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Surrender, Then Resist

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 20, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 25.

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Surrender, Then Resist

By J. S. Washburn

J. S. WASHBURN
WHAT an apparent contradiction! We must surrender in order to be able to resist. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. We can not reverse the order; the surrender must be first, and the power to resist is measured wholly by the completeness of our surrender.
Are you struggling in vain to overcome? Do you constantly fail? Are you fighting a losing battle? Would you like to know the secret of your failure? Do you wish to know, on the other hand, the secret of success? If it were offered you, would you accept and keep the key to complete, continual, eternal victory in every temptation, over every sin? It is a secret so simple that all may have it. Listen! it is in the one word surrender!
Your surrender is not complete, or your victory over sin would be complete. You are keeping back part of the price. You probably know of something in your life that you feel is wrong, or to say the least, doubtful. You have never been willing to surrender this to God, that he might take it away forever from you.
You can not resist God and the devil at the same time. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6. The proud, the unsubmissive, resist the appeals of the Spirit of God, and God resists them. If you resist God on any one point, you can not successfully resist the devil. He who submits all to God receives the power of God to resist all the power of the devil.
Do you wish to win the fight with sin and Satan? Then you must surrender all, every sin, every doubtful thing, every power of body and mind, every purpose, and every plan wholly and unreservedly to God.
You will never, never have the power to win, to stand firm as a rock against the fierce assaults of the enemy, until you have toward God an absolutely passive and of the unconquerable determination was seen in Jesus! When he came into the world, he “emptied himself,” surrendered himself to God. He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing.”
At the last, when all the waves of hell were beating madly against his frail human nature, he cried out in agony that no man can ever fathom, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” But the absolute surrender of Jesus to the will of the Father was shown in the words, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” The surrender was to him victory, to us salvation.
On the shameful tree of Golgotha when Satan was making his utmost effort to overwhelm the dying Christ with despair, and to blot out every ray of light and hope, the Saviour uttered those despairing words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Upon him, dying in our stead, had fallen the same despairing agony as will fall upon the lost soul in the final judgment. Yet with all the agony of all the lost concentrated in one awful hour upon his breaking heart, hear his final words of submission and surrender: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” The one secret of his sinless life and of his final victory in the hour of temptation was his absolute and utter surrender. The submissiveness of Jesus to the Father made him against Satan inflexible, unbending, determined, the very Rock of Ages, against which all the surges of sin beat in vain.
What contrast! the tenderest, meekest, most humble, most yielding man who ever lived, yet the bravest, boldest, mightiest warrior that ever fought a desperate fight, winning gloriously at the last,—the Lamb against the lion!
“If we surrender our lives to his service, we can never be placed in a position for which God has not made provision. Whatever may be our situation, we have a Guide to direct our way; whatever our perplexities, we have a sure Counselor; whatever our sorrow, bereavement, or loneliness, we have a sympathizing Friend. If in our ignorance we make missteps, Christ does not leave us. His voice, clear and distinct, is heard saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’
“‘He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.’ We may overcome as he overcame. The Saviour took upon himself the infirmities of humanity, and lived a sinless life, that men might have no fear that because of the weakness of human nature they could not overcome. Christ came to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature,’ and his life declares that humanity, combined with divinity, does not commit sin.”
“The Elder Brother of our race is by the eternal throne. He looks upon every soul who is turning his face toward him as the Saviour. He knows by experience what are the weaknesses of humanity, what are our wants, and where lies the strength of our temptations, forhe was ‘in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.’ He is watching over you, trembling child of God. Are you weak? he will strengthen. Are you ignorant? he will enlighten. Are you wounded? he will heal. The Lord ‘telleth the number of the stars;’ and yet ‘he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.’”
But we must pay all the price, not a part of it. Who could hope to purchase anything without paying the full price demanded? Not till you pay the last cent of the price is the article yours. Not till you have given all to God without reserve is the complete blessing yours.
The secret of blessing is surrender; the moment of surrender is the moment of blessing. Daily surrender means daily blessing. Continual surrender is continual blessing, eternal surrender is eternal blessing. Every morning let the first waking thought be: Lord Jesus, I give myself, body, soul, and mind, to thee for this new day. Control my thoughts. Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
“All to Jesus I surrender, All to him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, In his presence daily live. “All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame. O the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory to his name! “I surrender all, I surrender all; All to thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.”
Memphis, Tenn.