Our Tuesday class at Cornerstone is studying Isaiah 1. The chapter ends on a serious note. What we refuse to surrender, if left in place, can destroy our influence, the life positions we occupy, and even our soul! As you examine your life, is there anything you’re still holding on to from your former life? Let it go! Reach out to the Lord with open hands, fully trusting in His ability to refine and renew you — from the inside out.
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There are sins we commit, recognize, confess, and leave behind. Then, there are the things we protect. We excuse them. We rename them. We explain why our situation is different. We may even admit they are weaknesses, but we stop short of actually surrendering them.
Those are the dangerous ones.
Isaiah ends the first chapter of his book with a disturbing picture:
“The strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to extinguish the flames.”
— Isaiah 1:31
Do you see how the fire does not come from somewhere else? What we trust becomes the fuel. Our own actions provide the spark. You know, this is often how sin works. For example, you tell yourself that God’s warnings are about some punishment waiting much further down the road of life. Sometimes they are. But the Bible also teaches that rebellion carries destruction within itself. Pride destroys relationships. Bitterness poisons the person carrying it. Greed is never satisfied. Lust demands increasingly more. Dishonesty requires more dishonesty to keep the first lie alive.
What we refuse to surrender eventually begins ruling us. And what rules us can destroy us.
Saul: The Sin He Kept Defending
King Saul is one of the saddest examples in the Old Testament.
When God commanded him to destroy the Amalekites, Saul did most of what he was told. That was the problem. He obeyed far enough to convince himself he had been obedient.
When Samuel arrived, Saul confidently announced:
“May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
— 1 Samuel 15:13
Samuel’s response is almost painful:
“Then what is this sound of sheep, goats, and cattle I hear?”
— 1 Samuel 15:14
Saul had spared King Agag and kept the best animals. Then came the excuses.
“The troops brought them.”
“We were going to sacrifice them to the LORD.”
“I did obey.”
Saul’s problem was bigger than a few sheep and cattle. He could not surrender his need to protect himself. When confronted, he shifted blame. When exposed, he explained. When corrected, he worried about appearances.
Eventually he admitted what was really driving him:
“I was afraid of the people. I obeyed them.”
— 1 Samuel 15:24
Even after Samuel announced that God had rejected him as king, Saul was still concerned about how things looked:
“Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.”
— 1 Samuel 15:30
That sentence reveals a lot. Saul had lost the kingdom, but he was still worried about the crowd. He never really surrendered what was destroying him: his desperate need for approval, control, and position.
But his problem didn’t end there. Before long, Saul was consumed with jealousy toward David. He threw spears. He manipulated his children. He ordered priests killed. He spent enormous energy chasing a man who had done him no wrong. The king who would not surrender his pride eventually became a prisoner of it. Sin rarely stays the size it was when we first decided to protect it.
That is why Proverbs says:
“The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.”
— Proverbs 28:13
Notice both words: confesses and renounces. Confession without surrender can become another way of managing guilt. We can say, “I know I struggle with anger,” while still justifying every outburst. “I know I can be controlling,” while making sure everyone still does things our way. “I know I hold grudges,” while rehearsing the offense every time the person’s name comes up. “I know I worry too much about what people think,” while letting their approval determine our choices.
There comes a point when we must stop explaining the sin and start surrendering it.
Judas: The Thing He Would Not Let Go
Judas gives us the same warning in the New Testament.
We do not know everything that happened inside his heart, and we should be careful not to pretend that we do. But Scripture does tell us something important about him. When Mary anointed Jesus with expensive perfume, Judas objected:
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
— John 12:5
That sounded spiritual. John tells us it was not.
“He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.”
— John 12:6
Judas had learned how to make greed sound righteous. That may be one of the most dangerous stages of sin: when we become skilled at giving spiritual explanations for things God wants us to surrender. Not long after this, Judas went to the chief priests and asked:
“What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”
— Matthew 26:15
Thirty pieces of silver. The man who had quietly taken money from the bag eventually sold Jesus for it. That did not happen in one moment. Sin had been given room. Greed had been fed. Something Judas refused to surrender became strong enough to carry him somewhere he probably never imagined going.
Later, when the horror of what he had done became undeniable, Judas was overcome with remorse.
“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
— Matthew 27:4
He threw the silver into the temple and left. The money he once wanted so badly had become unbearable to hold. That is the cruel promise of sin. It tells us, You need this. Then one day we discover that the thing we thought we needed has taken far more from us than it ever gave. James describes the process:
“But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.”
— James 1:14–15
Sin grows. That is the part we often underestimate. We think we are managing it. We think we know where the line is. We think we can keep it contained. But Scripture keeps warning us that the sin we tolerate does not remain passive.
Paul says:
“If you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
— Romans 8:13
There is nothing casual about “put to death.” Jesus said it another way:
“If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
— Luke 9:23
Following Jesus requires surrender because there are things in us that cannot be allowed to lead.
What Are You Still Protecting?
Most of us do not have trouble identifying everybody else’s problem.
Our own can be harder.
Maybe it is resentment you believe you have a right to keep.
Maybe it is a relationship you know is pulling you away from God.
Maybe it is ambition.
Maybe it is pornography.
Maybe it is money.
Maybe it is your temper.
Maybe it is the need to be right.
Maybe it is the need to be admired.
Maybe it is an old wound that has become such a large part of your identity that you no longer know who you would be without the anger attached to it.
Maybe it is something nobody else knows.
Whatever it is, do not make peace with what Jesus died to free you from.
Hebrews tells us:
“Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.”
— Hebrews 12:1
Lay it aside. Don’t rename it. Don’t defend it. Don’t hide it. Don’t blame somebody else for it. Don’t promise to deal with it eventually.
Surrender it.
Isaiah warned Judah that the things they trusted would become tinder and flame. Saul protected his pride until it consumed his reign. Judas fed his greed until thirty pieces of silver became the price of betrayal.
Their stories are extreme, but the principle is painfully ordinary. The sin we continually excuse becomes easier to repeat. What we repeatedly practice becomes part of us. And what we refuse to surrender eventually begins demanding more.
God’s call is not meant to rob us of life. It is meant to save us from the things that are quietly destroying it. That is why repentance is grace. God points to what is killing us and says, Let it go. And when we finally open our hands, we discover that surrender was never the end of freedom.
It was only the beginning.
Thank you., This is a powerful and difficult truth to fully embrace. One can read it, hear it, believe it, give it to God In Prayer, but as you said nothing changes. One of the problems is that surrendering To God In Prayer is the first step, the next step is finding what help or support there is that will guide you and sustain you as you go through the process of surrender. Perhaps you need counseling, perhaps you need an accountability partner, perhaps you need a group,. But we can have faith that what we've surrendered to God is going to go away on its own without us doing anything. Is that a possibility? Could be. But more likely faith requires work as well. Timothy said it best faith without works is dead. Many of us Walk This Road of hidden faults, or thoughts, or some other thing that is detrimental to our growth. And as you said we rename it we justify it. We take it to the altar Time and Time and Time and Time Again, without any change. Self-deception is stronghold. We need help not only of the Holy Spirit, but also of others. In the surrendering we ask for guidance and direction to the right people, places, and resources to help us walk out the surrender and actually Let It Go. Thank you again for a great word for all who will read it and my prayer is embrace it.