Surrendering To Salvation
Surrendering to Salvation: When God's Way Becomes Our Way
Salvation isn't just a one-time decision we made years ago. It's a daily surrender to God's grace and His way of doing things. When we truly understand what it means to surrender to salvation, we become the instruments God uses to reach others who desperately need Him.
What Does It Mean to Surrender to Salvation?
In Jonah 1:14-16, we see sailors who had tried everything they knew to survive a supernatural storm. These weren't novice sailors - they were experienced men who had weathered many storms before. But this storm was different. This was God-sent.
When their own efforts failed, they finally cried out: "We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee."
The word "beseech" means to beg earnestly. This wasn't a casual prayer or a "well, if you're up there" moment. This was desperate, complete surrender to God and His purposes.
Why Do We Resist God's Solutions?
Just like the sailors, we often struggle to accept that our storms are supernatural and our human efforts are futile. We try everything we can think of before turning to God's way.
The sailors had morality - they didn't want to throw Jonah overboard because they knew it was wrong to take a man's life. Having good morals isn't bad, but good morals alone won't get us into the presence of our holy, righteous God.
Man resists God's solution until all other options fail. We exhaust our effort, experience, and human wisdom before we're willing to surrender completely.
How Do We Win Spiritual Battles?
Here's the truth: you cannot win a spiritual battle your way. When we're trying to reach someone for Jesus, we can't do it our way.
There's no set formula that works for everyone. God has a different path for each of us, but we all have the same mission - to reach somebody, to tell somebody about Jesus.
We must accept God's appointed means. We're told that the only way the lost will hear about Christ is from us. Yet we often resist this, hoping someone else will do it instead.
What Happens When We Accept God's Truth?
When someone accepts the truth - that they're a sinner, lost, and separated from God, but that He has provided a way through Jesus - revival begins. Revival is being brought from death to life.
This begins when we admit our way does not work. Deliverance requires sacrifice - in Jonah's case, being cast into the sea. In this moment, Jonah becomes a type of Christ, giving his life so others might be saved.
Interestingly, this was the closest Jonah ever came to being Christlike - when he died to all that he was. We will never accomplish what God wants until we get out of the way by dying to who we are so He can work through us.
How Should We React When People Reject the Gospel?
How we react to their reaction matters tremendously. We can't get:
We must be submissive to the Spirit, and it may cost us our identity. Hold your tongue and let the Holy Spirit give you what to say.
What Does True Salvation Produce?
Salvation brings immediate change. When these sailors threw Jonah overboard and the storm ceased, their fear of the storm was replaced with fear of the Lord - a different kind of fear.
This godly fear isn't about losing salvation, but about hurting fellowship with God. We should love God so intensely that when we do something to hinder that relationship, it grieves us. That's the fear of the Lord, and it's the beginning of wisdom.
Real salvation produces reverence and surrender. The sailors didn't just experience calm seas - they offered sacrifices and made vows to God.
Why Do Believers Sleep While Others Face Judgment?
Revival requires our awakening. Jonah slept while others perished around him. It took the captain waking him up to make him realize the gravity of the situation.
Believers still sleep while the lost face judgment. We sleep because we've lost our loving fear of God and our fear of what will happen to those around us.
Revival comes when we awaken to the urgency of salvation - not just waking up to the problem, but pleading for others to accept the truth.
The Cycle of Revival
Revival follows a pattern:
Life Application
Revival is not about our comfort - it's about their rescue. God wants to use you to reach someone in your "boat" that only you can reach. You can't reach everybody, but you can reach somebody.
This week, surrender to salvation means surrendering to the grace and sanctification God wants to do in your life. Stop running from His will and start living so others might find salvation in Christ.
Ask yourself these questions:
Remember: saved people become instruments God uses to save others. Revival comes when God's people stop running, surrender to His will, and live so others might find salvation in Christ.
Salvation isn't just a one-time decision we made years ago. It's a daily surrender to God's grace and His way of doing things. When we truly understand what it means to surrender to salvation, we become the instruments God uses to reach others who desperately need Him.
What Does It Mean to Surrender to Salvation?
