From The Pee Dee Baptist Association—Featured is Dr. Dick Alderman.
“I Surrender”
For the most part we refuse to give in-in a football game, a sickness, a crisis, a relationship, or a million other things. But there is one place we should: our relationship to God. Romans 12:1 commands us to “present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God.” If you have never surrendered your life and soul to Him you have never been saved. Salvation is not easy or cheap. Your salvation cost the Lord Jesus all He had and was on the cross. It cost God His Son. And it will cost you everything you are and have. Jesus said, “If you will come to Me, then deny yourself-give up, surrender your life to Me.”
Romans 12:1-2 is God’s Word which is absolutely true and must be heeded by everyone. Paul begs them to do this-“I beseech you.” This is urgent and vital to any success as a Christian. This is where your experience as a Christian begins. Paul had led hundreds to Christ and started many churches. But he saw how quickly believers reverted to their old ways. Many Christians sing songs in the church, give money, pray, teach, preach, and work in the church in many ways but they are not yielded to Christ as their Lord every day. They ignore the truth that God must possess their heart and control their lives before He will use them in His service in any capacity.
He says we are to do this “by the mercies of God,” implying that we remain sinners saved by grace and need grace every day. We become self-sufficient in our walk as a Christian. We quit reading God’s Word for food and praying for our strength and success each day. We stop witnessing to others about Him. We live on our terms and not His. Paul says we are to present ourselves to him “a living sacrifice.” Sacrifices die, but we continue to live in the spirit of staying under His control all the time.
God demands complete surrender to Him. He does not cut deals or accept our offers of compromise. Jesus said, “You are either with Me or against Me.” There is no such thing as a partial surrender that God accepts. It is all or nothing. We need to yield to Him every part of our lives and stay before Him until we have finished this successfully.
The Word says in verse two that we are to refuse to conform to what the world is offering us, either by temptation, or coercion, or influence, or pressure.
A 102 year old woman asked what she liked best about being that age, replied: “No peer pressure.” We need to live that way not allowing our peers to pull us into sin. God would not accept a partial sacrifice in the Old Testament. It had to be a whole animal, whether a lamb, bullock, goat, or bird. If you have never surrendered your life to Christ, then you must do this in order to be saved-nothing held back. Salvation cost Jesus all He had and it will cost you and me no less than that in our lives. If you surrendered to Him in the past, but you have taken over your life again, it is time for you as a Christian to climb back on the altar and give it all up to Him again. And you need to stay there til you die. You are to be a living sacrifice.
