Surrendered Saints

Surrendered Saints

Text: Rom.12: 1-2

Intro: Stephen F. Olford has said, “What God wants today is new men, rather than new methods; surrendered people, rather than just saved people, for it is possible to be saved yet not surrendered.”(1) One doesn’t have to think about it too long to know that that statement is true. It isn’t difficult to find people who have been converted to Christ. It is difficult however, to find people who are both converted and committed to Him.

In the chapters prior to Romans twelve, Paul dealt in detail with the salvation and sanctification of the saints. In this chapter, Paul’s intent is to show that the purpose of salvation is that the saint might live a surrendered life to the glory of God. He is promoting the idea that the child of God, because of what God has done for him in Christ, is to live a life that is consecrated and committed to His service.

This is a vitally important truth in these last days. Our world has become so full of corruption, chicanery, and charlatans that the average worldling scarcely knows what is real anymore. This is especially true when it comes to the truth about God. One of the best ways for the lost world to come to know the truth about God is to see it lived out in the lives of surrendered saints; those who are fully committed to pleasing God.

Paul’s words in Romans 12: 1-2 help us see the importance of being a surrendered saint. Let’s be careful to apply these truths to our own lives as God makes us aware of them today.

Theme: In Romans 12: 1&2, Paul reveals the:

I. THE DIVINE OBLIGATION OF SURRENDER

A. We Are Obligated By The Expression Of Divine Love.

NOTE: Mercy is love in action, shown to an inferior by a superior. As sinners who had violated the righteous standard of a holy God, we were totally undeserving of any expression of God’s love toward us. Yet, God did just that for every lost sinner. Notice however, that Paul uses the word “mercies,” not merely “mercy.” God has shown man His mercy and love in numerous ways; thus Paul’s usage of the plural.

1. God’s love has been expressed through His justification of the believing sinner.

Rom.3: 24 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

2. God’s love has been expressed through His sanctification of the saint.

Rom.8: 29a “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”

I Thess.4: 3a “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification…”

3. God’s love has been expressed through His glorification of those born again by faith in the Savior.

Rom.8: 30c “…whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

NOTE: [1] When Paul speaks of the saint’s glorification, he is referring to the ultimate transformation of the believer’s body at the Rapture. At that time, the children of God will exchange their mortal body for a glorified and immortal body (I Cor.15: 53b “…this mortal must put on immortality”).

[2] Without any merit on man’s part, God expressed His love in the death of His Son for man’s sin. It is much like the following true story:

Richard Armstrong, Make Your Life Worthwhile, reports the story about a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said “Yes.” The couple, both 74, recently became “Mr. and Mrs.” For more than 40 years, the persistent, but rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor’s door. But she continually refused to speak and mend the spat that had parted them many years before. After writing 2, 184 love letters without ever getting a spoken or written answer, the single-hearted old man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person. He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady’s house and asked for her hand. To his delight and surprise, she accepted. Imagine God’s dilemma. Time and time again He has tried to get His message of love through to His human creation with little response. Finally, when there was no other way, He wrapped up His message and came in person. What a revelation of God’s love to you and me!(2)

[3] Christ’s death on Calvary for undeserving sinners was the perfect expression of divine love.

A certain medieval monk announced he would be preaching next Sunday evening on “The Love of God.” As the shadows fell and the light ceased to come in through the cathedral windows, the congregation gathered. In the darkness of the altar, the monk lighted a candle and carried it to the crucifix. First of all, he illumined the crown of thorns, next, the two wounded hands, then the marks of the spear wound. In the hush that fell, he blew out the candle and left the chancel. There was nothing else to say.(3)