Turn, if you would, to Psalm
118. Today's message is called Motives
for Trusting God, or Reasons for Trusting God. Have you trusted God with your
eternal soul? That's a question for all of
us in this room, and a question for whoever will
hear this message as it goes forth. Have you trusted God with
your eternal soul? Have you trusted in Christ alone
for the salvation of your soul? Today we'll look at some motives
for why we should trust God. some reasons for why we should
trust God. Why, if you are not trusting
God, you should. You should. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was
not just an ordinary man. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, God incarnate
in the flesh. Scripture declares the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. And the scripture later on in
1 John chapter 1 says the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Fully human and fully God. Bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh and yet God. And he's perfect. He's sinless. He's absolutely righteous when
we are so unrighteous, so full of sin. And he came here to accomplish
a mission. I was talking with Brother Billy
this week and mentioned that when he was sent on a mission
in the Navy, that he had a mission to accomplish. He was sent by his superiors
to accomplish a mission, and he went and accomplished that
mission if he could. And when he had accomplished
that mission, it was what? It was finished, right? Then he
came home. Brother Tom, You were in the
army. Your superiors sent you on missions. You went and you
accomplished those missions. And when you were done, when
it was finished, you came home. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
on a mission. He was sent to die. He was born to die. He was born, sent by the Father,
Jehovah, God the Father, on a mission. And He came to this earth, and
He accomplished that mission, didn't He? Scripture says He
obtained eternal salvation for us. He saved God's people, didn't
he? He redeemed us with his precious blood. And he even cried, it is finished. Then he was risen from the dead.
He rose from the dead, right? God raised him from the dead.
And where'd he go? He went home. And he's at home right now. And
where the head is, the body shall soon follow, right? He's the
head and we're the body. We're soon going to be with him.
But he came here, he accomplished a mission, which was to redeem
his people from their sins, right? To weave a perfect coat of righteousness
that they could be clothed in, to be able to stand in the presence
of God, and he accomplished that mission. That alone is a good
motive to trust God. that God would send his only
begotten son into this world to die for sinners. That alone. And who's the one
who's redeemed the souls of God's people? God himself. God himself. So this is a good
motive to trust Christ because of what he's done for sinners.
He's obtained eternal salvation for them. He's obtained it. He's
purchased us with his precious, precious blood. Here's another
motive for trusting God. Because of who he is. Because of who he is. Turn again
to Psalm 118. We'll read verses five to nine.
Look at this. I called upon the Lord, that's
Jehovah. So I'm gonna read Jehovah where
we see Lord there. I called upon the Jehovah, singly,
the Jehovah, in distress. The Lord answered me, Jehovah
answered me, and set me in a large place. Jehovah's on my side. That's what the scripture says
right there. This is one of God's people writing
about Jehovah, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Jehovah's on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? Well,
they can kill the body but not take the soul, right? The soul's
the Lord's. That's what's eternal. The body's
just temporal. It's just a tent we're living
in. Ever go camping? Live in a tent for a few days?
We're living in a tent for a few days, beloved. This body's just a tent for our
souls. Oh, Jehovah's on my side. I will
not fear. What can man do unto me? Jehovah
taketh my part with them and help me. Therefore will I see
my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in
Jehovah than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust
in Jehovah than to put confidence in princes. So take note of the
words in verses 8 and 9 there. It is better to trust in the
Lord. One may ask why? Well, the Hebrew word here is
literally in reference to seeking shade under a tree. It is figuratively, particularly
of Yahweh or Jehovah, as He is to His people. He provides refuge
for us. So why should we trust Jehovah?
Because He's the only refuge for sinners. Why should we trust
Christ? Because of who He is. Jehovah
in the flesh. God incarnate in the flesh. He's a shield to his people.