In Jonah 1:14-16, we see sailors who had tried everything they knew to survive a supernatural storm. These weren't novice sailors - they were experienced men who had weathered many storms before. But this storm was different. This was God-sent.
When their own efforts failed, they finally cried out: "We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee."
The word "beseech" means to beg earnestly. This wasn't a casual prayer or a "well, if you're up there" moment. This was desperate, complete surrender to God and His purposes.
Why Do We Resist God's Solutions?
Just like the sailors, we often struggle to accept that our storms are supernatural and our human efforts are futile. We try everything we can think of before turning to God's way.
The sailors had morality - they didn't want to throw Jonah overboard because they knew it was wrong to take a man's life. Having good morals isn't bad, but good morals alone won't get us into the presence of our holy, righteous God.
Man resists God's solution until all other options fail. We exhaust our effort, experience, and human wisdom before we're willing to surrender completely.
How Do We Win Spiritual Battles?
Here's the truth: you cannot win a spiritual battle your way. When we're trying to reach someone for Jesus, we can't do it our way.
There's no set formula that works for everyone. God has a different path for each of us, but we all have the same mission - to reach somebody, to tell somebody about Jesus.
We must accept God's appointed means. We're told that the only way the lost will hear about Christ is from us. Yet we often resist this, hoping someone else will do it instead.
What Happens When We Accept God's Truth?
When someone accepts the truth - that they're a sinner, lost, and separated from God, but that He has provided a way through Jesus - revival begins. Revival is being brought from death to life.
This begins when we admit our way does not work. Deliverance requires sacrifice - in Jonah's case, being cast into the sea. In this moment, Jonah becomes a type of Christ, giving his life so others might be saved.
Interestingly, this was the closest Jonah ever came to being Christlike - when he died to all that he was. We will never accomplish what God wants until we get out of the way by dying to who we are so He can work through us.
How Should We React When People Reject the Gospel?
How we react to their reaction matters tremendously. We can't get:
- Defensive: "I can't believe you won't accept Jesus Christ. Are you stupid?"
- Dismissive: "Well, I tried. Someone else will have to reach them."
- Divisive: "Well, you're just going to die and go to hell."
We must be submissive to the Spirit, and it may cost us our identity. Hold your tongue and let the Holy Spirit give you what to say.
What Does True Salvation Produce?
Salvation brings immediate change. When these sailors threw Jonah overboard and the storm ceased, their fear of the storm was replaced with fear of the Lord - a different kind of fear.
This godly fear isn't about losing salvation, but about hurting fellowship with God. We should love God so intensely that when we do something to hinder that relationship, it grieves us. That's the fear of the Lord, and it's the beginning of wisdom.
Real salvation produces reverence and surrender. The sailors didn't just experience calm seas - they offered sacrifices and made vows to God.
Why Do Believers Sleep While Others Face Judgment?
Revival requires our awakening. Jonah slept while others perished around him. It took the captain waking him up to make him realize the gravity of the situation.
Believers still sleep while the lost face judgment. We sleep because we've lost our loving fear of God and our fear of what will happen to those around us.
Revival comes when we awaken to the urgency of salvation - not just waking up to the problem, but pleading for others to accept the truth.
The Cycle of Revival
Revival follows a pattern:
- Awakening from rebellion - Being honest about where we are in our walk with Christ
- Accepting God's way - There is no other way but through Jesus
- Experiencing deliverance ourselves - Not just salvation, but ongoing sanctification
- Living surrendered lives so others might live - Becoming instruments God uses to save others
Life Application
Revival is not about our comfort - it's about their rescue. God wants to use you to reach someone in your "boat" that only you can reach. You can't reach everybody, but you can reach somebody.
This week, surrender to salvation means surrendering to the grace and sanctification God wants to do in your life. Stop running from His will and start living so others might find salvation in Christ.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I going the opposite direction from where God wants me to go?
- Have I been trying to win spiritual battles my own way instead of God's way?
- Who in my life needs to see Jesus, and how is God calling me to reach them?
- What do I need to surrender today so God can work through me?
Remember: saved people become instruments God uses to save others. Revival comes when God's people stop running, surrender to His will, and live so others might find salvation in Christ.
Posted in Sunday Sermons
Recent
Archive
2026
2025
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
No Comments