Surrender is the glad and voluntary acceptance that there is a God and it is not me.
Sermon Title: WHO IS DRIVING?
Scripture Text: MATTHEW 16:24-25 NIV
Sermon Series: THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM
Sermon Notes:
Matthew 1-10: The King REVEALED
(Jon Courson’s Application Commentary of the New Testament)
Matthew 11-13: The King RESISTED
Matthew 14-20: The King RETREATING
Matthew 21-27: The King REJECTED
Matthew 28: The King RESURRECTED
MATTHEW 16:24-25 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Whoever is driving is the one in control.
MATTHEW 21:9 NIV
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
Who is driving your life?
There is no way for anybody to come to God that does not involve surrender.
JOHN 12:24 NIV
24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
LUKE 14:26 NIV
26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
MATTHEW 16:24-25 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
SURRENDER IS A CHOICE
MATTHEW 16:24 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Surrender means your first loyalty is no longer to yourself but to Christ.
What does “denying yourself” mean for you?
Surrender is the glad and voluntary acceptance that there is a God and it is not me.
SURRENDER IS A WAY OF LIFE
MATTHEW 16:24 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
To take up our cross is to live as dead men.
ROMANS 12:1 NIV
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
LUKE 9:23 NIV
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Must Jesus bear the cross alone?
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
There’s a cross for me.
The consecrated cross I’ll bear,
‘til death shall set me free.
And then go home, my crown to wear,
For there’s a crown for me.
What is that area of your life that God wants you to surrender to him? What would a lifestyle of surrender be like for you?
SURRENDER IS ABOUT TRUST
MATTHEW 16:24 NIV
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
True surrender is to trust in the One we follow.
MATTHEW 16:25 NIV
25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Who is on the driver’s seat?