He provides refuge for us. And we only find refuge from
God's law and justice in Christ, don't we? We only find refuge
from God's wrath in Christ. The only reason God forgives
us is for Christ's sake. And we who are His people, we
find refuge in Him, in Christ, in His everlasting arms. Do you
remember when you were a kid and you ran to your mom and dad's
arms and they put their arms around you? And you were just
a little tyke? I remember that. I remember running
to my dad or running to my mom and they put their arms around
you and you just feel so safe. Remember when you were about
three or four years old and you just want to snuggle right up
into them, we're safe in the arms of God, we who are his people. Satan fires darts and arrows
at us, like we were talking about, Brother Tom, he fires stuff at
us, but we're safe in the arms of Christ. My, oh my. They harmlessly hit
the shield of faith and just fall. The fiery darts of the
devil are quenched by the shield of faith. Let us hold the shield
of faith up. Remember, that whole armor is
Christ. The helmet of salvation, who's
our salvation in? Christ. The breastplate of righteousness,
who's our righteousness? Christ. The word of God, the
sword of the spirit, Christ is the word of God. The belt of
truth, who's the way, the truth, and the life? Feet shod with the The preparation
of the gospel of peace. Who's the prince of peace? The
Lord Jesus Christ. The good news, the gospel's all
about him. See, he's that whole armor. It's all him. So why is it better to trust
God than man? Verse eight proclaims why it's
better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in those who
are in power or a noble or a leader. because God is sovereign over
all. He's sovereign over all the leaders
of this earth. Today we're going to look at
some reasons why it's better to trust God than man. Man is
finite. God is infinite, eternal. We have an end. We have an appointed
time. He has no beginning and no end.
He's the Ancient of Days. Jehovah. Even our text, when
it says Lord there, it means Jehovah, the self-existent one.
He needs no one or nothing. Now, you and I have a beginning
and an end, don't we? But not so with God. It says, and Abraham
planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name
of the Lord the everlasting God. Genesis 21, 33. The everlasting
God. That's who our God is. He's the
everlasting one. He's the ancient of days. God
is from everlasting to everlasting. He's the one who created this
world, and he's the one who upholds this world. And he's the one
who keeps it producing, too. Think of this. 6,000 years this
world has been producing, and it's never ran out. Until God
says, stop, it never will. He opens his hands and feeds
the creatures of the sea, the scripture says. My, I said to
Vicki this morning, I said, think of this one. The
food that we eat, we like to eat oatmeal on Sunday, right?
So that comes from God, though. He's the one who has it grow,
right? He's the one, the farmer plants the crops, and God gives
the increase, right? The clothes we all wear every
day come from something he's created. So the food we eat comes
from something he's created. The clothes we wear comes from
something he created. The coffee. You like coffee?
I like tea. Coffee and tea. Comments from
our great God. The house we live in. All the
materials come from His world. Right? The cars we drive. All the materials come from His
world. It just goes on and on. Daily we're loaded down with
benefits. We don't even see it, do we? So why should we not trust the
one who is control of all, the one who's the upholder of all,
right? The one who's the provider of
all. The one who has no beginning
and end. The everlasting God, scripture proclaims. And he's
from everlasting to everlasting. So a motive to trust God is,
one motive to trust God is because he is the eternal one. He is
the eternal one. He's no one to be trifled with.
People say, well, I don't believe in God. It doesn't change the
fact that he is, and he laughs at your calamity. You think that bothers God when
people say that? You think people, you know, they
get all full of, well, I think this of God, and I think that
of God. That upsets God. He's already
angry with the wicked, the scripture says. You think that gets God
riled up to know the little piece of animated dust is shaking her
fist at him? It'd be like a gnat for us. You
see? Do you see how merciful God is
to us then? When you think of that, in light
of that, how merciful God is to us? He's so merciful, beloved. and he's the eternal and the
everlasting one. What a wonderful motive to trust
him. The fact that he's overall, he has full dominion, he's absolutely
sovereign overall. And scripture declares that our
great God, he's king over all the earth. He's king, whether
people believe it or not, he's king. There is no one over him. No one. He's Jehovah. He's the most high. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
103, in verse 19. He's high over all the earth. So two motives for trusting God
is that He's eternal and we are finite, and also because He's
sovereign over all. Two reasons to trust God. We
all are going to die. Everyone who's here and everyone
who's going to hear this message, even after we're gone, if this
message is still going forth, we all are going to die. We have
an appointed time, but he's the everlasting one. He's the eternal one. Look at
this in Psalm 103, verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne
in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over what? All. Some little human shakes his
fist at him. He's still under his dominion,
no matter what they think, no matter what they say. I got so convicted last night.
