Aug. 1, 2024

Absolute Surrender

Absolute Surrender

A discussion about the history of the concept, absolute surrender

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A discussion about the history of the concept, absolute surrender

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central Good Evening everyone.

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It is Wednesday, July the thirty first, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently eight forty nine pm Central Time, and

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I am coming to you live from the Theology Central

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studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. I guess the

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first thing I need to do is I probably need

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to apologize for the broadcast earlier today. It was not

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very good. And to even add to the fact that

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it wasn't very good, it was over one hour long.

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So it's one thing when it's not very good, but

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it's fifteen minutes, it's one thing. If it's not very

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good and it's twenty minutes, it's something totally different. When

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it's not very good and it's over an hour. It

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just I don't know. I don't really know where I

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don't really know where I went wrong. Maybe I had

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too many ideas I was trying. I think I put

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all the ideas together. I can't really articulate exactly what

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went wrong, but I just feel like it did not

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go right. I just feel like it it didn't go right.

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But what I'm going to do is I am going

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to borrow from the last one and build upon it

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and hopefully maybe take something that wasn't great and try

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to turn it into something positive. That's what I'm going

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to try to do. But before we do that, a

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couple of things. A couple of things. First, my daughter

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sent me this little meme about I don't know. She's

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always sending me memes constantly, memes TikTok's YouTube, well usually

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tiktoks more than YouTube videos, okay, news stories, just all

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the time. She will send them to me in the morning,

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in the afternoon, late at night, midnight, one in the morning,

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two in the morning, three in the morning, four in

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the morning. She doesn't care. She will send me stuff.

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So in some and most time most of the time,

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I'm appreciative. Sometimes I'm like, it's three in the morning,

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why are you contacting me about a meme? Okay or

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a TikTok video? But I digress. But she sent this

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to me. I find it hilarious. I know it's going

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to offend many of you, but I still find it hilarious.

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Here's the meme. American Christians whenever a three thousand year

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old ancient Grecian competition comprised of athletes from one hundred

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and eighty four countries practicing approximately ten thousand religions, has

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an opening ceremony that isn't specifically catered to them. And

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I took that personally, that's funny, American Christians. Whenever a

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three thousand year old, ancient Grecian competition comprise of athletes

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from one hundred and eighty four countries practicing approximately ten

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thousand religions, has an opening ceremony that isn't specifically catered

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to them, and what do American Christians do? We take

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it personally. We say we're being persecuted. We say it's

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an attack upon our faith, and we get offended, and

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we get angry, and we get mad, and we want

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to boycott something and someone it's it's it's a three

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thousand year old Grecian competition comprised of athletes from one

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hundred and eighty four countries practicing thousands of different religions.

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But but bu buh buh buh wait wait wait wait wait,

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we we get upset because it's not catered to our

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specific likes and our specific faith. Sometimes I really do

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believe that Christians seem to think that the whole world,

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that the whole world should cater to their every want,

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their every need, They're every demand, their every their their conviction,

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their feelings. It should thing should just make the world

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better for them. And I hate when I almost have

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to speak of Christians as being separate from me, but

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I don't. That's a Christian world in which I do

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not understand. So I found that kind of funny. You

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probably found that offensive. But that's okay, that's okay, all right,

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But that's not what we're here to talk about. We're

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here to talk about something else that's going to be

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somewhat controversial and that Christians have been arguing about for

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well about two thousand years. You're ready, You're ready. Okay.

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So earlier today I had right here in my hands

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the sort of the Lord newspaper, and the sort of

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the Lord Newspaper got me thinking really a lot about

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my my Christian journey, my spiritual journey, and how there

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have been well, very specific times in my Christian life.

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I think now I'm kind of inflicted of where I'm

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at now in my journey. I feel like I don't

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really know where I'm at currently in my spiritual journey.

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But there was a time when, as a young Christian,

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I just know that I knew that I wanted to

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be used by God. I wanted to do great things

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for God, and I understood the way to know that

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if I was being used by God and doing great

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things for God, that it would manifest itself in really

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visible ways by the number of people I was ministering to,

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or the size of the church I was pastoring, or

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the number of people listening to my teaching, or the

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number of people downloading my podcasts, et cetera, et cetera,

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et cetera, et cetera. Even though I would tell you

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numbers is not the most important thing. Even though I

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would tell you numbers is not the way you judge things,

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there was still a part of that, And looking back,

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I kind of question if if a lot of me

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wanting to be used by God and do great things

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for God was more about me than it was about God.

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And we discussed all of that. But as I was

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reading the sort of the Lord this issue from July

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the nineteenth, I was just really thinking about a lot

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of those questions, because it's they have an article right

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here about that. It's the sort of the Lord's ninetieth year.

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Ninety years they've been putting out this paper. The first

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one was September the twenty eighth, nineteen thirty four. And

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all of these years they've been putting out this paper.

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You could say that they've been used by God. They've

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done great things for God, and they have something. There's

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something tangible, there's something, a way to measure it. Ninety

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years of putting out this paper and all the testimonial

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testimonials about how amazing it has been. I think that

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that is a very at least it's convicting to me

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because I'm like, well, so what do I have to

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show for what if I accomplished that type of thing?

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So I was just thinking about that. And also in

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this issue there was an article why God used D. L. Moody.

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Why God used D. L. Moody, And they have kind

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of the famous it's the famous quote or someone says

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to D. L. Moody the world is yet to see.

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And I'm paraphrasing this because they have the quote a

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little different than the way it's typically sighted, but it

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goes something along like this. This is a loose paraphrase

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that someone said to D. L. Moody, The world is

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yet to see what God can do with someone who

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is completely and holy His, who is completely surrendered to him,

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and D. L. Moody famously supposedly said, I will be

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that man. I want to be that man. I want

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the world to be able to see what God can

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do with someone who's fully and completely his And I

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want to be that man. And the argument always goes

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is D. L. Moody was that man. If we ever

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need to know what it looks like, if we ever

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need to know what God can do with a man

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who is completely surrendered to God, who fully is his,

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D L. Moody is that example. So it's a powerful story.

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I've heard the story in Bible college, seminary, Bible institutes, church,

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and every single time I'm like, and I have said this,

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I want to be that man. I want to be

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like that. And what does it look like? What does

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that look like? How do you? How? How do we

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accomplish that? How do I become completely God? How do

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I become completely God's not become God? How do I

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become God's God? How do I fully surrender myself to

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God so that God fully has everything? I am trying

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to see that correctly. I know someone can take that

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out of context and that make me sound like a heretic.

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Not that I become God. How can I become God's

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in a sense of belonging to him, God's possession, fully

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surrendered to him. And remember this article had this statement

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about one of the reasons D. L. Moody, you know,

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was able to be used by God because he was

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fully surrendered. And remember it had this statement, if I

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can find it, the first thing that accounts for God's

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using D. L. Moody so mightily was that he was

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fully surrendered man. Every ounce of that two hundred and

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eighty body of his wholly belonged to God. That D. L.

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Moody wholly belonged to God was wholly his. He belonged

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to God. He was God's possession, God owned every part

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of him was surrendered. Therefore, the world could see what

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God could do with a man who fully belonged to him.

