The Yielded Life

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Sometimes people equate commitment to Christ with giving up certain attitudes or behaviors. Today's podcast gives a vastly different definition of devotion to the Lord.

Let's talk about the life that wins as a yielded life. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I want us to read two verses of that and then back to Romans chapter 6.

First Corinthians chapter 6 beginning in verse 19 says, What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. In Romans chapter 6, Paul says beginning in verse 12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?

God forbid. Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. Now we said the life that wins is the life wherein Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning, where he is allowed to live through us his life.

It is not self-effort, but his effort. It is not a matter of sinless perfection, but rather Christ being free to live through us a life that we are incapable within ourselves of living. And proof of that is, all of us who would be honest today would have to say, Yes, I've tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and I've failed and failed and failed.

I've made recommitments, I've rededicated, I've done all kinds of things, and it seems that my life is a roller coaster. God never intended that for his children. Now we've talked about many aspects of the life that wins, but today I want to talk about one of the two requirements that all of us have. We said it is not our efforts, but it is his, but we do have two major responsibilities. And the first one is the one I want to speak about today, and that is yielding our life to him. Now you see, the Lord has made provision for all of us to live a life of continuous victory. Doesn't mean we'll never sin against him, doesn't mean we'll never falter or fall, doesn't mean we'll never be discouraged at times, but rather there'll be more of our times when we're exercising victory, and he'll be a life of victory with once in a while there may be that little setback. But only then because we choose to disobey God. He has provided a life of victory, of peace and joy and happiness. The fruit of the Spirit, he says, is love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith, temperance, self-control.

All of these are the overflow of the life that he's provided. But now listen, even though he's provided the feast, he's not going to make you eat it. He may open the door, but he won't make you go through.

He may make a deposit to your account, but he's not going to write the check. You and I have to exercise our will, which he's given us, in order to assume and appropriate this life for ourselves. So when we talk about the life that wins, we have to talk about the idea of yielding control of our life. It is the last thing we want to do. We'll tell God we'll do the following ten things, but when it comes to surrendering all, you see, surrender indicates that you give up. But it's an interesting thing. If you will take a concordance and look up the word surrender in the New Testament, you'll not find that word in the New Testament or the Old Testament.

You say, well, why in the world talk about something that's not in there? Wait a minute. The word yield means the same thing. But he says in the Scripture, we are not to yield ourselves to sin.

We don't have to do that. We are to yield ourselves, our bodies, our members as instruments of righteousness unto God, not unto sin. And you see, the principle in the life that wins is the fact who is going to control our life.

So I want to talk about, first of all, this idea of yieldedness from this perspective, and that is, it is a definite act. It isn't something that you wish, hope for maybe. And one of the reasons of continuous defeat in the life of many believers is they have exercised wishes. They have expressed desires, but they have never made a definite commitment. They have never yielded themselves as instruments of righteousness unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's one thing to want to wish, to hope, to intend to. But a question I have to ask is this, has there ever been a time in your life when you made a definite decision to surrender to yield your life to Him? So let me define what I mean by yielding or surrendering your life to Christ. Now, listen, you do not yield your life to Christ in order to be saved. You yield your life to Him because you have trusted Him as your Savior. The Holy Spirit came into your life when you were saved and established you as a child of God.

That's what happened when you by faith and repentance received Christ. Now what we're talking about is the life that wins the Spirit-filled life, the Spirit-anointed life. The Spirit-controlled life is what happens when you and I yield everything to Him. What do we mean by yielding? Listen, the yielded life is a definite, deliberate, voluntary transfer of possession, control, and use of your life into the hands of Jesus Christ, body, soul, and spirit, because He deserves it.

Now let's think about that for a moment. Does not the Lord God Almighty have the right? Does He not have the privilege? Is it not natural and normal for Him to expect and to desire control of our life because He already holds the deed of ownership to every single believer? Now I want you to look at this, if you will, because verse 19 puts it this way. Know you not, or that is, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?

That is for all believers. Which you have of God, and listen, you're not your own. Did you hear what He said? He said you're not your own. You don't belong to you, you don't belong to you, you don't belong to you, you don't belong to you, I don't belong to me. According to the Word of God, the Bible says that God Almighty holds title deed to every single believer. That means He is the owner of your life, body, soul, and spirit.

Somebody says, well, I'm my own man, sorry. If you've been saved, you belong to someone else who has title deed to your life. Now the conflict we have is not ownership, but possession, control, and use.

And let me ask you, could you honestly say today that Jesus Christ has absolute and total possession, full control, and you are available for Him to use you any way He sees fit to do so? The yielded life is one who has transferred by definite voluntary act, what? Control, possession, and use to God's purposes whatever they may be. And notice I have never said give up that, give up this, strip yourself of that, don't do this, don't do that. I've not said that because, you see, what we do, we substitute giving up things for giving up the right to ourself, and that is one of Satan's trickiest, most successful snares. You see, what we don't realize is this, yielding to Jesus Christ, brother, means everything and absolutely you are correct, 100% correct.

It is not to be made as a flippant, on the moment, emotional decision without thoroughly thinking through what you're doing. You are forsaking, giving up, surrendering, yielding your rights to yourself. And the committed, yielded, surrendered life says, Lord Jesus Christ, I am available, period. That means there are no ifs, ands, buts, I don't call for any ownership, possession, control, use of my life to suit me at any time whether it's convenient or not convenient.

That is the yielded life. And the problem of the vast majority of believers is we have never, never, never made that commitment. We've made commitments to be saved.

We've made commitments to go to church, and you know I've had people tell me, well, listen, I know that God could use me teaching somewhere, but I'll tell you, I'm just not about to get that committed to go to church two or three times a week. You know what you're saying? I want you to think about this, friend.

