I've entitled the message for
this evening, What Does It Mean to Trust? What does it mean to trust? Let me say two things by way
of introduction. You and I will not be saved if
we do not personally trust the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's just the fact. If I don't,
whatever it is to trust Christ, if I don't trust Christ, I will
not be saved. And you can leave here tonight
knowing whether or not you trust him. And it's my prayer that
everybody in this room is going to leave this place tonight trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't that be a blessing of
grace? What does it mean to trust? Paul said in 1 Timothy 3, 16,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, and received up into glory. That
is the great mystery of godliness. And a part of the great mystery
of godliness is that the gospel would be preached to me and you,
Gentiles. I'm afraid that we find that
far too less mysterious. That the gospel would be preached
to us Gentiles. Now the Jews were God's chosen
people. You can't read the Old Testament
and not see how that God put a difference between the Jews
and everybody else. You can remember on the day of
Passover, right before it took place, he said, "...against any
of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against
man or beast, so that you may know how that the Lord doth put
a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." When he brought
Israel into the Promised Land, the Hittites, the Jebusites,
the Gergesites, and all the other Hittites, and whatever their
names were, all the different lands of Canaan, were driven
out. Now, was it because God had something against them that
He didn't have against the Jews? Well, I guess the only way to
answer that is yes. He had the Jews had His favor. They had His mercy. They had
His grace. And these other nations were
enemies of the Lord. They hated the Lord. They hated
His holiness. They hated All of his attributes. They hated him. And the Israelites
were forbidden to mix with these other nations because God knew
that if they did mix, they would participate in their idolatry
every time. And that's why he forbid them
to mix with these other nations. He knew what would happen. And
you get around something contrary to the gospel, You'll always
go down with it. You just will. You mix, you'll
go into idolatry as well. Now what a great mystery that
me and you, Gentiles, are privileged right now to hear the gospel
of God. What a glorious thing. It's a
part of the great mystery of godliness. Now, Paul, the apostle
to the Gentiles, is picking up on this theme in verse 8 of Romans
chapter 15. Now, I say that Jesus Christ
was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm,
to make solid the promises made unto the fathers. And what were
those promises? Well, right after the fall. The
seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head. All of the promises
of the scripture, Christ came to confirm them. Turn with me
for a moment to Isaiah chapter 9. While you're turning there,
think of this promise made to Abraham. shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. And in Abraham, in Abraham's
seed, all the nations of the earth are blessed. Now, let's
look at some of these promises Christ came to confirm. Isaiah
chapter 9. For unto us, verse 6, for unto
us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. Now that son
wasn't born. That is the eternal son of God,
who was never born. Now the child was born, but the
eternal son was given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders, his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace, of the increase of His government and peace, there
shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. And Christ came to confirm that,
to make it real, to make it sure. Look at Isaiah chapter 42. God is speaking of his servant,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I love
the way the Father calls Christ his elect, don't you? My chosen. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then chose us in him our living head. Behold mine elect,
in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him, and he
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Me and you. He
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the streets. Look at this promise. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench. What is weaker than a bruised
reed? Nothing. Can't hold up anything.
What about a candle that's just about to go out? The smoking
flax, just so weak, it's flickering. Lord says, I won't put it out. What a glorious Savior He is. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he has set judgment in the earth and the isles, the faraway
places, shall wait for his law. Look at Isaiah 43. But now doth sayeth the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I'll be with thee. And through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thee, Ethiopia,
and Sheba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable That's speaking of every believer.
Thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I'll bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north,
give up, and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even every
one that is called by my name. For I have created him for my
glory. I have formed it, yea, I have made him. Now these are
just some samplings of the promises, the promises God has made. And Christ has come to be a minister
of the circumcision for the promises God made to Israel. You know the promise is still,
listen to this, the promise is still, when I see the blood I
will pass over you. Isn't that precious? God says
when I see the blood I will pass over you. Now Christ is the ministry of
the circumcision that confirms and makes sure the promises made
to the fathers like we saw on Sunday School this morning, all
the promises of God in him are yea and amen to the glory of
God. Now back to our text, verse 9. Now he talked about Christ confirming
all the promises made to the Jews, verse 9, and here's part
of this great mystery of godliness, and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for His mercy. What a glorious attribute of
God, His mercy. Do you know that he delights
in mercy? Now, mercy has something to do
with him being moved by compassion to the misery of the miserable. Mercy always has to do with misery. And he delights in mercy. He delights in having mercy on
Gentiles. Now, if you want mercy, I'd come
to God saying, I'm miserable, I need your mercy. That's what
I need, I need mercy. He delights in mercy that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it's written, for
this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles and sing
unto thy name. That's going on right now in
the preaching of the gospel. Verse 10. And again he saith,
Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. We're called upon to
rejoice with his people. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his
people. Verse 11. And again, Praise the
Lord, all ye Gentiles. And laud him, all ye people.