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And so we did a little reading about what does

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it mean to be absolutely surrendered to God? What does

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it actually look like? What does it actually mean? Now

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the article went on to say, well, it doesn't mean

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he was perfect, but it means and they went on

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to basically say that dal Moody's will was God's will

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and that it was surrendered to him, and so basically

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you're like, well, then how is he? How is he

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not perfect? And it was just a little bit of

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the typical Christian double speak. So when that was over,

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I you know, the whole you know, the whole episode

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was really good. I was kind of disappointed in it,

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just like now I'm going to be disappointed at this

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one because I made a heretical statement, even though I

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wasn't trying to make a heretical statement. Okay, nobody's trying

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to be God, but we're trying to become, in a sense,

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God's possession. But then you can argue, are we already

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God's possession? All right, we can have that discussion. But

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the point is I stated it incorrectly. Hopefully I've now

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corrected it at a number of times. But the point is,

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what does it mean to be absolutely surrendered? Now? When

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the broadcast was over, I'm just going to be honest

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with you, I didn't really want to think about it.

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I didn't really care. I was like, it was garbage,

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it was trash. Probably shouldn't even upload it. Let's just

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move on. But then I received an email. Let me

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see if I can give you the time of the email.

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What time was this email? I've got fifty thousand things

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open here, all right, it's a little bit of hyperbole,

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but not many, all right, not much. Let's see here

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and look here for what time the email was. I'm

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looking at two thirty pm and it's just the subject

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line as sermon challenge. And they sent me a link

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to a sermon called are you fully Surrendered to Christ?

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And then the person wrote under it just starting work, work, work, work, work,

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work work, And I had to laugh because they decided

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to go look for a sermon on well being surrendered

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to Christ, our absolute surrender. And I thought, well, that's awesome,

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all right, I even though my hour of talking wasn't

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very good. They immediately used the sermon's two point oh

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app following the sermon's two point oh app challenge, and

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went and looked for sermons on being surrendered to Christ.

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And the first one they found, the way they describe

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it is it's just work, work, work, work. You gotta

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do this and this and this and this and this

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and this and this. Now it's weird because do you

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do it to become surrendered, Like you have to do

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something to be surrendered? Or do you do these things

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because you are surrendered? So then how do you become surrendered?

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Because I have seen the same thing. What does it

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mean to be fully surrendered? Well, to become fully surrendered,

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you have to do this, this, and this. I'm like, well,

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wait a minute, am I doing it to be surrendered?

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Or do I do that because I'm surrendered? Well, you

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do it because you're surrendered. Well, then how do I

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become surrendered? Well, you do it to be surrendered, and

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then you do it because you are surrendered. Well, if

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I'm doing it before I'm surrendered to become surrendered, then

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then doing it is not a result of being surrendered,

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because I was doing it before I was surrendered. So

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what does it mean to be surrendered? How do I

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surrender myself? What do I have? And almost inevitably is

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like you got to do this, you got to do this,

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And it's like, so I'm doing it without being surrendered.

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It sounds like if I'm doing all of that, I

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am surrendered. It's like this circular reasoning that almost makes

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you want to scream. But when I saw I'm like,

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you know what, maybe I should review that. I'm like, well,

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I don't necessarily want to do a sermon review. So

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then I was like, well, what do I do? What

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do I do? What do I do? You know what,

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It's Wednesday night. You know, I'm just gonna move on

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if people got a million things to listen to and

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then well, then I found out that tomorrow is going

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to be all messed up, so I probably won't be

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able to record. I don't know about Friday. Saturday is

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pretty much not going to happen. So I'm like, well,

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let me do something. So here we are. So what

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are we going to do? Well, here's what we're going

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to do. We're going to look at the history of

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the concept of absolute surrender. In Christianity, the concept of

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absolute surrender refers to the total submission and yielding of

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one's will to God. God's will becomes your will, your

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will disappears, your desire disappears. Ever, you become God's in

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the sense you belong to God. Right. I know I

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keep saying it that way we should probably not the

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most articulate way, but I'm saying it because I'm really

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trying to stress, like You're now God's possession. You belong

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to him everything about you. Your will is now his will,

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your desire is his desire, your thoughts are his thoughts.

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You've become fully surrendered to Him. And this has a

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been a very much a teaching within Christianity now almost inevitably.

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This is where you get the Christian double speak surrender

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yourselves fully to God. I mean, you're not going to

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be perfect, You're still going to sin. Well, I don't

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know how I can still sin if I'm fully surrendered

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and it makes no sense to me, but okay, But

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it refers to the idea of total submission and yielding

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of one's will to God. Throughout Church history, this concept

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has been understood inmphasize in various ways by different Christian

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traditions and theologians. Are you ready to take a trip

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through church history and see how this has been understood.

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Let's go to the Early Church fathers first to fourth century.

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The early Church fathers first to fourth century. How did

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they understand this idea of absolute surrender to God? Martyrdom

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and confession. The early Christians viewed martyrdom as the ultimate

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form of surrender, giving their lives for their faith. When

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they talked about absolute surrendering yourself to God, you were

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then giving yourself as a martyr. You were being martyred,

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you were being killed for your faith. That was absolute surrender.

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Confession of faith was an unwavering commitment to Christ. Even

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under persecution, were seen as acts of absolute surrender. So

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when you were being persecuted or you're being tortured, if

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you continue to confess your faith in the light of

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that persecution and suffering that persecution, that was absolute surrender.

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And if you suffered and you continue to confess your faith,

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you did not recant, you did not give up in

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a sense, that was absolute surrender. And if you went

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all the way to the point of being martyred, then

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well that was a continuation of that absolute surrender. So

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in the early Church between the first and fourth century,

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basically absolute surrender was absolute surrender. You surrendered your physical

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well being, your safety, your health. You endured pain, suffering, torture, imprisonment, starvation, stoning,

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being killed, dying as your ultimate surrender. That's absolute surrender.

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That's absolute surrender. Well, obviously, as once secution began to

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go away and Christianity becomes more legal and becomes to dominate. Well,

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then you're not going to talk of absolute surrender that way, right,

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I mean because that I can't talk about absolute surrender

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because hey, you, I would have to tell you to

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go find someplace so that you can be killed, because

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there would be no real like it's not it doesn't

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become practical anymore. There's there's no real application to that.

