Commit

[0:00] Psalm 37 verses 1-5 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

[0:21] ! For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

[0:35] Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

[0:49] I want to look at really three scriptures with the word commit. Commit. And the first one is this one here. It says, Commit your way unto the Lord.

[1:01] Psalm 37 verse 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. It's saying there, commit your way. Commit your way.

[1:15] When I look at that, I think of, what is my way? What is your way? I think of the word way as speaking of our life. Commit your way of life.

[1:31] In thinking of that, I wonder whether that might mean perhaps my past, my present, and my future. Sometimes we have things in our past, we have things in our present, things that we plan to do.

[1:46] God says, Commit thy way. Thy way unto the Lord. Your past, your present, your future. Your day. Seize the day. Your day, your plans, your directions, your hopes, your future, your endeavours, your dreams, your ambitions.

[2:04] Commit thy way. When we pray, we can think, can I commit my past to Him? My past to Him. Those memories, maybe those regrets.

[2:16] Give the past to Him. The past and its memories into His care. Commit your present, our present day. It's the only time we've got really, isn't it?

[2:26] The now is the present day and our future. God willing, if He gives us breath to breathe longer than today, the day ahead and the days beyond that, our future.

[2:37] Do you consider God's will as the driving force for your future, for your life? That His way for your life is how you decide how you're going to live.

[2:50] That His way is the basis for your decision making. Or do you give it fairly a passing thought? Sometimes we can be neglectful, can't we? That we don't think of God's way, of God's will, of God's wishes for our life and our future.

[3:05] We scarcely give it a passing thought. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit it. Commit it. Commit that plan for the future. We all can have hopes and dreams.

[3:18] Maybe plans. Maybe definite decisions that we've got outlined before us that we'd like to aim for and aspire to. Amongst them, what about some of these?

[3:29] How can I be more used by God? How can I be more useful as a Christian? How can I make an eternal difference in the here and now that will make a difference in the hereafter?

[3:42] Some of the things that you can commit, commit to the Lord. Young people. And I know it's been said of parents. Pray for your children for their future spouse.

[3:53] I think there's truth in that, isn't there? Pray for the future spouse of your daughter, of your son. Commit thy way unto the Lord.

[4:03] Commit your future ministry. If you've got options or intentions of ministry, commit it to Him. Lay it before Him. Commit your family to Him. Commit thy way unto the Lord.

[4:15] What about the present? What about the now? The present day decision making. Does that reflect eternal values? Or is it just a whim and fancy based on a feeling or a passing fad of the time?

[4:31] Let it be something that you're committing thy way unto the Lord and trusting in Him. The Word says, For the present, whatever you do, whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.

[4:43] 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do. That's everything, isn't it? It draws a line around, you know, a circle around everything of your life.

[4:56] Whatever you do, do it unto, all to the glory of God. Is this a motive in your mind when you think about your present or your future? Is that something that drives your decisions for the future?

[5:10] God's glory? God's glory! And you're aspiring to it. The decisions that you make. How you spend your money. How you use your time. What you use your resources for in the here and now.

[5:22] Is that God glorifying? Is God glorified by that? Is that something that you aspire to? Or maybe something you just fit in when you get, when it's convenient.

[5:36] When it's comfortable to. God's glory should motivate, shouldn't it? It should drive us. It should drive us to want to glorify Him.

[5:49] That all of our aims and ambitions and our decisions that we make should really ultimately have that goal, that ambition, that prize that we aim for, the prize.

[6:02] As we read in 1 Corinthians 9, 24 and Philippians 3, 14. I'll just refer to those. Think of the prize. Is your life aimless or purposeless?

[6:14] Is it purposeful? 1 Corinthians 9, 24 it says, Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize, so run ye that ye may obtain.

[6:28] One receives the prize, so run that ye may obtain. Run that race that you will obtain the prize. And Philippians 3, 14 along the same line says, Paul writes, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

[6:48] Philippians 3, 14, I press toward the mark. This word mark is the sense of a goal line. It's as if the goal line of the end of the race, the target.

[7:00] It speaks of that race of perseverance, of focus, of resolve. The mark. And Paul says, I press. I press towards it. Press on.

[7:11] Towards that mark. There's a moving rapidly. It's got the sense of decisively moving towards an objective, of a running, of a hastening. He says, I press on.

[7:23] I press toward the mark. And then it says the prize. The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The prize is the reward, that prize that awaits.