I was talking to somebody about some things. I got so convicted. Things they
were saying was contrary to God. You know what the Lord put in
my heart? You were just like Him. And I was, until the Lord saved
me. And I'll tell you what, these motives, these reasons
for trusting God are dear to my heart. They bring me comfort. Do they bring you comfort as
God's people, to know that He's eternal, to know that He's everlasting?
To know that he's sovereign over all, his kingdom over all, every
single part of our lives. Steps of a good man or woman
are ordered by the Lord. Dear sister, last week, told
me something and I've been chomping at the bit to tell y'all. I told
some of the folks I have a little study with, I told them about
this and I want to tell you about this. You ever hear the story, the
illustration, about God using the tapestry and how, when we
look at our lives, it's like a crochet, or what are those
called? They do the needle through the,
I can't remember exactly what it's called anyways. But there's
a whole bunch of strings on one side, right? So you look at that
and you see all the strings on one side, and you look at that
and you go, my, it's a mess. Well, and you turn it over. Well,
this dear sister said, what do you see when you turn it over?
And I said, well, a beautiful picture, because that's what
we've always say, right? Oh, it's a beautiful picture. Our sister said something, knocked
my socks off. She said, you see Christ. You see Christ. He's the head, and we're the
body. It's a portrait of Christ. Isn't that amazing? And where
are all them little strings? She mentioned where all those
little strings weave together to form the body of Christ. That
is a beautiful illustration. Who gets all the glory? God does. Why? What great reasons we have
to trust God, right? What great reasons we have to
trust our King. He's done everything for us.
He's immutable. He's sovereign. See, in our text,
it talks about trusting God. Again, that means He's our refuge. Another motive for us to trust
God is because He's immutable. We've often heard that word through
the preaching of the gospel. What does it mean, though? Well,
in English, it means Unchanging. I like this. Unchanging over
time. In this latter part, just knock
my socks off. Or unable to be changed. No circumstance can change our
God. He doesn't go, oh man, I got
to go to plan B now. I remember when I was in religion,
I used to tell people, well, the Jews rejected Christ, so
God had to go to plan B and then save the Gentiles. Oh my goodness
gracious. There's no plan B with God. No. Christ was sent on a mission,
wasn't he? To redeem his people from their
sins. And he accomplished that. He accomplished that. He's immutable. Think of that in light of our
salvation. Our salvation is of God, right?
Salvation's of the Lord. If he's immutable, his salvation
doesn't change either, does it? It doesn't. See the fallacy of religious
people when they say, well you can gain your salvation and lose
your salvation and gain your salvation. Oh my gosh, those
folks, they are miserable in what peace we have in Christ,
beloved. God's salvation is unchangeable. That's why Bruce Crabtree said
you can't mess it up. God's immutable, He's unchanging,
and no one or any circumstance can change Him. He's the same
what? Yesterday, today, and forever. You see how the scriptures all
tie together? That's a good reason. That's a good motive to trust
God. Because we change all the time, don't we? We change over
time, we change with circumstances. He is unchanging. Come unto me, all ye that labor
in our heavenly laden, and I will give you rest. That's an unchanging
promise. Come to Him. Lay down your arms. Surrender to the great King of
glory. And He'll give you rest. And
that rest is rest for your souls. And rest from your labors. You're
trying to work your way to heaven? Trying to please God by stuff
you do? Cast it all aside. Just trust Christ. May God give
you grace just to trust Him. Just to trust Him. Also, the
scripture says, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. Praise God he doesn't change.
Praise God he doesn't say, well, you're saved now, but, Wayne,
you blew it. Now you're not saved. Thankfully,
he doesn't do that. He's unchanging. And we have
eternal life in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that life
is eternal because of who Christ is. He's the eternal one, the
word of God. So what a wonderful motive to
trust God, his immutability. Another motive for trusting God
or seeking refuge with God is because he's all-powerful, which
we saw that he rules over all. Now we have no ability to save
ourselves. We lack any ability to save ourselves. And we lack any ability to save
anyone else. We must be saved by God if we
are to be saved. Because we have no ability. We're
weak. We start off strong, right? We
start off strong. We do. We start off strong. Little
guys running around. We see little Gavin running around.
Lots of energy. We all say, oh, I wish I had
that energy. He just flies around here. But when you get in your 20s
and your 30s, you're still pretty strong, aren't you? Get in your
40s, something hurt over here a little bit. Get in your 50s. Oh, I'm having
a hard time getting up in the mornings a little bit more. 60s
and 70s, things aren't working like they used to. 80s, yeah,
it's getting a little harder. 90s, getting real hard. Right? We were once strong and powerful,
though, weren't we? Now we're weak. My mind still
thinks it can do things that it can't do, the body can't do.