And that's, oh may God give us the grace to do that right now.
To praise him for his mercy. To praise him for his grace that
he has made his gospel known to people like me and you, Gentiles. Isn't that amazing? The amazingness
of the gospel. Verse 12, and again, Isaiah saith,
there shall be a root of Jesse. Now what this is talking about,
if you go and read it in Isaiah chapter 11, is a stump cut down. The stump of David, the house
of David has fallen, but a root is going to rise out of it. And
I like the word rise. It's going to rise. Christ rising
from the dead. This is what this is a reference
to. Him rising from the dead. And again, Isaiah said, there
shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall rise to reign over the
Gentiles. Don't you want the Lord to reign
over you? You're right. Well, I want him to completely
reign over me. I don't want to be left to my
own thoughts, my own will, my own desires. I want him to wipe
those out. I need his kingship to reign
over me. I need him to cause me to do
his will. I need him to reign over me.
Now, here's the promise. He shall rise to reign over the
Gentiles, and in him shall the Gentiles trust. And that word trust, remember
we're asking what does it mean to trust? The word trust here
is the same word that's translated in Romans chapter 15 verse 13,
hope. Now verse 13, now the God of
hope, same word. In him shall the Gentiles trust,
in him shall the Gentiles Now, we looked at this earlier, but
turn back to Romans chapter 8, verse 24. For we are saved by
hope. That's a strong statement. We're
saved by hope. Now a lot of times we say we're
saved by grace or we're saved through faith, but here it says
we're saved by hope. Hope. And this is not a reference
to the feeling of hope. Now, hope's a great feeling.
I wish I could keep it bottled and have it all the time and
always have a bright, flowery outlook on everything, knowing
that God's on the throne and never being upset about anything.
Hope's a great feeling. To have a hopeful feeling as
opposed to a feeling of despair or unbelief. Hope is a great
feeling. But it doesn't say we're saved
by hoping. It says we're saved by hope. My hope is Christ himself. He is the one who saves me. We're saved by hope. Now look what he says. But hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Now my hope, I hope
I say this every time I preach. And if I don't say this every
time I preach, I've not preached as I ought to. I'm not talking
about just the repetition of some kind of phrase that's key
or I don't want. I'm talking about this. I have
a hope that I'm justified before God. Now I'm aware painfully aware
of my sinfulness. When Brian, in his prayer, said
we can't stop sinning to our grief, I thought, oh, what a
grief sin is. I have it surrounding me all
the time. My sin is ever before me. And I have a hope that I stand
before God justified, not guilty. I've never sinned. When God looks
at me, this is what justification is. When God looks at me, he
looks at someone who has never sinned, who has always done that
which is right, and has never done that which is wrong. That's
what justification means. Being just before God, being
without guilt before God, being sinless before God. Now, I have
a hope that I am right now. What I see is my sin. What I
hope for is my justification. Now, I can't see my justification. I can't look into my heart and
say, yep, you're justified. I mean, look how good you are,
look how righteous you are. I can't say anything like that.
All I see in myself is my sin. But if I could see my justification,
wouldn't be hope anymore, would it? It'd be experience. It's what every believer will
experience in heaven. Complete sinlessness. Now, if you can see your hope,
it's not hope. We're saved by hope. And this
scripture says, in him shall the Gentiles hope. That's something I can see. Can't
see him. But all my hope is in him. Now, this hope sounds something
like this. If God before us Who can be against
us? Is God before you? Well, whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Now what shall we say to these
things, that God be before us? Who can be against us? You know, I can look at my enemies,
my sins, and say, they have nothing to say to me. You see, He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified
them. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ that died. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Now that is our hope. Christ Himself is our hope. And we're called upon in Hebrews
chapter 10 to hold fast the confession of our hope. Now I'm confessing right now.
I'm confessing right now. This is public. I'm confessing
that Christ is my hope. That's it. I don't have anything
else to confess. My hope is not that I'm a preacher
or that I understand the gospel and that I can preach the gospel.
