Give Yourself to Jesus — Rolfe Barnard

The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53

I'd like for you to listen as I try to read, and I want you to listen, not to read along with me. I'll have it work out. I want, first of all, to read in your hearing the Holy Spirit's description of the Lord Jesus Christ when he came as a man plus man.

I never try to read this, but I do not recognize the impossibility of fully entering in to the mystery of it, but I pray the Holy Spirit will just be very sweet to you as I read these blessed words. The servant shall deal prudently.

He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred in his form as the sons of men. So he shall sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Who hath believed, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who hath heard of the mystery of mysteries? Who hath believed it? In the providence of God, that he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground, with no form nor crumbliness.

And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire in him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, him not.

We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, and wounded for our transgressions and iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. As for ourselves, we, like sheep, all of us have gone astray.

We have turned every one way to him, the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment, there his generation to the living. I guess that's why in the immigration of my people was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.

Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him, him to grieve. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, thank God he shall see his seed.

He shall prolong his days, and the good pleasure of Jehovah shall profit in his. Then he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the small, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and because he was numbered with the transgressors, and because he bare the sin of many, and because he made intercession for the transgressions.

Saying, O barren, thou didst break forth into singing and crying. And then if you would like, I'd appreciate it if you'd turn to the 19th chapter of the last book of the Bible, the Spirit's description of the universe.

Christ's Return in Glory

The next time he visits this old earth, he may not receive very good treatment first time, but look at the Spirit's description of him when he comes trampling on the clouds of glory, with the armies of heaven in his wake, to take charge on this earth.

At verse 11 we read,. And I saw heaven open, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful, and in this death he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns.

And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings. And I feel vitally his presence here this morning, that wonderful, worshipful singing. I feel like taking off my shoes, speak a little or not.

The Bible Reveals the Living Christ

We don't need a Bible named Jesus in a little town called Bethlehem, outside the holy city of Jerusalem, buried in another man's tomb. That's just a fact of history. Thank God we do need a Bible and thank God we have a Bible to tell us this world didn't get rid of him, and that he's coming back under different circumstances for a different purpose.

I wouldn't venture to try to interpret the last passage of scripture I've read. The more I get, the more dogmatic I am about just one thing, and that is him, and I hope my relation to him. It is blessed to soak your soul now and then in victory, and praise God, victory's on the way.

Jesus Christ hasn't abandoned his mission. He's sitting at the right hand of God now, carrying on, praise God. And one day his feet shall touch this earth again, and men will have not a man in humiliation, but a man in glory on their hands.

I want to just exhort you a little this morning with myself about one expression describing the glory, the majesty, the victory that shall be the portion of him who, when he came the first time, wound up on a cross with his visage so marred that he didn't look like a human being.

He must have looked like some sort of a monster by the time they got through with him. Here he comes back, praise the Lord, straightened out, and turned what had been brought back into subjection to God.

Turn it over to the Father that the God may be all in all. One of the descriptions of him as he comes back in glory, his head where many crowns. I don't have the proper interpretation or not, but I have in my soul and a deep desire in my very being that I shall see him as he is, and that's the way he'll be, a picture of him, and shall be made like him, that I shall have a joy finding out that one of the crowns, one of the many crowns on his glorious head have been placed there on his head where many crowns.

Men and women, boys and girls in this veil of tears have the glorious opportunity and privilege under God putting a crown on the head of the despised and rejected and crucified Lord of glory by faith when the world pays no attention to him, by believing God's testimony about him.

There isn't any privilege like the privilege that came my way and has come yours, to put a crown on his head, not a crown of thorns, but the crown of me. Mystery of mysteries, wonder of wonders, grace upon grace, reasons that in 35 years trying to study the Bible and preach, I marvel more about it now than when I first began, for some reason Jesus Christ wants you.

He wants you. He came down here to get you, not your time that already belongs to him, not your money that's already his, just came down here to get you. For some reason he wants us, and to get us he gave himself, and he gives himself, he didn't send us a creed, he didn't send us advice, he came himself.

The gift of God is God himself in Christ. For some reason he gave himself, he identified himself, on the statement I'm going to make now, that he doesn't ask of you anything on earth except you. He just wants you.

Salvation Requires Giving Yourself to Christ

And salvation is the portion of a man or woman, boy or girl, who has responded to Christ giving of himself for you by giving yourself to him. Salvation is more than believing something. Salvation is one giving himself for sinners, and the Spirit of God working on men and women until they give themselves to him.

Believing faith is just the response of you to the giving of him. Any response less than that is an insult to the glorious truth to win you. He gives himself for you, and gives himself to you. Amen? He wants you.

