Total Surrender: Embracing Absolute Allegiance to Christ

Brethren, I kind of look at this conference as a mile marker in life much like birthdays, the new year kind of have these signposts along the way these markers here we are at another Denton conference here we are at the end of another Denton conference everybody here is going to drive away from this place very soon and what I want to seek to do in this hour is have you go away able to express before the Lord your unconditional allegiance to him that's my goal surrender to Christ and not just to look at it in theory my goal is that we affirm it that we speak to the Lord our surrender. [00:01:35]

Are we in the habit of doing that in our prayer life Lord I am yours, I am going to do your word I am going to follow your ways, I am surrendered to you Lord I'm all yours, everything everything unless you forsake all that you have you cannot be his disciple, are we affirming that let me tell you something many of you are aware Jonathan Edwards he had resolutions have you ever read those 70 resolutions let me just tell you about several of them in resolution 42 Edwards resolved himself to frequently renew the dedication of himself to God. [00:04:09]

He believed okay you have to recognize that both the Puritan camp and the Anglican camp they talk about making a certain covenant in their baptism we as Baptist we don't talk that way but I just want you to think about the concept here Elaine believed that we are given two more care more watchfulness and more seriousness in our Christian life if we are frequently going back to the Lord and looking up and expressing being transparent before the Lord Lord nothing nothing is held back it's all yours Lord I am all yours I am wholly committed I am reaffirming my allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ to live only for him and to die to self and to cleave to him and he is my only hope and I'm going to serve Him and I'm going to live for him. [00:06:36]

If it be that Christ demands total Allegiance and he does, should we not be committed to it, should we not affirm it, I want us to think I mean come with me now I want us I want us to behold Christ I want us to behold the person that you find in the pages of the four Gospels of your Bible what is he really like I mean let's think for a second what he's really like, now what men oftentimes want to think that he's like but what is he really like I mean have you ever noticed I'm sure you have you talk to people about Jesus of Nazareth. [00:10:29]

The true Christ of scripture he's dangerous and sometimes sometimes disturbing alarming I mean have you you you listen to him you have heard it said you shall not commit adultery Moses said that seventh commandment you have heard it said but I say unto you well what did he say he he trumping Moses and he's saying but I say what did he say he said if you even look on a woman with lustful intent you've already committed adultery with her in your heart and he says this you better tear out that right eye and cast it away from you for it's better for you to go without that member into life and he uses this term than to be thrown into hell. [00:12:27]

He claimed to be Lord he claimed to be king he claimed to be the son of man he claimed to be master he's he's in his 30s he claims to be the I am think of the claims he did this Christ of scripture not the one that's a figment of men's imaginations he claimed that he had no sin he claimed that he could forgive sin he claimed to be the only way to God he claimed he was God he claimed that he came to give his life a ransom for many he claimed to be the savior of the world and I'll tell you this he claimed men's allegiance he came and he insisted that he be believed on and that he be followed. [00:15:43]

He did not hesitate this is this is the Christ who does not hesitate to be walking along one day look over to man who's fully employed in his business as a tax collector there he is he's busy he's about his business he's he's collecting his taxes and Jesus says to him follow me can you imagine that he actually expected him to follow him follow me any minute I mean what are we going to do with this Christ he actually he actually expects people to leave everything and follow him and the thing is Matthew did it I mean how unreasonable and inconvenient is that just to get up and leave your whole life behind but this beloved is the Christ of Scripture without hesitation he called men to absolute surrender. [00:16:40]

The rich young ruler we call him he ran up to Jesus he knelt before him Jesus loved him and you know what Jesus loved him too much to waste his time too much to skirt the real issues he didn't mince words he laid it on the line young man do you want eternal life you say yes okay surrender surrender eternal life is to be found in surrendering oneself to Christ to be saved the way Christ saves many people have a wrong idea about how the Lord saves sell it all give to the poor follow me listen this is not works this is Jesus saying do you want to be saved well I always save people into conformity to me I always save people in a certain way I save people from their idols if you want to be saved it's not just the guilt aspect of your sin he saves the way he saves. [00:18:37]

