WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:07.120 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 00:00:07.120 –> 00:00:15.080 To contact us call us at 1-877-open365 or visit our website openthebible.org. 00:00:15.080 –> 00:00:17.780 Let’s get to the message. 00:00:17.780 –> 00:00:19.440 Here is Pastor Colin. 00:00:19.440 –> 00:00:27.080 Well I invite you to turn today, again, to Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12. 00:00:27.480 –> 00:00:33.279 I have to tell you, I continue to draw deeply from this scripture in my own life and cannot 00:00:33.279 –> 00:00:39.480 imagine a text of scripture that is more applicable to us at this time. 00:00:39.480 –> 00:00:43.160 The Apostle Paul found himself in desperate circumstances. 00:00:43.160 –> 00:00:44.880 He was in prison. 00:00:44.880 –> 00:00:49.340 He knew that before long he would be put to death in Rome. 00:00:49.340 –> 00:00:53.720 His young assistant Timothy was inclined to panic. 00:00:53.759 –> 00:00:59.939 And so Paul writes this letter to Timothy to establish him in the faith and to encourage 00:00:59.939 –> 00:01:02.900 him in the Lord. 00:01:02.900 –> 00:01:09.260 And we’ve seen in these past weeks that in verses 8 to 11, the thrust of Paul’s message 00:01:09.260 –> 00:01:11.019 to Timothy is simply this, 00:01:11.019 –> 00:01:14.660 Timothy, whatever happens, remember you are a saved person. 00:01:14.660 –> 00:01:18.400 In Jesus Christ he saved us. 00:01:18.400 –> 00:01:20.820 And Timothy, whatever happens, remember this, 00:01:20.820 –> 00:01:27.980 you are called to a holy life, that is what you must pursue in every circumstance, whatever. 00:01:27.980 –> 00:01:33.720 And Timothy, remember this, that whatever happens, your eternal destiny is in the presence 00:01:33.720 –> 00:01:41.580 of Jesus Christ, who has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 00:01:41.580 –> 00:01:49.139 And we try to picture Paul’s situation, described by William Hendrickson as being incarcerated 00:01:49.139 –> 00:01:56.279 in some dismal, underground dungeon with a hole in the ceiling for light and air. 00:01:56.279 –> 00:02:00.820 And if you can try to imagine the apostle in this desperate circumstance, you would 00:02:00.820 –> 00:02:05.800 think that he might be saying, you know, where is God in all of this? 00:02:05.800 –> 00:02:09.899 You would think that he might be saying, I just can’t understand why God allows these 00:02:09.899 –> 00:02:13.100 things to happen in my life. 00:02:13.100 –> 00:02:15.860 But that is not what he is saying. 00:02:16.300 –> 00:02:20.279 Instead, what we find in chapter 1 in verse 12 is that he’s saying, Timothy, I want you 00:02:20.279 –> 00:02:25.979 to know that I am not ashamed for this reason. 00:02:25.979 –> 00:02:29.220 I know whom I have believed. 00:02:29.220 –> 00:02:36.880 Do you remember, that reminded us that Christian faith is focused on a person, Jesus Christ? 00:02:36.880 –> 00:02:38.619 I know whom I have believed. 00:02:38.619 –> 00:02:40.360 Not what or when. 00:02:40.360 –> 00:02:42.199 I know whom I have believed. 00:02:43.199 –> 00:02:48.660 It reminds us that a Christian has a living relationship with this person, Jesus Christ. 00:02:48.660 –> 00:02:53.259 I know Him, I know whom I have believed, and we have confidence in this person. 00:02:53.259 –> 00:02:55.199 I know whom I have believed. 00:02:55.199 –> 00:02:58.759 I trust Him. 00:02:58.759 –> 00:03:02.639 And my security doesn’t rest in the greatness of my faith, cause my faith may not be very 00:03:02.639 –> 00:03:08.339 great at all, but it does rest on the greatness of the one in whom I have put my trust. 00:03:08.339 –> 00:03:09.339 I know Him. 00:03:09.339 –> 00:03:11.500 I know whom I have believed. 00:03:11.500 –> 00:03:19.300 And so Paul is telling his nervous friend that he is finding strength in the supreme 00:03:19.300 –> 00:03:25.899 competence of Jesus Christ, and that this is how the Apostle is able to live with confidence 00:03:25.899 –> 00:03:30.559 in an uncertain and changing world. 00:03:30.559 –> 00:03:35.919 Now that’s something of what we’ve learned from the verse so far, and I want us today 00:03:35.919 –> 00:03:39.020 to focus on the second half of the verse. 00:03:39.139 –> 00:03:42.320 I know whom I have believed. 