Will you please turn to 2nd Timothy.
2nd Timothy.
Chapter 1 verse 12.
2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 12.
For which cause also I suffer these things,
but I am not ashamed, for I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is able to keep for that day
the deposit I have entrusted to him.
In other version he said, am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I
have committed to him against that day.
The book of Acts chapter 9.
Acts chapter 9 verses 15 and
16.
Acts chapter 9 verses 15 and 16.
And the Lord said to him, Go, for
this man is an elect vessel to me,
to bear my name before both nations, and
kings, and the sons of Israel.
For I will show to him how much
he must suffer for my name.
Acts chapter 20.
We begin with verse 18.
And when they were come to him, he
said to them, Ye know how I was
with you all the time, from the first
day that I arrived in Asia, serving the
Lord with all lowliness, and tears and temptations,
which happened to me through the plots of
the Jews.
How I held back nothing of what is
profitable, so as not to announce to you,
and to teach you publicly and in every
house, testifying to both Jews and Greeks, repentance
towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus
Christ.
And now, behold, bound in my spirit, I
go to Jerusalem, not knowing what things shall
happen to me in it, only that the
Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city,
saying that bonds and tribulations await me.
But I make no account of my life
as dear to myself, so that I finish
my course and the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the
glad tidings of the grace of God.
And then we, from verse 31.
Wherefore watch remembering that for three years, night
and day, I ceased not admonishing each one
of you with tears, and now I commit
you to God and to the word of
His grace, which is able to build you
up and give to you an inheritance among
all the sanctified.
I have coveted the silver or gold or
clothing of no one.
Yourselves know that these hands have ministered to
my wants and to those who were with
me.
I have shown you all things, and thus
laboring, we ought to come in aid of
the weak and to remember the words of
the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It
is more blessed to give than to receive.
Then chapter 26, just one verse, verse 19.
Chapter 26, verse 19.
Whereupon King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to
the heavenly vision.
This morning, we would like to talk about
a very important subject.
It is on this matter of commitment.
I believe that commitment is very important to
our Christian life as well as to our
Christian service.
Unfortunately, I think that this matter of commitment
is very much misunderstood and greatly abused.
For this reason, it is important for us
to go back to the word of God
and to see the place of commitment in
our lives.
What is commitment according to the word of
God, and how should we be committed, and
what will happen if we commit?
Now, instead of approaching it from the theological
standpoint, I think the best thing to do
is to approach it from a biological standpoint.
That is, try to illustrate commitment with a
real life.
Then we will know what commitment really is.
That it is not a theory to theorize,
but it is a life to live.
In the New Testament, aside from our Lord
Jesus, I think the one person that stands
out on this matter of commitment is the
Apostle Paul.
So we would like to use the Apostle
Paul as an example of scriptural commitment.
But before we do that, I think we
need to mention a few things first, as
the foundation of our consideration.
You know, our God, whom we believe, is
the Lord Christ.
He is a God of commitment.
He is committed.
First of all, He is committed to Himself.
You remember that verse in 2 Timothy?
I think it's chapter 2, verse 13, it
said, He cannot deny Himself.
Now that simply means that He is fully
committed to His own person, to His personality.
He cannot deny Himself.
He is love, and He will keep on
loving, in spite of how unlovely we are,
in spite of how we do not love
Him.
He still keep on loving.
Why?
Because this is His very character.
He cannot deny Himself.
He is light.
He keeps on shining.
If we turn our back to Him, He
shines on our back.
He is righteousness.
He keeps on being righteous, especially in His
judgment.
He reveals, He shows forth His righteousness.
He does not even spare His only begotten
Son.
He cannot deny Himself.
He is fully committed to His own personality.
Our God is a God of commitment.
He commits Himself to His purpose.
He who calls us is faithful.
He will perform it.
Whom He has foreknown, He has predestinated to
be conformed to the image of His Son.
Whom He has foreknown, He has called.
Whom He has called, He has justified.
Whom He has justified, He has glorified.