Brethren, turn with me to Matthew 6 because if anyone is hesitating is it really necessary that we reaffirm our surrender yes it is our Lord taught us so he taught us in the very way to pray that we should be doing this as one of the pillars of our prayer life say where Matthew 6 9 and 10 pray then like this this is no legalistic prescription for prayer we get an idea about that because we find numerous examples of Christians in our Bibles praying and they never prayed this verbatim this is a guide for how to pray this contains the spirit of prayer this is the Lord teaching us what is important to consider when approaching God but notice is our Father in heaven our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven notice that I will be done every time we pray Jesus is teaching us fresh surrender you say thy will be done on earth you know we can distance ourselves from that well yeah all out here thy will be done earth brethren you are on earth that's where we are when you're lifting up your voice thy will be done that is a that is a prayer that is a component of prayer that is reaffirming surrender every time this is the attitude this is the spirit this is the heart that Christ is teaching his disciples ought to be evident ought to be present when we go anew I mean when we lift up our voices when we turn our eyes to heaven there should be this surrender to his will a fresh surrender a fresh reaffirming that's what we find all over again new every morning we're to acknowledge our surrender there it is I will be done my house my comforts my pleasures Lord all of it my convenience my old age my young age I surrender all I am and have to your will take me have me do with me as you desire thy will be done rather than resigned surrendered to be used by the Lord as he wills for some of us for some of us it may mean Lord I surrender I will go to Lebanon and for somebody else that will mean Lord I under I will not continue to hold on to this desire to go to Lebanon Lord I put my child on the altar I surrender Lord if it's your will that he still be lost a year from now I surrender brethren in all the surrender were surrendering to his will still in his will he tells us to pray he tells us to pray in his name he tells us to pray that her joy may be full I mean that the thing is surrendering to him is not all drudgery surrendering to him is surrendering to his love its surrendering to his kindness its surrendering to his goodness its surrendering to the reality that that child I just laid on the altar may very well be saved next year it rather there is fear I know it there is fear to speak this way to the Lord there tends to be a hesitancy and there tends to be a reservation in us to willingly and honestly pass every single aspect of our life beneath the gaze of this all allegiance demanding Christ we know it there's a hesitation there's a fear why because we don't know what tomorrow brings we don't know what he may put us through that's why we hesitate because when we put it all on the altar you know what when you put Isaac on the altar he may demand Isaac and you put it all out there and it's we're afraid we're often afraid we have these fears that what if he takes away that thing that I just feel like I need and I know that there's fears because I know I know you I know me the fear is what will happen if I do is surrender especially that one particular area of my life we fear we hesitate we get nervous what will he require he always requires things of us that we don't want to give up and he gives us things that are far better than the things that we do give up brethren he has not promised to call us to an easy road and he's not promised to call us to a road without suffering we need to be ready and resigned the suffering is coming brethren the pain and the sorrows and the tears in this life they're all ahead of us but there's glory beyond that and there's lots there's lots of glory in this life as well and being surrendered to him he could bring revival tomorrow it could bring cancer tomorrow I mean that's been the reality of church history that's been the reality of our brethren that have gone before us but being surrendered we don't want to fight because brethren he never puts us through anything that isn't for our good he always does what he does with purpose and it had always done with love it is more than I would just say this to us as we hesitate you think about this Christ who demands all of our allegiance has he not led you in the best possible way has he not been kind to you we heard about his Providence's had had had they always been easy know but brethren do we not have a promise in Scripture that they're all being worked out for our good do we not have the promise that has the father loved Christ he says so I love you did he not tell us that he came to give us life more abundantly you see these things we hold on to we get this idea I have to protect this because Lord the truth is I just I just really believe that I know how better to handle this thing than you do because I really think that if something happens to this over here that I'm not going to be able to be happy and satisfied and content any longer and I'm just really nervous about surrendering this thing to you because you may come in and do something that I don't want you to do but brethren we are just word we're infants were children we don't know what is best for us and he knows and I guarantee when he comes and he comes any cuts it is good it is good for us we can trust and brethren is he not always done everything that leads us to believe we can trust him you see it's a trust issue that fear when it crops up it's a trust issue and he tells us I love you he tells us I came that you might have life more abundantly brethren we we try to hold on to things and you as Christian you know this how often have we been in that place oh we're trying to hold on to this thing we're trying to protect this thing and and the longer we try to hold on to it and protect it and keep it from him and shelter it and hold it back the more miserable we become and when you let it go joy I mean that the cases are many-fold you Don Johnson in his arrowheads many of you have heard that story Corrie ten Boom and the Nazis you can read the chapter there Hudson Taylor those of you that got that just concerning the the mission it men and women throughout history they come to these points of resignation and what happens is it is it misery no it's joy there is so much joy and surrendered because brethren when we're surrendered he may take us through suffering and he may take us through sorrows you read about Richard warm brand he's surrendered surrendered and there he is in his cell in the place glowed the presence with so amazing surrendered they would beat him he said there was there was times when they would beat those prisoners and with every stroke he said he felt greater love for the guy that was beating him it's like bang and just but being surrendered the Lord brethren there's there are blessings for those who walk a surrendered life and to the degree as Christians that we walk that way we are going to know joy the Christians that are most difficult and most unruly and most trying to rule and govern their own lives are the Christians that are going to be most miserable and are going to feel the least amount of joy and listen if it's habitual with you yeah I know what the Lord says but I'm I'm not doing it I mean you're the man that built this house on the sand you cannot be his disciple but see we as Christians we we know this do we not don't