He wants me. Wonder of wonders. And there's just one thing I can do. I've got nothing to give it. Somewhere between now and the time you die, he'll fix it up about whether this has any reference to what you call salvation or not.

It'll make you happy. Some way, time, before you go out to meet him, I hope he'll have you, he'll have me. You've heard it, have you? I'm sure you have. I repeat it, that Jesus man, the missionary, preaching to an Indian tribe, and he preached and preached and preached, and the old chieftain heard him and heard him and heard him, and after a while, the old chieftain absented himself from the services and sat in his wigwam trying to digest what he'd heard from the missionary.

And as all truth demands response, the old missionary knew it was his move, and it's always man's move when he faces any truth and any pervasion. And the old missionary cogitated the old Indian chieftain.

Jesus gave himself for me, thought it would be some response, and he thought and thought and finally thought he had it. He got up and fixed up his favorite hunting rifle. Until it was beautiful to behold, and cradling it in his arms, he went to the missionary's tent.

And he said, here, Jesus man, you say Jesus gave himself for me, me give him my rifle. And the missionary said, no, chief, Jesus no want your rifle. The old chieftain shook his head, said Jesus no want my rifle.

No, Jesus no want your rifle. And with his rifle in his arms, the old missionary went back to his tent, put it back up in the rack, and in tremendous perplexity sat down to try to come up with response that was proper to the message that Jesus had given himself for him.

And after some time, he got the most prized possession he had. He got his favorite hunting moccasins. He took his taller, whatever it is, and he fixed him up beautiful, cradling him in his arm like this, like a little girl with a dog.

He went again into the presence of the missionary, and he said, Jesus, missionary man, you say Jesus gave himself for me, me bring my rifle, you say Jesus no want my rifle, me bring my moccasins, me give them to Jesus.

The missionary man said, no, chief, Jesus no want your moccasins. He returned in deep distress to his tent and stayed there without making a public appearance for two days and nights. Then he came into the presence of the Jesus man, and he said, Jesus man, me bring my rifle, you say Jesus no want, me bring my moccasins, you say Jesus no want, me bring me, because Jesus want me.

And the Jesus man said, yes, chief, Jesus want you. That's what he came down here to die for, to get you, get you, get you. He won't stop the beast that will bring you to him. He wants you, wants you.

He got you. That's something that will challenge you every day of your life, to have me. That's all now I belong to Jesus. Yes, to have you. And the glory, and the majesty, and the mystery, and the wonder of it is that he'll rule you, that he'll command you, invite you, that he'll influence you, but in this day he will not make you against your will.

Bring yourself the crowns that will be on the head, but we'll understand what you are. He came down here to get you. He came down here to get me. And the only difference between this hour and the hour past seeking men and women who will willingly worship him.

Now, one day you'll have to. Now, bless God, you can. I want to just bring three words of excitation as to why everybody under the sound of my voice, the preacher included, and I do it many, many times, never gets too old, and it's never out of order under God.

Wholehearted Surrender to Jesus

If Christianity is a way, this I'm to talk about this morning is vital. I want to say that you ought to give yourself in wholehearted response to turn yourself over, lock, stock, and barrel to the Lord Jesus Christ to do as he is pleased to lead you, to control you, to guide you for his sake.

Under God, if I knew how, with my own self and with everybody whom I preach, I wish we'd be done with fiddle-faddle and I wish we'd come up one face again. The Bible is either God's truth or it isn't.

We ought not to trifle with it. Jesus Christ is either the divine Son of God and yet all man who left heaven and came down here for us men to bring us to glory. These things are true and they are not.

And under God, if Jesus is what the Bible says he is, under God, if Jesus did for us what the Bible says he did, he's worthy of me. See, I tell you it's an insult often anything else except me. It's an insult to have a kind of religion whereby you give a nice little sum of money and give him a little of your time and once in a while think of him, but that's an insult.

The only thing that's worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ person and his glorious work is the response of Ralph Barnard wholeheartedly. Here am I. Here am I. He's worthy of you. He's worthy. Hallelujah. We sing a little chorus.

As I go about the country only he is worthy. Let us praise him. Only he is worthy. Let us praise him. And that's so. He of me committing myself. And I know of no form of Christianity in the Bible that doesn't call for a new committal every day of your life.

I believe that as I gaze so shall thy strength be. And I would lift up my voice against this stuff, this little convenient stuff they call Christianity that doesn't confront you daily with the demands of the living Christ who is the Lord of all.

There's the way, the way for the day. He's worthy. He's a mister to me. But he'll settle not for some of your time, not for some of your affection, not for some of your faith. He'll settle for you. He can't have you.

