Dr. Charles Stanley: As best
you know your heart, are you fully surrendered to
Jesus Christ, who is not only your Savior, but your Lord? Can you say, "Yes, I'm
surrendered to the Lord"? Or would you, like most people,
have to say, "Well now, back yonder, I can tell you when
I got saved"? Well, we're not talking about
salvation. We're talking about living a
surrendered life, a life that's willing to be honest and open,
willing to believe the Word of God, willing to honestly and
truly acknowledge that when Jesus went to the cross, He took
all of our sin debt in full, willing to acknowledge that God
has a will for all of our lives, and willing to acknowledge that
God has the right to expect us to say, "I surrender." You see, that phrase, I
surrender, is demanding. It requires something. It's one thing to say it to
somebody, but to say it to God, I surrender, I surrender what? I surrender myself, all that I
am, all that I have. Lord, I surrender everything. Listen carefully. That's what He's listening for. That's what He is expecting. That's what He died for. That's His perfect will for all
of us, to be able to say, "Lord, I surrender." What do I surrender? I don't just surrender this or
that, that I have. I surrender my will to You. I want You to have your will in
my life. I yield everything. I don't have my grip on
anything. I want Your perfect will in my
life. Now, what we surrender wouldn't
be the same for all of us. Some people have to surrender
this, some people have to surrender that. Only you know what is in your
life that maybe God has been talking to you about for a long
time, maybe a short period of time. But you know when you get down
to pray, this thing keeps cropping up. There's something you keep
thinking about. So, what do you do? You tell God about it. You ask Him to forgive you of
your sin and you move on your way. You say, "Well, I know
I'm forgiven." Right. And yet, two weeks later, two
months later, next day, you're still dealing with it; whole
issue, am I surrendered? Surrender is not easy. It's the giving up of my right. It's the giving up of something. It's the giving up of an
attitude, some thing. It's giving up some opportunity. But surrender is not easy. And when Jesus, in those last
hours of His life, was seated with His disciples around the
table and we celebrate the Lord's Supper and we talk about
what a beautiful scene that was and so forth. But that wasn't such a beautiful
scene. Because listen to what the
Scripture says, "And He came out and proceeded as was His custom
to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed Him. and when He arrived at the
place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into
temptation.' And He withdrew from them about
a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying,
'Father, if You're willing, remove this cup from Me, yet not
My will, but Yours be done.'" Jesus was dealing with this
whole issue of the surrender of His will to the Father. You say, "Well, He grew up
surrendered to the Father. He's always known." At the most critical moments of
His life, He's asking the Father, "If it's Your will." And we know that it was the
Father's will for Him to be crucified. And that's exactly what
happened. But He was willing to ask the
Father if it's possible for this cup to pass from Me, "Yet not My
will, but Your will be done." When is the last time you ever
said to God, "Lord, I want Your will; not my will,
but Your will. Whatever You want in my life's
what I want. Whatever You want out of my
life, I want it out of my life"? But if, above everything else,
I want Your will to be done in my life. See, for a general,
that means defeat. For a follower of Jesus, it
means absolute victory. So, think about your own life
for a moment. When's the last time in your
prayer time, you've said, "Lord, full surrender." So, when I was thinking about
this and getting ready for this morning, I decided I'd check
myself out. So, I took a walk, took a pretty
good sized walk, and when I'd finished, I'd ask the Lord,
"Lord, search every part of me. If there's anything in my life
that's not right, or even the things that are good, whatever
it may be, just show me where I am." So I took a walk and I came back
to my original point and I thought, "Well, I don't want to
miss anything, so I'm going to take another walk." So I did the same thing again,
came back and I wanted to be sure there's nothing hidden,
nothing deep down inside, nothing un-surrendered to Him. Because you see, that's what
everybody has to deal with. It's one thing to say I believe
in Jesus. It's one thing to say my name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's one thing to say I believe
the Word of God. It's one thing to say I'm
trying to live a Christian life. It's something else to say,
"Father, I surrender." What is it that needs to be
surrendered? Many people trust the Lord Jesus
Christ as their Savior, but He never has all of them. They never come to the place of
surrendering themselves to the Lord. Because you see, when you get
saved, it's a matter of forgiveness of sin, and my
name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and now I belong
to the Lord God. What an awesome, wonderful
feeling that is, but what about the other side of that? And here is Jesus speaking with
the Father. He's committed to the Father,
but in these last moments before His crucifixion, what is He
saying? He's saying, "Not My will, but
Your will be done." When is the last time you prayed
