I want to begin reading here
in verse 1, Psalms 71. Before I comment on just this
one verse, I want us to read this psalm. In Thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in Thy righteousness
and calls me to escape. Incline thine ear unto me, and
save me. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me,
O God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the
unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord
God. Thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I been holding up
from the womb. Thou art he that took me out
of my mother's bowels, my mother's womb. My praise shall continually
be of thee. I am a wonder unto many, but
thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with thy honor all the day. Cast me not off in the
time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength
fails. For my enemies speak against
me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
saying, God hath forsaken him. Persecute and take him, for there
is none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me. O
my God, make haste for my help. Let them be confounded and consumed. that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach
and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will hope continually,
and I will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall show
forth your righteousness and your salvation all the day, for
I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of your righteousness,
even of yours only. O God, You have taught me from
my youth, and hitherto have I declared Your wondrous works. Now also,
when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until
I have showed Your strength to this generation, and Your power
to every one that is to come. Thy righteousness also, Lord,
is very high. Who has done great things, O
God, who is like unto Thee? Thou which hast shown me great
and sore troubles shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me
up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my
greatness, and comfort me on every side. I will also praise
Thee with a psaltery, even Thy truth, O my God, unto Thee will
I sing with the heart, O Thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall
greatly rejoice. when I sang unto thee, and my
soul which thou hast redeemed. My tongue shall talk of your
righteousness all the day long, for they are confounded, for
they are brought to shame that seek my hurt." Good Psalms. I just want to look at verse
1 with you just for a few minutes and think about this. In thee,
O Lord, do I put my trust. Oh Lord, do I put my trust. Deliberately, consciously, willingly,
gladly, I put my trust in Thee. Lord, my Lord, my Shepherd, my
Rock, my Fortress. Lord Jesus Christ, I put my trust
in You. The only Savior of poor sinners. The triune God. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in Thee do I put my trust. Jesus, my Savior, who finished
the work for poor sinners, brought in everlasting righteousness
and life eternal, in Thee, in Thee do I put my trust. This word means to confide in.
I confide in Him. It means to depend upon. I depend
upon Him. It means to flee to. I flee to
Him. It means to rest in. I rest in
Him. Lord, in Your Word do I hope. I trust Him. Lord, in Thee do
I put my trust. Don't trust yourself. Don't trust
your wisdom. Don't trust your experiences.
Don't trust your abilities. Don't trust your heart. In Thee,
Lord, do I put my trust. I put it there. I put it there. In Thee do I put my trust. It's not only that I did. I am.
I am. I do put my trust. I did and I'm still doing it,
David said. In thee still I put my trust. Boy, here's a work of grace.
Do you know what? This is a work of grace. Nature don't do this. Nature cannot do this. This is
grace in the heart. Here is a work of grace that
has begun And it's a work of grace that's not ceased. A work
of grace that began when he was just a boy, he told us in this
chapter. But a work of grace that has
continued. Because in thee do I put my trust. Who do we put our trust in? The
Lord. I want to show you a couple of
Scriptures. Look over with me in a couple
of places in Matthew Chapter 12. Look here, Matthew Chapter 12.
Who do we trust? Well, we trust the Lord. That
we've heard of. We can't trust the Lord that
we've never heard of. We can't trust the Lord that's
not revealed. We've got to know who we trust. You've seen a little child, and
he's sitting up on a ladder up on the corner of the house, and
his daddy's there, and he says, son, jump. And he looks down
at his daddy's arms, and what does he do? He jumps. Why does
he do that? That's his daddy. That's his
daddy. You let a neighbor or stranger
come by and say, man, jump, jump, son. And what will he do? Oh,
he'll pucker up. I ain't trusting you. I don't
know you. We cannot trust somebody we do
not know. What kind of a Lord do we trust?
Look what he says in Matthew chapter 12. And look what he
says here in verse 18. This is what Isaiah said concerning
the father to the son. Behold my servant, my son, in
whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles." That word means,
show, means to bring forth. This word judgment means divine
law or doctrine or teaching. It's the gospel. He will show
the gospel to the Gentiles. Verse 19, He shall not strive,
nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he hath sent forth judgment unto victory. This word judgment is associated
here with victory. Somebody has gotten the victory.
