Lessons of Commitment to God

Well, good afternoon to all of you. It is very pleasant to see you. Welcome to all of our guests and visitors. I see a number of you here today. Welcome to all our hearers on the Cybercast listening in. I'm glad you're with us today as well. Well, as you've probably noticed, this is a time of the year where we do have many activities. Students graduating, families getting ready for college, young people moving from kindergarten to first grade, and all sorts of different graduations and progressions forward. And, of course, tomorrow we're going to be observing the Feast of Pentecost, and in a sense that's a progression as well as we move our way through God's annual Holy Days. And as I thought of all these things, it put into my heart the concept that these are things we make commitments to. We set a path, we strike a place with our mind where we want to get to, and then with God's help we progress forward. We make a commitment, and we move forward. And so today in the sermon, I'd like to speak to us about the topic of commitment. And the title, I'll give the title right away, the title is Lessons of Commitment to God. Lessons of Commitment to God. So we're going to focus on that subject, but more specifically of our commitment to trust and obey God. The word commitment bears several meanings, and each of those meanings are rather similar. Commitment is the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause or an activity. Oftentimes you hear of companies or colleges or universities being committed to excellence, for example. That's part of their goal, their pursuit. Commitment can be a promise to do something, a strong belief that something is good, so you should support it. It can also mean enthusiasm for something, and a determination to work hard at it. Usually, commitment is shown by one's dedication of time and resources for a particular effort or cause. If you want to know what people are committed to, just pay attention to what they spend their time doing and where they place their money. Oftentimes I find that's a good place to recognize where we commit ourselves. Other words for commitment include dedication, devotion, allegiance, loyalty, and, as you might guess, the word faithfulness. It is also another word for commitment. Before I knew all these big words for commitment or what commitment was, probably like you, I was learning about commitment at a very early age. Perhaps it's the same for you as me. Perhaps dad or mom, or perhaps grandma or grandpa taught us about commitment by making a stick with a task until we finished it. We might have learned commitment by doing our weekly chores, for example. Maybe hoeing every single row in the garden until each row was done. And my dad planted long, long rows. Or maybe your commitment was no TV until your homework was done.

Maybe you learned about commitment that time when you wanted to quit the race. You wanted to quit the race so bad, because even that chunky kid in front of you with the thick legs, even he was beating you. You just wanted to quit the race. But you didn't. You tough it through, and you finished to the end. Maybe last, but the point is, you stuck it out. You kept your commitment. Now, in various ways, we learn the worth of keeping our word, of sticking to a promise, of being loyal, of fulfilling our obligations, of doing the right thing no matter what. We picked that up. That's commitment. Commitment, we learn, is the glue that keeps families and teams and relationships of all sorts strong and viable. We value commitment very much. And commitment is what God requires of us in our relationship with Him. Our commitment to God, therefore, must be and always remain our greatest priority. Upon baptism, we demonstrate our acceptance as Jesus Christ is our Savior. And with the laying on of hands and our receiving of God's Holy Spirit, we dedicate the remainder of our lives to faithful obedience and to service to God. Now, most of us here have committed ourselves to God, that long-term commitment to following God and living His way of life. And that way of life, we know, runs contrary, very much contrary, to the ways of the world and to the ways of our own self-centered human nature. It's not easy in keeping our commitment to God. But we are not the only ones, or are we the first ones, to commit ourselves to believing and obeying God. In Scripture, we find God preserves for us many, many examples of other people who committed themselves to God. Through good times and bad, they faithfully dedicated themselves to living their lives in humble surrender to God. And their accounts and examples reveal how God helped them to face all sorts of terrible trials, and how to conquer all doubt and fear, and even to conquer the fear of death. Their experiences, then, should inspire us to greater acts of our own commitment to God. And God has preserved their histories, their accounts, for us. And they are given by inspiration of God. And they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And that the man that the people of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. My intent today is to encourage us on in our commitment to God, to remain loyal to God no matter the trials we must face and the trials we must endure. And so today we will consider three examples from the Bible of other people who also committed themselves to God, and who, by doing so, rejoice to see that God also keeps His commitment to us. God also keeps commitments. From their examples, we can draw lessons to fortify our own commitment to God. And so with that, lesson number one. Lesson number one, believe God and do what He says. Believe God and do what He says. Let's be turning to Genesis 12, verse 1 through 5. And let's look at the first example of a man who was totally committed to God. Genesis 12, verse 1. Who is that man totally committed to God? Abram. Abram. And while we read here, Genesis 12, 1 through 5, I'd like for us to consider, imagine, a little more, think about it. Consider the death of Abraham. He's later named Abraham by God. Consider the death of Abraham's faithfulness to believe and obey God. Let's read in verse 1.

