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THE SURRENDER PRINCIPLE:
We trust the Lord completely; We don't trust ourselves. In everything we do we want to put God first. [Prov 3:5,6] We give our bodies to God /to/ be living sacrifices, holy -- the kind He can accept. [Rom 12:1]

3. THE SURRENDER PRINCIPLE:

We trust the Lord completely; We don't trust ourselves. In everything we do we want to put God first. [Prov 3:5,6] We give our bodies to God /to/ be living sacrifices, holy -- the kind He can accept. [Rom 12:1]

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

Know That You Have Died

"I have been crucified with Christ"

When Christ died on the cross, the old man of every believer died with Him. We still have an old sin nature that we can yield to, but positionally we are dead on the cross.

This is not suppression of those evil desires that dominate us. The more we fix our minds on them, the more they manifest themselves. Our wills have been inoculated with the poison of sin.

What are some actions and attitudes that we may need to die to?

Know That Christ Lives in You

"but Christ lives in me"

What happened when we came to Christ? John 1:12 says that "We received Him". When we opened the door of our lives to Jesus, what does he promise to do? He says, "I will come in to him" (Rev 3:20). Is He a liar? Then where is He? He is within. He desires by the power of the Holy Spirit to live out the life in you that pleases God.

But how do we do this?

Don't Rely on Yourself

"yet not I"

We give up trying to do it ourselves. This is the opposite of the worldly, humanistic philosophy, which says that you need to rely on yourself. Our spiritual success begins when we realize that we do not have enough in ourselves to do it.

Theodore Monod has a little verse that says it well:

All of self and none of Him!

Some of self and some of Thee!

Less of self and more of Thee!

None of self and all of Thee!

Live Dependently by Faith

"and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

We live by faith. The opposite of faith is unbelief. In unbelief we try harder to do what we know should be done in our own strength. We do not trust what Christ can do through us. As we believe Him, rather than producing the works of the flesh, we produce the fruit of the Spirit.

How does this principle of living our lives by faith relate to the issue of human responsibility?

Remember:

Christ wants to express Himself through me.