Unconditional Surrender: The Faith Factor Series

The Faith Factor:

Unconditional Surrender

Emanuel W. Sultana

Copyright 2012

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook

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The Faith Factor Series

can be obtained at Smashwords.com

or online book retailers:

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Blessings of Faith

Unconditional Surrender

Have You Faith of God

Our Ever Faithful God

This book is dedicated to

my children, grandchildren,

and their spouses

who I love beyond measure

and are not only my heirs but heirs of God

and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

— Philippians 1:3

******

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations

used in this book are from the

New King James Version, 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Those marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, New International Version,

1973, 1978, 1984. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Those marked (NLT) are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,

1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, IL.

All rights reserved.

Those marked (MSG) are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson,

1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Cover photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_tahoe_guy/3871536639/>the_tahoe_guy via http://photopin.com>photopin http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc

*****

Contents

Introduction

Then There Was Silence

I Have Decided To …

The Tragedy of Unseized Moments

Unseized Moments in the New Testament

The Wages of Sin is Death

Teaching in Parables

I am the Door

The Eye of the Needle

The Two Gates

Two Difficult Verses

Many Called, Few Chosen

Not Everyone Who Says Lord, Lord

Who is a Genuine Disciple?

The Ten Virgins

A Contrary Statement?

On The Cross

The Cost of Discipleship

A Paradox

Unconditional Surrender

Though and Yet

He is worthy

Cling to God

Faith Sayings

End Notes

About the Author

Sample from Blessings of Faith

Sample from Once Saved, Always Saved?

*****

Introduction

What does it mean to be a Christian? As a child, I thought that being a Christian meant attending church on Sundays and observing the various Holy Days during the year. My parents were strict about that, and my brothers and sisters and I obeyed them.

Interestingly many of our public school teachers were Jewish and they, just like our parents, made sure we attended Church on the Holy Days. In class, they would question the kids, Have you been to mass this morning? If you nodded no, they would point a stern commanding finger at your nose saying, Then see to it that you go today. God will bless those teachers!

Times have changed, haven’t they?

Keeping the Commandments the rest of the week was not always easy, but when I slipped, there was always Saturday confession. I knew that my relationship with God was casual but I thought I was doing all right. Realistically, I was hardly in pursuit of God; I said my nightly prayers and attended church when I was supposed to. I didn’t know it back then, but on God’s ladder I ranked one rung less than a novice. Never having read the Bible I was very ignorant of the Scriptures. If you were to ask me, I couldn’t tell you that John 3:16 was in the Gospel of John. We were taught that the priests would tell us what the Bible said, every thing we needed to know. That was their job and calling and I went along with it.

I met my wife-to-be in the Navy when Korea first broke out; we were both attending a special training school. Though we were of different faiths, we attended church together every Sunday. We talked about the Lord and I began to get a hunger to know Him better. In a few months, we married and it wasn’t long before I read the Bible for the first time. Now I was connected with the Real God of the Universe, a God who became flesh and walked among the poor, the rich, the common people, and the outcasts bringing them the hope of redemption.

Before long, I began to think about what my life would have been had I not been introduced to the Bible. What would it be like without the power of Christ and knowledge of His Word within me? The answer is this, My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6). That sent me a shuddering message. Shape up, read up!

Questions about faith filled my mind:

Q: Is it possible to have faith in God’s Son Jesus without a personal relationship?

A: I found my faith was on a slippery slope. I needed to read God’s Handbook and get to know Him much better—to know Him intimately.

Q: How do I know if I have saving-faith?

A: We needed to be discipled; we found a church where the Full Gospel was preached and taught. No one can have faith without hearing the message about Christ.

Q: What does it mean to know Christ?

A: I read the epistles of Paul and John.

There was so much to learn; and I definitely needed to know how to live a Christ-like life. Faith was my earliest key word. We started to collect faith sayings wherever we found them. Early on in my readings I found many significant verses relating to faith, the just shall live by faith, by grace are we saved through faith, and faith comes by hearing the word of God. And these life-saving verses:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

— Rom. 10:9-10

As one who was new to the Scriptures these two verses in Romans were an enormous help and blessing to me. They are the clearest statement on how we receive salvation.

The apostle Paul explains it so simply and to the point. Our relationship with Christ begins inward and outward: the inward heart-faith belief that God raised Jesus from the dead and the consequent outward confession with our mouth of our salvation. Our confession is an acknowledgement that God has been made flesh in Jesus, and that Jesus Christ is God and our belief in Him. These are the simple steps to salvation, heart-belief and mouth-confession, inward and outward, unbeliever to believer in Christ. But it doesn’t stop there, this is just the beginning!

We will soon find out that Christ Jesus is:

The Lord of our past; our old sinful self is dead and our sins forgiven.

He is the Lord of our present; He is Christ in us living within us and guiding our life.

He is the Lord of our future; it is only in Him that we have an inheritance with Him in eternity.

What Does the Lord Require?