00:03:42.520 –> 00:03:51.919 But then he says, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to 00:03:51.919 –> 00:03:55.619 him for that day. 00:03:55.619 –> 00:04:05.360 Now this is wonderful because Paul is telling us how knowing Jesus Christ is changing his 00:04:05.360 –> 00:04:07.899 life. 00:04:08.000 –> 00:04:15.179 But more than that he’s telling us how knowing Jesus Christ can change our lives too. 00:04:15.179 –> 00:04:18.980 How’s that gonna happen? 00:04:18.980 –> 00:04:22.279 Well it’s all in the second half of this verse. 00:04:22.279 –> 00:04:28.260 Now here’s how I’d like to approach this text. 00:04:28.260 –> 00:04:34.059 I want you to imagine yourself on the basketball court. 00:04:34.059 –> 00:04:39.799 And let’s just for effect imagine that it is the last minute of the seventh game in 00:04:39.799 –> 00:04:42.859 the NBA Finals. 00:04:42.859 –> 00:04:49.059 And you are under big pressure and at this critical moment the ball is passed into your 00:04:49.059 –> 00:04:51.779 hands. 00:04:51.779 –> 00:04:59.339 And for a split second you can see an open path all the way to the basket. 00:04:59.339 –> 00:05:02.940 So you know exactly what you have to do. 00:05:02.940 –> 00:05:09.100 You have to take one, two, three steps and get yourself airborne and slam dunk that 00:05:09.100 –> 00:05:12.059 thing with all of the strength that is in you. 00:05:12.059 –> 00:05:17.959 Now, for those of us who have never been able to get close to a slam dunk, I’m asking you 00:05:17.959 –> 00:05:22.420 to use your imagination, but you get the picture. 00:05:22.420 –> 00:05:28.959 What we’re going to try and do this morning is to take three steps that will get you airborne 00:05:29.220 –> 00:05:36.559 and bring you to a position of victory that Paul was experiencing in his own life in very, 00:05:36.559 –> 00:05:39.339 very difficult circumstances. 00:05:39.339 –> 00:05:41.000 So here we go. 00:05:41.000 –> 00:05:47.480 Step one, I have committed everything to Christ. 00:05:47.480 –> 00:05:51.980 Now you see what he’s saying here, if you look at this text, that Christ is able to 00:05:51.980 –> 00:05:58.519 guard what I have entrusted to him. 00:05:58.519 –> 00:06:02.519 He’s able to guard what I have entrusted. 00:06:02.519 –> 00:06:09.579 So there has been an act of entrusting on the part of the apostle Paul. 00:06:09.579 –> 00:06:15.500 And the question, of course, then, is what has Paul trusted to Christ? 00:06:15.500 –> 00:06:23.920 And the answer, of course, is his whole self, everything about him, body, soul, spirit, 00:06:23.920 –> 00:06:27.739 life, ministry, friends, everything. 00:06:27.799 –> 00:06:33.739 Everything, what I have entrusted to him. 00:06:33.739 –> 00:06:38.640 I found it helpful to put what Paul says here alongside the verse that we’ve just read, 00:06:38.640 –> 00:06:43.260 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23. 00:06:43.260 –> 00:06:46.559 Paul there says something very similar to what he says to Timothy. 00:06:46.559 –> 00:06:54.260 He says to the Thessalonians, may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at 00:06:54.260 –> 00:06:56.279 the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:56.380 –> 00:07:01.760 Now you see that reminds us that being a Christian involves committing your whole self to Jesus 00:07:01.760 –> 00:07:05.399 Christ and then Christ keeping what you’ve committed to Him. 00:07:05.399 –> 00:07:12.000 Paul says that includes body, soul and spirit. 00:07:12.000 –> 00:07:19.739 Let’s think about body, which is the easiest one, committing your physical life to God. 00:07:19.739 –> 00:07:25.079 James Denny, who writes very helpfully on this passage says that what the apostle prays 00:07:25.220 –> 00:07:30.660 for is that God would make the body in its entirety, every organ and every function of 00:07:30.660 –> 00:07:31.660 it, holy. 00:07:31.660 –> 00:07:38.779 He then says God made the body at the beginning, he made it for himself and it is his. 00:07:38.779 –> 00:07:43.859 To begin with the body is neither holy nor unholy, it has no character of its own at 00:07:43.859 –> 00:07:44.859 all. 00:07:44.859 –> 00:07:50.000 It may therefore be sanctified or it may be profaned. 