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So then things are going to begin to change. So

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you have right there in the between the first and

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fourth century, there's there's a period in the first and

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fourth century that absolute surrender means meant martyrdom and confessing

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your faith even in the midst of being persecuted and

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tortured for your faith. Right, but also as as you

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move through the first, second, and third centuries, you get

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later as you move forth into the fourth century, then

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it kind of started changing a little bit, and it

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started turning into the idea of monasticism. You had different

300
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figures who would who emerged in church history who emphasized

301
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withdraw from worldly life and complete devotion to prayer and

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ascetic practices. The desert father sought to live a life

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of purity and total dedication to God. So then the

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idea was okay, it's not about dying and confessing your

305
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faith where you're being tortured. Now, the idea is, hey,

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if you're going to absolutely surrender to God, then you

307
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leave the world, You leave all You leave these worldly pursuits,

308
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you leave the idea of a wife and kids and

309
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a job, or you leave all of that and you

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go and place yourself inside a monastery where you can

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dedicate yourself to prayer. You can dedicate yourself to surrendering

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all of you to suffering hardship because you won't look

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for comfort. You fast, you pray, you read, you worship,

314
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that's your life. You truly surrender everything you have to

315
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God by joining a monastery. So that kind of gets

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us between the first and fourth century martyrdom and confession

317
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and then monasticism. Now this brings us to the Medievil

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Christianity between the fifth and fifteenth century. Between five the

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fifth and fifteenth century. Now, during the Medievil Christianity, all right,

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so we had monasticism. So we had martyrdom and confession

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and monasticism in the first to fourth century. Once we

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get to the fifth to fifteenth century, we have really

323
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a couple of a number of things that happened. We

324
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have the rise of mysticism. You had the rise of mysticism. Now,

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mystics spoke of a mystical union with God achieved through

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complete surrender and contemplation. The concept of divine love and

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being wholly consumed by God's presence was central. This becomes

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a very mystical idea where you you push and you

329
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surrender until you reach some kind of mystical union with God.

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You you become wholly consumed by His divine love and

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you and and that just it's almost some mystical thing

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that's hard to define, but everything else in the world

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just disappears because you're now captured in this rapturous mystical

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union and divine love that that you're just it's almost

335
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an experiential emotional concept. This is mysticism. So you have,

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you had so if you think about it, so you had.

337
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If you go to the early Church between the first

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and fourth century, you have the martyrdom and confession, very practical.

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It's pain suffering. Obviously you're you are surrendering. Then it

340
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kind of turns into something more practical. Will join a

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mind because now you're really giving yourself to the things

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of God. Well, then when you get to medieval Christianity, Well, okay,

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is there a way to achieve this without joining a monastery? Okay, Well,

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it's a mystical thing. It's a mystical things. It's being

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consumed in a sense by God's presence, by being consumed

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by his divine love. It becomes becomes something much harder

347
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to define meaning. Well, then there's a lot of vagueness.

348
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There in a lot of different ways to describe it.

349
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But during this same period, between the fifth and fifteenth century,

350
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the monastic world was still there. So then this was

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called monastic orders. Monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience

352
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were seen as forms of absolute surrender. Saint Benedict's rule

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emphasized obedience and submission to the abbot as a way

354
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to surrender to God. So now the monastic life took

355
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on a greater form. There were no rules, there were

356
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things you could do, vowels you could take, and it

357
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became you could argue much more strict, much more difficult

358
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to really see if your surrender is real, not so

359
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much a mystical thing, very practical, very structured, very strict.

360
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So you still had to kind of the different concepts happening.

361
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So that gets us from the early Church father first

362
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to fourth century, they have martyrdom and confession monasticism. Then

363
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we have Medieval Christianity fifth to the fifteenth century, which

364
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gives us mysticism and monastic orders. Now that gets us

365
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to the Reformation and post Reformation from the sixteenth and

366
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seventeenth century. Now, when you look at the Protestant Reformers,

367
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this idea of absolute surrender to God, it evolves again.

368
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All right, it begins to change. And we know who's

369
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gonna be at the forefront of this. It's gonna be

370
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one Martin Luther. Martin Luther, Right, we're gonna We're gonna

371
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know a little bit the way he's going to take

372
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because he's got he's a monk, he's Catholic, some of

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the Catholic ideas he's gonna be pushing back on the

374
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Look look what he says. Martin Luther emphasized faith and

375
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trust in God's grace overworks, viewing surrender as trusting entirely

376
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in God's salvation. So what is absolute surrender? That's where

377
00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.200
you know, you surrender yourself to God's grace and you

378
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give up on works, you give up on doing this,

379
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and doing that, and doing this. If I absolutely surrender,

380
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then I surrender myself completely to God's grace. Hey, I

381
00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:03.000
can't do this. I have to rely on imputed righteousness.

382
00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:05.680
I have to rely on the word. I surrender myself

383
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to an imputed righteousness. I surrender myself to the work

384
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of Christ. I can't do anything. I surrender completely. Absolute

385
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surrender is giving up on works, giving up on human effort,

386
00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:20.759
giving up on my own, giving up my self righteousness,

387
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and throwing myself completely upon the grace of God. That

388
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is true absolute surrender. More in the luther perspective, Now

389
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Luther's perspective, let's just be honest, it doesn't. It loses.

390
00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:40.519
It loses ultimately within Christendom, the idea of absolute surrender

391
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is lost because just think about that. Luther emphasized that

392
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in the ninetieth year of the Sort of the Lord newspaper,

393
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which obviously the Sort of the Lord is not Catholic.

394
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It comes now they would say there, they would probably

395
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try to claim some connection with the Anabaptist and try

396
00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:02.440
we won't get into how they would try to classify themselves,

397
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:05.200
but clearly not on the Catholic side. You think, and

398
00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:07.519
they would say that they believe in salvation by grace alone,

399
00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:09.680
through faith alone, because of Christ alone. But how did

400
00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:15.279
they promote absolute surrender? Absolute surrender was nothing about throwing

401
00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:19.640
yourself upon God's grace. Absolute surrender was the idea of

402
00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:23.720
basically surrendering every part of yourself to God so that

403
00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:26.960
you serve him completely. It's all about what you do,

404
00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:31.960
not what about what Christ did, but what you do, literally,

405
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:38.799
demonstrating that Luther's concept lost. Luther's concept was rejected by

406
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.839
the majority of Christians, and it's rejected even to this day.

407
00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.440
Even though they tell you they believe in salvation by

408
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.279
grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, when

409
00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:50.559
it comes to absolute surrender, they don't understand it the

410
00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:55.359
way Luther did. You want absolute surrender, then absolutely surrender

411
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.319
yourself to God's grace and to imputed righteousness, not to

412
00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.920
anything you can do. I know that's not like, well,

413
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:03.119
wait a minute, then, how do we have how do

414
00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.240
we There's nothing practical I can do about that. I can't.

415
00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:10.319
I can't, I can't create a you know, seventeen points

416
00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:12.039
that you need to put into practice and give you

417
00:26:12.119 --> 00:26:16.799
applicable No, that takes away everything that we do in Christianity,

418
00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:18.880
where it's do this, do this, don't do this, do this,

419
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:26.319
and don't do this now. John Calvin, he spoke of

420
00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:31.480
predestination and the sovereignty of God, with absolute surrender seen

421
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:36.880
and acknowledging God's supreme control over life. So from Calvin's perspective, okay,

422
00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.240
how he saw it is, if you truly want absolute surrender,

423
00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:44.319
then you absolutely surrender to God's sovereign control over your life.

424
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:47.200
You surrender that God is the one who's working all

425
00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:51.720
things out according to his eternal decrees, and all things

426
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:54.160
are happening because of his eternal decrease, and he's working

427
00:26:54.160 --> 00:26:57.359
it out through his divine providence, and you just kind

428
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:02.359
of surrender yourself to that a little still, that's different

429
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:06.480
from Luther. Luther it was about surrendering yourself to God's

430
00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:12.880
grace for salvation and trusting in grace, not in works. Now.

