Will you please turn to 2nd Timothy, 2nd
letter to Timothy.
Chapter 1, the 2nd part of verse 12.
2nd Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12.
We begin with the 2nd part.
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.
May I repeat?
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.
May we look to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, our hearts do rejoice that
Thou hast given us Thy beloved Son, and
through Thy Son we have ready access to
Thy throne of grace.
How we praise and thank Thee we have
the assurance that Thou art here with us.
We ask Thee, Lord, that Thou will open
Thy word to us by Thy Spirit, speak
to our hearts, and draw us to Thyself.
Because without Thee, Lord, Thou knowest, we cannot
stand, we cannot even live.
Oh, how we do need Thee, desperately.
So again, we just commit this time into
Thy hand, and trust Thy Holy Spirit to
do the work, to the praise of Thy
glory.
We ask in the name of our Lord
Jesus.
I believe we all know that 2nd Timothy
is the last letter that the Apostle Paul
wrote before his martyrdom.
We know that after he was released from
Rome, as we find in Acts chapter 28,
we know that Paul was in Rome, and
there he was for two years.
And he was able to preach the kingdom,
and teach the things about the Lord Jesus
unhinderedly.
Now most likely after two years, he had
a hearing with the Emperor, and he was
acquitted.
And after his acquittal, he was able to
travel again, visiting different places for a few
years.
But then you know the situation completely changed.
Because in 64 AD, Nero, he burned
the city of Rome.
And after the city of Rome was burned,
he put the blame upon the Christians.
So from that time onward, to be a
Christian is considered as a criminal.
And because of this, Paul was arrested once
again.
And he was taken back to Rome, not
as before.
Because when he was in Rome before, he
was able to stay in his rent apartment,
receive people, preach the gospel, and teach the
Lord Jesus unhinderedly.
But this time when he was taken again,
he was a criminal in the eyes of
the Roman Empire.
He was in chains, and knowing that his
end was coming, he wrote this last letter
to his son in the Lord, Timothy.
So we can say that this letter is
the last will and testimony of the Apostle
Paul.
Now when you consider his situation, it was
really a very painful situation.
Because he was there in Rome as a
prisoner, a criminal, and he was soon to
be sentenced to death.
But when you read this second letter to
Timothy, you find that his spirit was high.
In spite of all the conditions surrounding him
at that moment, you find he rose above
all these conditions.
Not only he was able to stand for
the Lord, you remember in 2 Timothy he
mentioned that all Asia had left him.
During his first defense, all deserted him.
He was alone.
But the Lord was with him, and he
was able to stand firm for the Lord,
for the testimony of Jesus to the very
end.
The gospel that was entrusted to him was
a glorious gospel.
And you find that he was able to
carry on to the very end.
Now brothers and sisters, my question is, what
made Paul firm, strong, faithful to the very
end?
Certainly it was not his will.
Even though he did have a very strong
will.
But no will could stand such situations.
We would like to discover the secret of
the Apostle Paul.
And I believe the secret is in his
proclamation.
He said, I know whom I have believed,
and am fully persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed to
him until that day.
That was the secret.
Now brothers and sisters, do you think that
our time is different from the time of
the Apostle Paul?
The world hasn't changed.
Our enemy is still here.
Even though we are in the 20th century,
towards the end of the 20th century.
Time wise, it was so far apart from
Paul's time that is towards the latter part
of the 1st century.
But dear brothers and sisters, we are still
living in very difficult days.
In many parts of the world, we find
to be a Christian is considered as a
criminal.
Now even though we who are here do
not suffer physical persecution.
And yet we know the pressure around us
is tremendous.
Especially when we are coming to the closing
of this age.
The pressure is very great.
We too, are like the Apostle Paul, are
entrusted with the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
We too are faced with the same enemy
that Paul faced at his time.
How are we going to go through this
life and be faithful for the Lord and
for his testimony to the very end?
In Paul's time we find all Asia left
him.
At his defense, everybody deserted him.
Why?
Because people were afraid.
People want to preserve their own lives.
Brothers and sisters, when we look around, we
can see apostasy around us.
Because the time is so difficult.
The pressure is so great.
Many God's people have compromised.
Many have fallen.
So our question, our urgent question is, how
can we go through triumphantly like the Apostle
Paul?