00:07:50.000 –> 00:07:54.440 It may be made a servant of God or the servant of sin. 00:07:54.600 –> 00:07:57.500 It may be consecrated or it may be prostituted. 00:07:57.500 –> 00:08:00.160 That’s James Denny. 00:08:00.160 –> 00:08:04.940 Now the apostle Paul, of course speaks about this in Romans 6, verse 13. 00:08:04.940 –> 00:08:11.260 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. 00:08:11.260 –> 00:08:20.459 But rather, he says, offer the parts of your body to Christ as instruments of righteousness. 00:08:20.459 –> 00:08:27.619 So we’re being called as Christians to offer, to entrust, our physical capacities into 00:08:27.619 –> 00:08:31.739 the hands of Jesus Christ. 00:08:31.739 –> 00:08:38.460 What that means is that I, as best I am able, offer my mouth to him and that means saying, 00:08:38.460 –> 00:08:45.359 Jesus, let what I speak be for your glory and the good of others. 00:08:45.359 –> 00:08:46.880 Means offering my hands. 00:08:46.960 –> 00:08:51.780 Let what I do be for the advance of your kingdom. 00:08:51.780 –> 00:08:53.500 It means offering my feet. 00:08:53.500 –> 00:08:58.239 It means saying, Jesus, I’m prepared to go any place that you send me, which is a position 00:08:58.239 –> 00:09:01.900 that all Christians should always be in. 00:09:01.900 –> 00:09:03.880 It means offering your eyes to Christ. 00:09:03.880 –> 00:09:10.080 Lord, let me be someone who sees need and is sensitive to it and then ready to reach 00:09:10.080 –> 00:09:11.919 out into it. 00:09:11.919 –> 00:09:15.119 It means offering your strength, your capacity to work. 00:09:15.119 –> 00:09:20.320 It means offering even your capacity for pleasure to Him, so that all things, even eating and 00:09:20.320 –> 00:09:26.000 drinking, for example, are done for the glory of God, that nothing is separated from this 00:09:26.000 –> 00:09:34.979 overarching purpose of life, that everything that I am physically is offered into His hands. 00:09:34.979 –> 00:09:39.739 And that’s where the apostle Paul was. 00:09:39.739 –> 00:09:49.500 Then think about committing your mental, emotional, and spiritual life to God. 00:09:49.500 –> 00:09:53.900 Now, there’s a long-standing debate, as many of you know, about the relationship between 00:09:53.900 –> 00:09:57.679 soul and spirit. 00:09:57.679 –> 00:10:00.059 Sometimes they seem to be the same. 00:10:00.059 –> 00:10:03.200 For example, in Mary’s song, do you remember the magnificat? 00:10:03.200 –> 00:10:08.140 My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. 00:10:08.140 –> 00:10:11.979 In Hebrew parallelism, it looks like they’re the same there. 00:10:11.979 –> 00:10:14.280 Sometimes they seem to be distinct. 00:10:14.280 –> 00:10:16.359 The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. 00:10:16.359 –> 00:10:20.739 It penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. 00:10:20.739 –> 00:10:22.840 That’s Hebrews chapter four and verse 12. 00:10:22.840 –> 00:10:26.919 Well, if they’re like joints and marrow, it’s evident that even if they can be distinguished, 00:10:26.919 –> 00:10:31.359 they are pretty closely bound up together. 00:10:31.359 –> 00:10:40.080 I find it helpful to think about soul and spirit as your inner life viewed from two 00:10:40.080 –> 00:10:41.539 sides. 00:10:41.539 –> 00:10:49.960 The soul speaks of your inner life in relation to your own experience of it, your mind, your 00:10:49.960 –> 00:10:57.419 heart, your will, your imagination, your thoughts, your desires, your passions, your dreams. 00:10:57.539 –> 00:11:04.059 Your spirit may speak of that same inner life in relation to God, your faith, your love, 00:11:04.059 –> 00:11:08.619 your hope, your character, your perseverance. 00:11:08.619 –> 00:11:11.979 Have you committed your mind to God? 00:11:11.979 –> 00:11:14.219 Lord, here is this mind. 00:11:14.219 –> 00:11:20.900 Let it think under the authority of your Word. 00:11:20.900 –> 00:11:23.260 What about your imagination, your creativity? 00:11:23.260 –> 00:11:24.820 Lord, you are the Creator. 00:11:24.900 –> 00:11:28.179 I give the creativity that you have given to me. 00:11:28.179 –> 00:11:31.780 Let it be used to create that which is good and that which is worthy of you. 00:11:31.780 –> 00:11:37.299 What about your hopes, your dreams? 