431
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:15.599
The Anabaptist, now this is all happening. Between the sixteenth

432
00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:21.599
and seventeenth century, the Anabaptist emphasized discipleship and a radical

433
00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:26.519
following of Christ, including nonviolence and separation from the world.

434
00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:30.519
Absolute surrender was expressed through communal living and commitment to

435
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:34.960
Jesus teaching. So the Anabaptist now it turns into actions

436
00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:38.119
what you do. And please note they have that separation

437
00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.559
from the world concept. This is kind of the monastic idea,

438
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:44.319
but now taking on a different form. Now this is

439
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:47.039
where you don't go join a monastery. You're living in

440
00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:49.759
the world, but separate yourself from the world. But please

441
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:53.440
note the Anabaptist also had a non violent pacifist kind

442
00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.519
of idea as well. They didn't always follow that we

443
00:27:57.599 --> 00:27:59.680
can talk about what happened in Germany, but we won't

444
00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.960
go there, all right, So and then you had communal living,

445
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.599
so in a sense you kind of created your own

446
00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:10.799
form of a monastery. So that concept never completely goes away.

447
00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:14.599
You know why the monastic kind of monastery concept never

448
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:17.359
goes away because if you it's one thing to say

449
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.359
I'm absolutely surrendered to God. Well, you're sitting in the pew,

450
00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:22.759
and then you get up and you will get in

451
00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:25.440
your car that you're making, you know, hundreds of dollars

452
00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:27.920
a month car payment on, and you're paying insurance on,

453
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.119
and go to a house where you're paying a mortgage on,

454
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:32.160
and then you go to your job, and then you

455
00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:34.240
do this, and you do entertainment, you have hobbies, you

456
00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:36.359
go on family vacations, and you do this, and you

457
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:38.000
do that, you do this, and you do this, and

458
00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:39.720
you do that, and you get together and you have

459
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.319
you play some sports, and you do this for physical fitness.

460
00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:44.960
And you're like, but I'm completely surrendered to God. And

461
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.640
some people are like, hey, it sounds like you just

462
00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:49.319
live life like everyone else. So you got to do

463
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:51.920
something drastic to be surrendered to God. So that's why

464
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.000
it always turns into do this and do this, and

465
00:28:54.039 --> 00:28:56.799
do this and do this, and ultimately it leads to, well,

466
00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:58.680
you got to just drop out of all of that

467
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:01.599
and surrender yourself to God and just make your life

468
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:09.039
about serving God. Now we get so. So we've gone

469
00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:14.039
through the Early Church Fathers first to fourth century. We've

470
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:17.480
looked at the Medieval Christianity fifth to fifteenth century. We've

471
00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:22.359
looked at the Reformation and Post Reformation sixteenth to seventeenth

472
00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.799
century that was the Protestant reformers of the Anabaptist Now

473
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:31.480
we move to the seventeenth and eighteenth century Puritanism and Pietism.

474
00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:36.119
Puritism and Pietism. Now the Puritans focused on personal holiness

475
00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:40.960
and a moral rigor as forms of surrender to God's will.

476
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.079
So once again, it's what you do. What you do

477
00:29:43.559 --> 00:29:45.960
if you truly to surrender to God means you've got

478
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.359
to do this and this and this. But then the

479
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:50.200
argument would be, you do this because you surrender to God.

480
00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:54.240
So now it becomes really kind of more convoluted. This

481
00:29:54.279 --> 00:30:00.960
emphasized self examination, repentance, and living according to scripture. Obey

482
00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:03.559
scripture if you want to truly surrender to God, obey

483
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:06.119
everything in the Word, which then goes back to see

484
00:30:06.200 --> 00:30:09.200
Luther's ideas at this point are already abandoned. Luther is

485
00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:13.240
already lost. Like Luther from a human perspective, was an

486
00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:17.599
abysmal failure because his concepts are already gone. This is

487
00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:21.119
not focusing, This is not a proper distinction between law

488
00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:24.440
and gospel. Law and gospel is already destroyed by this point,

489
00:30:24.640 --> 00:30:27.240
because now it's works works, works, works, and the idea

490
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:30.480
that you can obey all the scriptures, which then destroys

491
00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:33.319
the meaning of law. It's just a mess. At this point.

492
00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:38.559
The Pietists stressed a heartfelt, experiential faith and personal relationship

493
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:41.599
with God. Surrender was seen in a life of devotion, prayer,

494
00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:46.119
and active love towards others. So again you see it's

495
00:30:46.279 --> 00:30:50.400
doing doing again. Which comes first? Do you do in

496
00:30:50.519 --> 00:30:53.680
order to surrender or do you do because you've surrendered?

497
00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:56.319
And if if you do it because you've surrendered, then

498
00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:58.160
how do you get to the surrender part? Do you

499
00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:00.359
get to the surrender part by doing? Do you get

500
00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:02.519
to the surrender part by just saying you surrender? Well

501
00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:05.119
everyone knows you can't just say I surrender and you're surrendered.

502
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:06.960
Then you have to say I surrender and you really

503
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:08.839
mean it. Typically you have to do things in order

504
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:13.160
to surrender. Oh, then it becomes all convoluted. So there's

505
00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:19.039
the seventeenth and eighteenth century Puritanism and Pietism. Now we

506
00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:23.880
come to the modern evangelical and holiness movements of the

507
00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.839
nineteenth and twentieth century. Modern evangelicalism and the holiness movement

508
00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:34.640
in the nineteenth to twentieth century. The holiness movement, figures

509
00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:39.759
like John Wesley and others spoke of entire sanctification are

510
00:31:39.880 --> 00:31:43.960
Christian perfection, where believers fully surrender to the Holy Spirit.

511
00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:47.640
They emphasize the need for a deeper hang on. They

512
00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:51.440
emphasized a second work of grace that purifies and empowers

513
00:31:51.480 --> 00:31:55.240
believers for holy living. Now this idea of the Holiness

514
00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:59.559
movement or entire sanctification became the idea that looks, you

515
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:01.759
can be a Christian, but you need to reach this

516
00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:05.960
entire sanctification because once you do, you basically can become perfect.

517
00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:09.720
You can become perfect because you can be entirely sanctified,

518
00:32:09.880 --> 00:32:12.720
You can be completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit. And

519
00:32:12.759 --> 00:32:15.799
now you will have you will have power to live

520
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:21.839
according to the law. Again, it's all about doing see

521
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:25.839
Luther's idea. Luther's idea lasted for about five seconds, and

522
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:29.359
for the most part, it was rejected by most of Christianity.

523
00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:32.640
Why was it rejected by most of Christianity Because Christianity

524
00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:35.559
is a law based religion. It is not a gospel

525
00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:38.440
based religion. Anyone who says it's a gospel based religion

526
00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:41.079
has never studied church history. Over and over and over.

527
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:44.680
We talk a big game about gospel, gospel, gospel, and

528
00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:50.079
everything we do is law, law, law, law, works, works, works, works, works, works, works, works.

