From Isaiah chapter 36 verse
5. And I say, saithst thou, that
they are but vain words. I have counsel and strength for
war. Now on whom dost thou trust,
that thou rebellest against me? I want to use that portion of
scripture there where it says, whom do you trust? What is it
to trust? What does that mean? It means
to have confidence. It's a resting of the mind on
the integrity, the justice, and the sound principles of another
person, to trust. I'll give you a few scriptures.
In Psalms 118 verse eight, it is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in men. And it's either you're putting
your trust in the Lord and resting in him, or you're putting your
confidence and your trust in man. Proverbs 3.6, trust in the
Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding.
We better not trust our own understanding or put confidence in our understanding
of what we think the scriptures say. Then Philippians 3.3, for
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Put no trust in our flesh Yours
or nobody else's? Whom? Whom do you trust? We're
gonna rest and we're gonna put our trust and confidence in someone
or something. Because man must have something
to rest on, to trust in. I don't know where I can trust
it or not. Can we trust him? We can trust him. But notice
it says, not in what do you trust? It said in whom. Do you trust? Think about that question. Serious
question. Whom do you trust? That would be sad to think that
you were trusting and resting in Christ and wind up one day
and find out you were trusting a figment of your imagination.
Just trusting a false god. Whom do you trust? Here's what
Christ said to people he was speaking to one day. He said,
John 5, 45, do you think that I will accuse you to the Father?
There is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. And men are either trusting in
Christ, or they're trusting in Moses, and they're trusting in
themselves, and they're trusting in the law. He said, even Moses,
Moses is going to accuse you. He's gonna say you're condemned.
He accuses you as a guilty sinner, and you're trusting in Moses?
And that's what they were doing, trusting. Like I said, I'm not
asking in what do you trust, but whom do you trust? And the
reason is our salvation is not a what. Our salvation is a person. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
For which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I'm
not ashamed. For now I know whom I have believed.
He didn't say I know what I have believed. When he was in religion,
that's what he was trusting in a what. He was trusting in his
pedigree, he was trusting in his descendant from the tribe
of Benjamin, he was trusting in those things. Putting confidence
in it that if you go back and read the first part of Philippians
chapter three, he said I know whom I have believed. Believed
is trust. I know whom I've trusted, and
I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day. He said, I'm trusting him, not
myself, not even my belief. I'm trusting in him. I'm not
trusting in my faith, because it's up and down, but we trust
him who never changes. That's why he's asking in whom
do you trust? We trust in Christ to keep that
which we have committed unto him. We've committed all our
salvation to him. You imagine resting, we rest
our eternal soul on Christ. We put our confidence in him.
We rest our souls upon him. Children of God do trust in the
triune God, they do. They believe, they trust. We
trust in God the Father who chose us. We trust in God the Son who
purchased us. And we trust in God the Holy
Spirit who quickens us. So first look at God the Father.
Our faith and confidence and trust is in our great God. We
trust that the Father chose us. before the foundation of the
world. We were not there. We were not there. We can't see
our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but we trust God
and his word that before this world was ever made, he chose
and set his love on the people. Because he says in Philippians
1, 3, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted into beloved. What a foundation,
rest, he chose us. We trust in God, we trust in
his providence. We may not understand why things
happen, but we trust God that he's working all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. A lot of times the world, they
mean things for evil, but God means it for good. God is moving
all things toward the purpose of the salvation of his people.
And he will provide all of our needs according to his riches
and glory. Listen, Matthew chapter six,
verse 25. He says, therefore I say unto
you, take no anxious thought for your life, what you're going
to eat, what are you going to drink, nor yet for your body,
what you're going to put on is not your life more than meat
and the body than rhema. Consider the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, neither gather into
barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much
better than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit to his statue? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon,
all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,
if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow's cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothe
you? Oh, ye of little faith. Therefore, take no thought saying,
what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or
wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. That's what they worry about.