And when I try to do those things, I pay for it for about two or
three days afterwards, right? My oh my. So you learn to do
things slower and not take on as much as you used to. Little
bites. But again, that's a change over
our lives, right? We don't get stronger, we get
weaker. God never gets weaker. He's as powerful now as he was
in eternity, past. And he'll be as powerful in eternity
future as he is right now, in eternity present, right? He's the same. He's all powerful.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 62, verse 11. God is almighty power. And it
appears from the creation. Think of this, it appears in
creation too. What did he create? What did
he create this world out of? Nothing. He just spoke it into
existence, didn't he? Along with the stars and all
the galaxies. We can't fathom that because we create things
out of his creation. But he created things out of
nothing. So we can't fully grasp that,
can we? This building is all built by things that came from
his creation. Look at this in Psalm 62, 11.
God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this, that power belongeth
unto God. True power. Almighty power. Belongeth unto God. That's a
good motive to trust God, isn't it? Because he's the all-powerful
one. And how does that power, how
is that power also manifested in we who are the saints of God?
In his preservation of us. In his regenerating power when
we're born again. And in his preservation in keeping
us as we walk through this world. And again, this world is full
of woes. And he keeps us all the way home to glory. How? By his almighty power. And his great power is manifested
again by the work of grace upon the hearts of God's people by
his spirit. Well, we're here on this earth.
God's power is on display in the deliverance of his people
from all our enemies and our sins and the ultimate destruction
of our enemies and his enemies. God's power and might are on
full display in the deliverance of his people. He's delivered
us from all our sins. He's delivered us from the wrath
of God. He's delivered us from the justice of God. He's delivered
us from the law of God. He's delivered us from ourselves. Our own sinful self too, eh?
And we still battle with the flesh, but one day we'll be fully
delivered from self and sin. That'll be amazing. That'll be
amazing. And we're only fruitful and we're
only faithful because God works in us. How do we know that? Because we know that because
our faith is fickle, isn't it? We can be on a spiritual high
one day and boom, roll into the valley, can't we? Just taken right down by a situation. But when we look to Christ again,
okay, got to keep my eyes on him. It's a constant reminder,
isn't it? We're constantly being taught
to keep our eyes upon Christ. Constantly. Think of God's faithfulness. Think of God's faithfulness to
Israel. Think of how they rebelled against him, and he was faithful. He had long suffering with them,
wasn't he? Faithful to them. Think of his faithfulness to
his prophets. He sent them. Think of Elijah. I'm the only
one left. No, I got 5,000 more, Elijah. And then he had the ravens feed
Elijah, didn't he? Think of his faithfulness to
Abraham. Do you know Abraham never had a home? He was a sojourner.
He lived in tents. And God always provided for him,
always took care of him. Think of his faithfulness to
Moses. Moses said, Lord, I can't go there. He says, you go. Tell
him I am sent you. Who gave Moses the grace and
strength to go forward? God did. God did. Who gives you and I the grace
and strength to go forward each day in our lives? God does. Think of his faithfulness to
David. Now, David, man. We think, oh, look at David.
He committed adultery. He sent a man in the front lines
to be killed. He lied. One of God's people, isn't he?
He repented, though, didn't he? Where did that repentance come
from? God. God gave him repentance. God gave him faith to trust the
Lord. And did God prove his faithfulness to David? Absolutely. He did. Saul was trying to kill him.
The Lord kept Saul from killing him. Oh, he's so faithful. And we see it in many others.