If we try to depend upon ourselves, we
will fall.
We need to find the power, the strength,
the secret.
So I do believe that it is very
urgent for us to find in this day
the secret of perseverance.
Now with the Apostle Paul he 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 until that day.
Now do we know whom we have believed?
We know this word know here is oida,
which means a personal, experimental, experiential knowledge of
the one whom we know.
It is not just an objective, impersonal, historical
knowledge, mental knowledge that we accumulate, but it
is a personal experiential knowledge of the Lord
Jesus.
And here you find the Apostle Paul said,
I know whom I have believed.
He does not say, I know what I
have believed.
Now of course it is important to know
what you believe.
But what you believe is historical.
What you believe is truth, teaching, doctrine.
That's what you believe.
What you believe, to use one word, is
the faith.
The faith that was once delivered to the
saints.
In other words, whatever is in this book,
in the word of God, that's what constitutes
our faith.
The faith once delivered to the saints.
And it is true that we have to
contain for the faith that we have believed.
That's true.
It is important.
But dear brothers and sisters, if we all
know is what we believe, and do not
come to know whom we believe, we will
not be able to get through in these
difficult days.
What we believe is essential.
But that's objective.
That is foundational.
But from what we believe we have to
enter into whom we believe.
And only when we enter into whom we
believe, we will find the power, the strength,
the perseverance.
For instance, we believe in justification by faith.
From the time of Reformation, justification by faith
is the truth.
And it is a truth that has been
accepted very widely.
But you can believe in justification by faith,
mentally, and you are not justified.
I believe many who come from Christian families
have this problem.
Because we are brought up in Christian families,
we believe what is taught in the Bible.
We have been taught from our childhood.
And somehow mentally we accepted all the truths
that are being taught to us.
And yet, brothers and sisters, we do not
experience justification until one day we come in
touch with the One who is the justifier.
And not only the justifier, but He is
our justification.
Now it is true, justification is by faith.
Abraham was justified, was reckoned as righteous because
he believed in God.
He was reckoned as righteous.
He was counted as righteous.
But remember, it is not his faith that
makes him righteous.
We are justified by faith, but it is
not our faith that justifies us.
It is by believing in the Lord Jesus,
the person that justifies us.
Our faith is only the means to an
end.
It is the hand that receives the gift
of God.
Faith is important, but faith is just receiving
what God has provided for us.
And that is the Beloved Son.
So we are justified by faith.
But it is not a doctrine, it is
not a teaching.
You may have the Creed.
If you are Lutheran, there is the Creed
there.
Justification by faith.
But you may not be justified if you
do not see the Lord Jesus as the
one who is your justification.
After you receive the Lord Jesus as your
Savior, as your personal Savior, you know whom
you believe.
And then the what becomes effective, operative.
Now I think we all have this experience.
And when you come to the truth, in
the Word of God, you will find every
truth is like that.
You may believe that when Christ died on
the cross, you died with Him, because you
were in Him.
Christ died on the cross not only for
our sins, but He died for us.
He died not only as our substitute, He
died as our representative.
Well, we may have heard of such teaching.
And we may even have read it in
the Bible.
We may even receive it mentally as truth.
But brothers and sisters, you do not experience
victory over the power of sin until one
day you touch the Lord Jesus.
Until one day you touch Him.
And when you see Him, that you are
in Him, and when He died on the
cross two thousand years ago, that's when you
were dead.
And when you really see Him with your
spiritual eyes, then brothers and sisters, you'll find
the doctrine becomes living.
The teaching became active and operative.
And you begin to experience victory over the
power of sin.
Now, it is not the teaching that gives
you the power.
It is the life, the risen life, the
resurrection life of the Lord Jesus that is
the power of victory.
It is whom you believe, not just what
you believe.
What you believe will not carry us through.
When everything is smooth, when there is no
test, no contest, everything seems to be fine.
But when test shall come, when trial shall
come, then brothers and sisters, you will see
the difference of what you believe and whom
you believe.
Because what is just telling you whom to
believe?
The apostle Paul says, I know whom I
believe.
Now that is the assurance.
Brothers and sisters, the one thing that we
all need is to know Him.
You remember the apostle Paul says in Philippians
chapter 2, to know Him and the power
of His resurrection.
To know Him is the passion, the one
passion in Paul.