That's what they're concerned about. For your Heavenly Father knoweth
that you have needed these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things will be added
unto you. Therefore take no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about
tomorrow, don't be anxious about it. We trust him for tomorrow.
For tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof. We trust him, trust him. Men think that they can control
providence or they can control God. and they're trusting in
their own strength and ability to clothe them and to feed them,
God, He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Then something
else, we trust the Father to teach us. John 6, 45, it is written,
the prophets, they shall, and they shall be all taught of God.
Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh unto me. We trust that God's gonna teach
you to speak. We trust God to teach us. If he don't teach us,
we don't know anything. We may learn facts, we may learn
the scriptures in our head, but we trust him to teach us, and
he will. Matthew 16, verse 15. He saith
unto them, whom say ye that I am him? Talk to the disciples. He
said, men are saying a lot of things. You can imagine when
our Lord come on the scene, who is this guy? Is he John the Baptist? Is it John the Baptist or is
it Elijah or some prophet raised from, who is this guy? But the
Lord turned to the disciples and he said, whom do you say
that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed that unto you, but my Father which is in heaven, he
taught you who I am. And they all confessed it, he
trusted him. Now Peter made a lot of mistakes, he was always spouting
off first, but the Lord said, Nobody didn't teach you that,
Peter. You didn't go to school to learn that. The father, I'm
so thankful he teaches his children, and we trust him to teach his
children. If they're his children, he'll teach them. He'll guide
them. He'll guide them. He will correct
them when they need it, and we always need it. He said, for
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he
receives. And it can go back to him teaching
us. How does he teach us? By correcting us. He says, don't
do this. Don't do that, you don't need
to go over there. It's like a little child. You know, we just run off and
run around, all we wanna do is play. He says, no, those that
he loves. And it's not just, we think of
correcting, is he just spanking us or something? No, he's teaching
us. He's instructing us. He's teaching us that we need
him. He's teaching us not to trust in ourselves. And we're gonna trust the Lord,
we do trust him. That one day, He gonna bring
us home to glory. As he's standing there in Matthew
25, the goats on the left side and the
sheep on the right. He said, then shall the king
say to them on his right hand, all his children, those he chose
before the foundation of the world, can be blessed to my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. I said, do you really believe
that? I do. We trust him that one day he's gonna bring us all
to glory and he's gonna present us faultless before his throne. We're not trusting in our strength
to make it. Well, if we hold on or hold out, he's the one's
holding us. He's the one carrying us. Under
us are his everlasting arms. What the trust? He teaches us,
he keeps teaching us by his grace to trust him. By the time you
may think you're trusting in him and he'll let something happen
and expose you and say, I wasn't trusting him like I thought I
was. It's like the disciples, you know, they thought we're
trusting him. He tells them to get into a boat till the storm
comes up and then they go down and he's asleep in the boat and
they said, do you not care that we perish? He doesn't. They actually thought he didn't
care. But he walks out and he says, peace be still. And when
he talked to him, I can calm the storm. I can calm the storm. So we trust the father. And then
we trust the son. In Ephesians chapter one, we
already read the first part of Ephesians one about the father.
Now we're talking about the son. Notice here how many times he
uses the word whom. In whom. Also, we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory. Now listen to this
statement. Who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
God the Father did. Before the world was made, you
know, we try to speak in language we can count in some way grasp,
But the father made a covenant with the son. He said, all that
the father giveth me is gonna come, and he said, I give you
these, and I trust you to bring every one of them home. I trust
you. And the responsibility was laid upon him. He didn't need
somebody's help, but he trusted him, the father trusted him.
And if the father can trust him, and the father does trust him,
we must trust him. Because that's what it said.