[7:38] Commit your way. Commit your way. Think of it as a race that you're running, this race that is your life. Commit it with purpose, with aim, with that eye to that prize of the high calling.

[7:52] Press toward the mark, that finishing line, with resolve, with perseverance. Commit thy way. That roadway, that life path.

[8:03] Commit it unto him. Secondly, Proverbs 16.3 talks of another aspect of commitment, of committing. Proverbs 16.3.

[8:14] It says, commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. Commit thy works unto the Lord.

[8:27] When I think of the word works, I think of commitments. I think of actions and energy and investment into some activity, some doing of something, some action, some decision.

[8:44] It could mean perhaps relationships with others, the works, that which we have to show for our life that we've lived. What you pour your energy into, your time into, your strength, your labour, your works.

[8:59] Now the word says that our works are going to be judged. They're going to be examined. They're going to be assessed. The works that we work in our life are going to be looked at and assessed and judged.

[9:13] And it says in 1 Corinthians how, for some, there'll be woof, hay and stubble. Just really tinder for the fire. It's just going to go poof up in a poof of smoke.

[9:25] It's going to be gone. It's just going to be ashes in your hands. Worth, hay, stubble. Then for others it's going to be gold, silver, precious stones. What will be left for the works of your life?

[9:38] Will they be just wood, hay and stubble, just ashes when the fire tests them? Or will they be gold, silver, precious stones? Your works. Commit thy works unto the Lord.

[9:50] Commit thy works unto Him. What is your life going to be producing? What are you making? What are you leaving behind? What are you making of your life? You know, sometimes really there's so much that we can do that we never really get around to, do we?

[10:05] We need, I've heard, you know, that little joke that goes around of the round to it. You know, some people draw a thing and they put T-U-I-T in a circle and when someone says, I'll get around to it, they say, here you go.

[10:19] You've got one now. So you've got no excuse. You know, you've got around to it. You've got no excuse for keeping putting things off, procrastinating. So we're making excuses. Why we never get around to doing what we really would like to do.

[10:31] And life can be like that, can't it? We can be so busy, busy, busy, but never getting to what really counts and what really matters. It's like someone said, God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things.

[10:44] Right now, I'm so far behind, I will never die. You know, there's so many things that you think, God could give me so much to do. There's so many things I could do. I'm never going to get around to doing them so I'm never going to die because, but no, really, there's no excuse because there will be things undone.

[11:02] When the day comes, when the last day of your life comes, there will be things undone. Things unsaid, things unspoken, things not accomplished. And we can think, how can I make the most of the day, the present and the future?

[11:18] Will there be fruit to show for your life lived? Good fruit, I trust. Good fruit. Good fruit. Fruit that remains. The Word talks about us, as God's will for us, as being to be fruitful.

[11:34] So have the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of a godly life of righteousness. Someone said this, I had to learn the difference between planning to do God's work and being willing to work at God's plan.

[11:52] Sometimes we can think we know what God wants us to do, but we need to be willing to work at God's plan. Find God's plan. How do we find that?

[12:03] Commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit thy works unto Him. Ask Him to show you from His Word. Another quote here about work.

[12:14] Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do that day, which must be done whether you like it or not. Being required to work and doing so to the best of your ability will breathe in you self-control, diligence, contentment, and a hundred other virtues which the idol never know.

[12:35] Sometimes we've got to get out of bed and do some work that we don't really want to do. Amen? That can happen. But God gives us work to do. It's necessary work. There's work we have to do to meet our family's financial needs and so on.

[12:50] There's obligations to live and deliver in the secular scene. But hopefully we can be a witness in our workplace for Christ and make the best of the sometimes drudgery of work that we have to do.

[13:04] And you know, God looks for those who are going to be diligent. I know I've spoken the word diligence of late and as I heard it preached of late. God rewards those who will be diligent.

[13:16] Diligent. And sometimes God chooses those who maybe are already working flat out already to do his will, to do his work.

[13:26] For example, someone said this, God never goes to the lazy or the idle when he needs someone for his service. When God wants a worker, he calls a worker. When he has work to be done, he goes to those who are already at work.

[13:41] When God wants a great servant, he calls a busy person. Scripture and history attest to this truth. For example, Moses was busy with his flock at Horeb.

[13:53] Gideon was busy threshing wheat by the winepress. Saul was busy searching for his father's lost beasts. David was busy caring for his father's sheep.