you don't you have times in your life you feel surrendered you desire to be surrendered and then you have other times where that Idol crept in and you begin protecting it and the Lord begins to deal with you he begins to touch your conscience you know it you know what the thing is you might try to deny it you might try to look the other way but you know there's a point it doesn't he always test our surrender he does on a regular basis he does he tests us just like with those inner circle just like John 6 he looks I mean something's going on with other people and he looks at you are you are you surrendered to me all for me all beloved it's an issue of trust does he demand our unconditional surrender you know he does but not as a tyrant as one who's come to save us as long as come to take us to glory as one who promised a thief next to him paradise this is the Christ who promises paradise he knows the way when he says follow me he's saying this is the way to God this is the way to glory follow me that thing you think you need so much let it let it go because he's going to say to us the same thing he said to the rich young ruler you let that go and you follow me I know brethren it that is that is the sweet way when we're following and were resigned he's never failed us he'd never given us reason to believe that he's not worthy of all of our trust brethren it's like Paul says I appeal to you by the mercies of God present yourselves as these living sacrifices all for God all on the altar totally surrendered brethren has he not indicated to us that every single thing he takes away it's always always for a purpose the Lord's dealing with lasar never meaningless he has a plan and it is perfect and it is to make us into his image and it's not the easy path brethren I am NOT promising any of you that over the next year till we all meet again that is going to be easy some of us are going to discover such things some of us are going to go through some glorious blessings there's a time when He pours out that which we delight in and there's time when he pours out that which is difficult sometimes they're intermingled but they're coming are you resigned yes Lord I'm resigned to what you say in the word I am resigned to love my wife I am resigned to submit to my husband I am resigned to train my children in the way that you would have me to train them I'm submitted with regards to their spiritual condition Lord my money is resigned you say to store up treasure in heaven I'm going to seek to do that use my possessions I see those brethren in the early days they sold possessions to meet each other's needs I recognize you want us to love one another I recognize you want us to not forsake the assembling together I recognize that when we have meals we should invite people that can't pay us back I recognize that you call us Lord to to put to death sin in our lives you call us to be people of prayer you call us to be people that are abiding in your word Lord we recognize you call us to surrender you call us to follow you call us to die you call us to evangelize the world or you are calling us to walk through whatever comes trusting fully committed to allegiance to him brethren when it gets hard and it does get hard brethren as as we're resigned he's going to stretch us there is going to there's going to be seasons which are difficult and there are going to be seasons where you feel like I tried to resign myself and it just feels like he wants more and more and more that I just don't hardly feel that I have the reserves to be able to give brethren when it gets hard you just let your eyes go over to the cross you let them settle in the Garden of Gethsemane you watch him being so wrenched that blood comes from him you watched his anguish and you hear him not my will but thine be done when it gets difficult to set your highs on Calvary's set your eyes on our Lord suffering a man of sorrows and he learned obedience as he went through all these sufferings and he went and he yet went forward and he didn't depart from that line at all watch his example because he's beckoning every one of us right now follow me follow me be committed brethren go out of this place this is the desire my message today we go out of this place committed to follow him committed to be people of his word committed to read it in his word and do it not be hearers only but doers of this word doers of the words of Christ keeping his Commandments following him seeking to be like him seeking to imitate him he said brethren he has a yoke a yoke and he calls us to take that yoke and a yoke that's an instrument of surrender and he said if you do you'll know his rest I'm this would be a year of rest for all of us not an easy year but rest because we've got the yoke on our necks well brethren there's simplicity the gospel this removes all sorts of complications right one Lord that's simple there's a great simplicity in the end it you know who it's not it's not me we want to get away from that oxymoron we heard about no Lord Lord I just I kind of think I can I know better how to deal with the situation than you do surrender yes Lord say yes to him I want us all to leave here yes Lord yes you are enough if I have you though you strip everything else away I am satisfied brethren surrender to his love you look to that cross he came to give his life as a ransom think of his love surrender to the love if he did that for you he certainly is not going to require anything of you that would harm you surrender brethren surrender listen as we end here just listen to this prayer that they would pray in these covenant renewal services again is that this is what I want us resonating through ourselves and saying to the Lord I want you to say this brethren I am no longer my own and we needed we needed to think we need to stop and think and be honest they transparent Lord I am NOT my own I belong to you I've been bought with a price Lord by your grace I am going to seek to not live for myself not for my comfort and pleasure not for myself primarily if the Lord if you bring some measure of comfort and and if you bring some measure of worldly ease or good I will praise your name I not mine Lord if it's to the desert you singles Lord if this time next year you still want me single Lord it's not what I desire but I surrender Lord I'm surrendered if that's the path you want me to walk I'm surrendered I look to you Lord to give me the grace to be faithful to you to walk that path that you have for me those of you who have a great desire for something you can lay that on the altar not that you stop praying and asking the Lord to give give you all manner of good things but if the Lord chooses not to I'm surrendered if the Lord chooses to give it to me I'm surrendered I'm not mine but dine put me to what thou wilt rank me with whom thou wilt put me to doing put me to suffering let me be employed for thee or laid aside for the exalted for thee or brought low for thee we can pray these things being brought low for Christ the valley of humiliation and very often the devil meets you down in that Valley we're not talking about ease but surrender and rest not ease but we will find rest for our souls in this yoke the yoke doesn't chafe this is a good yoke it takes you to glory let me be full let me be empty let me have all things let me have nothing I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal and now o glorious and blessed God Father Son and Holy Spirit thou art mine and I am thine so be it the Covenant which I have made unearth let it be ratified in heaven amen. [00:33:33]