And so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. And so they came to the land of Canaan.

Now, Abram, or Abraham, left everything he was familiar with. He left everything, and he traveled over 500 miles. And it wasn't by car, or by jet plane, or by train. It was primarily by walking. 500 miles from Ur, his native land, his homeland, to eventually live in Canaan, a land he did not know. Abraham willingly left much behind him, didn't he? You think about it. He left his home, a place where he grew up. He left many other relatives, family, friends, acquaintances. He left the comforts of an urban culture and society. It's much different than living in a tent when you're used to living in a home, a house.

And all familiar surroundings and circumstances, all that he left behind. And for the rest of his long life, Abraham chose to live in tents. Not many of us like to live in tents. I've done a little bit of camping with the scouts, and it's not...well, it's fine! So, for his life, you know, he was living as a stranger in a strange land, living in a tent, moving here and there.

He chose to place his life and the life of his family forever, the lives of his family, in God's hands. He decided to do that because he believed God. And I'd be willing to believe not many people ever did that. Not many people today would be willing to give up everything, to live in a tent, to live in a place you do not know among strangers. Well, why did he do that? He believed God. He believed God's promises. And he willingly committed himself to trusting God. And to trust God means you're going to do what God says.

And so did Abraham. Let's look at Hebrews 11. Back in Hebrews 11, we get a little more clarification as to why Abraham committed himself to God. Hebrews 11, in verse 8 through 10, we read, And so he traveled there, not knowing where he was going, arriving in a strange country. And verse 10 gets to the point of why, because he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

He committed himself to God because he believed God's promise of something far greater than this brief and fleeting physical life. He desired this eternal city, that permanent place where he could remain always and stay close to his God.

And of course, leaving his homeland wasn't Abraham's only evidence of his commitment to God. If you'd skip down with me, same chapter, Hebrews 11, and let's read in verse 17 through 19, And by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called.

concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. So Abraham proved his absolute commitment to God in its second way, when he willingly obeyed God and offered Isaac.

The son God had promised him and then given him. He offered him up as a sacrifice, ready to take the knife and kill him as a willing sacrifice to God. Of course, God stopped him. He didn't have to see him do it to read his heart, to see his commitment. Apparently, Abraham believed that no matter what God asked of him, he would do it. Because God would somehow keep the promises he had made.

And so when God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham humbly acted to obey. He believed God. He obeyed God. And because Abraham trusted God so very completely, God blessed Abraham abundantly, and God kept his promise. And what was that promise? Let's look back at Genesis 15. Genesis 15, 5-6.

Genesis 15, 5-6. Then he God brought him outside and said, Talk to Abraham, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and God accounted it to him for righteousness. So Abraham believed God, and God kept his promise. And the physical descendants of Abraham did indeed become a great and mighty nation.

But Abraham also became the father of innumerable others, spiritually speaking. And this is where we come in. He became the father of innumerable others, spiritually speaking, because one of Abraham's descendants was Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and Son of God. Those from the Father calls to Christ and who believe and accept Jesus as their Savior, repent of their self-guided way in life, and they become baptized. They receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and then they continue to be led faithfully by God, to believe God, to obey God.

And thereby, they become heirs of faith with Abraham. Let's look in Romans 4. In Romans 4, Paul elaborates on this connection between our faith and Abraham's faith. In Romans 4.13, Paul writes, For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Then continuing down in verse 20, He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

And being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform, speaking of Abraham, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us, Paul writes, It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.