How we need to have that one passion?
To know Him.
Above all things, brothers and sisters, it is
not enough just to know certain teachings, certain
doctrines, certain truths, however important they are because
they are the foundation.
But just to stay on that level is
not enough.
You have to move into knowing Christ Himself.
We need to know Him as our Saviour,
know Him as our Lord, know Him as
our Shepherd, know Him as our Friend, and
you will see God arranges circumstances of our
life.
God allows us to go through all kinds
of circumstances, sometimes prosperity, sometimes adversity.
Now, why is it that God allows us
to go through all these circumstances?
As a matter of fact, it is the
Holy Spirit who arranges all our circumstances.
We believe that we who are the Lord,
even our very hair has been numbered.
So all our circumstances are arranged by the
Holy Spirit.
And why does He arrange various circumstances in
our lives?
It is to bring what we believe into
whom we believe, to make what we believe
living, operative, life, reality to us.
It is important, therefore, brothers and sisters, that
we know whom we believe.
The more we know Him in a personal
experiential way, the better.
You know, in church history, we all know
this man Polycap.
Polycap was the Bishop of Smyrna.
And during that persecution time, he was captured.
And because of his advanced age, the poor
consul wanted to save his life.
So the poor consul told Polycap, if you
only swear upon the genius of Caesar, if
you revile Christ, you will be released.
And Polycap answered and said, For six and
eighty years, I have served my Lord and
Savior.
He has done nothing but good to me.
And how can I deny Him?
And Polycap was burned to death.
Now, in church history, you find many stories
about these martyrs.
How they were tested.
And the only reason why they were able
to get through is because they know whom
they have believed.
We may not be called all to be
dead martyrs.
That is, to die for Christ and for
His testimony.
But we know that we are all called
to be living martyrs.
You know, the word martyrs and the word
witness are the same word.
We are all called to be witnesses of
Christ.
We have all been entrusted with the glorious
gospel of Jesus Christ.
And God expects us, each one of us,
to be living martyrs.
If anyone wants to live piously, he will
be persecuted in this world.
Because the tender mercies of the wicked is
cruel.
Brothers and sisters, this is our calling.
We are called with a holy calling.
We are called to be living martyrs.
We are called to live for Christ.
We are called to stand for the testimony
of Jesus in this world.
And because of this calling, the enemy will
not leave us alone.
He is the same enemy.
He will try to trip us, to trap
us, to ensnare us.
He will try to keep us compromised.
And it is very important for this reason
that we have to have a deep knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To know Him.
And to know the power of His resurrection.
This is the secret.
So brothers and sisters, do not be contented
just with a superficial knowledge of Christ.
That is to say, we just know about
Him.
We may accumulate quite a lot of knowledge
about Him.
We may have lots of teachings, lots of
preaching.
We may know lots of teachings.
We may know the Word.
Thank God for that.
It is important.
But brothers and sisters, we have to press
on to know Him.
That ought to be the one passion of
our life.
In every circumstance, learn to know Him.
When we are in trouble, learn to know
Him, who is the solution to all our
problems.
When we are even in prosperity, learn to
know Him.
That we know how to live in prosperity.
As a matter of fact, it is even
more difficult to live in prosperity for Christ
than in adversity.
Often times when we are in adversity, we
have to come to Him.
We have to draw near to Him.
Because we know there is no other way
out.
But when we have prosperity, peaceful, smooth, everything
is fine, brothers and sisters, we tend to
drift away from Him.
We tend to be contented.
We will lose our eagerness, our desire to
know Him.
So may the Lord really stir within us
a strong desire to know Him.
Brothers and sisters, the more you know Him,
the more you want to know Him, the
more you know that you do not know
Him enough.
Now whenever you feel that you have known
Him quite well, that is the beginning of
your fall.
Because the more you know Him, the more
you know you do not know Him.
And you want to know Him more.
So we have to press on towards the
goal.
To know the Lord Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, only those who know Him
in a personal way, to know Christ, not
only as Savior, but as their very life,
they are able to get to know Him.
And history has proven.
Now to know Him.
And He said, And I am fully persuaded
that He is able to keep that which
I have committed to Him until that day.
Now these two things are closely related.
If you know Him, you will be committed
to Him.
You cannot know Him without being committed to
Him.