00:11:37.299 –> 00:11:44.299 Now, throughout your life in this world, your body, soul, and spirit will be subjected to 00:11:44.299 –> 00:11:47.739 great strain. 00:11:47.739 –> 00:11:51.500 You will be tested, you will be tempted, you will face great trials, and sometimes you 00:11:51.619 –> 00:11:58.520 will wonder, how can I physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually stand up under the 00:11:58.520 –> 00:12:01.140 pressure of this? 00:12:01.140 –> 00:12:04.859 How in all the world will my faith survive? 00:12:04.859 –> 00:12:10.119 Now, here’s the marvelous truth. 00:12:10.119 –> 00:12:15.419 What you’ve committed to Him, He will guard. 00:12:15.419 –> 00:12:19.700 Isn’t that good news? 00:12:19.700 –> 00:12:23.619 What you’ve committed to Him. 00:12:23.619 –> 00:12:29.179 He will guard. 00:12:29.179 –> 00:12:31.919 What about ministry? 00:12:31.919 –> 00:12:39.080 Commentators on this letter point out that what Paul committed to the Lord was not just 00:12:39.080 –> 00:12:47.140 himself, but everything that pertained to his life, his ministry, his teaching, his 00:12:47.799 –> 00:12:51.280 evangelism, his church planting, his converts. 00:12:51.280 –> 00:12:56.260 I mean, here is a man who knows that he has only a short time left to live, and he’s going 00:12:56.260 –> 00:13:02.219 to leave behind this legacy of ministry, people who’ve come to Christ and so forth, and he’s 00:13:02.219 –> 00:13:06.900 in this position where there is so much more that he would like to have done, and how is 00:13:06.919 –> 00:13:09.780 he to find peace? 00:13:09.780 –> 00:13:15.780 And he finds peace by committing his ministry into the hands of Christ. 00:13:15.780 –> 00:13:19.599 It’s all come from his hands in the first place. 00:13:19.599 –> 00:13:21.400 Lord, here is my life’s work. 00:13:21.400 –> 00:13:26.400 I commit it into your hand, knowing that you are able to keep what I have entrusted to 00:13:26.400 –> 00:13:29.520 you. 00:13:29.520 –> 00:13:36.780 Don’t you think that as Paul prayed for Timothy the younger man every day, that Timothy 00:13:36.900 –> 00:13:44.200 also was included in what Paul committed into the hands of Christ? 00:13:44.200 –> 00:13:56.080 Timothy, I have committed you into the hands of Christ, and I am convinced that he is able 00:13:56.080 –> 00:14:03.239 to guard you as he has guarded me. 00:14:03.239 –> 00:14:11.039 You know it is a marvelous thing to be able to commit your loved ones into the hands 00:14:11.039 –> 00:14:14.359 of Christ. 00:14:14.359 –> 00:14:22.760 To have a son or a daughter who worries you so much, and to lift him and lift her into 00:14:22.760 –> 00:14:35.979 the hands of Christ is an act of faith and to say Lord I’m placing him there. 00:14:35.979 –> 00:14:40.000 One of the many joys that Karin and I had earlier this year in visiting Hong Kong was 00:14:40.000 –> 00:14:46.780 to come to know some wonderful missionaries, one of them a lady by the name of Diane Laurence 00:14:46.780 –> 00:14:50.520 who’s served all of her life since she graduated from Moody here. 00:14:50.520 –> 00:14:54.679 She met her husband at Moody, and they went out to serve the Lord in China. 00:14:54.679 –> 00:14:57.619 She’s now in Hong Kong lifetime of ministry. 00:14:57.619 –> 00:15:03.380 I believe as I recall it they were married around ten years or something like that and 00:15:03.380 –> 00:15:10.080 then he contracted a severe illness and died of it and she has continued to serve the Lord 00:15:10.239 –> 00:15:16.260 as a widow ever since, she’s now in I would guess her 50s. 00:15:16.260 –> 00:15:21.320 And she said to Karen and I when we were talking, she was recalling the whole experience of 00:15:21.320 –> 00:15:27.460 her loss and testifying to what Christ has done for her sins. 00:15:27.460 –> 00:15:28.460 And she said, 00:15:40.080 –> 00:15:59.739 Timothy, I know whom I have believed And persuaded that he’s able to keep 00:15:59.739 –> 00:16:07.880 What I’ve committed to him against that day. 00:16:07.880 –> 00:16:11.880 Everything in your hands can ever be secure. 00:16:11.880 –> 00:16:15.919 Everything in his hands must always be secure. 00:16:15.919 –> 00:16:20.200 That’s the principle. 00:16:20.200 –> 00:16:25.400 I hope this isn’t too trivial, but sometimes a picture makes a serious point. 