And also, we see it, God's faithfulness manifest to the saints. We see
his faithfulness manifested to us. He has a work here in Elmont,
Michigan. He brought us all together. He
saved us. He keeps us. He provides for
each one of us. From his creation, remember,
your clothes, your food, your car, your house, all comes from
materials from his world. He's so faithful to us, isn't
he? He's so faithful. It's wonderful. Turn, if you
would, to Psalm 92. My oh my, every day, whether
we see it or not, God's faithfulness is on display to us in our lives. So let we who are the redeemed,
let us give God thanks and praise and glory and honor for his faithfulness
and goodness towards us. Look at this in Psalm 92 verses
one to three. It says, a psalm or song for
the Sabbath day. It'd be good for us to sing this
any day, wouldn't it? It is good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. and to sing praises unto thy
name, verse one, O Most High, to show forth thy what? Loving
kindness in the morning, and thy what? Faithfulness every
night, whether we see it or not. God's faithful. He's faithful
to us. Upon an instrument of 10 springs
and upon the psaltery, upon the harp with a solemn sound, let
us sing praises to our great God for his goodness, his loving
kindness, and his faithfulness to we who are the people of God.
That's a good motive to trust God, isn't it? His faithfulness.
His faithfulness. Two other motives are his wisdom
and his goodness. Our great God and Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is all our wisdom. He's all our wisdom,
all our sanctification, all our redemption. He's everything for
us. So a great motive to trust him
is his great wisdom. And his wisdom's not just normal
wisdom, it's great wisdom. It's wisdom from above. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
107. Psalm 107. We'll read here of God's goodness
to his people. Oh, this is a wonderful portion
of scripture. God's so good to his people. We could just sit and read portions
from the Psalms and rejoice at his goodness to us. Look at this,
Psalm 107, verses 1 to 8. Oh, give thanks unto Jehovah,
for he is good. For his mercy endureth for how
long? Temporarily? A day or two? A month? Forever, beloved. Forever! Oh my, what comfort! Let the redeemed, let the purchased,
blood-bought people of God, of Jehovah say so. Whom he hath
redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Oh, he's redeemed us from
the hand of the enemy. And gathered them out of the
lands from the east and from the west and from the north and
from the south. God's people are a people out
of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation, beloved. Oh my. They wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in.
That was us in our natural state, wandering in the wilderness of
this world. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord.
They cried unto who? Jehovah. When? In their trouble. And he what? He delivered them
out of all, out of their distresses. And then look at this, and he
led them forth. He leads us forth right now.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What's a shepherd do?
He leads you forth, doesn't he? What do we sheep do? I'm following
that shepherd. Yeah, we are. He led them forth
by what? By the right way. The right way in Christ alone. The only way for a sinner to
be saved, the right way. That they might go to a city
of inhabitation. Well, we seek a different country,
don't we? We're going to the heavenly Jerusalem,
beloved. Oh, that man would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of man. Do you know that God's goodness
overrules the evil of man? Oh my, so some more motives for
trusting God is His great mercy, which was displayed to His people
when Christ died on Calvary's cross for us in our ruined place,
the sinless one, dying for sinners. When He was raised from the grave
for our justification, showing that God was satisfied with the
sacrifice of Christ. That's a great motive for us
to trust God too, isn't it? And another motive for trusting
God is his love for his people, which we saw in the scriptures
last week. We saw that God loves his people freely, without restriction,
we saw. Without restriction, there's
no restriction on the love of God for his people. That love is like himself, that
love is eternal. It's everlasting love. We can't
fathom that, can we? His love for us is eternal. It's
everlasting. It's unchanging. Praise His mighty
name is what we can say, eh? That's all we can say. What wondrous
love is this? Oh, my soul, oh, my soul. What
a motive for trusting God, His everlasting love for His people. Unchanging love, wonder of wonders. Another motive for trusting God
is His long-suffering Oh, he's long-suffering with us, isn't
he? Now, it's easy for we humans to get frustrated with one another,
isn't it? It's not hard. We tend not to be very long-suffering
by nature. Now, God's working that in his
people. But by nature, we're not by nature long-suffering
folks. We're just not. It's actually the opposite. But
have you ever considered how long-suffering the Lord was with
you and me before he saved us? In our natural state, how long-suffering
he was with us? When we were dead in trespasses
and sins? Turn, if you would, to Exodus
chapter 34. Oh, God was so long-suffering with us. Think of the things
that we did, the things we said. And God in our unregenerate state
was still long suffering with us, with we who are his people.
Grace before grace, beloved. Grace before grace. How do we
know that? Well, because he's loved us from
eternity. He chose us in Christ from eternity.
