hebrews 10, 11, and 12. And is it not true that that's what sin is? Sin is unbelief. Sin is belief that my way is better than God's way. That God's way is not that good. That God's way is not the best. I don't believe that God's way is the best. That's the sin of unb That somehow my way is better.

So I pursue my desires, I pursue my wants, I pursue my plans, I pursue my path instead of pursuing God's path. And thirdly, there needs to be a determination of my will.

The writer says, Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. How many people? So often just want to quit. You find them all the time. They don't want to take the time to work on anything. They don't want to take the time to work on their relationship with God. And yet, the Bible says that we have to discipline ourselves toward godliness.

The Christian life is not for the weak and the weary, it's for those who want to stick to it and run with endurance. How many times we want to give up on a marriage because we're not willing to run with endurance to the end or give up on the raising of our children or give up on sharing our faith with a certain individual because we don't want to run with endurance all the way to the end. There needs to be a determination of my will because Satan brings every kind of obstacle around to come in our way, to knock us off the track, to discourage you, to deflect you.

From finishing what God has caused you to finish. And so there needs to be a determination of my will. And fourthly, there needs to be an examination. Of his work. That is the Lord's work. An exam of the Lord's work. It says in verse 2: fixing our eyes. on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand Of the throne of God. There needs to be an examin of God's work through his Son. Fixing your eyes.

He becomes the focal point. When you fix your gaze upon Jesus, you turn your eyes away from everything else, and he becomes the focal point. He's the one we examine. And he was the one who surrendered everything, didn't he? He's the one who surrendered the throne. He's the one who surrendered the intimacy with the Father. He was the one who surrendered the companionship of the city of angels there in heaven. He was the one who surrendered everything that he had. He willingly laid aside his attributes.

To take on the form of a man, to become man, that he might learn to bear with us and understand who we are. He is the ultimate model of surrender. Jesus let go of heaven to bring us to God. We must let go of earth to stay close to God. Only truly humble people can really surrender their lives because they see no one else but Jesus. And fifthly, there needs to be a consideration of his ways. The Bible says in verse number three: consider him.

Who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lo heart. There needs to be a consideration. Of his ways. Five articles of surrender. Five things that need to happen if I'm to understand what it means to relinquish the four areas. And that's our second point, and that's what I want to give to you now.

Area number one is this: our possessions. Our possessions. Turn with me over to Luke chapter 14. Now you don't have to have a lot to be attached to it. In fact, you can have something pretty old and pretty decrepit and be attached to it if it occupies more of your time, more of your attention, and more of your devotion than Christ does. If so, then it needs to be surrendered. And you're going to have to be the judge of that, as God talks to you through His Word. However, the more we possess, The more opportunities we have to fill our hands with things other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is that not true? Sure, it is. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these people have got on the bandwagon. All these people have said, You know what, Jesus is pretty interesting. I think I want to follow him. So Luke 14, verse number 25. It says, Now great multitudes were going along with him. He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which one of you, when he wants to build the tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see If he has enough to complete it.

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace. So, therefore, no one of you can be my disciple. Who does not give up all his own possessions? When you come to Christ, you must do what he asks you to do. That's what salvation is. He is the king, he is the master, we are the slaves, and we are to follow him. And Jesus reminds these people: if you want to be one of my people, you've got to be prepared to give it all away. It doesn't mean you can't have possessions.

That's not what the Lord Jesus said. Jesus says, I just don't want your possessions to have you. I want to have you. I want to own you. Because anything that you have that you cannot give away, you don't own it. It own you. Jesus wants to know, do you want him more than you want your things? The first area of surrender we need to look at is our possessions.

Number two is our positions. Our positions. Sometimes we clutch them too tightly. And when we do, those things will hinder our intimacy with God. If we're not careful, we'll look to our job security as a means. A fulfillment. If that's the case, you forfeit intimacy with God. Our titles, our accomplishments, our recognitions that bring strokes. If we live for strokes instead of longing for the Savior, We forfeit intimacy with Him. Our sense of worth, our sense of importance should be wrapped up in God and God alone.

He died for us. He loves us. We are his treasured possession. And we need to hold him dear to us more than our possessions. Not too long ago, someone gave me a tape ser, and that tape series deals with adolescence and the raising of children. It's put together by one of the foremost psychologists of our country. And they asked me to listen to it, and maybe it'd be something I would go over with my children. So I began to listen to the tapes. And as I listened to the tapes, there came a profound s of wrongness about them.

In the first tape centered around the self-est of your child, I found it very interesting that the author very rarely ever used the Bible.