My hope is not that I am a believer. My hope is Christ. Nothing else. Nothing else. In Him shall the
Gentiles hope. I'm one of those Gentiles hoping
in Him right now. I'm hoping that everything that
God requires of me I have in His Son. I'm looking to Christ
alone. And you know what it does to
me when the Lord enables me to look to Christ alone? It moves
me. It moves me. It moves me to, I don't know,
it moves me. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take him at his word. It moves me to know that he is
all I have and I don't want anything else. I don't want anything else. I simply want my hope. Don't
confuse this thing. Don't confound it. Don't add
anything to it. Christ is my hope. Now to trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ is to hope in Christ. In his name shall the Gentiles
hope. All my hope is right here. Christ
only. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 11. This is the passage that Paul
quotes from. And he says something a little
bit different, and I think it gives us a little bit more light
as to what it means to hope in Christ. What it means to trust
Christ, what it means to hope in Christ. Isaiah chapter 11.
Verse 10, In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an end sign of the people, a flag, a banner. What is our message? Well, a
better way to say it is who is our message? Christ himself,
our hope. This is the end sign that we
raise up. We preach Christ crucified. He
is our hope. I love the hope of when he said
it is finished, all my sin was put away. I love that. I love
the hope that His righteousness is my personal righteousness
before God. This is the fine linen, clean
and white. I have a hope that even right
now as I speak, He represents me before the Father. And all
the Father does is look at Him and I am accepted. That's all
it takes. That's my hope. In Him shall
the Gentiles hope and trust. Now let's go on reading. In that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people. To it, this ensign, shall the
Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. Now we're seeking Christ right
now. Don't you want to hear his voice?
Don't you want to know you're hearing from him? You're seeking
him. Oh, you don't want to hear from
a man. You want to hear from the living God. You want to hear
him speak to your soul. That's what you want. That's
what you seek. Now look what he says regarding
this one we seek, who is our ensign, this root out of Jesse. It says, his rest shall be glorious. His rest. Now, the first question
that enters my mind is, whose rest? Is this talking about the
rest of Christ? Or is it talking about our rest
in Him? Well, without question, it's
talking about both. Both rests are glorious. Now, this concept
of rest first took place in creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. Now, did he do it in six literal
days? Maybe. Is this speaking in metaphor? Maybe. I don't know. You know,
it really doesn't matter to me how it was, if it was six days
or if this is some kind of metaphor for something else, because the
Bible does speak a lot of metaphor, doesn't it? I mean, he speaks
a lot in metaphors. So I don't know whether that's
talking about six literal days or something else. Somebody from the Creation Museum
came to talk to me and I told him that. And he said, well,
you're cheapening the truth. You're waking him up on the truth.
I said, do you preach election? He said, well, I said, who's
doing this? You tell me. But at any rate, his rest after he created the
universe. As a matter of fact, turn to
Genesis chapter 1. You know, I actually want to
go see that ark. in northern Kentucky, not for any religious
purposes. I just want to see a 500-foot ark made out of wood.
And it's not going to confirm my faith in any way. I don't
need stuff like that. I mean, I believe the Bible's
the word of God. I don't need a bunch of stuff like that to
confirm anything to me. But I still want to see the ark.
So nobody judge me if I do it. Verse 31 of Genesis chapter 1. And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and
the morning of the sixth day, thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day
God ended His work. You know, I think of it is finished.
I think of Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. He ended his work which he had
made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he
had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it
because in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made. Now this thing of rest, this
thing of rest. God wasn't tired. He's omnipotent. He wasn't worn out after this
creation work. His rest was in response to there
was nothing left to do. He finished creation. There was nothing left at all
for Him to do. So He rested. And what a glorious
rest this is. He looked at everything He made
and behold, it was very good. Very good. And He rested. Now, when our Lord Jesus Christ,
I think of His glorious rest, it's because of His finished
work. Hebrews 1, 3 says, when He by
Himself, and it means me and you didn't have anything to do
with this, except for our sins. One fellow said, I did the sin
and He did the saving. I like that, don't you? This
glorious rest. when our Lord Jesus finished
the work of redemption. He said it is finished and he
entered into heaven and his rest is glorious. Oh, I think of the
Lord Jesus right now, seated at the right hand of the Father.
And His rest is glorious. There's nothing left for Him
to do. He finished the work. He said
in John chapter 17 verse 4, I've glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. Oh, what a glorious
rest. Now His rest is glorious. Amen? Glorious. Now turn to Hebrews
chapter 4. This speaks of our rest as well.
You trust when you rest. Now let me repeat that. You trust
when you rest. You rest when you really see
there's nothing for you to do. He did it all. And you rest. Now I would, before I get into
Hebrews chapter 4, I want to give Webster's definition of
rest. I copied this down right out
of Daniel Webster's dictionary. Listen to what Webster said.
Rest is cessation from motion or disturbance. Quiet. Peace. Repose. Sleep. Death. Trust. An interval of silence
in music. Cease from action. Stand. Be satisfied. Lean. Lay to rest. Cause to decease
from labor. desist from presenting evidence
in a law case. It's all in. Now Hebrews chapter
4, this great statement on rest. Verse 1, he says, let us therefore fear, fear, not a cocksure arrogance,
I'm in good shape. I got nothing. I know I'm saved.