I like very much one phrase in the
Old Testament, the zeal of the Lord will
do it.
In other words, He is zealous.
He will perform whatever He has purposed.
Now, I do thank God for that, because
if God is not committed to His purpose,
then what will happen to us?
How changing we are, how fragile we are,
how unfaithful we are, and if He is
left for us, we are finished.
But thank God, God is committed to His
own purpose.
Once He purposed His purpose upon you, He
will never let you off until He accomplishes
what He designed for you.
Now glory, glory to God.
Our God is a God of commitment.
He is committed to His promise.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 we are told,
whatever the promises of God are, they are
all yea and amen in Christ Jesus.
There are so many promises of God, but
every promise of God is backed up by
God's commitment.
He is committed to His promise.
He will fulfill all that He has promised
to us, no matter what.
God is a God of commitment.
That is within His character.
And if you look into the Godhead, it's
a mystery, but if you look into the
Godhead, you will find the commitment that is
there.
How the Father is committed to the Son,
and how the Son is fully committed to
the Father.
There is no reservation, no drawback, no change,
no shade, but the commitment in the Godhead
is complete and perfect.
Even though our Lord Jesus had to die
on Cary's cross, even though He who knows
no sin is made sin for us, even
though on the cross the Lord Jesus cried
out, My God, My God, why has Thou
forsaken Me?
It is commitment.
The Father is committed, the Son is committed,
and because they both are committed, they won't
change.
The Father did not spare the Son, and
the Son, in spite of such agony, was
faithful to the very end.
Commitment.
Now if God is a God of commitment,
certainly He expects His character to be with
us.
In other words, there is no such thing
as an uncommitted Christian.
A Christian is supposed to be committed.
If you are not committed, you miss some
character of God in your life.
There is no such thing as an uncommitted
church.
A church is committed.
A church is committed to the testimony of
Jesus.
Why?
Because the church is a lampstand.
A lampstand is committed to the light that
it upholds.
If it misses, fails in its commitment, that
lampstand will be removed.
So brothers and sisters, at the very outset,
let us be very clear on one thing,
and that is, as our God is a
God of commitment, therefore He does expect us
who are redeemed by His precious blood to
be a committed people.
God loves to commit Himself to His people.
God loves to commit His name to His
people.
As a matter of fact, He has committed
His name to us.
We are called Christians.
Christ's man.
He has committed Himself to us.
But how much are we committed to Him?
Now with this as our basis, we can
go back to the life of the Apostle
Paul.
The first passage that we read is a
declaration.
Paul, towards the end of his life, made
a declaration, a statement.
And he made that statement with joy.
He said, I know whom I have believed.
Now isn't that wonderful?
I know whom I have believed.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that
there is no commitment if you do not
know?
In other words, knowledge is the basis of
commitment.
You do not, you cannot, and you should
not commit yourself to anything that you do
not know.
That would be blind.
What is commitment?
Commitment is not to commit yourself to a
cause, to an organization, to a creed, to
a person other than the Lord Jesus, or
to a group of persons.
No.
Commitment is to commit to the one whom
we believe.
Nowadays, there is much talking about commitment.
We are exhorted, encouraged, even coerced to commit
ourselves to a certain organization, to a certain
group, or even to a person, maybe a
dynamic person.
And because of this, lots of problems and
abuses.
According to the word of God, commitment is
not primarily to be committed to anything, any
teaching, any form, any organization, or any man,
or any group of man.
No, that is not.
Primarily, commitment is commit to Christ.
Now if you do not, have not committed
yourself to Christ, and yet you commit yourself
to anything other than Christ, you have problems.
Lots of problems.
The Apostle Paul said, I know whom I
have believed.
He could make that statement only after he
was met by the Lord on the road
to Damascus.
Before that, he was saw the Pharisee.
You know, saw the Pharisee was a committed
person.
But to whom was he committed?
He was committed to Judaism.
If ever there was a young man who
was committed to Judaism, there was this saw
the Pharisee.