He won't please. He's after us. He wants us. And he's worthy of us. Always had a horror of nice people that have some nice beliefs. I tell you, the Bible brings us. Face it, so or it isn't so. The only response is like the little dog.

Little witty, but the boy said he had a dog. And his name was Rover. And when he died, he died all over. And the Bible brings us to one of two positions that at least is reasonable. One is an all-out response to Christ.

The other is to say there's nothing to it. But an in-between attitude is a lukewarm, warmness that is a stench in the nostrils of a holy God. Walking across the campus of Southwestern Seminary years ago, I ran smack in to Hyman Appelman, a Jewish preacher, some of you have heard him.

He and I were schoolmates together, and he was crying as he walked across the campus. And he said, Roth, you got a little time? I said, yes. He said, if I don't talk to somebody, I think I'm just, I just, I got to talk to somebody.

He said, if you got some time, come up to my room, just let me talk to you. And I went up to his room, and he told me this experience. He said, last week, Roth, was the most grueling week of my life. He said, my old Jewish daddy came down from Chicago and got my home out in Victor, Texas, 50 miles from Fort Worth, where Hyman was a student pastor.

And he said, my daddy stayed in my home Monday night and left Friday afternoon, about dark. And he said, for that week, instead of staying in my room here, I drove each day into the school and back at night.

And he said, my old daddy, talk to me. He said to, he said to, you know, Hyman, of course, Hyman, when he accepted the Lord Jesus as his Messiah and Lord and Savior, he was banished from his home. And he, last time I'd seen him, had never been in his mother and father's home for 30-some odd years.

But at that time, Hyman hadn't been saved too long. Now he's in school, in a school, trying to learn how to preach. And his old daddy wouldn't let him come home because that was against, he had, he had, of course, insulted and disgraced the religion of his father and the faith of his father and mother.

And his old orthodox Jewish home was borrowed to him. But the old daddy got on the train, came down to visit with his boy. Hyman said, Ralph, he never said an unkind word. Tell me the four days he was in my home.

He said, when I'd get home from school, about three, four o 'clock in the afternoon, my daddy'd be waiting for me. And said, we'd begin the conversation pretty soon. My daddy'd forget the conversation.

And he'd call me by my Jewish-Russian name. I can't pronounce it. Hyman happened to be his firstborn son, and that's precious to a Jewish family, born in Russia, Jewish parents. And he'd say, Hyman, my firstborn, mama sent me down to bring you home.

Hyman, mama's kept your room ready for you. She goes in and airs it, cleans it up once a week. Nobody's slept in your bed all these years. Nobody's occupied your room. Hyman, mama's grieving her septa death the way you've done.

Hyman, give up your Jesus and come back home. And Hyman'd say I'd have to get up and run out, go out in the yard. He said that went on for four days. My dear old daddy loved me. He's a good man. And he talked to him as much as he could about other things, but he'd always, in our conversation every day, get around to that same conversation.

He said I came in Friday afternoon from school, only a few minutes before I had to take daddy to the train. And he said my daddy's down in the front room, had his suitcase packed and his overcoat and hat over on the chair.

And I got his hat and his coat, and he put on his hat, and I pepped him into his coat, and I reached down to get the suitcase, and I had my hand on it. My daddy just caught me on the wires and hugged me in his giant embrace, just with his arms about me in that position holding on to his suitcase.

He said, Hyman, I'll buy the ticket. You can send for your clothes. You haven't got time to pack now. But Hyman, it'll kill, mama, if I come home without you. He said, Hyman, give up your Jesus and come back home.

Hyman said, Ralph, I had to do this, disengage my daddy's arms. And I reached down and got the suitcase and out into the car we went. We drove up to the depot and got out and down where the train would pull up, and in about a minute, Garrett came.

He said, I put daddy's suitcase up in the vestibule of the car. He kissed me goodbye, and I kissed him goodbye. He put his right foot up on the step and his right hand on the rail. And I thought I'd said goodbye, and then he turned with a beat of lightning and crushed me in his embrace one more time.

Hyman said, Ralph, he just sobbed like his heart would break. And he said, Hyman, give up your Jesus and come back home. And Hyman said, Ralph, once again, I had to by means of strength and awkwardness take my daddy's arms from around him.

And I held them pinioned to his side. While I held his arms, I looked into his tear-stained face. And I said, Daddy, I may be a Jew, but I am not a dog. And Jesus loved me enough to die for me. And I love him enough to give myself to him.

The Gospel's Call Within a Family

Ladies and gentlemen, there isn't any difference between the Jew and the Gentile now. And anything short of responding to the love of Christ by giving ourselves to him, I tell you, it just won't do. And he'll settle for nothing less.

