Sold Out!

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.