He himself told us he was more advanced
than his contemporaries.
Why?
Because he was fully committed to Judaism.
He was committed to Judaism according to the
teachings of the fathers.
He was so committed that he considered Jesus
must be wiped out.
And he did try to wipe out the
followers of Jesus with his whole heart.
He thought he was serving God.
He was committed to himself.
He was an ambitious young man.
And he wanted to fulfill his ambition to
be at the top.
He was a committed person.
But he made the wrong commitment.
And if he should continue on his commitment,
he will be plunged into eternal darkness and
death.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, whether it
is in the spiritual realm or it is
in the physical realm, nothing can be accomplished
without commitment.
You cannot accomplish anything if you are not
a committed person, whether good or bad.
Saul was a committed person.
And therefore you'll find he had certain degree
of success in Judaism.
He did climb up the ladder of Judaism.
Unfortunately, it was a wrong commitment.
But he was a committed person.
Thank God on the road of Damascus, the
Lord arrested him.
You know, sometimes I think in an Old
Testament there is a verse that is called
the cord of love.
God has led us with the cord of
love.
You know, sometimes the cord is pretty long
and a little bit elastic.
In other words, God allows you to go
as far as you can.
And you can go pretty far, you know.
You can go against the will of God
pretty far because the cord is long and
is a little bit elastic.
But only so far and no more.
God allowed Paul, Saul, to go as far
as he could in his own way until
finally on the road to Damascus, God stopped
him and said, that's far enough.
He drew him back with the cord of
love.
The Lord of glory appeared to him.
He saw the Lord.
And after he saw the Lord, he committed
himself to the Lord.
To the Apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus is
not only his savior, thank God, he was
saved on the road to Damascus.
Actually he was speeding unto eternal death.
And here you'll find the Lord arrested him,
turned him around and saved him.
He said, I am the chief of sinners.
But God in his mercy has saved him.
But to Paul, the Lord Jesus is not
just his savior who saved him.
The Lord Jesus to him was the Lord.
The Lord.
You remember the first question he asked when
that man in glory appeared to him was,
who are you Lord?
I don't know you.
Who are you Lord?
And immediately after he was told who he
was, Jesus of Nazareth.
The second question he asked was, Lord, what
shall I do?
I know what I did.
I know what I was doing in the
past.
I was very sure of myself.
I have my future all met out.
I'm a committed person and I'm trying to
reach my goal.
But now the whole thing was smashed since
I met you.
I don't know what I should do now.
What's next?
And I'm not going to decide my next
step.
You are my Lord.
I surrender my life completely to you.
Direct me.
Show me.
That's commitment.
You know, Andrew Murray has a book called
Absolute Surrender.
This is absolute surrender.
Here was a man who was a master
of his own, but after he met the
Lord of glory, he capitulated himself completely to
him and accepted the Risen Lord as his
Lord and Master.
He surrendered his life completely to him.
He wouldn't even dare or wouldn't want to
take a step further, but to wait for
his order.
Lord, what shall I do?
Through his life as Paul, through the many
revelations and visions he received, he came to
know this Lord Jesus more and more.
Through many trials and sufferings, he came to
experience the reality of the Lord Jesus deeper
and deeper.
So towards the end of his life, when
he rose 2nd Timothy, he was very close
to his martyrdom.
He made a declaration, a statement, I know
whom I have believed.
Dear brothers and sisters, is this our confession?
Is this our declaration?
We know whom we have believed.
We know Him.
It is not a bookish knowledge.
It is not a mental knowledge.
It is a personal, intimate, experiential knowledge of
our Lord Jesus.
And dear brothers and sisters, the more you
know Him, the more will be your commitment.
Let me underline again.
Commitment is not to commit to a cause.
There are many people today who have committed
themselves to a cause, maybe a good cause.
But commitment according to the word of God
as believers is not committed to a cause.
It is not committed to a teaching, to
a doctrine.
It is not committed to an organization.