[14:04] Elisha was busy ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen. Nehemiah was busy bearing the king's wine cup. Amos was busy following the flock.

[14:16] Peter and Andrew were busy casting a net into the sea. James and John were busy mending their nets. Matthew was busy collecting customs. Saul was busy persecuting the friends of Jesus.

[14:29] William Carey was busy mending and making shoes. God calls those who are workers. And commit thy works unto him. Commit thy works unto him. God commends us to be working.

[14:42] To be producing. Leaving a legacy, I trust, that is a good thing. What are you contributing in your life? God wants workers.

[14:54] Workers in his church. Workers. It's been said of the church that, well you could say of any organisation, there are four main bones. Four main bones in every organisation.

[15:07] The wish bones. Wishing somebody would do something about the problem or whatever it is that needs doing. The jaw bones. Those who are good at doing all the talking but very little else.

[15:22] The knuckle bones. Those who knock everything. And the back bones. Those who carry the brunt of the load and do most of the work. Be a backbone.

[15:33] Amen. Be a backbone in God's church. One who will do the work. We're all leaving footprints behind us. There's footprints that you leave on this earth. Sometimes they don't stay very long.

[15:46] The wind blows them away. We know that, you know, you could look back and think, what was my great-grandfather's name or great-grandmother's name? Some people's names are just, before long there, no one even noticed they ever were here.

[15:59] And will it be future regret, come Judgment Day, that my life wasn't lived as it should have been? I didn't work for Christ as I could have done.

[16:10] I wasn't as faithful as I should have been. Of course, we can make a change now. We can make a decision now to leave all that behind and make the most of the now and the here to come.

[16:23] Amen. Make the most of the day and the day after and the day after that to employ yourself in God's service as God helps you to. What will be left behind when you are gone is the question.

[16:35] Will we leave a legacy of good or bad? We reap what we sow. Make it count. Sow that which is right. What is the result of your life? Will it be life's touch of kindness given?

[16:48] Your children, your family, the impact your life has had on others as a godly example to those about you. Tomorrow is a new day.

[17:00] If you see tomorrow, it's a new day. It's never too late to change your priorities, to make a decision now that you'll be used of God.

[17:11] You'll use whatever time you can that He gives to you to be left to bring glory and honour to Him. How are you investing your life in that which is the most important in Christ and His glory?

[17:26] When your life is over, someone said, the only things that will matter for eternity are those lives you impacted for Jesus Christ. Live your life to please Him.

[17:37] Make your life count. In character, in faithfulness, walk worthy. We're here for a moment and then we're gone. Are we investing? Investing, committing thy way, committing thy works and lastly, 2 Timothy 2, another thing to commit.

[17:52] 2 Timothy 2, something else to commit, but commit our way. I trust committing to go His way with our life.

[18:05] Committing to do His will with our way. We want to commit our works to Him. Working that which is pleasing to Him. Working that which is a blessing and which can make an eternal difference.

[18:19] Our works. And lastly, 2 Timothy 2, 2 Paul writes, And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.

[18:31] Paul says, The things that I've said. In other words, the Word of God. He's talking about the Word of God. He says, Commit that to faithful men. Commit the Word to others.

[18:44] Commit the Word to others. Paul was speaking about the Word and he was speaking about others. The Word of God. How can I commit God's Word to others? How can I commit God's Word to those around about me?

[18:56] The Word says, Commit the Word to faithful men that they will be able to teach others also. To me, it captures the thought of witnessing.

[19:09] You want to commit that Word to others. You want to pass on that Word of God to those who haven't heard it. To commit the Gospel to others. To witness the Gospel. To speak the things that become sound doctrine.

[19:22] When we're amongst the believers, we can exhort one another while it is day. While it is today. We can exhort one another as we see the day approaching. We can exhort one another to godliness and good works because time is short.

[19:36] Wake up and commit your way to Him. Commit your works to Him and commit the Word to those who need Christ. You are meant to be His ambassador, His hand extended.

[19:49] Speak the things that become sound doctrine. Speak the truth in love. Commit the Word to others. Communicate the Word. Make Christ known. The Word has been said of the Word of God.

[20:01] Read the Bible completely like a love letter. Consult it constantly like a road map. Study it carefully like a lesson book.

[20:15] Obey it conscientiously like an army order. Word of God. Read it completely like a love letter. Now, when I was courting my dear wife, we were separated for a time.

