“He is able to guard that which I have committed unto him” (2 timothy 1:12). The confident assertion of the apostle springs from a very definite, personal experience. If Paul was persuaded of the Lord’s ability to guard his deposit, it was because he knew whom he had believed.
As we read through the first chapter we are struck with the wealth of sanctified egoism that we find. Again and again we hear this recurring note of conscious, personal experience. Let us pause a moment that we may listen to these glad bells of certainty. “I was appointed a herald” “I suffer,” “I am not ashamed,” “I have committed.”
Throughout these statements we are conscious of fruitful dogmatism, springs forth, not from any personal sense of power, but from the greatness and glory of the Lord.
There is a dogmatism to be avoided; a graceless type; a kind of busting bigotry that ends in self- assertion and self praise; a kind of hustling aggression that lacks the touch of sympathy: such is a blemish to be shunned.
There is a dogmatism to be cultivated; a wise and fruitful certainty; a firm, bold stand, for square to every wind that blows; a spirit represented by the blind man cured by the Lord Jesus Christ, who cried with holy impatience to those who argued about the matter; “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” Paul was dogmatic in this sense,; with as much certainty as the blind man to whom sight was given he could say; “I know,” Faith to him was not only the vision of service, but the appropriation of power.
Faith is the “confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” faith is not only the eye that sees, but the hand that takes. Faith is the eye of the heart. It is therefore, because we have faith that we know.
“I know whom I have believeth” that is the initial thing. It implies a definite, personal experience with a living person. Paul does not tell us he knows what he has believed; he does not speak by stage of his religious experience’ neither does he make his confession so remote as to say he knows in whom he has believed. He goes very much further; “I know whom I have believed” Not only does he believe in Christ, but he knows the one in whom he has reposed his trust.
Now we should not think of the apostle’s experience as far beyond our privilege. Let us not think of Paul as an isolated example of Christian assurance seems to the man of the world a great presumption; to the disciple of Christ it is simply taking the word of Christ and the witness of the spirit as definite facts to be implicitly believed and obeyed.
Let us carefully notice what springs out of this definite experience. “I am persuaded that is able to guard,” Paul sees Christ that Christ is not is not only the saviour of the soul, but the garrison of the heart he sees in a flash the utter futility of trying to keep himself. “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain,” (Ps 127:1). He sees the tremendous and far-reaching possibility of the Christ enclosed man,” He has a vision of a heavenly circle with himself in the centre.
This personal knowledge of Christ by faith has inspired the full confidence of Paul. Let us not read this declaration as though Paul were being persuaded. The perfect tense used here indicates the state into which he has now come. He has been persuaded of Christ’s ability: he still persuaded and living in a state of full assurance. This term used seems to suggest the banking terms; Paul speaks of his deposit, and therefore the suggestion is that the bank is perfectly safe. “I am quite sure,” says Paul in effect, I know the bank personally, and I am quite convinced of its ability to guard my deposit.
Now, it will be seen that there is a problem here, nowadays, which we need to think carefully over. There is a very insidious danger of believer having absolute confidence in the ability of the Lord Jesus to guard, yet never committing the deposit into His keeping. Being fully persuaded of the Lord’s power to guard is of little use unless you test that power experimentally. Paul was not merely persuaded of the Lord’s power to guard; he committed everything into His hands as a definite act of faith.
Persuasion is of great value; it is a feeling that the bank is perfectly sound; but the battle is not won and victory of faith is not accomplished until I have acted on the assurance of conviction, and committed myself, spirit, soul and body into the keeping of Christ.
When I have committed all to the guarding power of Christ, I have demonstrated my faith in the reliability of his power. Being persuaded of his ability is like taking a chart of a long journey. We believe that God can take control of our home, business church and guide us in all our ways, but have we committed anything to His blessed care?
The very moment you commit everything unto Him you have translated a mental conclusion into a vital reality. You have passed from theory to experiment. You have moved from a discussion to deposit. Now to commit all to Him involves the following.
A definite act: Everything is handed over to the Lord. The body is presented to Him as a living sacrifice. Hence forth “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” All the keys of the life are handed over to Him; every room of the personality is at his disposal. A new sense of proprietorship is awakened. I am not my own, I was bought with a price; all my faculties, feelings passions, opportunities are not really mine; they are His, although entrusted to my care.
The burden of life is yielded to Him, I cannot manage my own affairs; hence forth, there is no need for secret care; no need of the “sackcloth within upon my flesh,” He is able to guard that which I have committed unto him.
Our blessed Lord left us an “example (literally, a copybook heading) that we should follow His steps.”
“Christ lie outwardly was one of the most troubled lives that was ever lived; tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, the waves braking over it all the time the worn body was laid in the grave.” But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there. At any moment you might have got to Him and found rest. The last legacy he left with the disciples is “my peace.” Nothing ever for a moment the serenity of Christ’s life on earth.
To commit all to Him requires more than a definite act: it involves a continuous confidence.
Having given the Lord the full control of our affairs, the management of the entire life, we shall abide in a state of perfect trust. Having committed all to His care, we must keep it there.
More often than not and because of the pressure of life you may be tempted to withdraw your deposit in His bank but remember that will be the most dangerous venture to embark upon; the mills of God grind slowly.
The believer is to be a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. He is not to be like some unprotected hamlet, ever fearing the fatality of invasion. He is also to be the mighty city in the midst of a garrison, with the Lord keeping the gates. It is only as we realize our utter inability to garrison ourselves that we shall rely continuously on the Lord’s power; he never sleeps nor slumbers; He will keep the city, even when I sleep. He will be my garrison through every moment of time.