It is not committed to a group of
people.
It is not committed to any other person.
But commitment is to commit to the one
whom we have believed.
We are committed to Him.
Whom we believe.
And the degree of your commitment to Him
is measured by the degree of your living
knowledge of Him.
Oh that we may know Him more.
That we may be committed more.
Secondly, Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I am fully persuaded that He
is able to keep that which I have
committed to Him against that day.
Now first, no.
Then, you first must know Him.
Now if you know Him, can you not
commit yourself to Him?
Now that's my question.
Why is it that you do not commit
yourself to Him?
Why is it that your commitment is not
full and complete?
It is because you do not know Him.
You do not know who He is.
You do not know Him as fully as
you should.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you know Him,
can you refrain from committing yourself to Him?
That's impossible.
Paul said, I am fully persuaded that He
is able to keep that which I have
committed to Him against that day.
To know Him and to commit myself to
Him.
You know the deposit that Paul is talking
about.
In some version it is said, I am
fully persuaded that He is able to keep
that which He has deposited in me against
that day.
The deposit that Paul is talking about is
all that God has done in His life.
Let me put it this way.
Do you want anything to be kept if
it is of no value?
Many people leave their garbage can outside the
door of their house.
Why?
Because to them it is not so valuable
as need to be kept.
If anybody will come and steal your garbage,
thank him.
You don't need to pay for the garbage
collection.
But what do you keep within your house
and you lock your door?
Anything that you consider as worth keeping, valuable,
then you want to keep them.
Now brothers and sisters, what is it that
needs to be kept against that day?
Now, what is that day?
That day is the day of Christ.
In other words, one day we as believers
will all be gathered together in the presence
of the Lord before His judgment seat and
there to have our lives examined.
That is the day of Christ.
Now it is that day, the day of
Christ.
Now it is true, brothers and sisters, we
who believe in the Lord Jesus, we will
not be judged before the great white throne.
One day the old heaven and the old
earth will pass away and all the dead
will be raised and will all appear before
the great white throne of God.
And there they will be judged according to
the books, that is according to all the
deeds, the words, everything in their lives will
be judged according to the book.
You know everyone has a book.
God keeps a book for every person.
D.
L.
Moody thinks that that book is memory.
God keeps His book here.
One day God will rewind it and everything
recorded in the book will come out and
we will be judged accordingly.
There will be eternal death.
Who can stand before the great white throne
of God?
Nobody can.
But thank God we who have believed in
the Lord Jesus have passed out of death
into life because Christ had died for us.
He was judged on the cross in our
stead.
Therefore we will not be judged at the
great white throne.
We are passed out of death into life.
We will not be judged at the great
white throne.
We are saved.
Thank God for that.
But dear brothers and sisters, that doesn't mean
that we will not be judged.
We will still be judged as members of
the family of God.
But it is not a throne judgment, it
is a seat judgment.
There is a great difference.
Throne judgment is judicial.
Seat judgment is family judgment.
Throne judgment is eternal life and eternal death.
Seat judgment is reward or loss.
But still saved.
One day we will all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ.
And He will judge us of all the
things that we have done after we have
believed in Him, after we receive Him, after
He has given us so much grace and
gift.
And all these will be judged.
Whether we are saved or not billed with
gold, silver, and precious stones, or we billed
with wool, stubble, and hay.
That day we will reveal it.
Paul said, I am fully persuaded that He
is able to keep the deposit which I
have committed to Him against that day.
In other words, in that day, when I
shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
I will find that everything God has deposited
in me has been kept.
Nothing is lost.
Now wonderful.
What do you commit to Him?
You do not commit to Him the garbage.
You commit to Him the treasure.
Now who is the garbage?
You are the garbage.
I am the garbage.
In other words, our old man.
Our old man.
The old creation.
The soul of the Pharisee.
Now soul of the Pharisee has not committed
to the Lord.
Soul of the Pharisee has to be get
out, get rid by the cross.