00:16:25.400 –> 00:16:29.739 And just thinking about this through the week my own mind went back to a game, that was 00:16:29.739 –> 00:16:33.559 often played in birthday parties when I was very, very young. 00:16:33.559 –> 00:16:35.200 I don’t know if it’s well known here. 00:16:35.200 –> 00:16:36.559 Pass the parcel. 00:16:36.559 –> 00:16:37.919 Did you do pass the parcel? 00:16:37.919 –> 00:16:38.919 No. 00:16:38.919 –> 00:16:40.599 Absolute blank expressions. 00:16:40.599 –> 00:16:42.119 No, no. 00:16:42.119 –> 00:16:44.760 Okay, I have to explain pass the parcel. 00:16:44.760 –> 00:16:47.679 There are various rules, but this is how we played it. 00:16:47.679 –> 00:16:48.679 Okay. 00:16:48.679 –> 00:16:53.640 A prize, usually a large bar of chocolate, or a big bag of candy, was wrapped many times. 00:16:53.640 –> 00:16:59.440 In fact, wrapped the same number of times as the number of children attending the party. 00:16:59.440 –> 00:17:06.359 The children all then sit in a circle on the floor, and the music begins to play, 00:17:06.359 –> 00:17:09.319 and the parcel has to be passed. 00:17:09.319 –> 00:17:17.079 Now, if you are holding the parcel, when the music stops, you are out of the game. 00:17:17.079 –> 00:17:21.160 The person next to you gets to take off one wrapper, getting closer to the candy that’s 00:17:21.160 –> 00:17:23.099 inside. 00:17:23.099 –> 00:17:29.260 Now, the only way to win the game is to make sure that you are not holding the parcel 00:17:29.260 –> 00:17:32.439 right down to the last two, when they are desperately trying to get rid of it until 00:17:32.439 –> 00:17:34.380 the music stops. 00:17:34.380 –> 00:17:39.300 The picture came back to me. 00:17:39.300 –> 00:17:44.359 The only way to win the prize is to make sure you’re not holding the parcel. 00:17:44.359 –> 00:17:48.640 Now, take that picture. 00:17:48.640 –> 00:17:53.000 Nothing in your hands can ever be secure. 00:17:54.000 –> 00:17:59.119 Everything in his hands must always be secure. 00:17:59.119 –> 00:18:05.939 So, the way to victory in your life and in mine is to get as quickly as possible everything 00:18:05.939 –> 00:18:18.760 out of our hands and into his hands this thing that I call my family. 00:18:18.760 –> 00:18:22.219 Into his hands. 00:18:22.420 –> 00:18:28.099 This thing that I call my ministry into his hands. 00:18:28.099 –> 00:18:31.579 This thing that I call my future into his hands. 00:18:31.579 –> 00:18:38.540 This thing that I call my life into his hands. 00:18:38.540 –> 00:18:44.560 Paul is able to say, I have committed everything to Christ. 00:18:44.560 –> 00:18:45.619 Now, can you say that? 00:18:45.619 –> 00:18:50.020 I mean, what are you holding in your hands that’s not yet committed to him? 00:18:50.640 –> 00:18:56.199 See, here is the first step to freedom and to victory. 00:18:56.199 –> 00:19:00.599 I have committed everything to Christ. 00:19:00.599 –> 00:19:01.599 That’s step one. 00:19:01.599 –> 00:19:05.900 Now, remember, three steps to get airborne, that’s step one. 00:19:05.900 –> 00:19:11.619 Step two, Christ will guard what I’ve committed to him. 00:19:11.619 –> 00:19:16.979 Now, this is what we learn from Paul’s teaching and from his own experience, as well as from 00:19:16.979 –> 00:19:18.160 our own. 00:19:18.160 –> 00:19:23.199 Christ will guard what I’ve committed to him. 00:19:23.199 –> 00:19:28.920 Listen to what he says, I know whom I have believed, and I’m convinced that he is able 00:19:28.920 –> 00:19:36.079 to guard what I’ve entrusted to him against that day. 00:19:36.079 –> 00:19:41.579 Christ is able to guard what you have trusted to him. 00:19:42.380 –> 00:19:49.800 So if your body belongs to Him, here’s the good news, you can trust Him in relation to 00:19:49.800 –> 00:19:51.939 your body. 00:19:51.939 –> 00:19:56.520 You can trust Him when that body is strong, you can trust Him when your body is weak, 00:19:56.520 –> 00:20:03.540 and when you take the last breath into your body, you can trust him knowing that he will 00:20:03.540 –> 00:20:07.780 raise your body to everlasting life. 00:20:07.780 –> 00:20:10.979 It’s the promise of the gospel. 00:20:10.979 –> 00:20:16.219 And if your soul is trusted to Him, you can trust Him with your soul. 00:20:16.219 –> 00:20:22.579 He will guard your soul, your inner life, when your mind is spinning in confusion. 