that prayer? Father, not my will, but Your
will be done. Maybe He's brought something up
into your life that you have been clinging to, not
necessarily hiding, but you've just over there. You've never surrendered
it to God. When is the last time you said,
"Lord, open the door to the closets of my life and let's see
everything that's there. And let's be sure when I close
this door, the closet is empty, I'm fully surrendered." Many people, most people, will
probably spend their lives talking and praying to God about
this and that and giving God this, that, and the other; and
yet, never fully surrendering themselves to Him. Was it easy for Jesus to say,
"Not My will, but Your will be done." No, it wasn't because He grew up
in a nation where crucifixion was a form of punishment. He must have seen many times men
hanging on a cross, bleeding, crying, talking, whatever it
might have been. He knew what crucifixion was all
about. And He also knew that the
Father's will for Him was to be crucified and bear the sin of
everybody upon Himself. He knew that. So, when I look at this passage
and He says, "Father, if You are willing," listen to this, "If
You're willing, remove this cup from Me." Is there any other way to do
this besides crucifixion? "Yet not My will,
but Yours be done." So, I ask you this question. What is there in your life, as a
follower of Jesus, you're still clinging to? It may not, listen, it may not
even be a sin, but it's not the will of the Father for you. It may not be something you've
done, it's something that you're holding on to. So, you say, "Well, I'm not
guilty of this and I'm not guilty of that." Is there something in your will
that you've never surrendered? Can you say, "As best I know my
heart, I'm totally yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ as my
Savior and my Lord. Whatever He wants is
what I want. Whatever He wills is
what I will. I yield my will to Him. I want Him to have all of me"? Most people would have to say,
"Lord, You can have all of me, but I know this over--this, it's
really not that wrong, God. And nobody's perfect. So, I just want to thank You. I yield myself to You, except
everybody has some weakness in life. Lord, that's mine. Thank You, Father, for--thank
You You understand." No-no-no-no-no-no. That's not the way God operates. And the reason so many people
are living hindered in their Christian walk is simply because
they've never yielded themselves totally to Him. You say, "Well, what do you mean
yield him yourself?" I mean you come before the Lord,
you open your heart to Him and you say to Him, "Whatever is in
my life that does not please You, not please me, please You,
I want You to take it out. I'm willing to confess, repent,
walk away, give it up, lay it down. I want to be totally yielded to
You." Because, listen, you can never
become the person God wants you to be holding on to something
that doesn't fit you. You can never enjoy the
blessings of God as long as you're holding on to something
that blocks a blessing. And I think about people who
live, maybe saved early in life, but never fully surrender. And they will boast about their
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And I think about all of these
wonderful songs we sing and how beautiful they are. What is there in your life that
God's put His finger on, so to speak, He's brought it
to your mind. It's the one thing that when
you pray and you bless God and praise Him and sing and
wonderful Hallelujah. You go home after church and you
talk about what a fantastic music program we have and how
you love standing up and singing the songs over and over
and over again. What about the thing that you've
not talked about? What is there in your life
that's keeping you from being able to say, "Yes, Lord!" Everything, not most things, not
some things, everything. Put Your finger on anything and
everything You see in my life that doesn't fit Your perfect
will, I surrender. I think about people who live
their whole lives never fully surrender themselves
to the Lord. Maybe you got saved
early in life. I was only twelve. I never heard the word surrender
when I was twelve years of age. And so, I think about people who
are saved early in life. They get baptized. They go to church. They join the church. They do all the things that
church members supposedly do. They go to a church where the
gospel is sort of preached, you know, not really fully, but just
sort of, so nobody gets upset. And so, they never hear, they
never hear, "Are you surrendered to Jesus Christ?" We say, "Well, He's the Lord of
my life." Now, think about that. You can say, "Jesus is the Lord
of my life," and that can mean different things to
different people. He is the Lord and He is in
my life, but is He the Lord of my life? Am I fully surrendered,
am I yielded to Him? When a general says, "I
surrender," what does He do? He gives up freedom, liberty and
all rights, everything. When we come to Jesus, we say
"I, Lord, I want to surrender my life to You. Now, nobody's perfect, God, so I
know there'll always be a few things over here that don't
please You, but I'm going to do my best, Lord, but," and we
rationalize it. And I think that one of the
reasons that so many Christians are so unhappy, and you come to
church--and I wouldn't dare accuse you of anything. I love this fellowship, but it's
easy to come to church and just get all caught up in these
wonderful songs and, praise God, you want to shout. You can if you'd like. You can shout. But when the shouting's over,