If there is any problem with your commitment
to Him, it shows that you do not
know Him as you should.
You know, commitment is a big thing in
life.
Even in the secular world.
If there is no commitment, you go nowhere.
You have to be committed to something.
Maybe to a profession.
Maybe to a course.
Maybe to a dream.
But you have to have a commitment.
Now, if you are committed to a certain
goal, then you will find your life has
meaning to it.
Because you will pursue that which you are
committed and there is a possibility of success.
Now if you are not committed to anything,
then you are a drifter.
Throughout your life you are just pushed by
the forces around you and you never accomplish
anything because you are never committed.
In this world, if you want to succeed,
you have to be fully committed.
Committed to a dream.
A vision that you have.
A goal.
Otherwise, you won't succeed.
Now, brothers and sisters, if this is true
in the world, how much truer it is
in the spiritual world.
In the spiritual world, commitment is very, very
essential.
But we are not committed to a course.
Many are committed to a course and some
even may be willing to die for that
course.
But brothers and sisters, we have something far
greater than a course.
We are committed to a person.
We are committed to him, to Christ, and
to his purpose, to his will.
That is what we are committed to.
But unfortunately, among God's people, you find this
is one thing that is very much lacked.
In the world you find many people who
are committed.
But when you come to the church, when
you come to among God's people, it is
very strange you find there are very few
who are truly committed.
They commit their all to the one who
is their all.
You find very few.
Now, why is it?
Is it because we do not know him
enough?
Use an illustration.
You have committed to him once, at least
for your salvation.
You try to save yourself.
You cannot.
You come to the point that you know
you are hopeless and helpless.
Then you heard a gospel that Christ Jesus
came to the world to save sinners.
He died on the cross for your sins.
If you only believe in him, he will
forgive you.
He will give you eternal life.
And brothers and sisters, isn't it at that
time you commit yourself to him for your
salvation?
You know you cannot save yourself.
He is the only one who can save
you.
So you commit yourself to him and ask
him to forgive your sins, to save you,
and he does.
You know, belief is a commitment.
Belief is not just something mentally.
Belief is a commitment.
You believe and you commit yourself to him.
Accept him as your savior.
It's a commitment.
But strangely, after our initial commitment, we do
not go on in this way of commitment.
Now why is it so?
I think there are probably two reasons.
One reason is you only know him as
your savior.
That's all you know.
And because you only know him as your
savior, therefore you only commit your sins to
him.
And that's all.
And other than sins, you do not commit
to him.
You still trust your own self.
And because of this, you find there is
no further commitment.
It's because that's all you know about him.
Now if you know him more than brothers
and sisters, you will commit more.
You know, commitment is measured by your knowledge
of the Lord Jesus.
And I think there is another reason why
we do not commit ourselves.
It is because of the fear of the
flesh.
You know, our flesh, our natural man, only
trusts in himself or herself.
We do not trust anybody.
Suspicion is an instinct.
Human instinct.
We are afraid to trust anybody.
We are afraid to commit ourselves to anybody.
Now it is true, if you commit to
anybody, one day you will be burned.
That's true.
Because no one is trustworthy.
That is very true.
But we treat God in the same way
as we treat other people.
We feel safe to hold ourselves in our
own hands.
We have confidence in the flesh.
Even in spiritual things, we have confidence in
the good flesh of ours.
And because of this, we will not let
go ourselves and commit all.
Brothers and sisters, we like to hold ourselves
in our own hands.
In other words, we like to be in
control.
When we ourselves are in control, we are
secure, brothers and sisters.
But one day, when the testing shall come,
you shall see how weak is your heart.
The apostle Paul, he said, we are the
circumcision, who have no confidence in the flesh,
who worship in the spirit.
We ought to be people who have been
circumcised.
Not the circumcision outwardly, but the circumcision of
the heart.
In other words, we need the cross to
cut across our flesh.
That we have no confidence in our flesh.
Just like Paul says in Romans chapter 7,
I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, there is no good.
Now brothers and sisters, that is circumcision.
One day you come to see that in
you, that is in your flesh, your natural
man, your old flesh, there is no good.
You cannot trust him.
He has neither wisdom, nor strength, nor power.
And when you come to see this, then
you are able to let go yourself and
let Christ take over.
So I think probably one reason why we
dare not commit ourselves, it is because we
still have confidence in our flesh.