And so we should be greatly encouraged, knowing that Jesus God kept his promises and his commitment to Abraham. So God keeps his promises and commitment to those who also believe and obey the Father. And like Abraham did, we too must believe God. We too must leave behind the ways of carnal human society. We too must leave behind Satan's world. And as we do that, let's be turning to 1 John 2. And as we maintain our commitment to leave behind us the ways of the world, the ways of our own carnal human nature, we need to keep in mind the words of 1 John 2, 1 John 2, verse 15 through 17.

Familiar scriptures. But familiar or not, these are very important scriptures that we keep in mind and live by each day. Let's read 1 John 2, 15 through 17, a warning. John wrote, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And nowadays it seems, no matter when you turn on the television, whenever you look at a computer screen, there are some things there that we just don't need to be looking at. Even HGTV. There are things going on there I'm shocked at anymore. It used to be my place of safety on TV. I could go there and watch some good television. But everything seems to be infected more and more with some very terrible, rotten things. Verse 17, this is a good thing to remember. The world is passing away. I like hearing that. The world is passing away, and the lust of it.

But here's our warning. But he who does the will of God abides forever. If we want to abide forever with God, we need to remain committed, dedicated, and reject the ways of our carnal human nature, the repenting of sin, and obeying God instead. In addition to that, our relationship with God must be growing and becoming, I believe, and Scripture holds me on this, we must make a relationship with God the single most important relationship in our lives.

We need to remember Jesus' words in Luke 14.26. You can turn there if you'd like, but I'll read them to you. They're familiar words. Remember, Jesus said in Luke 14.26, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and yes, Jesus said his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Now, Jesus is not saying, break the fifth commandment, dishonor your parents, hate your parents, treat them despicably. That's not what he's saying. He's saying this to emphasize a point he's making, that just as Abraham totally trusted and obeyed God, Abraham put God first in his life, so must God become first in our lives.

We can't let anything get between us and God. He's got to come first. God's got to come before our relationships then with our parents, our spouse, family members, definitely our friends. God's got to come before our status and careers and fame. God's got to come before our pursuit of riches and our own selfish pleasure. Anything we name, it must be at least second to God. Now, when I say things like that, it can sound like keeping God first means giving up everything that makes life fun and enjoyable and worth living.

It may sound like that, but that's not true. That is not true. A better perspective, a more godly perspective, would be more like giving up these things, it would be like giving up crackerjack trinkets. Remember when they actually had real trinkets in crackerjack boxes? It's like comparing this life to crackerjack, the little toys you get in the crackerjacks, well, we used to get in there.

And giving that up in exchange for true riches, true treasures. Resures is not a word. Riches and treasures. That's a godly perspective we have to have. Realize what it is we're really putting aside and what it is we're really getting in return. Let's also look at Philippians 3.7, verse 9. Or, excuse me, Philippians 3, verses 7 through 9. Paul helps us a lot to keep our perspective correct.

In Philippians 3, verse 7 through 9, this is one of those places he helps us see a little more clearly. Philippians 3.7, Paul writes, But what things regain to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish.

I count everything I've lost, you might say, everything I thought I have. I now count them as rubbish, Paul says, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. That's the perspective we must maintain. See, Paul understood that the cost of believing and obeying God by far outweighs its rewards. Compared to receiving eternal life in God's kingdom, we're really giving up nothing of real value. We give up nothing of true value when we commit ourselves to God. So as a broad principle of life, then, commitment to God requires our continually choosing to believe and to obey God, to walk in faith with God.

And like Abraham did, we must keep God first and foremost in our lives, knowing that God will keep his commitment to give us the blessings of salvation in his kingdom. Let's now consider this lesson from Moses and the Children of Israel. Second example. Lesson number two. Believe God and do what he says. Believe God and do what he says. Being committed to God means we must trust and obey God, even when events in life seem to lack purpose and reason, or even put us in harm's way. Moses and the Children of Israel underwent this experience while leaving Egypt. And we can draw a very important lesson from their experience.