You and I, the old man, the flesh,
my cleverness, my wisdom, my wisdom, my wisdom,
my wisdom, my way, my opinion, my strength,
my like or dislike, me, me, me.
This needs to be set aside by the
cross of Calvary.
You don't keep these.
These are garbage.
But thank God He has deposited a treasure
in us.
Christ.
You have Christ in you.
And all that is of Christ.
All the revelations, the visions you have received,
the grace that He has given to you,
the gift that He has given to you,
the experience of Him, the teaching of Him,
everything that is Christ is a deposit that
God has richly deposited in your life.
And these things need to be kept, brothers
and sisters.
What a loss if what God has given
to you being lost.
But who is able to keep them?
You cannot keep them.
The best thing to do is let the
Lord keep it for you against that day.
Fully persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed to Him against
that day.
Now that is commitment.
You do not commit the old man to
Him.
You commit the new man to Him.
You want Him to keep the new man.
But you allowed Him to get rid of
the old man.
Now this is the perseverance of the saints.
Remember that our God has not only saving
grace, He has keeping grace.
He has saved you and is able to
keep you.
You know this is something that sometimes you
wonder.
In this world, wicked, perverse generation, with all
the temptations around us, are we able to
keep ourselves pure for God?
Are we able to?
Probably if we look at ourselves we say,
now how can we?
How can we keep our faith?
How can we keep our love?
How can we keep our hope?
How can we?
But brothers and sisters, we cannot, but He
can.
He is able to keep that which we
have committed to Him against that day.
Oh, in Jude, verse 24, it is said,
But to Him that is able to keep
you without stumbling, without falling, and to set
you with exhortation, blameless before His glory, to
the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, be glory, majesty, might and authority
from before the whole age and now and
to all the ages.
Amen.
He is able to keep you from stumbling,
and to present you before His glorious presence,
blameless and with joy.
He is able.
And in Psalm 116, verse 8, it is
said, He is able to keep your soul
from death, your eyes from tears, and your
feet from falling.
He is able to do that.
But for Him to keep you, you have
to commit yourself to Him.
In other words, brothers and sisters, what is
commitment?
Commitment is knowing who He is.
Then you commit yourself as a redeemed soul,
completely to His keeping.
Brethren, by the mercies of God, I beseech
you to present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable God, which is your reasonable service.
We need to present our bodies a living
sacrifice.
We need, remember this living, this body is
a redeemed body.
Because after Romans 1 to 8, or 1
to 12, 1 to 11, you find all
the compassions of God, all the mercies of
God that have done His work in your
body.
Then you present this body a living sacrifice.
It is the new man.
We present ourselves as a living sacrifice to
Him.
We commit ourselves completely to Him, for Him
to keep.
Why?
Keeping.
Not only that these may be kept pure,
blameless, before His glorious presence on that day,
but these need to be kept for His
sake.
Because He has a purpose in our lives.
There is something that God is going to
do through us.
And if we are not committed to Him,
and if we are not being kept by
Him, then His purpose in our lives cannot
be fulfilled.
If we are not committed, brothers and sisters,
commitment is essential to God's realization of His
will in our lives.
If your life is not committed to Him,
He cannot fulfill His will in your life.
You have to be committed.
Why?
Because He never forces anybody.
He respects everybody.
He respects your personality.
Thirdly, Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I have committed to
Him against that day.
Now after Paul has committed himself to the
One whom he knows, then the third thing
is, then God commits Himself to this man.
In one sense, God's commitment is not affected
by us.
That is, no matter what you are, no
matter how you do, it really doesn't matter,
because He is committed to Himself, and He
will do what He has purpose to do.
That's true.
But in another sense, it is also true
that His commitment to you is proportional to
your commitment to Him.
As you are committed to Him, you will
find He will commit Himself to you.
You remember that verse in John chapter 2?
Because our Lord Jesus did many, many signs
and wonders, many believe in Him.
And you will think that since many believe
in Him, certainly the Lord will commit Himself
to these believers.
No.