And to the flesh, there is always that
fear of letting go.
But how foolish it is if we have
confidence in our flesh and no confidence in
him who loved us and gave himself.
The apostle Paul said, I know whom I
have delivered.
I know him.
I know who he is.
He is my king, my lord, my all.
And because he is such to me, therefore,
I am fully persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed to
him until that day.
And you know, with apostle Paul, he did
not commit to the Lord a little.
He committed his all.
How much, dear brothers and sisters, do we
commit ourselves to the Lord?
You know, if you read the word of
God, you'll find, for instance, in Psalm 37,
Psalm 37, verse 5, Commit thy way unto
Jehovah and rely upon him.
He will bring it to pass.
And he will bring forth thy righteousness as
the light and thy judgment as the known
day.
Commit thy way unto the Lord.
You know, this world is a wilderness.
Just like the children of Israel.
When they traveled through the wilderness, there was
no way.
If they were to be left on their
own, no doubt they would be lost in
the wilderness.
But thank God you'll find the pillar of
fire and of clouds led their way.
The ark of God led their way.
Now, we live in this world.
It's a wilderness.
How do we know where to go that
will lead us to our home?
Commit thy way unto the Lord.
We do not know.
There are many ways that we think they
are good.
But they lead.
We do not know the way.
How to go through this world, we don't
know.
We have to commit our way unto the
Lord and rely upon Him.
Let the Spirit of God who dwells within
us lead us.
With the children of Israel, they have the
ark leading them, the pillar of fire and
cloud leading them.
But with us, we have something even better
because the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
And He will teach us in all things.
The life of Christ in us is the
light of man.
He will show us the way.
Rely on Him.
And if we rely on Him, He will
bring it to pass.
In other words, He will lead us.
And He will bring forth thy righteousness as
the light and thy judgment as the known
day.
In other words, He will lead us in
the right way that we will not fall
to the right or to the left, but
we will go straight.
Trust, commit your way.
And then in Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 16, verse
3, Commit thy works unto Jehovah, and thy
thoughts shall be established.
You see, not only we need to commit
our way to the Lord and let Him
lead us in the way of righteousness, in
the way of everlasting life, but we need
to commit our works to the Lord.
Whatever we do, whether it is our job
or it is our service to the Lord,
we need to commit all our works to
the Lord.
And then our thoughts shall be established.
In other words, we will find that it
is His thoughts.
It is His strength.
Commit our works to the Lord, no matter
what we do.
Commit our works to Him, and He will
take care.
Then in Job, chapter 5, verse 8, Job
chapter 5, verse 8, But as for me,
I will seek unto God, and unto God
commit my course.
Commit my course.
You know, brothers and sisters, we live in
this world and this world is difficult.
You find that you are faced with many
problems, sometimes misunderstanding, and
it is quite a struggle in life.
You know, but if we commit our course
to the Lord, the Lord knows.
You know, people may misunderstand, misinterpret, or sometimes
you are faced with problems that you do
not know how to solve.
Commit your course to the Lord.
Just commit it.
And then you will find He will be
your solution.
He will justify you.
Commit your course.
And again, go back to Psalm 31, verse
5, Into thy hand I commit my spirit.
Thou hast redeemed me, Jehovah, thou God of
truth.
We not only commit our way, our work,
our course to the Lord, but we commit
our spirit.
Now, who is able to keep our spirit?
You know, if a person is able to
keep his spirit, it is even stronger, my
dear, than taking a city.
But how can we keep our spirit?
That is, in the right spirit.
Sometimes our spirit is provoked.
Sometimes our spirit can be defiled.
And that is the reason why in 2
Corinthians, chapter 7, it says, Purify yourself from
the defilements of the flesh and of the
spirit.
See, our spirit is important because it is
by our spirit that we commune with God.
But sometimes our spirit can be defiled, can
be agitated, can lose its coolness.
Now, how can we keep our spirit in
tune with the spirit of God?
You know, spiritual life is a life in
the spirit.
So if there is something wrong with the
spirit, then your whole spiritual life is on
the wrong path.
Now, do not think people say, Well, I
follow my spirit.
But your spirit may be a wrong spirit.