[20:28] I went to Bible school interstate for several months. We were separated as we were courting one another. I wrote love letters and she wrote love letters to me.

[20:42] I used to treasure those love letters. We should treasure the Word of God so as a love letter, shouldn't we? It's God's letter of love to you. It's His Word of love.

[20:52] It's His message of love. We should read it like a road map to find that future path to take. We should study it like a lesson book, the teachings of the Scripture, and obey it like an army order.

[21:06] There's much truth there, isn't there? The Word of God. It says of the Word, in 1 Thessalonians 2.13, speaks of in part, the Word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe.

[21:19] Treasure it, value it, but even more, pass it on. Pass it on. Commit the Word to others. To others. And when it's speaking there, commit the Word of God to faithful men, to me it speaks of discipleship.

[21:36] Discipleship. Now we've heard today of the youth group, the youth group of ministering to young people with the Word of God with sound doctrine and teaching of salvation, truth of Christian living, discipling, that's what we must do brothers and sisters.

[21:52] Every one of us can disciple another. We can disciple, we can mentor, we can guide and instruct and pass on that message to our children, our children's children.

[22:04] We can be a messenger of the Word and pass it on to faithful men so that they might pass it on themselves. And so, God willing, when I'm in a box, someone else will be here.

[22:18] Ministry. Amen. When you're gone, there'll be a legacy left of others who you've committed the Word to that will carry on teaching it and teaching it and teaching it, discipling others.

[22:32] Pass it on. This message is too important for us to keep it to ourselves. Prayerfully seek that the Bible is part of your every day. Commit to the Word.

[22:43] Commit the Word to your mind, your memory. Commit the Word to your life. That it becomes a part of every day in your devotions and your personal reading. It's something to commit to.

[22:54] As someone said, know it in your mind, stow it in your life, and sow it in the world. Know it, stow it, memorize it, put it into your mind, your life, your heart, and sow it in the world.

[23:09] Pass it on. Commit the Word to faithful men. Provence sisters, the Word talks about holding fast the Word of God and holding forth the Word of God. Philippians 2.16, holding forth the Word of Life.

[23:23] Hold it fast and hold it forth. The authority of the Scriptures. This is the authority. This is undeniable, authoritative, we can stake our life and eternity upon the Word of God.

[23:38] This is truth, the foundation on which we can build our lives. The authority of the Scriptures, not fanciful latter-day revelations of men. There's much of that about us today.

[23:50] It's abounding. We don't go by fanciful latter-day revelations. God's given it here, in between these covers, the Word of God, the Word of life, His authoritative, inspired, inspired, infallible Word, that we can take and apply it.

[24:13] Sound doctrine, forthright exposition. The Word needs to be declared. You can declare it. Fathers, declare it to your children. Mothers, declare it to your children. Brothers, sisters, declare it to one another.

[24:26] Exhort one another. Commit the Word to faithful men. Commit the Word to those that will hear it. Hold it forth as a life boy to the perishing. Holding it forth, holding it forth to the lost.

[24:39] Pray that you will understand the Word. You'll commit it to your memory. You'll study it. To close, it's been said that you could put this in the front of your Bible.

[24:51] You could write this in front of your Bible. Warning, this book is habit forming. Regular use causes loss of anxiety.

[25:02] Decreased appetite for lying, cheating, stealing, hating. Symptoms, increased sensations of love, peace, joy and compassion.

[25:17] Warning, this book is habit forming. Amen. This book can change your life if you'll just take its message and let it live in your heart. This is our standard.

[25:28] This is our statement. This is what we can build our lives upon. Friends, to close, study the Word. There's some Bibles that don't say study the Bible, but this one does.

[25:41] It says study to show yourself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. Study the Bible. Study it.

[25:52] There's many opportunities for you to study the Bible. And whether meetings, whether in personal or family time, study the Word. Friends, to close, think.

[26:04] Commit thy way unto the Lord. You've got a pathway ahead of you. You've got a roadway ahead of you. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Commit thy works unto the Lord.

[26:15] What are you going to do with your life? What are you going to invest your life into? What are you going to give and be and produce? Will it be godly fruits, good fruits?

[26:30] Commit thy works unto the Lord and commit the Word. Commit the Word to your own heart and mind, to faithful men. Give it to the lost.

[26:42] Be a messenger of it. Don't keep it selfishly to yourself. I love to tell the story of haunting things above.

[26:56] Of Jesus and his glory. See you next time.