And now he's showing that to the Gentiles. He's preaching
it to the Gentiles. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God that gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. What's he done? He's come and he's preached to
us, I've won the victory. I've got the victory. I've got
the victory over life. I've got the victory over death.
I've got the victory over sin. I've got the victory over death.
Death is no more. Sin is no more. I am He that
was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Thanks be unto God,
somebody has gotten the victory. Who is that? That's Christ. That's Christ. Look at verse
21. And in His name, shall the Gentiles
trust." Who do you trust? Do you trust the Lord who has
gotten the victory? Has He come and showed you His
gospel? Has He taught it to you? Has
God been your teacher and you fled to Christ to trust Him? Who do we trust? We trust the
Lord that's got the victory. Christ the Son of God in whom
the Father is well pleased. Look in another place. Look over
in Romans chapter 15. Romans 15 and look in verse 7. Who do we trust? The Lord and
Thee. Do I put my trust? I deliberately
put my trust. I know who you are. I know what
you've done. I know where you are now. I know what you're doing. I know
what you promised to do. I know in whom I trust. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded He's able to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that day. Who do you trust? The Lord. Look
what he says in Romans 15, and look here in verse 7. Wherefore,
receive you one another. You may be a weak saint. You
may be a strong saint. You may be a smart saint. You may be an ignorant saint.
You may have some deep convictions, and you may have very few. But
receive you one another. If you are a child of God, receive
one another. Love one another. as Christ also
received us to the glory of God." Now, boy, we hear a lot about
us receiving Christ, don't we? And we do. But what about Him
receiving us? That's pretty important there.
I've received Christ as He received you. He's received us to the
glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm
the promise made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for His mercy as it is written, For this cause will I confess
to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto your name. And again
He said, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people, and again praise
the Lord, O ye Gentiles, and love him, all ye people." And
again, Isaiah said, there shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall
rise to reign over the Gentiles. This word reign, it means to
get the victory, to rule, to be sovereign, to control, to
bring to pass. Who is reigning? Jesus Christ
is in heaven and He is reigning. And He must reign until He has
put all His enemies under His feet. Who are you trusting? Are you trusting King Jesus?
Are you trusting the Sovereign Lord who is Lord over all? Look
what He continues here to say. He shall reign over the Gentiles,
and in Him shall the Gentiles trust. Jesus Christ is not going
to be King. He is King now. He is not going to reign some
day. He is reigning now. Isn't He your King? I mean, don't
you deliberately trust Him as your Lord and your Master and
your King? Who do we trust? Who do we trust? When do we trust Him? When do
we trust Him? Listen to Ephesians chapter 1
and verse 13. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation.
After you heard the Word of Truth, you trusted Him. This is why we just don't believe
that people stumble on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no sense
in me trying to get you up front to get you to trust Christ. When
you hear of Him, Then you'll trust Him. But until you hear
of Him, until God teaches you of Him, and teaches you of His
trustworthiness, you will not trust Him, and you can't trust
Him. Preachers used to tell me, Bruce, just trust the Lord. I
didn't know Him. I had no idea who He was. And you can't trust Him if you've
never heard of Him. After you heard, you trust Him. Now, you may go back to the time
when you first trusted Him. You may be able to do that. Some
can and some can't put a finger on the time. But there's one
thing for sure. Now, the more you hear of Him,
the more you learn of Him, the more you trust Him. And your
confidence in Him now is more than when you first believed.
Is it not? And why is that? The Spirit has
taught you about Him. And as He teaches you about Himself,
you are just like David. Lord in thee, do I put my trust. Who do we trust? We trust the
Lord. When do we trust Him? When He teaches us of Himself.