can you honestly say, "Yes, Lord, I surrender my life
totally to You. I want what You want. I will what You will. You can remove what's
not of You. You can add what you
want to add." That's what Jesus was doing. He was making the final
surrender of Himself to the Father and to the cross,
crucifixion and death. It's easy for us to paint a
pretty good picture of what the Christian life's all about. We talk about answered prayer. We talk about our name is
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We talk about all of these
beautiful songs. We talk about all of the
promises of God in the Bible. We can go on and on and on. But what about surrender? Can I honestly say, "Lord Jesus,
in my total life, I want full surrender. No grip of anything,
full surrender. Send me where You
want to send me. Take what You want to take. Send what You want to send. Full surrender"? That's what Jesus was doing. In the shadow of the cross, He
was saying to the Father, "Whatever You want, not My will,
but Yours be done." When is the last time you
honestly said personally to the Lord, "Father, in every area of
my life, I want Your will to be done. Not my will, but Your will. Whatever pleases You is what
I want to--that's what I want, Lord"? He wants you to trust Him
absolutely, fully with your life, believing that He will
guide you, lead you, enable you to become the person God wants
you to be. And I think with so many people
who have talents and abilities and skills that never give
them to God. And I think about people who
have reached, and I'm probably the oldest person here this
morning, but I think about people who have come a long ways
in their life. They've been blessed in many
ways, but they've never said, "Lord, I fully surrender myself
to You, no strings attached. I'm not holding on to anything. I want what You want. Take what You want to take. Here's my life." That's what
discipleship's about. That's what Lordship is about. If I should ask you, "Is
Jesus Lord of your life?" the natural tendency would be
to say, "Yes." Well, if He's the Lord of your
life, that means He's in charge of everything: our conversation,
our character, our conduct, all submissive to Him. What would happen in your life
if you absolutely, fully surrendered yourself totally to
Him, no strings attached? Lord, here's my life. What would happen in your life? What would happen to
your prayer life? What would happen
to your giving? What would happen to your
conversations with other people? What would happen to your heart
for people, whether in your family or you work with or
whoever it might be, that you know are not saved. What would happen in your life
if you fully surrendered yourself to Jesus Christ? Fully surrendered, holding
nothing back. I surrender everything, I yield
everything, Lord. In your mind, if you were to say
today, "Lord Jesus, yes, I surrender everything in my
life to You," how do you think God would respond? He doesn't want what you own,
He wants you. He wants the surrender
of yourself. God can handle, listen, He can
take anything we have anytime He gets ready. That's not the issue. The issue is does He have me? Does He have you? What is it that you
hold back on? What is it that's keeping you
from being able to sing with all your heart? All to Jesus I surrender, watch
that, not some, some to Jesus I surrender. No, all to Jesus I surrender,
all to Him I freely give. Have you ever said that
to Him in prayer? I want You to have
everything, Lord. Yield myself to You completely. And Jesus had been seated around
the table with His disciples, and you remember when you read
these passages that the disciples were thinking about
other things, and they were arguing with each other about
who's the greatest among them, and here's Jesus facing
the cross. Can you imagine what God would
do in your life if you said, "Lord, I've been playing
Christian long enough. I've been touting that I'm a
child of God long enough. I want You to have everything. Starting today, I want You to
have everything. I surrender all that I am to
You"? Do you know why most people
won't do it? It's the devil's trick. But do you know why
they won't do it? They're afraid that God is going
to take something they want that they're holding on to. And they'll say, "Well,
suppose," and I've had people tell me, "Suppose God takes
my son." What kind of God do you
think He is? Suppose He does this. This idea of God that He's just
waiting to do something that's horrible and painful. That's not who God is. He just wants you to surrender
yourself to Him so He can bless you, bless others through you,
and give you the opportunity of enjoying a side of the Christian
life that most people will never enjoy. What would it take in your life
for you to say, "Lord, I fully surrender myself
to You, totally. Whatever You want, God,
is what I want"? The Christian life is a way of
life led by the Lord Jesus Christ who lives within us, who
has the very, very best from God's point of view. Does that mean no sickness, no
sorrow, no heartache, no wants, no needs? That's not what that
means at all. Because some of those things
that we don't want in our life, God wants them in our life for
the simple reason He knows that's what it'll take to finish
off, to sand out, to carve out of our life things that are
hindering us, keeping us from being the person He wants
us to be. And if I should ask you: do you
