TOPIC:“Commitments for the New Year”
“but committed himself to Him” (I Peter 2:23)
The word “commit” according to the American College Dictionary means to give in trust, to consign, to hand over. Here is the one I want for this message: “to bind by pledge or assurance.” Like the commitment we take at marriage: “Forsaking all others, I keep thee unto myself, so long as we both shall live.” God meant marriage to be the total commitment of a man and woman to each other. Two people give themselves unreservedly to the other. This is precisely the kind of commitment that Jesus made with His life unto God the Father. Now the commitments I am speaking about for the new year involve faithfulness. Being committed irreversibly to the fulfillment of the covenant obligations. Let's look at them.
My first commitment for the new year is this: Be committed to the SON of GOD. It was the Apostle Paul who said in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10: “I long to know Christ” (Weymouth).
We live in a day when people are looking for a cause to commit their lives to. Many have found one. Some are good and some are bad. To political change. To racial equality. To protect the unborn. To religious cults. But in this message I summons you to make the greatest commitment of your life. It supercedes and goes beyond all other commitments. It is a commitment of your life to Jesus Christ.
Now the reason we must commit our lives to Christ is because He is the only one who can SAVE us. No sinner can ever enter Heaven without accepting Jesus Christ to be their Savior from sin. Listen to the words of Christ: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
But we need Christ not only to save us from our sin, but also to SUSTAIN us from sinning. Only the victorious Christ can do this. We read in Hebrews 2:18 these words: “For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he . . .