You know, the two disciples of our Lord
Jesus, the two sons of Zabibi, the two
sons of Fenders, you remember, you look and
say, when the Samaritans did not receive our
Lord Jesus, now the two sons of Zabibi
came to the Lord and said, Lord, they
did not receive you.
Do you allow us to call fire from
heaven to burn them up?
And you know, our Lord was on the
way to Calvary.
In other words, his spirit is the spirit
of the Lamb.
But the spirit of the two disciples are
the spirit of what?
Of the beast.
And the Lord said, You do not know
what spirit you have.
Brothers and sisters, our whole spiritual life depends
upon our spirit.
But sometimes our spirit can be misled.
And when our spirit is misled, the whole
being is gone.
See, that's the reason why you find all
these quotes and quotes and things like that.
Now, how can we keep our spirit?
We cannot.
Commit your spirit.
Thou has redeemed me, Jehovah, Thou God of
truth.
If we commit our spirit to Him, then
He will keep us in the truth.
Not only our spirit.
In 1 Peter 4, verse 19, our soul,
we need to commit our soul to the
Lord.
1 Peter 4, verse 19.
Wherefore also let them who suffer according to
the will of God to commit their souls
in well-doing to a faithful Creator.
You know, we live in a world that
if you want to follow the Lord, if
you want to do the right thing, you
will meet many, many troubles.
Many, many oppositions.
Accusations.
Persecutions.
Misunderstandings.
All kinds of things.
And if it depends upon ourselves, we will
give up.
We will be fainted.
Discouraged.
In well-being.
In well-doing.
We need to commit our souls to the
Lord.
He is faithful.
He knows.
And if we commit our souls to the
Lord, our emotions, our feelings, our thoughts, our
will, we commit ourselves to the Lord, then
our soul enters into rest.
He is the only one who can keep
our soul.
We cannot keep it ourselves.
See, our emotions can be very easily disturbed.
A tiny little thing can disturb our emotions.
And our imagination can run wild.
And imagine things.
And even our will.
Sometimes it's passive.
Sometimes it is hard.
Only the Lord, the lover of our souls,
is able to keep our soul in rest.
And not only our soul, even our body.
That's Romans 12.1. Therefore, brethren, I beseech
you, by the mercies of God, present your
bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reason
of all.
How can we keep this body?
We cannot keep it.
Commit it.
Commit to the Lord.
If we commit our bodies to the Lord,
He will keep our body pure, blameless, undefiled.
That is the only way.
So, brothers and sisters, you'll find, if you
search the Scripture, you'll find what the Scripture
says is, Commit your all to the Lord.
Do not hold back anything from Him.
If you hold back anything from Him, the
enemy knows it.
And that will be that area which will
be the cause of your fall.
The only way that we can be kept
in this world, through this world, is to
commit everything to the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to commit
our spirit, our soul, our body, our way,
our work, our cross.
In other words, we need to commit everything
to the Lord.
Lord, you have redeemed us.
You are our all.
So, you have our all.
And if we commit our all to the
Lord, you will find He will keep us
until...
You know, the big problem today is how
can we keep ourselves from being defiled, distracted.
How can we keep ourselves to the day
that we see His face?
We may run very well in the beginning,
but we may fade out in the middle.
How can we know that we will fight
the good fight to the very end?
That we will keep the faith to the
very end?
How?
Brothers and sisters, that is a big problem.
We cannot depend on ourselves.
The only way is to let Him keep
all.
Commit yourself.
Commitment To some people commitment is a terrible
thing because it gets out of your hands.
But if you know whom you have committed,
it is the most peaceful, blessed thing.
Because you know you are in good hands.
Not state farm.
You are in the good hands of the
Lord Jesus.
Do not hold back anything brothers and sisters.
We are living in a day that if
you hold back anything that thing will be
your downfall.
You have to commit everything to the Lord.
Because He committed Himself all to you.
You know whom you have to commit.
And Paul said until that day.
Now what is that day?
You know the Bible tells us a number
of days.
This day or that day.
Now what is this day?
You know the day here may not mean
a day of 24 hours.
It may mean a Purit.
It may mean a time with certain specific
features.
For instance the Bible says the day of
the Lord.
What is the day of the Lord?
What is the day of judgment?
A terrible day.
There will be coming one day upon this
world.
Now what is until that day?
What is until that day?
Now that day is the day of Christ.