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you,

But to do justly, to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

— Micah 6:8

One might say without any hesitation, Do these Old Testament requirements hold true for today? Actually they do. Jesus referred to this verse in Matthew 23 as representing the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. He called the narrow-minded scribes and Pharisees frauds for putting on a show of outward religious appearances. They were majoring on minors, straining out a gnat, and swallowing a camel as the parable goes. They were so busy with small details; they neglected things that carry far more importance.

Here Micah tells Israel, and the Church, exactly what God desires from us. Jehovah God doesn’t want us to be related to Him in just a ritualistic way. God wants us to be related inwardly—because we desired to, not because it is a burden. This intimate relationship with Him, which is so good (beneficial), involves three things:

"To do justly," is simply to act with fairness and respect to everyone, especially to those that are disadvantaged socially. Justice is an all-inclusive term for a way of life that finds its example in the covenant of God.

"To love mercy," is to have a loyal love. In other words, to carry out our commitments to meet other peoples needs. Mercy and grace are what binds a man to the Lord and to our fellow Christians and friends.

"To walk humbly with your God," is to fellowship with the Lord in modesty, without arrogance. This is to be our Christian lifestyle, walking humbly with our God. Humility is a virtue required of all faithful followers of our Lord.

It’s a good thing for a man or woman to know what is in their heart so as to be able to talk to the Lord about it. Here, in this psalm, David tells not of pride, but of his immense humble trust in Jehovah God. This is from The Message version of the Bible.

God, I'm not trying to rule the roost,

I don't want to be king of the mountain.

I haven't meddled where I have no business

or fantasized grandiose plans.

I've kept my feet on the ground,

I've cultivated a quiet heart.

Like a baby content in its mother's arms,

my soul is a baby content.

-– Psalm 131:1-2 MSG

I pray that these words and the following chapters will bless you and glorify the Lord. Moreover, and this is my purpose, that they will encourage you to move forward in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

E.W.S.

*****

Then There Was Silence

The Book of Malachi

Malachi is the last in a long line of Old Testament prophets who prophesied about the coming Messiah. He is called a minor prophet only because his book comprises just fifty-five verses. But in the plan and eyes of God he is a major prophet.

Malachi’s name means my messenger, or my angel. He brings the message of God’s unchanging love for Israel. He begins this with the Heavenly Father’s concerned plea: "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel. ‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord, and ‘For I am the Lord, I do not change’ … and then this hopeful plea—return—the watchword of all the prophets, ‘Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts’" (Mal. 1:1-2; 3:6-7).

Throughout Malachi’s message, the mean-spirited people ask questions of God. Often they sarcastically make accusations trying to justify their wickedness. They whine complaining, How have we wearied You? And the Lord answers, In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord.’ Despite their artificial piety and lack of respect, Malachi continues his message that God loves His people. Then Jehovah God makes this announcement of His messenger and the coming Messiah to the faithless and hopeless people.

"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.

— Malachi 3:1 NIV

Looking closely at the verse, we can see it includes three persons. The speaker is Almighty God. Then secondly, there is my messenger the herald that is to prepare the way for the coming One. Jesus and all four Gospels explicitly identify the herald as John the Baptist. The third person is called the messenger of the covenant, who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This title the messenger of the covenant occurs only here in the Bible. The word messenger can be translated the Angel of the Lord, a manifestation of God Himself.

Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest born of woman. Moreover, that John was the Elijah who was to come because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. John’s ministry was to direct Israel who was calloused against the Law and Jehovah God. And as we see in Malachi, to the prophecy spoken of the messenger who prepares the way before the Lord.

Do you remember the power of Elijah? He was God’s ministering prophet when wickedness had reached its epic point, when apostasy was the rage. Passion fired Elijah’s preaching, his words were on the hearts of men like molten metal on flesh.

Seven evil kings in succession reigned over the northern kingdom of Israel, and without exception, all of them continually defied God. It looked like Satan was in complete control. Except, there was God’s prophet Elijah and he was strong in his faith. He challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of Asherah to a cook out, to see if Almighty God or their gods would light the fires of their sacrifice. While their prophets called on Baal, three times Elijah ordered water-filled pots to be poured on his sacrifice and the wood.

"When it was time for the sacrifice to be offered, Elijah the prophet came up and prayed, O GOD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known right now that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant. Answer me, GOD; answer me and reveal to this people that you are GOD, the true God, and that you are giving these people another chance at repentance. Immediately the fire of GOD fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench. All the people saw it happen and fell on their faces in awe, exclaiming, GOD is the true God! GOD is the true God!

— 1 Kings 18:36-39 MSG

The Silence Begins

Getting back to Malachi, following the close of his writings there is a very long silence. Heaven is silent for four hundred years. During this silence, every spiritual light was quenched. Every voice—every word from God—stifled, muted; the spiritual hush was like a super vacuum. Not one prophetic messages flowed from heaven, not one vision received on earth, not a dream, not a whisper—just silence. It was as if Almighty God put up an iron wall between heaven and earth.

Though no inspired prophet arose in Israel during these centuries, events took place that gave