In the second place, I bring a word of exhortation. Men and women, boys and girls, and I'm speaking to people here this morning, that ought to give yourself in just humble, simple faith of committal to Jesus Christ for your loved one's sake.

Only God knows the heartache of a parent or a child that continues to flaunt the grace and continues to walk in ungodliness. Only God knows the heartbreak of a wife who's got a husband that thumbs his nose at the Lord Jesus Christ.

And more and more wives tell me of husbands they can't even talk to about. And more and more wandering boy tonight in the heartbreak of God's peace. Of that flesh and bone of that bone. Boys and girls and men and women ought to yield Christ.

If for no other reason than to mend the broken heart. Went from Southwestern Seminary out to New Mexico to be a pastor. Sam Fletcher was the chairman of the Board of Deacons. And for some reason he took a shine to me.

And he had a lot of money. He was a big businessman. And I was just a kid. And he went out of his way. I never had a human being this side of eternity. Could think up as many ways to be nice to his pastor.

He seemed to just love me. Oh, he just did everything. And about six months after I'd been there, after I went there, I got on the telephone early one Monday morning. I called his secretary and I said, I want to speak to Sam.

She said, he's very busy. I said, I know, but I want to speak to him. And she got him on the line. He said, Preacher, I'm terribly busy. I said, I know. But I want an hour of your time today. He said, Preacher, I just can't give it to you.

I said, yes, you can. I want an hour of your time today. I got something I want to ask you. He said, could you tell him about it on the phone? I said, no, Sam. I want an hour of your time today. Your pastor, I want you to give it to him.

He said, well, let me look. And he got it right finally. He said, all right. Can you be here at my office? I said, yeah, I'll be there. You be ready. And I went there. And I sat down in his office. He told the secretary not to disturb him.

And he said, what's on your mind, Preacher? I said, I've come to ask you a question. He said, what is it, Preacher? I said, Sam, do you know the Lord? He said, I'm pretty sure that's the question you're going to ask.

And then he began to weep. He said, Preacher, I think you know I don't know the Lord. I said, how did you get in this? He said, I don't know. I made a profession of faith, and I was sincere. And then he made me chairman of the Board of Deacons.

And I got very prominent and said, for these years there's been hell in here and hell in my home, hell everywhere. But I've been too proud to walk an aisle and tell the church at which I was the chairman of the Board of Deacons that I was a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course, Sam didn't know about his wife that had been calling on him. About the times wife and I had gone to see her when she was almost at the breaking point. She'd say, Brother Barton, I can't go on.

You don't know what hell goes on in our home. The children are afraid of the dead. It's just one series of hell after another. He said, I just can't stand it. I can't. And I'd say, let not the believing wife depart from the unbelieving husband, if you can.

Stick it out a while longer, and we'll keep building a fire under him in prayer and preaching if we can. And the crisis came on Sunday night after the preaching service. The little wife had come and said, Brother Barton, the reach up breaking point's come.

I just can't stand it any longer. God must give me some relief. And Monday morning I called him. And in that office, I believe he surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he got up off his knees, I said, get your hat, Sam.

He said, where are we going? I said, get your hat, Sam. And he followed me. And we got in his car. And he said, where are we going? I said, we're going to your home. And he drove to his home. We came up on the front porch.

He opened the front door, went in the front room. And he cupped his, he burst his lips and said, Mary, I'm home. I want to see you. And Gary was surprised. Why, busy about the household duties. Came and said, what you doing here now, Sam?

He said, I brought the preacher. And I said, Sam, talk to your wife. And Sam told his wife what had taken place. And he said, honey, I hope you'll give me another chance. Under God, I'm a new man. I'm a new man.

I'll never forget that little woman. She looked at my face with the agony of years of going through heartbreaking hell because of an unbelieving, Christ-denying husband. She looked in my face and she said, preacher, can I believe it?

And I said, I believe you can. I believe you can. And then the pent-up agony of the years bore forth. And in a heartbreaking stop, she said, oh. And they were in the other's arms. And when they'd embraced and rejoiced a little together, I said, Sam, call your kids.

And he had a 13-year-old boy and a nine. And when they got in, I said, Sam, talk to your boys. And he talked to them. And when he got through, the 13-year-old boy looked into my face. And again, he said, preacher, is it true?

And I said, yes, I think it is, son. And he ran to embrace his daddy. And while they were embracing, I heard somebody sobbing and talking. And I looked him down on his knees in the corner with the little nine-year-old boy.