Who first trusted in Christ? in whom ye also trusted. Now when did you trust? After
you heard the word of truth. Man cannot trust in an unknown
God. He cannot trust in a God he's
never heard about. That's why it is imperative that
men hear the gospel. I've never heard of a God like
that. I've never heard of a Christ that saves. I've never heard
of a covenant. Now you do, why? After you heard, you trusted.
and he enabled you to trust him. You think about this, all that
the father gave to Christ, he trusted Christ, they're gonna
trust him. Every one of them, every one
of them. You heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, I promise, trust him. We trust our Lord to put away
our sin, in whom we have redemption, Ephesians 1, 7, through his blood,
the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace. By
his own sacrifice, he completely put away all our sin. Do you really trust him for that?
Yeah, I'm not trusting myself or my prayers or anything that
I could do. We trust him to completely. See,
only grace would enable us even to believe that. It is so amazing,
it's so amazing that God would put away all my sin. They're
gone. And he put them away by himself.
All men forsook him. He didn't need anyone's help. And we trust him, that what he
did, what he accomplished, is our hope. And we trust Christ
that he will clothe us with his perfect righteousness. Well,
we can't see it, and if we thought we could see it, it would be
nothing but self-righteousness was all that would be. We trust
him, trust him. Abraham, he says, is the father
of all them that believe, trusted him. Listen, in Romans 4, and being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when
he was about 100 years old. How can this old man have a son?
Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And he was fully persuaded. that
what he had promised he was able to perform. And therefore it was imputed
unto him for righteousness. Abraham didn't trust himself.
He's not trusting in Sarah. This man's 100 years old and
she's 90. But you know, in Hebrews, it's amazing. It said, through
faith, Sarah received strength to conceive seed. And not only
to conceive seed and become pregnant, she carried that child for nine
months, which is a miracle, and then to deliver that child and
raise that child. And it was imputed unto him for
righteousness. He trusted him. Men won't trust
him, they walk in their own righteousness. They're trusting in the arm of
the flesh. Listen, now this was not written
for just Abraham's sake that it was imputed unto him, but
it was for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
I just told you how God justifies sinners. I just told you from
God's word how he can declare you righteous, not a pasted on
righteousness. He's not gonna call something
righteous that's not righteous. He's righteous. And you say,
well, how am I to believe? You trust him. Ask God to give
you faith to trust him, on him. We trust Christ to be our intercessor. Who is he that condemneth it's
Christ that died, yet rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. When many times we don't even know how to pray. We don't
even know how to even ask someone to pray for us. He prays. I thought about when he said
all you're gonna Believe me, you're gonna turn your backs
on me. Peter said, oh no, I won't, I won't. Lord, he basically said,
I trust you. I trust you. Lord said, Peter,
before the cock crows twice, before the night's over, you're
gonna deny me three times. But, I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith Fail not, and when thou art converted, he was already
a believer. That's not what that's saying.
It's when he is converted and God's brought him to repentance,
strengthen your brethren. How? He can teach you something
about humility. God taught him something about
trusting. You imagine how Peter thought. I mean, you know, he just, it's
like he didn't hear anything. Rooster crows, nothing happens.
First time, nothing happens. But when it did that second time,
it woke him up. And the Lord just turned and
looked at him. And Peter goes, look what I, how could I be so
stupid to trust in myself? He's warming himself by the enemy
fire. Said, is that Peter? Yeah. But the Lord said, I prayed
for you, Peter. I never read where he said, I prayed for Judas.
He prayed for Peter. And if he prayed for Peter, he
prays for all his children. Every one of them. Imagine that,
he says, Walter, I'm praying for you, that your faith don't
fail. Our faith is so weak. And I said, we don't trust our
faith. We trust the object of our faith. When we sin, we need an advocate. My little children, these things
I write unto you, that you sin not, and if any man sin, We have
an advocate with the Father. We need someone to plead our
case before the justice of Almighty God and it says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. He spared not his
own son but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yet rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession. He said, Emerald, these are mine.