529
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:54.079
We are a works based religion and I'm so sick

530
00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:56.920
and tired of people saying no other religions are works based,

531
00:32:57.039 --> 00:33:00.839
not Christianity. No, the difference with Christianity. As we lie,

532
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.039
we sell you that Christianity is by grace alone, to

533
00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:06.480
faith alone, because of Christ alone, and then five seconds

534
00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:08.799
later we throw that away and we're like, now, slap

535
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:10.960
you in the face and say, wake up, boy, it's

536
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:13.880
time to work. Work, work, work, work, work, work, work,

537
00:33:13.920 --> 00:33:20.319
and if you don't work enough, you're not even saved.

538
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:24.920
The Holiness movement took at this idea that hey, all

539
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.079
you got to do is get this entire symclification. If

540
00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.400
you'll completely surrender, then boom, you can get to perfection.

541
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:39.200
It's it's just ridiculous. Then you had the Keswick movement,

542
00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.559
which promoted the victorious Christian life through complete surrender to

543
00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:45.440
Christ emphasizes the need for a deeper spiritual life and

544
00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:48.599
reliance on the Holy Spirit. Basically the same idea. If

545
00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:50.559
you just if you'll just surrender and rely on the

546
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:54.119
Holy Spirit, tondun du dah, you get power and now

547
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:56.400
you can do it. You can obey the law, you

548
00:33:56.440 --> 00:33:58.720
can say notice it, you can do it. And again,

549
00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:01.400
all of these, all all of these movements come along

550
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:03.279
promising that you can do it, you can do it,

551
00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:06.160
and they all make all the claims, and then inevitably

552
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:09.079
it just proves that over and over and over, No,

553
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:12.320
you can't. You're still going to sin. Nobody's going to

554
00:34:12.360 --> 00:34:15.320
be perfect. You're going to sin because nobody can keep

555
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:17.840
the law. You can't keep it before salvation, you cannot

556
00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:21.000
keep it after salvation. Salvation is the coming to the

557
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.039
realization that you can never keep the law, but Christ did.

558
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:28.039
And then surrendering yourself to the finished work of Christ

559
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:31.400
and surrendering yourself to His righteousness that's imputed to your

560
00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:38.599
account by faith alone. That's true absolute surrender. So then

561
00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:40.679
we go to the twenty first century, which is the

562
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:44.880
contemporary understandings. The contemporary understandings really now this kind of

563
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:49.920
comes into these parts. Charismatic and Pentecostal movements stress the

564
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:52.320
importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and living

565
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:56.119
a spirit led life. Absolute surrender involves yielding to the

566
00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:58.239
guidance and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, the first

567
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:04.119
time I met well, I met Charismatics or Pentecostals prior

568
00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:07.079
to my conversion, right before I became a Christian, and

569
00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:09.360
I've talked about it before. These were girls who I

570
00:35:09.400 --> 00:35:11.159
went to school with they got picked on all the time.

571
00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:13.239
There were Pentecostal that had to wear skirts, you know,

572
00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:15.800
way down below their knee. They didn't wear any makeup,

573
00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:17.760
their hair was long, and then would get picked on.

574
00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:20.079
So typically I would try to stand up for them,

575
00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:23.440
not because I cared about their religion, just because anyone

576
00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:26.159
who wanted to do something different I had their back.

577
00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:28.519
Dress any way you want, do what you want, don't

578
00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:32.599
listen to anybody else, don't follow anybody else. Be unique, right,

579
00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:35.599
I love that, So I defended them. Now, once I

580
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:40.480
became a Christian, these Pentecostal girls would constantly challenge me that, hey,

581
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:43.960
you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And see,

582
00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:45.880
you need to be baptized in the name of Jesus,

583
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:48.039
because being baptized in the name of the Father, Son

584
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:49.840
and the Holy Spirit, it's like a blank check. It's

585
00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:52.679
not signed, but you need it signed by Jesus. And

586
00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:54.559
what you need to do is you need the baptism

587
00:35:54.599 --> 00:35:56.119
of the Holy Spirit. And you'll know you've received it

588
00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:58.079
by speaking in tongues. And if you do this, then

589
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:01.480
you'll get power. You'll get power. You'll get power, and

590
00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:04.719
then you can be all perfect. Well, you know, we'll

591
00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:12.000
come to find out those Pentecostal girls, if they had power,

592
00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:15.400
they were engaged in the same level of fornication as

593
00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:20.519
the atheist girls. So the speaking in tongues did not

594
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:23.719
give them any extra power, but they claimed it all right,

595
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:27.480
because well that's the way, that's the way it always works.

596
00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:30.719
Christianity talks a big game, but when you finally look inside,

597
00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:34.039
we're never any better than anybody else. Okay, So there's

598
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:37.639
the charismatic Pentecostal movement. You know how I feel about that.

599
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:41.760
I reject the charismatic movement. I reject the Pentecostal movement utter.

600
00:36:41.920 --> 00:36:44.639
I think it's uttered trash. I think it's uttered garbage.

601
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:47.360
I think it's a cancer upon Christianity. And anyone who

602
00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:52.239
buys into their nonsense can literally you are denying actual

603
00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:54.920
reality in front of you, right, So then you have

604
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:58.880
spiritual formation. That's the second part of the contemporary understanding.

605
00:37:00.159 --> 00:37:03.400
Emphasize this practice like prayer, fasting, meditation, and means of

606
00:37:03.400 --> 00:37:07.079
surrending to God's transformative work, influenced by both ancient monastic

607
00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:12.400
practices and modern psychological insights. So spiritual formation basically borrows

608
00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:15.039
from the monastic world kind of mixes it with a

609
00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:19.400
little psychology, and then you bring back some of the rituals,

610
00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:22.760
some of the you know, some of those concepts, maybe

611
00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:27.679
contemplative prayer, the liturgy of the hours, you know, liturgy,

612
00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:30.840
some of this, and then well, you try to do

613
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:33.559
these things so that you can fully surrender to God.

614
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:42.039
So the understanding of absolute surrender and Christianity has evolved

615
00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:48.840
and has taken various forms throughout Church history, from martyrdom

616
00:37:49.880 --> 00:37:56.119
and monastic withdrawal to mystical union, from Reformation trust in

617
00:37:56.159 --> 00:37:59.480
God's sovereignty to the puritan moral rigor, from the holiness

618
00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:03.440
of entire scification to the experiential depth of contemporary spiritual formation.

619
00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:08.920
The essence remains remains a complete yielding to God's will

620
00:38:09.159 --> 00:38:13.360
and purposes. Every tradition brings a unique perspective, reflecting the

621
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.519
diverse ways Christians have sought to live out their faith

622
00:38:16.760 --> 00:38:20.239
and total devotion to God. Now what drove me crazy

623
00:38:20.280 --> 00:38:23.360
about that summary is the summary completely left out what

624
00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:32.800
Luther's perspective. In that summary, Luther is completely ignored. Even

625
00:38:32.840 --> 00:38:35.960
when it mentions the Reformation, it mentions Calvin's view, it

626
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:42.480
completely ignores Luther. If you want to know absolute surrender,

627
00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:46.440
ladies and gentlemen. Absolute surrender is where you surrender everything

628
00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:53.760
you are trusting in to God's grace. You surrender your righteousness,

629
00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:57.719
your self righteousness, your works, your efforts. You say none

630
00:38:57.760 --> 00:39:00.519
of that. I come to Christ. I surrender myself to

631
00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:05.599
His work, his righteousness, and Him alone. That is absolute surrender.