And as He teaches us of Himself. How often do you trust Him? Look in Psalms chapter 62. Look in Psalms chapter 62 and
look in verse 5. Psalm chapter 62 and verse 5. I tell you how often we'll trust
the Lord. as often as we need Him. That's
how often we'll trust Him. When we learn more about what
a victory He's obtained, when we learn more about His reigning
as King and Lord, Sovereign Lord over all, that's the more we'll
trust Him. How often do we trust Him? Look
what He says here in chapter 62. Look in verse 5. My soul,
wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation and my
glory. He is the rock of my strength,
and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times. Boy, that's a work of grace,
ain't it? When do we get in trouble when we don't trust Him? Trust
in Him when? At all times. What about when your circumstances
are bad? Trust Him. What about when they're
good? Trust Him. When you don't feel
anything, when you're hard-hearted and you're cold, trust Him. When
you're lively in your soul and strong in your soul, trust Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean into your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy steps." Be not wise in your own
heart. Fear the Lord and depart from
evil. He will be a help and a health to your bones. Trust in the Lord. Well, what else did David say
in our text? In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. And look here what he says. Let
me never be put to confusion. Let me never be put to confusion. This word means four things in
the Scriptures. It means ashamed. It means embarrassed. It means to be red-faced. Lord,
in you do I put my trust. Don't let me be ashamed. Ashamed of what? Ashamed of you.
Ashamed of your grace. Ashamed of your word. Ashamed of your gospel. Ashamed
of your people. Don't let me be ashamed. Brother
Larry and I was talking about a man we saw the other night
on one of the talk shows. And he was one of the big shop
pastors out in the Southwest. And the man that was interviewing
him was telling him that he couldn't take the Bible literally, the
Old Testament literally. It was all just metaphors. Abraham
wasn't real. The flood wasn't real. They were
just stories to teach us. And this man knew better. Me and Larry both was talking
about it. We said, that man knew better than this. And he was
trying to answer the interview. interviewer. But you know something?
He was so embarrassed. He was so ashamed. He couldn't. A baby in Christ could have answered
that. But he couldn't. Because he was embarrassed. He
had to defend the Word of God. And he was ashamed. Am I telling
the truth, Larry? I told Larry, Larry said, I saw
the same thing that you saw. The Lord said, if you're ashamed
of Me, If you're embarrassed, if you get red-faced and confounded,
if you're ashamed of me and of my words and this wicked and
adulterous generation, of you will I be ashamed when I come
in my glory and the glory of my Father. Lord, I trust you.
Don't let me be ashamed of you. Don't let me be ashamed of my
hope in you. Don't let me be ashamed of the
Gospel. Don't let me be ashamed of substitution, election, repentance,
faith. Lord, don't let me be embarrassed in you. I'll put my trust." Paul said, Timothy, don't you
be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of me, and don't
you be ashamed of the Lord. Be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel. But when you face this world,
do you ever face the world and feel this shame coming up in
you? Do you ever feel that you're ashamed? Oh, I've been there,
and I bet you have too. And don't it just make you angry
with yourself? It's an affliction. Be thou partakers of the affliction
of the gospel. And one of the afflictions is
this. The world is going to reproach you. The world is going to say,
Christ, His Word is not true. That's a shameful gospel. You
ought to know better than to believe something like that.
We know better than that now. We know those stories aren't
true. Oh, yes, they are. There wasn't an Abraham. And
there was an Isaac. And there was a Jacob. And there
was a Judah. And out of him came the Christ.
And if there is no Abraham, there is no Christ. We are not ashamed, are we? This is the amazing thing. He
is not ashamed of us. Hebrews chapter 2 says, He that
sanctifies, and that is Christ, And they whom he sanctifies are
one. For which cause he is not ashamed
to be called their brethren." Ain't that amazing? He looks
upon you and he says, that's my brother. He was preaching
one day. And they came to him and said,
your mother and your brother is outside warning you. And he
said, who is my mother? And he pointed down and there
sat Mary Magdalene. that had seven devils that he
had cast out, and he said, there's my mother. Who's my sister? There's that woman taken in adultery
in the Burry Act that he forgave her and cleansed her. And he
said, there's my sister. Here's that Gadarene maniac that
had a legion of devils. And he said, there's my brother.
Lord, you're not ashamed of them. Oh, I ain't ashamed of them.
