Sold Out!
Romans 12:1 4/12/2007
Have you ever picked up the paper and saw something that you have wanted in some sale? You run down to the store, only to find out that it has been “sold out”. If you said yes, then more than likely then you have shopped before on what they call, “Black Friday”. “Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when they have all these early bird sales to try and snag your money before anyone else can.
Now I admit that if you can fight the crowds and you don’t mind getting up and standing in the lines, you can get some incredible deals. But there have been times that I have gone to buy one of those “good deals” only to find out that it has been sold out. That is a bad sold out, and that is not what we will be talking about this morning. When you hear the term “Sold Out” you have to look at the context in which it is used. Sold out can be used in the context as we described before as pertaining to retail or “sold out” can mean that you are 100% behind something. Now I think you know where I am going with this message.
But before you can be sold out on anything, you have to surrender. That is what I want to talk to you about this morning; being “sold out” or surrendering to God.
Now often times when we hear the word surrender, we think about it in a negative way. We think about someone holding up a white flag, or if you are a Ultimate Fighting Championship fan, it would be likened to tapping out or submitting to your opponent. One of Webster’s definitions to the word surrender would be to give up; once again, a negative meaning. But this morning we are going to look at the word surrender in a positive way as referring to surrendering to Christ. If you have your Bibles look with me the blueprint for doing so found in Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
So how can we surrender all and by doing so being sold out for Christ? The first and most important way that we can is by…
Surrendering Yourself
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
By surrendering yourself to God you are relying on a relationship to God that is available through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Now to surrender to God you have to realize that you can do nothing within yourself. You can be a good person, live the right life, but you without receiving Christ are just as lost as the most wicked person you know. Trying to earn your own way to heaven is a lost cause. You have to surrender yourself that you can not make it on your own; you have to rely solely upon Jesus by entering into a personal relationship with Him.
To enter into that relationship with Him, might mean that you might have to surrender something else. You might be thinking that someday after you have had your fun, you will accept Him as your Savior. The problem with that thought is that “some day” may never come. Every week you may hear me say as I give the invitation that today is the day for salvation, because you are not guaranteed another day, in fact you are not guaranteed another hour or even another minute. I don’t know if I’m getting old but I find myself looking more and more at the obituaries. And what I notice is more and more people are dying. Some are older than me and then more and more younger than me. Everyday you pick up the paper and you can read about someone at a young age dying. It happens, do not delay, surrender to God today.
It is a free gift. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing you have to do, other than accept the gift that He has already paid for. He accepts you just the way you are. You can get someone a gift, but it is not a gift until they accept it. If you were to buy me something and you let me know that you have something for me; it doesn’t become mine till I accept the gift. Accept the gift that God has provided by giving His only Son to pay our sin dept by surrendering to Him.
The next thing you need to surrender is…
Surrender your will
To have the joy and to enjoy the new life that you have received by accepting the gift of Jesus Christ, you need to surrender your will. When Jesus was teaching us to pray, He said, “Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven”.
Even Christ right before His crucifixion prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.
Surrender your will. Sometimes God may ask you to do something that you might not understand, or you might just not agree with it. But His will be done, and not yours. I think about Abraham. God told Abraham in Genesis 22:2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Now you have to understand that circumstances surrounding this, and I don’t believe that God will ask you to do anything like that today. And if you read the rest of the story, Abraham didn’t have to either, God was simply testing his faith.
But God has many times in my life as He may in yours, ask you to do some things that you don’t or won’t and may not ever understand. But understand this. God has a plan.
Personal surrender to Almighty God means that we are choosing to give God control! Picture in your minds, you and your life are compared to an automobile! You can steer your car anyway you want to - you can follow any roadmap that you choose - and, you can arrive anywhere that you decide to go. But, let’s suppose that you decide to move over to the passenger side of the car and let someone else make all of those decisions. It is still your car and you have the ability to take back control; but, you choose not to do so. That, is very much like what is happening when we live lives of "personal surrender" to God! God does not wrestle control of our lives away from our hands - He does not beg and plead with us to let Him take over the steering wheel! Rather, God gives us the choice; and, even after we have offered Him control, we are still doing so voluntarily! At any given point in time, we can seize control from Him! When we surrender our lives to God, we are allowing Him to steer for us - we are allowing God to assist us in making the right decisions - and, we are giving God permission to determine the direction of our lives! At any moment in time, we can grab hold of that steering wheel and take over; however, every time we do so, we will eventually come to recognize our mistake; and, we will need to hand control back over to God! God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.
The next way we need to surrender to Him is…
Surrender our Service
Romans 12:6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:
We all have been given gifts. You have heard the saying that someone has a “God given talent”. The truth of the matter is all of our talents are God given. My question is, are you using those talents or gift for Him.
There is a parable of a man who gave talents to his servant’s while he went out of town. To one he gave 5, another 2, and to another 1. When he returned, each one appeared before him and reported to him what they did with the talents that they he had gave them. The one with 5 invested and made 10 talents, likewise the one with 2 made his 2, 4. And each one heard the same words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things, Enter into the joy of your Lord.
But the one who had the one talent went and buried the talent in the ground. And when he appeared his master, he was told.
Matthew 25:26-29 "But his lord answered and said to him, ’You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ’For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
Will be taken away. Some day you will stand before a righteous God and you will have to give an account for what you have done with the talent He has given you. Will you hear, “Well done” or will they hear, “You wicked and lazy servant”. Surrender your service.
The last thing we need to surrender is…
Surrender you Sin
Romans 6:11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is a whole sermon in itself. But let me just cover some of the basics. In order to have the right relationship with God, you need to surrender your sin. We all have weaknesses and even though we might try to keep them a secrete, I can tell you who else knows about them. God of course does, but also adversary the devil knows as well.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Don’t keep falling into that sin, surrender it too God. Tell Him, God, I can’t deal with this. I surrender it to you. Take my yoke upon You. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one.
It may be the sin of un-forgiveness. Maybe there is someone who is here today whom you have a grudge against.
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
You may be thinking, I can’t forgive them; you don’t know what they have done to me. You’re right, and by yourself you may not. But surrender to God and He will help you to forgive them.
Surrender our fears. Fear can be a sin. Worry as some call it.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Do you have a problem that you have struggled with? Surrender it to God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4a Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation,
So do you surrender all? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? Have you surrendered your will to serve Him with the talents He has given you? Do you have any sin that you are struggling with that you need to surrender to Him? Why not surrender all to Him this morning.