This is awful if you'll think about it. You're willing to look into the face of a holy God who came to this earth in the form of his son, Jesus Christ, and died on the cross for your sin. And you're going to tell him that you've drawn a line across which you do not intend to cross? And you've said, Lord, I appreciate the sunshine and the rain, a nice home, a good family, an income, car, automobile, education, house, all of these things, a good future.

I appreciate all of that. No, you can't have all of me. I'm not giving up my right to make my own decisions. I'm not surrendering my right to choose. And I'm not telling you, Lord, that you can use me anywhere anytime you want to, my friend.

That is absolutely a gross statement of terrible ingratitude to say that to a holy God. What we're really saying is, no, God, you can't have all of my life. I am rebelling against your ownership, your possession, your control, and your use of my life. I want to reserve a portion of it for myself because there may be some things I want to do that you may not appreciate. Now, friend, that's as simple as I know how to put it.

Here's what it's all about. I'm either yielded or I'm rebellious. That's the only two choices we've got. And I want to ask you, where do you stand today? Are you yielded to Jesus Christ or are you rebellious?

Well, you said, let's get back to that question you asked a few moments ago that you didn't answer. And that is, suppose that I make myself available to the Lord and I tell him, all right, Lord, I'm available. Today, I'm making that decision. I, by an act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, transfer control, use, and possession of my life.

I'm making that today. Then you say, well, now, suppose about two weeks from now God points out something in my life that when I said to him on this given Sunday that I am absolutely and totally available, I wasn't even aware of it. Now, listen, that is true. There will be things or situations that will arise in your life that when you said, Lord, I am available, that you weren't even aware of at the time because when you and I yield everything, we're yielding what?

Past, which we're familiar with, present, which we're sort of familiar with, and the future, we don't know anything in the world about it. So you say, well, now, what happens when he brings along something that I hadn't thought about? Does that mean I am not yielded?

Now, watch this very carefully. If you were to make a decision right now that control, possession, and use of your life is totally his, and you mean that with all of your heart, six months from now God may bring up the biggest thing in my life I never even dreamed that he'd want possession of that, then what must I do? Whatever he brings to mind from that point on, it is a matter of doing what? Just relinquishing on the basis of a decision made once and for all that he has the authority and the right of owning, possessing, controlling, and using everything else he brings up into our life, which means that yielding is a definite act, but it is likewise a continuous process.

Because there's no way for us to know what the future holds, I make a definite voluntary decision today, then I continue that attitude of relinquishment throughout life. It's real simple, but it's tough, and the reason it's tough, it all boils down to one simple thing. It's tough because we doubt what God has promised in his book. Listen, my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, so if you say, Lord, I'm available, you know what you've done? You've put yourself in a position for him to supply all of your needs.

I'll tell you something better than that one. Delight thyself in the Lord, he'll give you not your needs, but your what? The desires of your heart. You know why God can't give you all the desires of your heart? Because you've, I'll tell you why.

You've got a reserve signed up. When you become available for his control, and he possesses you, and he reflects his life through you, then what? Then you have put yourself in a position before the Lord Jesus Christ to bless you, and bless you, and bless you, and bless you, because when he's controlling you, he's going to use those blessings. He's going to possess you to reflect his image in your life, and until we do that, as long as we hold the sign of reserve, we will never be able to become what God wants us to be. We hinder him from blessing us to the maximum he wants to bless us, and we will struggle, and stumble through life, and face him one of these days, and then God will have to show us all that he had prepared for us, and we say, but God, why didn't you do it? And then you and I will be staring at the sign, and God says, that's the reason I couldn't do it, because every time I looked at your life, and heard you pray, and watched you go to church, and saw you serve me, you had a sign on you that said, reserved for self.

That is the issue. The issue is, am I willing to give up my right to myself, and just say, Lord Jesus, not my will, but I'm transferring by an act of my faith, possession, control, and use of my life from this moment on. And that may sever some relationships. It may result in a great, super blessing in your life. I don't know what God will do, but I do know this, that when you and I say to him, Lord, I'm available, and there are no strings attached to my availability. I can tell you this, my friend, God's going to free you, he's going to liberate you, he's going to unentangle you, and I can tell you something else, he's going to lighten your heart. He's going to free your spirit. You're going to be able to walk out from under a weight that you've walked under for years, or maybe some of you months, or some of you days, depending upon what it is.

And the question is this, and it is a very serious question, because it is a lifetime question. Are you willing to say to him today, Lord Jesus, by an act of faith, I make a definite commitment, possession, control, and use of my life from this moment on. I transfer to you as a definite commitment of my life.

I am available for whatever you want, whenever you want it, however you want it, as long as I live from this moment on. Whatever you desire in my life that I'm not aware of today, when the time comes, by your strength, that too will be included in what you require of me. That is the life totally yielded to Jesus Christ. Father, I pray today in Jesus' name, in that righteous, holy, omnipotent name of Christ, that every person listening would consider very soberly, very seriously, very honestly, the awesome responsibility of responding to your challenge of a yielded life. You said, yield your members not to unrighteousness, but to righteousness.

You said, we are not our own, but we are bought with the price. We are to yield our bodies, our members, ourselves to the Holy Spirit, his control, his possession, and his use. I pray for those who are in the throes of making a decision right now. Would you speak to their heart today that you'd open both their hands, giving up all rights, surrendering everything, the primary thing, their right to choose for themselves the kind of life that they will live.

Oh, Lord God, I pray for that man, for that woman, for that young person, that single, those in the throes of making decisions that will affect them for the rest of their life. In Jesus' name, right now, would you grant them the courage to pray this simple prayer. Lord Jesus, I transfer possession, control, and use of my entire life, present and future, to you from this moment on. And we'll thank and praise you, Father, as our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to The Yielded Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.