632
00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:09.239
All of this other stuff is ridiculous. It's made up,

633
00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:12.840
it's fictional, and I think it's all and I'm gonna

634
00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:15.440
be so. I'm gonna be even more bold. It's harmful,

635
00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:20.639
and it's psychologically damaging and scarring, and I bought into

636
00:39:20.679 --> 00:39:22.599
it a good portion of my Christian life. Oh, I'm

637
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.639
gonna absolutely I'm gonna absolutely surrender. See, I want to

638
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:28.400
be like D. L. Moody. I'm gonna absolutely surrender. And

639
00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:31.440
whenever they tell the stories of the men who supposedly

640
00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:34.679
absolutely surrender to God, we always basically make them sound

641
00:39:34.760 --> 00:39:37.320
like they were sinless, just like this article about D. L.

642
00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:42.320
Moody does. So it creates this idea that, see, if

643
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:44.840
I can absolutely surrender to God, I'll basically be sinless,

644
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.719
I'll basically be perfect. You have to start pretending, you

645
00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:50.280
have to start denying, you have to start acting like

646
00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:54.480
something you're not, and you give all these people these expectations,

647
00:39:54.599 --> 00:39:57.639
and people who really care, and people who can't just

648
00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:01.039
pretend that they're too honest with themselves, too honest about

649
00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:06.119
their internal struggles. They start cracking, They break under the pressure.

650
00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:10.280
They start losing that you could argue, they begin to deconstruct.

651
00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:12.639
They you may even begin to lose their faith because

652
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:14.599
they start questioning if any of this is real or

653
00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:17.920
if any of this works, because everyone else is off pretending.

654
00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:20.559
Those who can say, wait a minute, why are we pretending.

655
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:23.119
Let's be honest with ourselves. And then people look at

656
00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:26.000
them like, well, you're honest with yourself because obviously you're

657
00:40:26.039 --> 00:40:27.719
not safe, because if you're really saved, you would be

658
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:29.400
like the rest of us, and like the rest of

659
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:33.400
you are lying hypocrites who just won't admit the sin

660
00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:40.960
that is inside of you. Absolute surrender is surrendering to

661
00:40:41.039 --> 00:40:44.599
God's grace for salvation. I don't see all of these

662
00:40:44.639 --> 00:40:48.559
other concepts I think are contrary to reality. They're impossible

663
00:40:48.840 --> 00:40:52.159
because if you have to me a correct understanding of

664
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:55.440
law and gospel, all of these require. Absolute surrender is

665
00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:59.440
basically obedience to the law. We cannot do that. Therefore,

666
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:02.599
we're never going to be absolutely surrendered, because we're always

667
00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:04.719
going to be in violation of God's law in some

668
00:41:04.760 --> 00:41:15.920
way shape form, perpetually. Now throughout church history, there have

669
00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:21.199
been some books written that really have driven this concept

670
00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:27.159
of absolute surrender and have so basically are responsible for

671
00:41:27.199 --> 00:41:30.639
putting some of these ideas into the minds, into the world,

672
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:33.639
into the culture of Christianity. We obviously know the most

673
00:41:33.639 --> 00:41:35.880
famous book, or I think one of the most famous books,

674
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:39.159
Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray, which was written in eighteen

675
00:41:39.239 --> 00:41:42.719
ninety seven. This classic devotional book by Andrew Murray is

676
00:41:42.719 --> 00:41:45.519
perhaps the most well known and influential work on the topic.

677
00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:48.559
Murray was a South African pastor and writer, and emphasized

678
00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:50.920
the importance of yielding fully to God and allowing the

679
00:41:50.920 --> 00:41:54.519
Holy Spirit to work through the believer. Surrender is the

680
00:41:54.599 --> 00:41:57.199
key to a victorious Christian life, the role of the

681
00:41:57.199 --> 00:42:03.159
Holy Spirit, practical steps to achieving wildly read in evangelical

682
00:42:03.159 --> 00:42:06.199
and holiness circles. Murray's book has inspired countless Christians to

683
00:42:06.199 --> 00:42:08.760
seek a deeper, more surrendered walk with God. It remains

684
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:13.000
a staple and Christian devotional literature. Yeah it is the book.

685
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:16.840
I remember, we've looked at it before in different podcast

686
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:19.239
episodes and it's like, do this and do this. Wait

687
00:42:19.239 --> 00:42:21.000
a minute, Am I doing it to surrender? Or am

688
00:42:21.039 --> 00:42:24.159
I doing it because I surrender. It's circular reasoning at

689
00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:28.400
its worst. And the idea is like, you're living your

690
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:31.239
Christian life, but you know what, you really can't have victory,

691
00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:34.360
You really can't have power until you surrender. But if

692
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:38.400
you surrender, dun, dun da dun, now you become super Christian.

693
00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:44.440
Now you can do it. Now, you can do everything now.

694
00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:48.440
Charles Stanley was a big promoter of Andrew Murray's Absolute

695
00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:51.000
Surrender and he always his testimony you tell the story

696
00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:53.519
that he was, I think a pastor and his just life,

697
00:42:53.559 --> 00:42:57.480
his spiritual life was just empty and weak, and it

698
00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:00.760
was problems and struggle and he didn't know what was wrong.

699
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.719
And finally he discovered the concept absolute surrender, and then

700
00:43:04.760 --> 00:43:07.039
his ministry turned around, and you know he now he

701
00:43:07.039 --> 00:43:11.199
becomes this famous world known pastor all because he absolutely surrendered.

702
00:43:11.280 --> 00:43:14.400
He absolutely well, his marriage fell apart and he got

703
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:28.039
a divorce, but he absolutely surrendered. The next book is

704
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:31.480
Absolute Surrender by im Bounds. This was written in the

705
00:43:31.559 --> 00:43:35.079
nineteenth century. Now. Ian Bound's known primarily for his writings

706
00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:37.480
on prayer, also addressed the theme of absolute surrender in

707
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:41.679
his works, his tea. His teaching. His teaching focus on

708
00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:44.079
the power of prayer and the necessity of a surrendered

709
00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:47.280
life to effective prayer. The link between surrender and powerful

710
00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:50.079
prayer is important of holiness dependence on the Holy Spirit.