And over and over again, he said, thank you, Lord. Oh, my soul, nobody knows how many kids can't make good grades in the school because they're living in hell at home. Nobody knows the hard age that families have that are divided over the Lord Jesus Christ.

I tell you, for loved ones' sake, you ought to give yourself lock, stock, and barrel. Well, have I ever said you're not? Forget it. He came down here to get you. Turn yourself over to him. And in him, you'll find salvation.

Giving Yourself for Your Own Sake

I bring another word of exhortation. You ought to give yourself, well, not something of your mind, but just give yourself. I don't want an act of your will, an act of your affections, an act of your mind.

I just want an act of you, the whole kit and capoodle of you, Lord. Here I am. Here I am. Here I am with all there is to me. I say an eternal yes by the presentation of myself to your eternal gift of yourself.

You ought to do that for your own sake. For your own sake. Time's a-wasting. Time's a-wasting. You're running a battle between the ravages and the power and the cords of sin and the certainty of death.

Time's a-wasting. Time's a-wasting. On Easter Sunday years ago in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the meeting was to come to close that night. They had a lower floor and two balconies. And we'd had a great meeting.

And being Easter Sunday and the last day of the meeting, the thing was packed out, balconies and all. And I stood up to preach. I fooled around a little bit trying to get something to say while I looked.

And finally I found my man. He's an old man, 74 years old. And the pastor and I had been dealing with him all during the meeting. And he heard me preach after I was there. And we'd go to see him at his home.

We'd get out on our knees and pray with him, pray for him. He'd get up off his knees in his home, and I'd ask him to surrender to Christ. And he'd say, I can't. I can't. The last Sunday morning of the meeting, he'd come.

He'd got that lady wanting to get as far away from him as he could. And I finally spied him up in the second balcony. In the extreme corner on the last row of seats, just as far away from me as he could get.

And there he sat during the process of the service. And we stood for an invitation, and I couldn't help it. I left the pastor with the invitation. The people were coming. I walked down the middle aisle the entire length of the auditorium, down over the steps, walked up the steps to the first balcony, then the steps to the second balcony, made my way to that last row, asked the people to excuse me.

And they did. And I waited in there and put my hand on the shoulder of that old 74-year-old man. And I asked him one more time if he would surrender to my Lord. And he looked me in the face. There were tears there in his eyes.

And he trembled in his old age and in his conviction. And he said, Preacher, I can't. I can't. Of course, your saying I can't simply means I won't. But that's what he said. That's what he said. You can't give yourself faith.

But all hell couldn't stop you from saying, Yeah, I am Lord. What you want from me, I don't know. But I'm on your hands from now on. I don't guarantee God will save you. He don't have to save you, whether he ever saves you or not.

He's your Lord. You could respond to that, couldn't you? Sure you could. The Gospel of Grace says that he saves people who do that. But that's beside the point. And the old man, for the last time, has proved, as he is invited, to yield to God's Son.

Through his tears, he said, Preacher, I can't. You want to take that and go to hell with it? Nobody will keep you from it. He did. That afternoon at 3 o 'clock, he was dead. And out yonder, in the hands of a God, for 74 long years, there's been a controversy between that man and Almighty God.

And God, out of my love, in whom I've worked to submit, for 74 years, the response he ever gave to an invitation to agree with God about Jesus Christ, he said, I can't. And he died. He was stricken that afternoon.

He didn't attend the service that night. He attended a session in the hands of Almighty God, who invites and commands helpless sinners to respond to him. On his testimony, think or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I will arise and go to Jesus.

And the grace of it is, he will embrace me in his. For you, will you give yourself to him? Will you? He's going to give you a chance to do it publicly. Do it right now. And then I'd want you to do it again tomorrow.

And then again the next day. He gave himself for you. He wants you to be saved and be damned. But the crown's on his head when he comes back. Before he comes back and starts judgment, will the crowns willingly placed on him?

Will you? Let's stand and sing. We will sing. Number 108. I was saying, we invite boys and girls to respond to the Lord Jesus Christ. This church receives people who come asking for baptism as a public confession of their having received him, committed themselves to him, given themselves to him.

That's faith. That's faith. And this church receives people from sister churches by statement or letter. I've never had any of you know the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand where you stand and commit yourself to him again.

Ah, that's wonderful. Do it all over again, Lord. It's so wonderful. And somebody ought to yield to him this morning. And I think enough's been said. I want you to do it publicly. I want you to do it right now by coming down here and say, Brother Mahan, I want you to get this church to baptize me as my public confession to this hostile world that this one on whose head they've plated a crown of thorns to make mockery of him, I want to crown him with myself.

I've got nothing to give him but myself, but here I am. Bom, I wish.