To me, that's a problem. And his solution, or one of three solutions that he gave to a child's low self-est, now follow this through closely with me, is what he called compens. If you are ugly, if you are fat, if you are thin, if your face is full of pimples, Whatever your case may be, and people are making fun of you, and you don't feel very good about yourself. He says you need to find that one area you're good at and excel in that area. So that your self-est will grow. And I listened to this and I thought for a moment: wait a minute.

What does God say about self-esteem? God says you don't have any. In fact, God says if you think good about yourself, you're not going to be able to get into the heaven.

Why? Because heaven is for the poor in spirit. The one who realize they are spiritually bankrupt, they are absolutely worthless before an Almighty God. I listened to this tape and other tapes that went in the series. And the more I listened to them, the more I realized that this man was focusing people off of the word of God. And on to themselves. And as I listened to this, I began to realize there's a major problem here. Because if you teach that to your child, I'm going to get back to my point here in a second.

If you teach that to your child, that child grows up thinking that that one thing he was good at is what makes him feel good about himself. And if that makes you feel good about yourself, you need to pursue that and keep doing that one thing. So, that when you are able to compensate for the feelings of inferiority that you have because of what other people have said to you or done to you, and if you can focus on that one thing, Then the feelings of inferiority will begin to subside because you'll be good at something and you'll be able to build up your self-esteem.

And is it any wonder that when you go to churches today, people say, man, don't talk to me about my sin, man. Don't talk to me about my, don't hurt my self-esteem. I want to feel good about myself. And where does that come from? It comes from the Christian psychologists of our country. Who think they are helping people toward the path? Now, I can be totally off base here, and you can think I'm wack, and that's okay. You 're up to your own, have your own opinion. What I try to say is that people hold on to their positions because they've been raised from childhood on how to develop a self-est, how to feel good about themselves.

And so you go to present the gospel to them, and they don't receive the gospel because the gospel doesn't make you feel good about yourself. See that? We are thwarting the efforts of the evangelical church by helping people feel good about themselves. When the Bible says the only esteem you have is wrapped up in Jesus Christ, who He is, what He did.

And what he wants to do through you, because he chose you, has nothing to do with your talent, your upbringing, your giftedness. You has everything to do with God. And thirdly, the third thing that needs to be surrendered are our plans.

our pl. Are your hopes and are your expectations bas on life turning out as you planned? If they are, I got news for you. Life will never turn out as you plan. And so if your hope and expectations are in your planning efforts, you got problem. James warned about it in James chapter 4. He said, Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, you shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. James doesn't say that we shouldn't plan or set goals or cast vision or even cultivate vision. We must do all these activities realizing that God is in control of all things. And he is the one who ultimately directs our steps. But asking God to direct your plans is not the way to intimacy. We want God to bless our plans, don't we? Instead of discovering God's plan and seeing Him carry His plan to its completion in our life.

There's a difference there. But so many times you say, God, here's my plan today. I want you to bless my plan, bless my efforts. And God says, No, let me be the one who directs the steps.

Let me be the one who goes before you and guides all the plans. Can you honestly say you have no plans but God's plan? Or do you make your own plans without God? If so, that needs to be surrendered. And lastly, people. Is it not true that there are some people that we hold very dear to us, that we are unwilling to surrender? God has people around us to help us through life. To teach us about him. And though we hold them dearly, we should always hold them loose. Yet, so many times we want to hold them tight.

Our children, our spouse, our parents, our dearest friends. They really all belong to him anyway, right? They don't belong to us. And none of them were ever meant to fill the space that only he can fill. But see, that's the problem with holding them too dearly. If that person fills the void in my life that God Himself is supposed to fill, Jesus said this way in Matthew 10, verse number 37. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

God wants no rival affection at all. Now, throw with me one last verse, that's Luke seventeen. And I want to give you three words. Just to sum up our time together this evening. Are you ready? Remember? Lots wife Three words rem lot Wife, Luke 17:3. New Testament sums up this woman in three words and gives us an incredible picture of reality. Entombed in a pillar of salt, her life stands as a warning. That whoever tries to keep his life will lose it. Here's a woman who left her possessions. Here's a woman who left her position.

Here's a woman who left every plan she ever had. And here's a woman who left people she loved dearly. But note and note it well. That she only left them outwardly, she did not leave them inward. A woman who refused to surrender. And God says to you, I want everything.

The discipline of surrender. You will spend the rest of your life learning what that means for you personally. You're not going to surrender things today and say, I'm all done surrendering. It's going to be every single day of your life. For when Paul said, I die daily, that means I surrender it all daily. It'll be something that will have to happen week in and week out until the day you die. But all you got to do. Is remember Lot's wife