If you remember, when God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, they did not cross the Red Sea on the very same day they left Ramses. Numbers 33-8 tells us that they left on the 15th of Abib the night we traditionally celebrate as the night to be much observed. During the following week, God led them from Ramses through the Egyptian wilderness to Sukkoth, then to Itam, then back towards Piharoth, and then to a place near Miggal along the Red Sea. Now, unless you have a map, you don't know where that is all going, and neither do I.

But I looked at a map, and they kind of go in a strange zigzag type of direction. All that week, God led the Children of Israel with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. That's what we learn in Exodus 13. And so they had literally committed themselves to following God and to obeying Moses. But this final encampment by the Red Sea seemed foolish. Why was that foolish? Well, it's because they were cornered now with their backs to the sea. They had no way of escape. They were in that proverbial spot between a rock and a hard, wet space. No way of escape. Exodus 14, and you can be turning there.

And while you turn there, I'll summarize a little bit of what we read in the first part of Exodus 14. In Exodus 14, verses 1-9, there we find, explain to us that the Egyptians had observed the Israelites' rather odd and meandering progress through the Egyptian wilderness. They thought that the Israelites had become confused and lost. That's a natural conclusion.

But of course, what we learn in Exodus 14, 1-9 is that that's just what God had intended. And God did that on purpose so that he might draw Pharaoh into one final demonstration of God's omnipotence. So when Pharaoh heard of the Israelites' plight, poor little Israelites lost in the wilderness, Pharaoh gathered all his chariots and set out to strike them there, trapped along the Red Sea.

Now up until this time, we remember the story, the children of Israel have been happy children. They were happily and gladly following God out of Egypt. They didn't know where they were going, so they were following him. They were going to trust God. Wherever God goes, we'll go, and we'll be okay. But now as Pharaoh's chariots are drawing steadily nearer, their trust is getting a little rattled.

They're getting rattled. They're really getting confused and worried, and their trust in God began to falter. Let's pick up the account now in Exodus 14 and verses 10. Exodus 14 and 10. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.

So they were very afraid, terrorized. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. That wasn't enough, so then they had to take it to Moses. Then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, being cynical, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? We didn't want to leave Egypt. Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? It's not quite the story I heard.

And so they said, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Trapped between Pharaoh's merciless army, this war machine, and the impassable sea, the Israelites quickly gave in to fear and to doubt.

It's understandable, perhaps. You see, as always, and it's still true today, isn't it true today? That life and death situations really seem to prove the resolve of our commitment to God? It seems that way. And poor Moses, poor Moses, such troubles. Let's read on in verses 13-14. And Moses said to the people, though, Do not be afraid, stand still, be at peace, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

Moses, quite obviously, trusted God entirely. He did not fear or doubt, but faithfully waited for God's most certain salvation. And as always, God proved Himself trustworthy. God always does. And He always will. And God did so, in this case, in the most miraculous way. It's reading here in verse 21. And then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

And so the children of Israel went out into the midst of the sea on the dry ground. And the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Verse 25, And God took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty. The Egyptians weren't done. The Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. And then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots and on their horsemen.

Verse 28, And then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel, They had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And so the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians.

And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. And thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt. So the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses.

It's a very inspiring story. After this miraculous intervention in their lives, the children of Israel had experienced one more. They already saw all these plagues. Excuse me, sound crew. They'd already seen all these plagues God had used to deliver them from Egypt. And now they just had experienced another one, walking right through the middle of it on dry land. They had just experienced the further proof of God's commitment. God's commitment to keep his promise to Abraham, to make of his descendants a mighty nation.

God keeps his promises.

What about us? Well, like the Israelites, we have also committed ourselves to following God, haven't we? We must follow God and obey God through easy times and through hard times. That's especially true in obeying God.

It's easy, but it's much harder to follow God when following and obeying him doesn't seem to make sense.

You know, those times, kind of like when we place ourselves between an attacking army in the sea, it doesn't make sense that we are here. But that's where God has placed us for some reason.