00:20:22.579 –> 00:20:31.140 He will protect your soul when emotions are rising like waves in the sea. 00:20:31.140 –> 00:20:36.900 And if your spirit is trusted to Him, then he will guard your spirit. 00:20:36.979 –> 00:20:41.619 How is your faith going to survive the pressures of life? 00:20:41.619 –> 00:20:45.500 Answer – because Christ will guard your faith. 00:20:45.500 –> 00:20:48.619 How can you continue to have hope when you feel despair? 00:20:48.619 –> 00:20:51.819 Answer – because Christ will guard your hope. 00:20:51.819 –> 00:20:55.380 How can you continue to love when it seems very, very difficult? 00:20:55.380 –> 00:21:00.300 Answer – because Christ will guard your love, he will guard all that you have entrusted 00:21:00.300 –> 00:21:02.339 to him. 00:21:03.219 –> 00:21:06.880 That’s where freedom begins. 00:21:06.880 –> 00:21:17.140 A group of college students were round our house recently, and the discussion got round 00:21:17.140 –> 00:21:21.939 to the ultimate summer job for a college student. 00:21:21.939 –> 00:21:29.959 Now, someone had found, a friend of his, had landed a job, house-sitting, for a family 00:21:29.959 –> 00:21:31.920 on the north shore. 00:21:31.920 –> 00:21:40.319 They were paying the student $100 a day for the student simply to sit in their house while 00:21:40.319 –> 00:21:43.359 they were gone on vacation. 00:21:43.359 –> 00:21:46.459 Not bad work if you can get it. 00:21:46.459 –> 00:21:50.520 Eat the food in someone else’s fridge, sit on someone else’s sofa and watch their television 00:21:50.520 –> 00:21:54.680 and get paid $100 a day just for being there. 00:21:55.439 –> 00:22:02.079 Now, I want you, because that got my imagination going, to imagine that you are house sitting 00:22:02.079 –> 00:22:06.319 for me though, I tell you I certainly would not pay you $100 for doing it. 00:22:06.319 –> 00:22:13.160 But I want you to imagine that you are house sitting for me while I am away on vacation. 00:22:13.160 –> 00:22:18.760 So you come round and I show you everything that you need to know about the house, you 00:22:18.800 –> 00:22:25.839 move your case and your stuff in, you wish me well and I head off to the airport. 00:22:25.839 –> 00:22:30.479 Fifteen minutes later as your sitting in the house settling into the stuff in the fridge 00:22:30.479 –> 00:22:34.619 and into a program on the television, the phone rings. 00:22:34.619 –> 00:22:36.739 You pick it up and you hear my voice. 00:22:36.739 –> 00:22:43.140 Hi I say, it’s Colin, just about pulling into O’Hare, just wondered if everything’s alright 00:22:43.140 –> 00:22:44.140 with the house? 00:22:44.140 –> 00:22:48.520 Yes, as you see nothing as happened in the last 15 minutes. 00:22:48.900 –> 00:22:53.599 Two hours later the phone rings again. 00:22:53.599 –> 00:22:59.099 Hi, Colin here, I’m actually up in the plane now, marvellous thing they have these phones 00:22:59.099 –> 00:23:03.020 in the aeroplane, you know, just thought I’d make a call and make sure that everything’s 00:23:03.020 –> 00:23:04.020 alright. 00:23:04.020 –> 00:23:08.119 I think I’m somewhere over Iceland and just wanted to make sure that you remember to lock 00:23:08.119 –> 00:23:11.560 the door for the night. 00:23:11.560 –> 00:23:14.920 You roll your eyes. 00:23:14.920 –> 00:23:17.680 The following morning the phone goes again. 00:23:17.680 –> 00:23:21.219 Now you are getting seriously annoyed with me. 00:23:21.219 –> 00:23:25.359 Hi, it’s me, I say, Colin here, just thought you’d like to know that I’m over in England, 00:23:25.359 –> 00:23:27.459 just wanna know is everything OK with the house? 00:23:27.459 –> 00:23:29.119 Now at this point what are you gonna do? 00:23:29.119 –> 00:23:34.260 You’re gonna say something like this, now look, you will say. 00:23:34.260 –> 00:23:40.199 You have entrusted your house to me. 00:23:40.199 –> 00:23:44.339 And I have committed myself to look after it for you, and frankly I’m well able to do 00:23:44.339 –> 00:23:46.719 that. 00:23:46.760 –> 00:23:53.459 Now go and enjoy your vacation and stop phoning me up to ask if everything’s OK. 00:23:53.459 –> 00:23:59.859 I am able to look after your house. 