Unconditional Surrender

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 13th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Job 13:15. And Job says: (Even)

”Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” 

Unconditional surrender! It’s not a case of, “Lord, I will serve You if You give me that.” No, unconditional surrender! Then we go to the Book of Daniel and this is when the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, was threatening Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, and saying, “If you do not worship the god that I made out of gold, we will put you in a fiery furnace and this was their response in Daniel 3:18:

“But if not, (if the Lord will not rescue us)…”But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Oh folks, that is boldness! 

The Coptic Church in Egypt, those people are so in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, that they take it as a great honour if they die a martyr’s death. Remember those 22 Coptic Christians that were working in Libya, when they were caught by ISIS? They were marched down to the Mediterranean Sea in orange uniforms with one man behind each one of them in a black suit with a sword, and they were told to deny their faith in Jesus Christ, and they could live. Not one of them relented. Not one of them said, “Okay, I won’t, I will go back to Islam or whatever it was.” No - they said, “We love Jesus.” They weren’t bishops, they weren’t reverends or evangelists. They were working men. They died for their faith. When we get to Heaven, they will be sitting very close to the throne of Jesus Christ. 

Then one of my favourites, an old father of the church, you have heard of him before - Polykarp. Polykarp, was the Bishop of Smyrna. He was 86 years old. They took him to the theatre where they were going to burn him at the stake and the soldiers who came to arrest him said, “Look, just deny the name of Christ and we will let you live old man, and you can live peacefully in your old age.” He said, “Never,” He said, ”For 86 years the Lord has never once failed me. How can I betray Him now?” And they took him to the Proconsul, who was the representative of Caesar of Rome, and the Proconsul said to him, “Do you know who I am?” He said, “Yes, I know exactly who you are. You are a son of the devil!” How is that for boldness? And they burned him at the stake. 

I want to say to you today, you and I need to serve Jesus Christ unconditionally. 

Jesus bless you, have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.