I own them as mine. Charles Ferguson said, Can you
imagine when the Lord saved the thief and took him back to heaven
and introduced him there? Can you imagine that? He said
this day, you'll be with me in paradise. Paradise is heaven. The Lord took him back to heaven
that day with Him. Can you imagine that? I want
you to meet my brother. Lord, was he a thief? Yes, he
was. He's my brother, and I'm not ashamed of it. The Bible
says God's not ashamed to be called our God. And He has prepared
for us a city. How awful it is, brothers and
sisters, when this shame rises up in us. We're ashamed of Him?
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. If He's not ashamed of us, how
could we possibly be ashamed of Him? Oh Lord, in You do I
trust. Don't let me be ashamed. This word means something else.
It means confounded or confused. Not knowing what to think or
do, which way to turn, dashed about in our minds. Lord, don't let me be confounded.
Don't let me be confused. Boy, I tell you, you and I are
in the dark so often, aren't we? We don't know what today
may bring upon us when we leave this building. One step, one
step. Where will one step wind us up
at? By the time this day is over,
our world may be literally turned upside down. We don't know what's
going to happen. But here's what keeps us from
being confounded and dashed about. We know who holds the day. We know who rules in our lives
and in this world. And no matter how bad our circumstances
may be, we're not going to be dashed
about and live in confusion of thought because we know Him in
whom we believe. And we know that whatever may
come or go, He's able to keep that. which we've committed to
Him against that day. Lord, I trust you. Don't let
me be confounded. Be not afraid of sudden fear
when it comes. Put your trust in the Lord. He'll
keep you. He'll keep you. I'll tell you what, there ain't
but one way to get along in this world, and that's to keep your
trust in the Lord all the time. When the Lord spoke to Abraham
and said, Abraham, get out from your family and come into a land
that I'll show you. I mean, he put one step in front
of another. And every step he trusted God
for. He went out not knowing where
he went. Some of you tonight may be flat
on your backs, hooked up to machines before the morning is over. Some
of you may lose your spouses, your children, your parents before
this day is over. I tell you, the providence of
God has a way of turning our world upside down, doesn't it? And the only way we're going
to get by without being so confounded and having a nervous breakdown
is put our trust in the Lord. All of our trust. Thirdly, it means this. Lord,
let me never be moved. Let me never be dislocated. In
the Lord do I put my trust. Lord, don't let me be dislocated."
Man, I don't want to be moved, do you? Paul said, in the last
days, the earliest time shall come, and the Spirit speaks expressly
that some would depart from the faith. They are going to be moved
from the truth. The truth that they professed
The truth that they thought they loved and we thought they loved,
but they departed from it. They were moved. Lord, don't
let me be moved. Hold in faith and a pure conscience,
the apostle said, which some, having put away concerning faith,
have made shipwreck. The waves have torn their anchors
loose. and carried them out to sea,
and their ship has wrecked, and they have sunk and gone down
to the bottom and perished forever. Lord, don't let me be moved. Don't let the waves of trials
and afflictions and doubts and fears move me from You. Hold me fast. Keep me coming. Keep me believing. Keep me hoping,
Lord. Be my anchor. What hope do we have He'll do
that? He's faithful to those who trust Him. You can put your
trust in Him. The cause of iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. Oh Lord, keep me. Don't let me
be moved from the love of Christ. To men by the name of Hymenaeus
and Paulides, Went to the church preaching that the resurrection
had passed already. And the Bible says they overthrew
the faith of Psalm. Oh Lord, keep me. Don't let me
be moved. Don't let me be moved. Listen to Psalms chapter 16 verse
8. Boy, this is encouraging in light
of this. I have set the Lord always before me, because he
is on my right hand, I shall not be moved. We used to sing that old song,
some of you I bet know it. I shall not be, I shall not be
moved. As long as he's on our right
hand, we won't be. Listen to Psalms 21.7, The King trusteth
in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High, he shall
not be moved. Those who trust in the Lord shall
be like Mount Zion. What is it about Mount Zion that
is so wonderful? They will never be moved. Never be moved. The foundation of God stands
sure, it stands sure. You will never lose that foundation.