It is the day of Christ that Apostle
Paul talked about in the Philippines.
He said that you may come to the
day of Christ blameless.
It is the day that we as God's
people will all appear before Christ.
It is the day of His coming.
His perusia.
His presence.
It is the day when we shall all
gather together before Him.
It is a glorious day but it can
be a terrible day too.
In what sense?
Because one day when we shall all appear
before Him at the judgment seat of Christ.
Thank God we are saved.
Christ has judged for us on Calvary's cross.
Therefore we will not stand before the great
white throne of judgment.
The judicial judgment of eternal life and eternal
death.
Thank God that is solved.
The brothers and sisters as the family of
God.
When we shall gather together in His presence.
That is in the day of Christ.
Remember that is the day of the judgment
seat.
It is not a throne judgment.
It is a seat judgment.
Bhima.
It is not a judicial judgment.
It is a family judgment.
When we shall all be gathered together before
Him.
Then He will judge His family according to
the works that we have done on earth.
After we enter His family.
Some may deal with gold, silver and precious
stones.
Some may deal with wool, stubble and hay.
And that day will reveal everything.
You know, today we do not know who
is more spiritual.
Who is less spiritual.
Who is more committed.
Who is less committed.
Nobody knows.
We may think certain brothers and sisters they
are very spiritual and yet on that day
you may find that it is wool, hay
and stubble.
Others that people may not notice thinking that
well, who is that little brother or little
sister and yet on that day you may
find He shines.
Who knows?
We do not know.
But the Lord knows.
On that day fire shall appear.
The Lord is the burning fire.
And He will test every one of us
to see how much we are committed.
Brothers and sisters whatever has been committed to
Him is kept at that day.
But all that has not been committed to
Him will not be kept for that day.
That's the difference.
Paul's desire is that he may stand before
the Lord without being ashamed.
He may stand before the Lord holy and
blameless.
That is Paul's desire.
And brothers and sisters that is what the
Lord wants us to be.
He does not want us to meet Him
with shame.
That we feel ashamed and He is ashamed
of us.
If that be the case, woe be to
us.
Oh how it is the desire that He
may receive us a glorious church without spot
or wrinkle.
Because that is what He is looking for.
And how it should be our prayer that
when we see Him He will not be
ashamed of us.
Because we know whom we have believed.
And we have committed our all to Him.
And we know He has kept all.
So brothers and sisters, the burden in my
heart is really this.
We are living at the closing of this
age.
Time will not be easier.
It will be more and more difficult.
Testings will be more severe.
Trials will be more heavy.
Brothers and sisters, how can we be kept
pure, untouched for the Lord.
You know that is my burden.
And I do feel, I do believe that
here is the way.
I know whom I have believed and I
am fully persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed to Him
until that day.
So brothers and sisters, if you have not
committed yourself, your all to the Lord, do
it today.
Do not wait.
Because we do not know what's going to
happen.
We do not know what's going to happen
tomorrow.
Things are changing so fast these days.
You know as we come to the closing
of the days, things are changing overnight.
In a few hours everything will be changed.
Our only assurance is in the Lord.
You know, where is the perseverance of the
saints?
Not in the saints, but in the Lord.
Our perseverance is in Him.
But He cannot keep that which you have
not committed.
You know He does not want to force
anything on you.
Even though He loves you very much, He
knows.
And yet if you do not commit to
Him, He will not force it on you.
But neither can He keep it for you.
For Him to keep you have to commit.
Commitment is the most blessed thing in life.
Dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid
to commit yourself to the Lord.
Because this is blessing.
May the Lord help us.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and
thank Thee because Thou has given Thy beloved
Son to us.
And He has given His all.
We do praise and thank Thee because we
do know whom we have believed.
We acknowledge that we do not know Thee
enough.
And because of that we dare not commit
enough to Thee.
Lord, we acknowledge our foolishness in keeping ourselves
away from Thee.
Keeping things in our own hands.
Lord, we do pray that Thou open our
understanding.
Pray that Thou will enlarge our vision of
Thyself.
O pray that we may commit all to
Thee.
Because Thou are the only one who is
able to keep us in this dark time.
So Lord, do bless our brothers and sisters
that when we shall see Thee we will
not be ashamed.
But we may hear Thy voice.
Good.
Faithful.