Sandy, I bought you. I purchased you. You're mine. I'm your advocate. I'm your intercessor. I'm your intercessor. He knows
exactly what we need. He knows what we need in Providence
to bring us where we do trust him. God helped me to trust you.
Trust you. We trust Christ for what he is,
what he's done, and what he's promised to do. And then we trust
the spirit of God. Only he can drive out our sin. You remember the children of
Israel when they came into Canaan? You know what God told them?
He said, you're not gonna conquer all this at one time. And in
Exodus 23, 30, it says, by little and little, I will drive them
out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the
land. That's a picture of all those sins inside you. He said,
I'm gonna drive them out. But you know how he does it?
He does it little by little. And he does it. Men think that
by their efforts, they can progressively get better. And they're trusting
in their strength. Little, but it's little, and
that's how it is. Little bit and a little bit. And what he's begun, he'll finish. We trust him to subdue our wills. Not our will, but thine be done.
We trust him to control our tempers. and we trust him to enlighten
our understanding. Listen in Ephesians 1 verse 17. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of the inheritance
in the saints. the spirit of wisdom and revelation,
the understanding. Man's understanding is so darkened. Don't trust in your own self,
and he gives you the understanding. You know, it talks about the
parable of the sower. He said, when they didn't understand,
the fowls of the air come and snatch the word. But those who
understand, why do they understand? He'd give them an understanding
to see fowl found good ground. And we trusted. to comfort us
when we're cast down. I remember when I pastored back
in North Carolina, I would tell the folks many times, I said,
you know, we say we believe that God's sovereign, but you just
wait. And you know, something happens
and we want to comfort people, but really when it gets down
to it, the only one that can comfort is he that's able to
be felt with the feelings of your infirmity. I'll give you
a few scriptures, John 14, 16, and I pray the Father, and he'll
give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever.
But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will
send in my name, he'll teach y'all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you. How many
times, I wish I could remember scripture. But you know what's
right? Sometimes it's right when you
need it. I may not could just turn to it, but thank goodness
for computers that I can type something in and find it, and
he brings it back to your memory. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It's expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I'll send
him to you. We trust him. When bereavement
comes, we say, Lord, he'll comfort your heart. and He will, because
He will, the Holy Spirit will point you to Him, to Christ,
not to yourself, to Him. That's His office, that's His
work. And we trust the Spirit of God to illuminate our darkness,
to guide us into all truths. And the only way you will ever
trust Christ is for the Holy Spirit to take the things of
God and show them unto you and guide you lead you, bring you
to him. Which one was it of the disciples?
I can't remember. They come and they went to find
their brother and they said, we found the Christ whom Moses
and the prophets did write. Said, how do you know what sins?
Come and see. Come and see. I trust we trust the spirit of
God and I pray you do. to dwell in me as my life, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And he reigns in us as king.
And we trust him to sanctify and make us holy and represent
us faultless. He said whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. And
one day we're gonna see him like he is. And we will believe him. We trust him. On whom do you
trust? Not what, not how much scripture
you know, not a feeling. Feelings come, and feelings go,
and feelings are deceiving. Now there is feelings, thank
goodness, sometimes your heart just leaps with joy, but if you
were just trusting in that, you would be so depressed and so
cast down. Sometimes I don't feel anything,
anything. I remember someone saying one
time, it really helped me as a preacher, said he went to,
he would go to a conference, and you know, people would come
up and say, boy, wasn't that a good message. And he said, you know, I'd say,
yeah, but he said, really, you wanna just say, I didn't get anything.
And he said, sometimes he was even doing some of the preaching.
But you see what I'm saying, we just, God is sovereign, we
trust him. We come in, we come in and we
sit down and a man stands to preach and deliver the message
that God laid upon his heart, and we trust God to speak to
our hearts. And we trust God to help the
man standing, we trust him. Because if he don't, we're in
a mess. We're in a mess. But I hope you'll
think about that question. and that God would give you the
ability to answer it honestly. On whom do you trust?