The Lord knows them that are His. And lastly, this word, confusion,
it means put to shame. Let me never be put to shame. Now, you and I shouldn't be bothered. I know it bothers us. But we
shouldn't be bothered if we suffer shame for Christ's sake. If any
man suffers as a Christian, don't let him be ashamed. But when
we talk about being put to shame, I tell you what bothers me. I never want God to put me to
shame. I tell you, I want to stand before
Him now accepted, and I don't want to be put to shame when
I stand there before Him at the judgment. Wouldn't it be an awful
thing for the Lord to look down upon you and He said, you've
got a false hope. You trusted in yourself. All along He was bringing your
works and your obedience and your righteousness to me. You're
a worker of iniquity. Oh, can't you imagine the shame
that will cover the lost and that they'll go away with shame
and everlasting contempt? Daniel said. Oh, don't let me
be put to shame. Dear old William Kalper, bless
his heart, he's one of the finest songwriters I guess England ever
produced. Dear friend of John Newton's,
wrote some wonderful songs. The dearest idol that I have
known, tear it from my heart and give me grace to worship
thee and be alone. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
blood lose all their guilt and disdain. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away." William Calper wrote this over.
But you know William Calper lived all of his Christian life with
a doubt and a fear. that he would be accepted at
last. He thought when he died that the Lord himself would put
him to shame. He felt himself to be so miserable
and wretched, and he just could not in his soul bring himself
to know that the Lord had nothing against him. He said, I just
know that I'm not going to be accepted when I come down to
die. On his deathbed, in his last
breaths, Newton said he lifted his hands and said, Oh, praise
the Lord. I'm accepted. I'm accepted. Wouldn't it have been wonderful
if he could have lived his life in that assurance? Let me not be put to shame. And I tell you, if you're here
tonight, And God's given you grace to put all your trust,
I mean all your confidence. You know it. You know it. I'm talking about who you are,
your heart of hearts. You've put all your confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have no confidence in the
flesh. You don't brag on yourself anymore,
what you are and who you are and what you've done. You've
counted all that but done. And you found yourself accepted
and righteous and complete in the Son of God. You put all your
trust in Him. You can know this. You will never
be put to shame by God. I want to read one passage of
Scripture, and we'll close with this. Look at Isaiah 54. Isaiah
54. I don't know of a happier man
or a happier woman or a boy or girl that can live their life
and go to school, work at a shop, grow up in a
family, get married and have children, raise a family. Whatever
situation you find yourself in, I don't know of anybody that
can be more happy than those who live their lives.
Always trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a happy man. Because your destiny is fixed.
It's sealed. And you'll never be put to shame.
When this life is over, whatever it may bring, how hard it may
be, when this life is over, you'll go up to heaven and stand there
and you won't be embarrassed, you won't be confused, and you
will not be confounded And you won't be put to shame. If God
doesn't put you to shame, nobody will. And when your enemies rise
up and start accusing you, the Lord Himself will put them down.
Look what He says here in Isaiah 54. Verse 4. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed. That's what we studied on, isn't
it? Neither shall thou be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to
shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of your youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of your
widowhood any more. Why? For your Maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. And your Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called you as a woman forsaken, and grieved in your
spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, saith
thy God. For a small moment even I have
forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee, and
the little wrath I hid my face from you, just for a But with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, saith the Lord
your Redeemer." And read on, "'For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.'"
Are you afraid someday you're going to stand before the Lord
in judgment and He's going to start rebuking you and putting
you to shame? He won't do it, brothers and
sisters. I know we have a tendency because of the weakness of our
faith, because of the shallowness of our understanding to think
this, but are we going to trust in our hearts or are we going
to trust in His Word? I'll never be wrong with you.
I'll never be wrong with you. For the mountains shall depart,
the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from
you. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee,
O thou afflicted, tossed with the tempest, and not comforted. Behold, I will lay thy stone
with fair colors, and lay thy foundation with sapphires, And
I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncle, and
all the borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shall thou be
established, for thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou
shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not come. Lord, in Thee do I put my trust. God bless His Word. Let's pray.