Now, it seems to me that the early disciples had to learn this very same lesson of trusting God, even when it seems kind of crazy to do so. I find it interesting that the first ones Jesus said to follow me was to Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen, remember? That was their profession, their occupation. And Jesus said to them, Matthew 4, 19, it's okay if you don't turn there, He said, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Very familiar words.

Now, these words had to have sounded crazy to the other fishermen, and I think they would still sound rather crazy to many fishermen today. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. But it wasn't craziness to Peter and Andrew. God was calling them, and they heard the call. And they readily gave up their occupations. They gave up their investment and their equipment. They left the family trade. They left a lot behind to follow Christ. And they dedicated their lives to Christ. And we know that they suffered greatly for their choice, didn't they? And yet we also know that they received many blessings, and the greatest one will be to receive the kingdom of God. Jesus tells everyone, all of us, all of us too, He tells everyone whom the Father calls to deny Himself, Take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9, 23.

Now from a worldly point of view, practicing a life of denying oneself seems rather foolish. That's the exact opposite message we hear in our media and our society today. If it feels good, Nike says, just do it! That's not God's approach. Why would anyone deny fame, deny fortune, give up fun, and choose to be confined by the words found in some old dusty book? I speak as a fool. Yet when we become convicted of the truth and commit our lives to following God and seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we have grasped that that is the only right and truly logical thing to do, isn't it?

And one day, we believe most people will also come to understand that and make the choice that many of us have already taken.

Now we come to a third example.

A third example has to do with King Jehoshaphat of Judah. Lesson number three is, believe God and do what He says.

Believe God and do what He says.

Our commitment to God will be tested at times. We know that. And it seems that we are often tested right when life seems to be so good. And everything is finally kind of nice and calm and gentle around us.

That's an easy time, it seems, to obey God and stay committed.

But will we remain faithful during severe and unexpected trials? Those times hit us when we don't expect bad times. Well, the fact is we had better stay committed to God through the bad times. When we commit ourselves to God, surrender ourselves to His will, we can trust that God will fight our battles for us. Those hard times, God will be there for us. And sometimes God does that in immediate and rather miraculous ways. King Jehoshaphat, and you can be turning to 2 Chronicles 17, if you would please, 2 Chronicles 17.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was committed to following God. He surely was. And God blessed him. Let's read in 2 Chronicles 17, and we'll look at verses 3-6.

Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because He walked in the former ways of His father David. He did not seek the bales. He did not seek idol worship.

Verse 4, But He sought the God of His father, and walked in His commandments, and not according to the acts of Israel. Israel, remember, gone totally over to pagan worship and idolatry, total rebelliousness against God. Verse 5, Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in His hand, and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and He had riches and honor in abundance. And His heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. Moreover, He removed the high places and wooden images from Judah. And so Jehoshaphat was one of the several good kings over Judah, in the history we read about the kings of Judah. But He was by no means perfect, of course. If you remember, He once unwisely allied Himself with King Ahab of Israel, and that greatly angered God. And if you want, you can read more about that in 2 Chronicles 19.

But in later years of His reign, Jehoshaphat faced a very serious national crisis.

Ammon, Moab, and Edom, all enemy nations, had secretly combined their armies together for a massive surprise attack. In too late, Judah detected those enemy armies when they were nearly upon Jerusalem.

There is no time to gather your full strength of the troops, to gather your armament. Did you get the defenses of the city and other cities ready? It was a true national crisis. What did He do? What did Jehoshaphat do? Well, He immediately proclaimed a national fast, and then publicly prayed for God's intervention.

That's really hard for me to imagine any nation doing nowadays.

But this King followed God. He was committed to God. Let's read this public prayer Jehoshaphat gave. It's found in 2 Chronicles 20, a few pages over. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 5.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house of the Eternal of the Lord, before the new court.