Towards the end of chapter 2, you will
find the Lord Jesus said, many believe in
Him, but the Lord did not commit Himself
to any of them, because He knew what
was in them.
Outwardly they believe in Him, but they believe
in Him because they saw the signs and
the wonders.
Inwardly they have not really believed in Him.
And the Lord knows their hearts, so the
Lord did not commit Himself to them.
But you will find our Lord did commit
Himself to Peter, to John, to James, to
those who have left all and followed Him.
The Lord committed Himself to these people.
Peter said, you have the Word of Life.
We know that you are the Christ.
You have the Word of Life.
Where can we go?
We are stuck with you.
We are committed to you.
And you know, to those people who are
committed to Him, what a commitment the Lord
had committed Himself to these people.
Sometimes you wonder why the Lord is not
committed to you.
Sometimes you wonder why He does not back
you up.
Well, the simple reason is, you are not
so committed to Him.
If you are fully committed to Him, He
will fully commit Himself to you.
He will back you up.
Saul, the Pharisee, he was going his own
way.
He was committed to Judaism.
He was committed to a course that he
considered as right.
But he had no revelation, no vision.
He was a man of faith.
He was a man who was governed by
tradition, the base of tradition.
But he had no revelation.
God had not committed to him in any
way.
Yes, the Lord said, Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute Me?
Don't you know it is hard for you
to kick against the good?
You know, in the old days a farmer
farmed with an ox.
Upon the neck of the ox will be
the yoke, and tied to the yoke will
be the plow.
And the farmer with one hand upon the
plow to guide the plow, in his other
hand will be a sharp instrument called a
goat.
Why?
Because sometimes the ox will not follow his
order.
The ox has his own will and wants
to go its own way.
So when this happened, then the farmer would
use the goat and lightly touch the leg
of the ox to let him know who
is the master.
But unfortunately a stubborn ox would kick back,
and in kicking back he hurts himself.
And after he hurts enough, he learns.
You know, Saul thought that he was the
master of his own life.
He was committed to nobody but to himself,
not knowing that he had a master.
So, the Lord said, well, you kick against
the goat, haven't you?
Are you not hurt enough?
Are you going to learn now who is
the master?
Dear brothers and sisters, in a sense, there
is God's will upon every one of us.
You know, you are not really free as
a bird.
The Lord really has His will upon you.
You are an ox in His field.
You know, again I say the cord may
be long, but it is in His hand.
One day He will tighten the cord, and
if you don't listen, He will apply the
goat, you know, until you realize that He
has His will upon your life.
He has a purpose.
You are supposed to do His will, not
your own will.
He is going to use you.
But He cannot use you because you are
not committed.
You are committed only to yourself and not
committed to Him.
So one day He has to change your
course until you are committed to Him, and
when you are committed to Him, He will
reveal His will to you.
Paul saw, after he saw the Lord, he
blinded his eyes.
He was led to Damascus.
For three days and three nights he was
fasting and praying.
And then the Lord appeared to Ananias and
said, Ananias, go to that street called Strait.
Find that man Saul and open his eyes.
Ananias said, Lord, I have heard that this
man came with the official letter from the
high authority to seize us who believe in
You.
How can I go to see him?
The Lord said, you go.
Because this man is a chosen vessel of
mine to bear my name and to suffer
much for my name's sake.
Dear brothers and sisters, when a person is
fully committed to the Lord, then you will
find the Lord is fully committed to him.
A vessel to bear my name.
Now that's a commandment.
The Lord is willing to commit His name
in you.
That name that is above every name, and
to that name every knee shall bow, every
tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
What a name!
And dear brothers and sisters, that name is
committed to you.
You are that vessel to bear that name.
What an honor!
What a privilege!
How do we know that He has committed
Himself to us?
There is one way to know.
Does He reveal His secret to you?
Does He reveal His mind to you?
Does He tell His will to you?
Does He open His heart to you?
If He does, He has committed Himself to
you.