want to be the person God wants you to be? Naturally, you'd say yes. If I said, "Well now,
here's the price." More than likely you'd say,
"Well, let me think about that again. I'm not sure that's what
I'm willing." The disciples were arguing about
all kind of stuff around who's going to be the greatest among
them, and they discuss this and discuss that. And what Jesus was concerned
about and thinking about this, He said, "Father, if there's any
other way to do this, but not My will but Your will be done." If you had to surrender yourself
to the Lord Jesus Christ fully, completely, no strings attached,
nothing withholding from Him, what would that mean in
your life? What is it that you're holding
on to you know in your life already that God doesn't
want there? Is it somebody? Is it some thing? Is it a way of life? Is it a habit in your life? What is it that's keeping you
from being fully, totally surrendered to Jesus Christ as
the Lord of your life? Because we do, we know this. He has the best plan. You can't improve on God's love. Can't improve on eternal life. What will it take to bring you
to full surrender to Jesus and discover what He would do in
your life if you gave Him full charge? Say, "Lord, here's my life." Do you want to live your life
and just wonder what would happen? See, the Christian life is not
what most people think it is. And some people will tell you,
"No, I'm not going to be a Christian," because they have an
idea if you become a Christian, you give up all fun. You give up your rights. You have to love even
the wicked. And on and on and on they go. But the truth is, when you
surrender your life to Christ fully, life begins at its best. That's when life begins
at its best. So, what will it take
to get you there? What change would you have to
make this morning if you said, "Before I walk out of this
building, I'm going to be fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus
Christ as my Savior"? What would it take? What would happen in your life
if you really and truly surrendered your whole being to
Him and just said, "God, whatever You want is what I
want. Whatever You will is what I
will, and I'm listening, ready to be obedient"? What changes do you think He'd
make in your life? You may be surprised, He
wouldn't make as many changes as you think. But I have to think about this. I can either fully surrender my
life to Jesus or I can keep playing this game that, "I'm
going to do the best I can, Lord. I'm going to do the best I can. Nobody's perfect. I know You fully understand,
God." Yes, He does. He fully understands what you're
missing, but He's not going to force you into life at its best. Life at its best is a life fully
surrendered. Life at its best is a life that
discovers just how much God truly loves you. He forgives us of our sin. He writes our name in the Lamb's
Book of Life, never be erased. He's fixed it so that whenever
we die, we're going to heaven. And He's also made it possible
for us to live this life here with difficulty, hardships,
troubles, and trials? Yes. But anchored to eternal life. Anchored to the God who is in
control of all things and who will get us to heaven one
of these days. Now, listen carefully. If you don't have Jesus, what do
you have that gives you any assurance about anything today,
tomorrow, next year, until death? If you don't have Jesus,
what do you have? If I should ask you: do you
believe the Bible? "Oh yes." How much of it do you believe? "Genesis to Revelation." If you really believe that,
surrender your life to Him, give your whole self to Him. Give Him the privilege of
blessing you to the maximum of your potential,
surrender to God. When you breathe your last
breath, what matters? Only one thing, your
relationship to God through His Son, Jesus Christ, you
surrendered your life to Him. So, nobody can answer that
question for you but you. But I pray in Jesus's name that
you will be honest enough with yourself when you get home,
whatever it might be, to say to Him, "Lord, maybe I don't
understand it all, but I'm surrendering everything
to You, everything." And so, I hear this, "But
suppose God does this and--" No, no, no, no, no. May I inform you that God's
trustworthy? He's trustworthy. You can trust Him. He's not going to pull
any tricks. He's not going to deny you
anything He's promised. He's going to do exactly
what He said. And for all of us who are
believers and children of God, He says, "Absent from
the body," what? "Present with the Lord." Safest place to be is
surrendered to Him. And I trust that you'll think
seriously about it. Can you honestly say,
"Fully surrendered." You may have to say it today,
tomorrow, and the next day and the next week, the
next month, next year. Because we don't always stay
fully surrendered. But have you ever come to the
place where you've said in your life, "Fully surrendered." Amen? Father, we thank You
for loving us. We thank You for being
patient with us. We thank You for Your
forgiveness. We thank You that You wrote our
name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Thank You for the assurance
of heaven. But right now, Lord, we want You
to work in our hearts, so when we think about every aspect of
our life, we can honestly say to You, "Oh Jesus, I want to be
fully surrendered." We want to be able to not just
sing it, but to testify of it. All to Jesus I surrender, all to
Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him,
and in His presence daily live. Make that our prayer, Father. In Jesus's name, amen.