And he said, O Lord God of our fathers, Are you not God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you? Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, If disaster comes upon us, sword, it's war, judgment, hestilence, or famine, we will stand before this temple, and in your presence, for your name is in this temple, and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save. In his prayer, Josephat reminded God of the promises God himself had made to them, as the descendants of Abraham. Of course, God didn't need to be reminded of his promises. He knew what they were. But surely, Josephat and the people needed to hear of God's promise to them. They needed God to fulfill his promise to them. And so, Josephat claimed God's promises in this time of their need. I think that's a wonderful example for us. When our crises hit, we too should claim God's promises when we pray to him.

Now continuing in verse 10, continuing in the prayer to God, Josephat said, And now here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Shear, whom you had not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. But they turned from them and did not destroy them. But now here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not judge them? You can hear him crying. For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do. But our eyes are upon you.

Our eyes are upon you.

With his humble and moving prayer, Josephat besieged God to save them in their urgent time of need, just as he promised he would do.

That people were trusting God alone for deliverance, and their trust was well-founded.

God answered their prayer. Through Jehazel the prophet, God sent this message, verse 15, Listen, all of you Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehazelphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid, nor dismayed, because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.

Now, verse 17-19, He also said, you will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed, tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.

And Jehazelphat bowed his head with his face to the ground.

He was on the ground, this mighty King of Judah. With his face to the ground, in all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And then the Levites, of the children of the Chohathites, and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with voices loud and high.

God swift answered to their plea, and obviously greatly encouraged Jehazelphat and his people. And their praise to God must have sounded tremendous. It must have sounded tremendous.

Such humility and grateful worship of God sets an inspiring example for all of us to follow.

But when God promises something, He just doesn't give the words. He also follows it up with action. Let's notice what happened the very next morning, verse 20-21.

And so they rose early in the morning, and went out into the wilderness of Tychoh. And as they went out, Jehazelphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. Believe his prophets, and you shall prosper. And when he, Jehazelphat, had consulted with the people, he appointed those who had sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army. And we're saying, praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever. Now, if you read this carefully, I think, yeah, you got the right idea.

As an act of devotion to God, Jehazelphat did not give the word. He did not march out with weapons drawn, and troops leading the way.

Instead, with a choir of Levites singing praises to God in the lead, he and his people went out to see God battle for them. That's dedication. That's commitment and belief in God's promise.

Verse 22, picking up there, Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. God kept his promise. He fought for Judah in a way none would have expected. He used these enemy nations' mutual distrust and hatred for one another to annihilate one another. And notice how absolutely thorough and complete God's victory for Judah was that day. Verse 24, So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and there, there were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. God had already fought and ended the battle by the time they got there. There were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away. And they were three days, three days, gathering the spoil because there was so much.

Obviously, and truly, this was a massive invasion force, enough to destroy a nation, to wipe it off the face of the earth, perhaps. But truly, this was a major victory God worked out for his people.

Can we visualize King Jehoshaphat marching out of Jerusalem and led by a choir of Levites singing praises to God? The song they were singing was really a victory song. They were singing as if God had already granted them victory. In fact, if God said, He's going to do it, the victory is done. And the song sings that way. It's as if they knew what they were going to find. They had that kind of commitment and faith. And the army falling along as they were marching out, acquiring the lead. As they march out, the army is falling along at the rear. It's not where you want your army in a normal battle. The army is falling along at the rear, and of course that made them all openly vulnerable. Totally vulnerable, and yet also solely dependent upon God's protection.

Then let's also imagine the wonder and the joy Jehoshaphat and his people as they surveyed this awe-inspiring proof of God's power. Proof of God's love for his people, and not one enemy soldier left alive. What an amazing example of God's total commitment to his people.

Jehoshaphat's example reminds us that God does fight for us. And perhaps in ways we do not understand. I suspect he's fighting for us all the time, and we don't know it. I believe that. And that's part of what we should pray and give prayer and thanks to God for. God wants us to stay committed to obeying him and trusting him to fight our battles in life.

And we face many enemies. We have many battles. When we were young, the bullies on the bus were taking my money.

Bullies just get bigger and more cunning as we get older. They're still there. God will help us fight the bullies.