Remember brothers and sisters, every revelation from God,
every unveiling of His heart, every disclosing of
His mind, every revealing of His secret to
you, every indication of His will, sharing of
His will to you, is a sign of
His commitment.
Has the Lord committed Himself to you?
You just ask yourself one question.
Has He revealed His mind to you?
How much is He able to reveal His
heart to you?
That will measure your commitment.
You remember in John chapter 15 the Lord
said to His disciples, I do not treat
you as slaves, because slaves do not know
what a master is doing.
In other words, the master just tells the
slave, do this and do that.
He will never explain.
Why?
But the Lord said, I treat you as
friends.
That is to say, He will share with
us His secret.
That is commitment.
Brothers and sisters, how our God, our Lord,
loves to commit Himself to His own people,
but how much restraint He must have felt
that He can only reveal a little bit
and not too much, because our commitment to
Him is so great and our commitment to
Him is so inadequate.
Paul said, I was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision.
God is able to give him the heavenly
vision.
As a matter of fact, the whole Bible
is centered upon this heavenly vision.
And Paul received this heavenly vision.
That is to say, the Lord is able
to commit Himself fully to this vessel.
Why?
Because this vessel is fully yielded to Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, do we have the
heavenly vision?
Is He able to tell us what is
in His heart?
What is it that He really wants?
What is the center of His heart?
Without vision, there can be no real commitment.
We need vision.
As a matter of fact, vision creates commitment.
And finally, after Paul had committed himself
to Christ and to the heavenly vision, then
what happened?
You will find he labored much, and he
did not suffer.
He suffered much.
Commitment means involvement.
Commitment means occupation, occupied with.
Commitment means labor, toil.
Commitment means tears.
Commitment means suffering, much suffering.
In His last words to the elders in
Ephesus, He said, from the very beginning that
I was in your midst, all these three
years, day and night, how I labored with
much tear and suffering.
I do not count my life as of
any value.
I am committed just to finish that course.
But dear brothers and sisters, you find even
so, the Lord backed him up all the
way.
Do not think Paul is a superman.
Yes, he is a stronger man than I,
or maybe than you.
That's true.
But he is a man, a model.
How can he be obedient to the heavenly
vision to the very end, that he can
say, I have fought a good fight, I
have kept my word, I have run the
course, and now there is a crown of
righteousness waiting for me.
How can he do that?
You find in the book of Acts, at
least three times, the Lord stood by him
and said, fear not, I am with you.
When he was in Corinth, he was afraid.
And the Lord stood by him that night
and said, fear not, I am with you.
There are many people in the city, go
on.
And when he was being examined by the
council of the Jewish Sanhedrin, he was afraid,
because these people were hostile to him.
And the Lord stood by him and said,
fear not, you will appear before Caesar.
And while he was in the sea, and
there was a ship wreck almost, the storm,
and everybody was afraid.
And Paul stood up and said, and he
and the Lord stood by me and told
me, fear not, you will be saved, and
all those on the boat will be saved
with you.
Fear not.
The Lord backed him up all the way.
In II Timothy, before his martyrdom, when everybody
seemed to have left him, all Asia had
left him, and what did he say?
Listen to this.
But the Lord stood with me and gave
me power, that through me the proclamation might
be fully made, and all those of the
nation should hear.
And I was delivered out of the lion's
mouth.
The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked
work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly
kingdom, to whom be glory for the ages
of ages.
Amen.
The Lord backed him up all the way.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid.
If you are committed to Him, remember, to
Him, if you are committed to Him, He
is fully committed to you.
And He will stand by you all the
way, until that day.
May the Lord help us.
Amen.
Our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank
Thee that Thou art a God of commitment.
And Thou dost desire this discharity shall be
upon us, that we may be a people
fully committed to Thee and to Thy will.
Lord, we do pray that we may find
Thyself fully committed.
We just look to Thee for Thy grace
to bring us to that point when Thou
art able to commit Thyself and Thy testimony
to Thy people.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.