00:23:59.859 –> 00:24:04.839 Now apply that picture to our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:04.839 –> 00:24:11.979 You have committed your whole self and everything about you to Him. 00:24:12.079 –> 00:24:17.160 Your life and everything that concerns you is in his hand. 00:24:17.160 –> 00:24:27.920 And he is well able to handle what you have trusted to him, right? 00:24:27.920 –> 00:24:31.239 Now you see, that is why David could say in Psalm 23, 00:24:31.239 –> 00:24:35.479 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. 00:24:35.479 –> 00:24:41.939 And even if, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 00:24:41.939 –> 00:24:46.819 I will fear no evil. 00:24:46.819 –> 00:24:51.000 For even there you are with me. 00:24:51.000 –> 00:24:54.040 Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 00:24:54.040 –> 00:24:56.140 You see the freedom of that? 00:24:56.140 –> 00:24:58.920 No fear. 00:24:58.920 –> 00:25:03.020 Fear paralyses your life. 00:25:03.099 –> 00:25:05.920 And it is perfect love that casts out fear, the Bible says, 00:25:05.920 –> 00:25:09.579 and there is only one kind of perfect love and that is the perfect love of God. 00:25:09.579 –> 00:25:14.619 And when you know that your life is in the hands, the nail-pierced hands of the one 00:25:14.619 –> 00:25:20.500 who is perfect love, you are delivered from every fear. 00:25:20.500 –> 00:25:24.339 That is how the gospel works. 00:25:24.339 –> 00:25:27.599 So three steps to victory. 00:25:27.599 –> 00:25:29.560 I have committed everything to Christ. 00:25:29.560 –> 00:25:32.359 You’ve got to take that first step before you can take the second. 00:25:32.420 –> 00:25:34.439 I have committed everything to Christ. 00:25:35.439 –> 00:25:40.420 Second, Christ Will guard what I’ve committed to Him. 00:25:41.400 –> 00:25:47.900 And here’s the third step with which we become airborne, as we’re able to say with the apostle 00:25:47.900 –> 00:25:49.459 Paul that I’m convinced. 00:25:49.459 –> 00:25:55.380 I am convinced that Christ Will guard what I’ve committed to Him. 00:25:55.380 –> 00:26:01.680 Notice what he says, there’s this expression of personal faith in these great truths and 00:26:01.699 –> 00:26:03.219 realities of life. 00:26:03.219 –> 00:26:10.020 I know whom I have believed and I’m convinced that he is able to keep what I’ve entrusted 00:26:10.020 –> 00:26:12.479 to Him for that day. 00:26:14.079 –> 00:26:22.979 Now you know, it is terribly easy to become convinced about the wrong things and I’ve 00:26:22.979 –> 00:26:30.260 found it helpful to identify some things that I’m not convinced of in order to highlight 00:26:30.300 –> 00:26:37.180 more clearly in my own mind that which I truly am convinced of. 00:26:37.180 –> 00:26:43.619 So let me give you some examples and you will, I’m sure, resonate with these yourself and 00:26:43.619 –> 00:26:48.319 be able to add others of your own. 00:26:48.319 –> 00:26:50.439 I’m not convinced that I’m always right. 00:26:50.439 –> 00:26:53.300 Far from it. 00:26:53.300 –> 00:26:56.160 I’m not convinced that I always know what is best. 00:26:56.160 –> 00:26:58.380 Far from it. 00:26:58.400 –> 00:27:02.739 I’m not convinced that I always know what God is doing in my life. 00:27:02.739 –> 00:27:04.839 Far from it. 00:27:04.839 –> 00:27:09.739 I’m not convinced that everything in my life will work out as I would want it to. 00:27:09.739 –> 00:27:12.479 Far from it. 00:27:12.479 –> 00:27:24.280 But I am convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:27:24.280 –> 00:27:28.099 to Him against that day. 00:27:28.180 –> 00:27:35.260 Now there’s a really old hymn that some of us know. 00:27:35.260 –> 00:27:42.500 I recall it from childhood years, that takes up the theme of this verse and I know that 00:27:42.500 –> 00:27:48.119 some of us will have the music of that kind of imprinted on our minds. 00:27:48.119 –> 00:27:53.300 We’re not going to sing it but I want simply to read the words of the verse and then invite 00:27:53.979 –> 00:28:00.040 congregation in the sanctuary and in the gym, to join in affirming the words of the chorus 00:28:00.040 –> 00:28:05.520 taken from the authorized version of this great verse, to make it our confession of 00:28:05.520 –> 00:28:06.520 faith. 