There are also thieves. There are also natural disasters that plague us. Health problems, definitely that. And many other things. But God will also help us win the battles waged in our hearts. Those battles we wage in our minds against those life-killing attitudes. The life-killing attitudes we heard about in the sermonette like pride. The life-killing attitudes of bitterness and despair. Apathy. Apathy means we don't care anymore. We've got to care.

God will help us fight our enemies, all those ceaseless temptations. God is most willing to help us defeat all enemies that aim to destroy our relationship with Him.

Of course, we have our part to play. We're not just supposed to sit there and do nothing. Even Jehovah's fatness people prayed, and then they rejoiced when their prayers answered. Our part to play? We must trust God and obey Him. Now, I don't know if I'll ever face an advancing army as a member in a choir. It might be kind of fun, especially if God's involved and He's going to deliver us. That'll be fun. In a scary way. But what if fear shakes our resolve in our time of trial? What if doubt creeps in to undermine our trust in Him? What if guilt, what if guilt for something we've done, threatens to ruin all our hope?

Well, those are times when we most need to be close to God, and that's on us. We need to stay close to God for His help and strengthen our commitment to Him. God will answer our prayer in ways He knows us best, in ways that may be unexpected, as we've already seen through a number of examples today. Our part is to stay close to God. You can jot down James 4-8, a very familiar Scripture. James 4-8, our part is to draw near to God, and He will draw near to us. We've got to stay close to God. Prayer, Bible study, fasting, fellowshiping, encourage one another. We have to do our part.

Now, there will be times when we feel under most duress, and we feel like we can't take much more, whatever more is. At that time, when our own strength to believe, perhaps, when our own strength to obey God seems to be flagging, it's about gone. We have nothing left in us.

That's a time when we do well to remember two very encouraging Scriptures. We're going to look at those. We'd do well to remember two very encouraging Scriptures. Because these Scriptures are about God's unfailing commitment to us. Let's look at Deuteronomy 31-8. Deuteronomy 31-8.

If you're feeling kind of overwhelmed today, and you've had a rough week, or you have expectations of harder times ahead, that's a good time. It is a good time for us now, then, to look at this Scripture. Deuteronomy 31-8.

And the Lord, and the Lord, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear, or be afraid, or dismayed. Very encouraging. He's not going to give up on us. The other Scriptures in Romans 8.31.

A Scripture I think of a lot when life gets rough. Romans 8.31. And I'm sure this is a favorite of many of you. If you don't feel like you have a favorite Scripture yet, or favorite Scriptures, it's probably a better way of putting it. You might want to add this one to your list of favorites. Romans 8.31-32.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

I think we can all cling these two Scriptures. Those times are really rough. You see, God is committed to our victory. We must choose, then, to stay committed to Him.

What God requires of us is our continual commitment to Him and to His way of life by believing and doing what He says. That is the commitment we make at baptism. And the gift of God's Holy Spirit makes available to us all the strength we need, the strength of the universe, really, to overcome sin and all enemies of faith, and especially those enemies called fear and doubt.

So, rather, no matter what trials we face, we can always find the encouragement we need to remain committed to God.

That encouragement is found among the numerous examples in the Bible.

There are many others we could have looked at. But all these examples are there to encourage us, to remind us of those who remain committed to God.

Now, today we've only considered a few, very few of those examples. And many others remain for us to learn from. But the lessons about commitment to God, drawn from these examples and many others, frankly, the lesson is the same lesson. It's the same lesson. It always comes down to this, in case you didn't get it. Believe God and do what He says. Believe God and do what He says. That's what all these examples teach us. It's really what it comes down to.

And that is the essence of living faith.

God expects us to remain committed and faithful to Him. God committed Himself to loving us first. And He gave us His only Son so that all might have eternal life. And our Father and His Son love us so very much that they will never forswear their commitment to help us and to lead us into the Kingdom of God.

And so may we always and forever love and trust and follow God. May we never give up on God. He won't give up on us. May we never give up on God. And may we all remain forever committed to believing and obeying God.