711
00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:53.960
Bounds writing also had a significant influence on pastors, evangelists,

712
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:57.000
and prayer warriors, encouraging the lead lives of total dedication

713
00:43:57.119 --> 00:44:02.760
to God. And I've got Ian Bound's book, The Complete Work,

714
00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:08.639
and it's like, if you completely surrender, if you completely surrender,

715
00:44:09.159 --> 00:44:12.159
you know, basically you'll be praying about fifteen hours a day. Okay,

716
00:44:12.440 --> 00:44:19.679
So well yeah, those so Absolute Surrender by Ian Bounds,

717
00:44:19.760 --> 00:44:21.800
you can look for that one. I kind of know

718
00:44:21.880 --> 00:44:24.639
the concepts more in his work The Complete Works on Prayer,

719
00:44:25.039 --> 00:44:27.800
because that concept shows up there as well. But Absolute

720
00:44:27.880 --> 00:44:31.119
Surrender by Andrew Murray is the most famous work. So

721
00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:34.519
you may if you read it, you'll hear if you

722
00:44:34.599 --> 00:44:38.360
read the Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. Trust me, when

723
00:44:38.440 --> 00:44:40.239
you go listen to sermons, you'll be like, well that

724
00:44:42.039 --> 00:44:44.840
Andrew Murray's concepts are alive and well, and sermon after

725
00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:47.400
sermon after sermon after sermon, and it's gonna be do this,

726
00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:49.320
do this, do this, do this, do this, do this,

727
00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:51.000
do this, do this. It's gonna be all the things

728
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:57.280
you're supposed to do, all right? Then? Absolute surrender by

729
00:44:57.400 --> 00:45:01.199
Samuel Logan Bringley. Because how you say his name or

730
00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:05.719
Bringle b r E n g l e. So Absolute

731
00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:09.519
surrender by Samuel L. Samuel, I'm sorry, let me read

732
00:45:09.559 --> 00:45:13.320
this again. Absolute surrender. I really can speak correctly tonight.

733
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:16.199
I know I've probably messed up so much, all right,

734
00:45:16.199 --> 00:45:19.440
but I think I feel like I've messed up more

735
00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:22.800
words than I probably have. But okay. Absolute surrender by

736
00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:29.719
Samuel Logan Bringle b r E n g l E,

737
00:45:30.199 --> 00:45:34.239
b r E n g l e. Absolute Surrender by

738
00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:39.559
Samuel Logan b r E n g l E earliest

739
00:45:39.679 --> 00:45:44.039
twentieth century. And let me just say clearly, I don't

740
00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:48.519
know anything about this book, nothing about number three zero.

741
00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:50.519
I know number one and two. I don't have a

742
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:53.599
clue about number three. Samuel Logan Bringle, I guess is

743
00:45:53.599 --> 00:45:55.639
how you say his name? B r E n g

744
00:45:55.880 --> 00:45:58.239
l E was a commissioner in the Salvation Army. He

745
00:45:58.280 --> 00:46:02.199
wrote extensively on holiness and the deeper Christian life. His

746
00:46:02.280 --> 00:46:05.960
works often explored the concepts of absolute surrender as essential

747
00:46:05.960 --> 00:46:09.239
for sanctification. If you want to be sanctified, if you want,

748
00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:12.639
you have to absolutely surrender. Well, then is it? Does

749
00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:15.760
sanctification bring us to absolutely surrenders? Does absolute surrender bring

750
00:46:15.880 --> 00:46:18.880
us to sanctification? Am I doing the sanctification? Oh? It

751
00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:22.039
gets all convoluted and confusing, all right. The key things

752
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:25.960
holiness sanctification are the experience of the Holy spirits fullness.

753
00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:29.480
His works have been particularly influential within the Salvation Army

754
00:46:29.599 --> 00:46:33.199
and the broader holiness movement, emphasizing a life wholly dedicated

755
00:46:33.199 --> 00:46:35.559
to God. I have never heard of that book. I

756
00:46:35.559 --> 00:46:39.280
have never been very I don't know a lot about

757
00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:41.960
the Salvation Army, never really had many dealings with it.

758
00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:44.519
So there you go. Then the next book is The

759
00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:50.039
Cavalry Road by Roy Hessen or Hessian. I don't know

760
00:46:50.039 --> 00:46:52.440
how you would say his last name, H. S. S

761
00:46:52.639 --> 00:46:57.760
io N. The Calvary Road by Roy H. E. S.

762
00:46:58.079 --> 00:47:02.360
S io N. This is from eighteen fifty, although not

763
00:47:02.599 --> 00:47:07.480
titled Absolute Surrender. Roy Hessians The Calvary Road is often

764
00:47:07.480 --> 00:47:09.960
associated with the theme due to its focus on total

765
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:13.159
surrender to Christ. He was a British evangelist and it

766
00:47:13.199 --> 00:47:16.519
presents a path to revival through brokenness and humility. The

767
00:47:16.599 --> 00:47:19.960
key themes are brokenness, humility, continuous repentance, and the power

768
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:22.679
of the Cross. The Calvary Road has been influential in

769
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:26.320
revival movements, encouraging believers to embrace a life of brokenness

770
00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:31.760
and total surrender to Christ. All right, that's roy h.

771
00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:36.840
E Ssion is called the Calvary Road. Written in nineteen

772
00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:40.800
fifty another one that takes this idea. This is going

773
00:47:40.840 --> 00:47:45.719
more with the idea of brokenness, humility and repentance as

774
00:47:45.760 --> 00:47:49.679
some way of absolute surrender. Now we come to number five,

775
00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:59.079
My All for Him, My All for Him, nineteen sixty seven.

776
00:48:00.119 --> 00:48:02.199
And I am never going to get this last name right,

777
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:09.519
but here we go. Basilia Schlink, Basilia Schlink, b A

778
00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:13.559
s I l e A Basilia. That's how I'm going

779
00:48:13.559 --> 00:48:16.280
to say it. B A s I l e A

780
00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:21.800
Schlink s c h l I n K Basilia Schlink.

781
00:48:21.880 --> 00:48:24.519
I know it's a name, so it's probably pronounced completely different.

782
00:48:24.559 --> 00:48:28.800
And I apologize. Nineteen sixty seven. I don't know anything

783
00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:32.719
about this book. I know this though Basilia Schlink was

784
00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:37.440
a Lutheran nun and founder of the evangelical Sisterhood of Mary,

785
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:41.360
wrote about living a life of complete surrender to Jesus.

786
00:48:41.639 --> 00:48:44.440
Her book, My All for Him embodies to principles of

787
00:48:44.519 --> 00:48:49.159
absolute surrender, the key themes love and devotion to Jesus, repentance,

788
00:48:49.159 --> 00:48:53.679
and community community living. The writings have been particularly impactful

789
00:48:53.719 --> 00:48:57.679
within Lutheran and Evangelical communities, promoting a life of deeper

790
00:48:57.679 --> 00:49:00.559
commitment to Christ. I was a Lutheran, never heard of

791
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:03.480
this book in any way, shape or form. Never heard

792
00:49:03.519 --> 00:49:06.159
of it, have no understanding of it, and I can't

793
00:49:06.159 --> 00:49:10.239
give you any thing about it but My All for Him.

794
00:49:11.159 --> 00:49:15.480
So those are different books from different traditions, different theological streams.

795
00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:18.519
Of course, I don't think her book really captures the

796
00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:22.199
I mean, it's nineteen sixty seven. It doesn't give you

797
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:28.079
the historical Lutheran view. These books, though different in stall

798
00:49:28.159 --> 00:49:32.639
and emphasizes a emphasis and different emphasis, share a common

799
00:49:32.639 --> 00:49:35.239
theme of calling believers to a deeper level of commitment

800
00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:38.599
and surrender to God. Andrew Murray's Absolute Surrender remains the

801
00:49:38.599 --> 00:49:42.320
most widely recognized and influential book among them, but each

802
00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:46.519
author has contributed a uniquely to the understanding and practice

803
00:49:46.559 --> 00:49:55.559
of absolute surrender in the Christian life. So here's my conclusion.