00:28:06.520 –> 00:28:12.000 If we with Paul are convinced of these things, then let us say so and declare our faith in 00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:13.560 the presence of God. 00:28:13.560 –> 00:28:19.160 I’ve revised the words just slightly to make them a little clearer for today but some of 00:28:19.160 –> 00:28:22.000 you will recognize these words. 00:28:22.040 –> 00:28:28.020 Let me read the verse and then each time will you express your confidence in Christ and 00:28:28.040 –> 00:28:33.260 take your stand with the apostle Paul as aloud we affirm the truth that we have been learning 00:28:33.260 –> 00:28:34.400 together. 00:28:35.199 –> 00:28:36.680 Here’s the song. 00:28:36.680 –> 00:28:45.660 I don’t know why God’s wondrous grace to me has been made known or why, unworthy as I 00:28:45.939 –> 00:28:50.719 am, He claimed me as His own. 00:28:50.719 –> 00:28:58.199 But I know Whom I have believed and I’m persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:28:58.199 –> 00:29:00.660 to Him against that day. 00:29:00.660 –> 00:29:04.400 Here’s the next statement of what I don’t know. 00:29:04.400 –> 00:29:13.479 I don’t know how this saving faith, to me He did impart, or how believing in His word 00:29:13.520 –> 00:29:17.219 brought peace within my heart. 00:29:17.219 –> 00:29:24.739 But I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:29:24.739 –> 00:29:28.180 to Him against that day. 00:29:28.180 –> 00:29:38.979 I don’t know how the Spirit moves, convincing us of sin, revealing Jesus through the word, 00:29:39.359 –> 00:29:42.180 faith in Him. 00:29:42.180 –> 00:29:49.180 But I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:29:49.619 –> 00:29:53.020 to Him against that day. 00:29:53.020 –> 00:29:58.900 I don’t know what the future holds, or what’s in store for me. 00:29:58.900 –> 00:30:04.619 The joys and sorrows on the road before His face I see. 00:30:04.619 –> 00:30:11.619 But I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:30:12.339 –> 00:30:15.699 to Him against that day. 00:30:15.699 –> 00:30:20.319 I don’t know when my Lord may come. 00:30:20.319 –> 00:30:23.760 I don’t know when or where. 00:30:23.760 –> 00:30:30.760 If I shall pass the veil of death, or meet Him in the air? 00:30:31.599 –> 00:30:38.599 But I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I’ve committed 00:30:39.900 –> 00:30:42.900 to Him against that day. 00:30:42.900 –> 00:30:49.900 Now, do you know this final security in your life? 00:30:51.040 –> 00:30:56.599 Because to find your way through life in this world, you need this more than anything else. 00:30:56.640 –> 00:31:02.319 You need to be able to take your stand with the Apostle Paul. 00:31:02.319 –> 00:31:06.819 Therefore, to be able to face anything. 00:31:10.160 –> 00:31:17.160 So what do you need to commit into His hands today? 00:31:19.180 –> 00:31:24.300 So that as it’s committed, you can know that He’ll guard it and knowing that He’ll guard 00:31:24.300 –> 00:31:34.199 it, you can take your stand with Paul and say, I’m convinced He’s able, and He will 00:31:34.199 –> 00:31:36.380 not fail. 00:31:36.380 –> 00:31:38.900 Let’s bow in prayer together, shall we? 00:31:38.900 –> 00:31:44.459 A moment of quietness. 00:31:44.459 –> 00:31:52.900 What better thing could you do today than take an inventory of your life and place it 00:31:52.900 –> 00:31:59.219 all into the hands of Christ? 00:31:59.219 –> 00:32:07.939 What do you need to commit into His hands today? 00:32:07.939 –> 00:32:17.219 And as you identify it, will you trust Him to guard it? 00:32:17.420 –> 00:32:21.859 Now ask Him, because it’s trusted into the hand of the Faithful Guardian. 00:32:21.939 –> 00:32:35.699 Ask Him now to deliver you from fear. 00:32:38.500 –> 00:32:43.459 Lord, may it truly be that for every person in this congregation and every circumstance 00:32:43.459 –> 00:32:48.579 of life that we will be able to say with the Apostle, 00:32:50.660 –> 00:32:57.140 I know whom I have believed, and I’m convinced that He is able 00:32:57.140 –> 00:33:06.260 to keep what I’ve entrusted to Him for that day, through Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. 00:33:08.500 –> 00:33:10.180 Amen. 00:33:11.140 –> 00:33:14.819 You’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 00:33:14.819 –> 00:33:24.020 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org.