Nobody can tell me any different. You know, anytime somebody says
something like that, I'm thinking, I know you. I know what this
is about. He says, let us therefore fear,
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any
of you should seem to come short of it. Now, there's no room for
presumption. Paul spoke of the fear of less
preaching to others. I myself should be a castaway.
I hope that doesn't happen. I hope that doesn't happen. I
don't know what else to say about it, but I understand what he
means when he says, let us fear. Let us fear. There isn't a day
that goes by where at some point I fear not being saved. If you were saved, could you
think that? Could you do that? If you really were saved, could
you? Could you? And that's not good. I'm not
commending myself for that. We ought to have complete, full
assurance because what Christ did is enough. And if I start
thinking, well, I must not be saved because of the way I'm
conducting myself or the way I'm thinking, then all of a sudden
I've gone back to works, really. Every time you think that way,
you're going back to works. But still, he does say, don't be
presumptuous about this. Let us fear. Lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. For unto us was the gospel preached,
as was unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Now this is a very sobering thought. Of all the children
of Israel that came out of the promised land, There were over
20 years of age when it took place. Do you know how many of
them made it in? Two. Joshua, the Savior, and
Caleb, the faithful dog. That's what his name means. Only
two people made it in. Now I don't want to presume on
this. May the Lord deliver me. I want to have full confidence
in Him. I want to have full assurance. I also don't want to presume.
Let us fear. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest. Now understand this. If you believe, you rest. You really believe that there's
nothing for you to do. He did it all. And you rest. Everybody who believes, this
is what they do. Everybody who trusts, this is
what they do. They rest. What are we resting
in? Let's go on reading verse 3. As I sworn in my wrath, they
shall, if they, or they shall not enter into my rest. He's
talking about the people who didn't enter in. But look at
this next statement. Although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. Now I'm resting in a work that
was finished and completed before time ever began. That's how complete
this work is. All the works, everything Christ
did was finished, was accomplished before the foundation of the
world. I mean, my rest is so secure
that it was finished before creation. That's good stuff. I love that. My works can't possibly enter
in to mess it up. If it was all finished before
I was ever born, there's nothing I can do to mess it up. It's
complete. The Lord knew everything about
me beforehand anyway. He knows the sins I haven't even
committed yet. And there's nothing I can do to mess it up because
it was all finished before the foundation of the world. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, but the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise, we've already read it, and God
did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place
again, if they, or they shall not enter into my rest, seeing
therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, because God
decreed it before the foundation of the world, He's decreed that
some must enter in to this rest. Now, you can be sure somebody's
going to rest in Christ. Somebody is going to actually
rest in Christ. They're going to cease from their
own works and they're going to trust His. They're going to look
to Him only. They're not going to look within.
They're not going to look at themselves. They're going to
look to Him. You see, he's decreed that this is going to take place
before the foundation of the world, and it's sure enough going
to take place. Soon therefore remaineth that
some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limits a certain day
in David, saying, Today, after so long a time as it is written,
Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Now listen
to me, all you've got's right now. That's it. Don't hide in some kind of past
experience. Don't do that. Don't hide in the future with
your good intentions. Rest right now. Looking to the past is works.
Looking to the future is works. All you've got is right now. Verse 8, For if Joshua had given
them rest, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another
day. There remaineth therefore a rest, a keeping of the Sabbath,
a rest to the people of God. For he that's entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works. as God did for me. Now why did
God cease from his own works? Because they were finished. They
were ended. They were perfect. Now here's
what it is to trust. You know what it is to trust?
It's to cease from your own works all together. and to rest in His finished glorious
work. Now, if you cease from your works and trust Him who finished the
work, there really is nothing for me to do. He did it all. If you rest in Christ, You are
trusting Him. Now, like I said, I don't know
about yesterday. I don't know about tomorrow. But right now, now's all I've
got. I'm ceasing from my own works
for this one reason. I know they're no good. And I'm trusting Him who finished
the work. In His name shall the Gentiles
trust. What's it mean to trust? It means
to hope. What's it mean to hope? It means to rest. Rest. I always would like to put a
sign in front of my mind all the time. Resting. Do not disturb. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would give everybody in this room, by your grace,
the grace to cease from their own works and have hope in Christ only. Lord, that's above the strength
and energy of the flesh. It won't happen unless you cause
it to happen. But Lord, enable us to enter
in to his rest, the rest of knowing that we're complete in thy Son. And we need nothing else, nor
do we want anything else, but to simply be found in him. Now
bless this message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.