804
00:49:55.920 --> 00:50:03.639
When people talk about absolutely surrendering yourself Christ, that means surrendering,

805
00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:11.559
surrendering yourself completely to God's grace for salvation, surrendering yourself

806
00:50:11.559 --> 00:50:14.159
to the finished work of Christ, giving up your work,

807
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.199
giving up your righteousness, surrendering it to Christ, and trusting

808
00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:22.880
fully in His imputed righteousness, and not trusting in anything

809
00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:25.719
you do, can do, will do, should do, or shouldn't do,

810
00:50:29.079 --> 00:50:33.320
because nothing else makes any sense to me, even though

811
00:50:33.360 --> 00:50:37.199
I spent most of my Christian life with Oh, if

812
00:50:37.239 --> 00:50:40.000
I surrender myself, if I can surrender myself, then God

813
00:50:40.039 --> 00:50:42.440
will use me and God will do great things. And

814
00:50:42.480 --> 00:50:44.079
if I do, but I gotta do this, and I

815
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:46.280
gotta do this, okay. And while other people were talking

816
00:50:46.280 --> 00:50:49.079
about supposedly being absolutely surrendered, you can look at their

817
00:50:49.119 --> 00:50:51.719
lives and go, how can you convince yourself that you're

818
00:50:52.079 --> 00:50:54.440
practicing it when you're not? Because I know I'm not.

819
00:50:54.760 --> 00:50:57.559
You're not well. And the more you really are honest

820
00:50:57.599 --> 00:51:00.599
with yourself, you're like woo, no no one, and no.

821
00:51:01.159 --> 00:51:07.239
Christ absolutely surrendered himself to the Father. He surrendered himself

822
00:51:07.280 --> 00:51:09.239
not to his will, but to the Father's will in

823
00:51:09.320 --> 00:51:21.920
the incarnational relationship. But for us, I don't know. So

824
00:51:22.039 --> 00:51:25.960
I reject almost how anyone teaches on the subject. I

825
00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:28.039
reject all of it. Now you can, if you would like,

826
00:51:28.079 --> 00:51:29.679
you can get on the sermon's two point oh app

827
00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:33.559
and look up for sermons on absolute surrender. And I

828
00:51:33.559 --> 00:51:36.199
think they're all going to take very much a works

829
00:51:36.239 --> 00:51:41.679
based approach to it. I've given you a completely opposite one.

830
00:51:43.039 --> 00:51:44.639
But those are books that you may want to look

831
00:51:44.719 --> 00:51:47.519
up and read, just because if the more you read

832
00:51:47.599 --> 00:51:50.800
these books and know about these things, the more you

833
00:51:50.840 --> 00:51:54.400
can identify them when they show up in sermons at

834
00:51:54.440 --> 00:51:58.960
your church. Because trust me, the concept of absolute surrender

835
00:52:00.280 --> 00:52:03.000
up in your church at some point, probably every year,

836
00:52:03.079 --> 00:52:06.039
probably multiple times a year, if not continually, even though

837
00:52:06.079 --> 00:52:09.440
it may be not clearly articulated, but the concept is there,

838
00:52:09.599 --> 00:52:12.159
and it's almost always a pro ninety nine percent of

839
00:52:12.239 --> 00:52:14.440
the time, it's going to be works, works, works, more

840
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:17.760
works and works and works and works and works and

841
00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:26.159
works and works. There. You have it, all right, I'm

842
00:52:26.199 --> 00:52:30.559
going to stop that was fifty two minutes, fifty almost

843
00:52:30.599 --> 00:52:33.960
fifty three minutes. I feel like I still have not

844
00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.599
been able to pull all of my thoughts together perfectly.

845
00:52:38.719 --> 00:52:45.239
Hopefully hopefully I've said Hopefully I've said something correct. I

846
00:52:45.320 --> 00:52:48.199
hope so, I hope so. But we'll see. I'm going

847
00:52:48.280 --> 00:52:55.159
to stop right there. We'll talk more, because there's a

848
00:52:55.239 --> 00:52:59.760
lot of concepts here that's really bothering me. Maybe in

849
00:52:59.800 --> 00:53:02.280
the out maybe the first hour of the earlier broadcast today,

850
00:53:02.320 --> 00:53:04.800
you kind of caught on to just some of my

851
00:53:04.920 --> 00:53:08.360
struggles with how and even this bothers me because I

852
00:53:08.400 --> 00:53:12.519
was so wrongly taught and all this pressure was placed

853
00:53:12.599 --> 00:53:15.800
upon me and live a life of failure, of filling

854
00:53:15.880 --> 00:53:19.360
a life of failure, of shame, of discouragement, of disappointment,

855
00:53:19.440 --> 00:53:21.480
instead of just finding peace in the finished work of

856
00:53:21.559 --> 00:53:32.559
Jesus Christ. I'm also bothered by how we are told

857
00:53:32.599 --> 00:53:34.320
about living our life for God so we can be

858
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:37.920
used by God. And then that concept of being used

859
00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:46.079
by God almost articulated as judged by very fleshly means

860
00:53:46.119 --> 00:53:50.920
and judging success, even though we say we don't judge

861
00:53:50.920 --> 00:53:54.440
things by those fleshly means, and we sometimes condemn big

862
00:53:54.519 --> 00:53:56.559
churches saying, well, the only reason they're big is because

863
00:53:56.559 --> 00:53:59.199
these fleshly means. At the same time, we look down

864
00:53:59.239 --> 00:54:01.320
on small works. If they're if the church is getting

865
00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:03.960
smaller and smaller and smaller, and fewer people are listening

866
00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:06.880
and fewer people are giving, then we're like, well, God's

867
00:54:06.920 --> 00:54:09.760
obviously done with that ministry. God is not in that ministry.

868
00:54:09.800 --> 00:54:12.760
The Holy Spirit's not moving. That ministry is dead. They

869
00:54:12.840 --> 00:54:15.599
just need to give up and go away. And it's like, well,

870
00:54:15.599 --> 00:54:17.880
how do we wait? And then we looked earlier in

871
00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:19.599
the first hour, Well, wait a minute. You know it

872
00:54:19.599 --> 00:54:24.679
doesn't you don't always judge it that way. But then

873
00:54:24.679 --> 00:54:27.480
what does that mean? I don't I don't really know.

874
00:54:31.800 --> 00:54:33.840
I just know that everything I've ever been taught about

875
00:54:33.840 --> 00:54:40.239
absolute surrender has been absolutely wrong. You can tell me

876
00:54:40.280 --> 00:54:43.079
what you think news. I f it Yahoo dot com. News,

877
00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:45.920
I f a Yahoo dot com. That's news. I f

878
00:54:46.039 --> 00:54:48.639
Yahoo dot com. Thanks for listening, everyone, Have a great evening.

879
00:54:48.719 --> 00:54:50.119
God bless