What caused him to do that? His grace and mercy. His eternal
grace and mercy. Think of that. We have had shown
to us God's eternal grace and mercy manifested to us as believers
in Christ. Look at this in Exodus chapter
34, verses six and seven. And the Lord passed, Jehovah,
passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, so Jehovah,
the Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, look
at that, it's one of his attributes. and abundant in goodness and
truth. Aren't you glad that the Lord's long-suffering with us? Aren't you thankful? Long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgressions and sins. That's what he's done for us,
isn't it? And that he will by no means clear the guilty. Now,
we were guilty. So Christ dies in our place,
the sinless one dying for sinners. Clearing us of the penalty of
our sin, the wrath of God falling upon us, all gone. Visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's
children unto the third and to the fourth generation. Do you
know that one of the fruits of the Spirit is long-suffering?
Listen to this, the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 22 and
23. And this is all by the working
of the Holy Spirit of God. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
When I was in religion, I used to think that I could muster
these things up, but we can't. The only thing that our flesh
can muster up is envy, strife, contention, like we looked at
in Sunday school this morning. The fruit of the Spirit is this.
This is what God's working in us. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
goodness, or gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Says, against such there's no
law. Now, we will never see this in
ourselves, but others will. We don't see ourselves as long-suffering,
do we? We don't see ourselves as gentle.
Because we gotta live with ourselves, don't we? We gotta live with
this flesh that we battle every day. We know our sinful thoughts,
we know our sinful deeds. But God is, this is the amazing
thing. God is conforming us to the image
of his son. Chipping away things on us, stones
being made ready. so that not a hammer will hit
or sound in glory." Isn't that amazing? So we've considered some motives
for trusting God based upon who He is. Now let's consider our
next motive, which is the promises God has made to those who put
their trust in Him. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
20. This one will be quick. Psalm 20. Oh, actually. Yeah, Psalm 20. Verses 5 to 9. We will rejoice in thy salvation
in the name of our God. That's Elohim there, which means
the Mighty One. We will set up our banners. The
Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven, and with the saving strength of his right hand. Now there's
a promise right there, isn't there? God will hear his people.
God will hear his people. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are bought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the king hear
when we call. And then here's a wonderful promise.
And another motive why we should trust God is because of his promises.
Here's a motive in Isaiah chapter 43 verses 1 and 2. But now thus
saith the Lord that created thee. Every one of us in this room
was created by God. We were created by God. 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. Oh my, we're the Lord's. Isn't that amazing? He calls
us his. When thou, now here's the promise.
Let this comfort your soul, beloved. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. When now, and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Why? Because God is with us. That's a promise. God promises
to be with his people. What a motive to trust God. He
promises to be with us, no matter what we go through. Sometimes
we have agony in our minds, don't we? He's ever with us. Sometimes we have agony within
our bodies. He's ever with us. Sometimes
we have agony within our souls for our lost loved ones. He's
ever with us. He's always with us. No matter
what we go through. Now the third motive for trusting
God is the awful consequences of not trusting Him. Eternal separation from God. Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah,
chapter 17. Eternal separation from God in
hell. My, oh my. You know, hell is full of good
people. Hell is full of good people.
People who thought they were good. Hell's full of them. Went and looked at some, went
to a graveyard yesterday, looking for my wife's relatives from the 1800s, early 1800s. And I walked by a tombstone that
said, Father such and such. Catholic priest. Oh, that man's burning in hell. He knows God's sovereign now. He knows what he taught was a
lie. He found out, didn't he? What an awful consequence of
not trusting Christ. Not trusting Christ. Look at
this in Jeremiah chapter 17. Thus saith the Lord, verse 5.
Thus saith Jehovah. This is Jehovah speaking. Cursed
be the man that trusteth in man. You trust in yourself. If we
trust in ourselves, we're trusting in man, aren't we? If you trust in someone else
for your salvation, then you're trusting in man. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, maketh flesh his strength. Now, as we said, flesh is strong
when it's young, right? But the older it gets, the weaker
it gets. Can't save, right? Can't save at all. Maketh flesh
his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the hearth
in the desert. And shall not see when good cometh.
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in the
salt land and not inhabit it. Now look at this. Look at this
promise amidst all that. Blessed is the man or woman that
trusteth in the Lord. And we're looking today at motives
for trust in God, right? Here's another motive. You're
blessed. And whose hope is in the Lord.
So the question for you and I is, have you trusted God? Are you
trusting Jehovah? Is your hope for your eternal
salvation in Christ, in him alone? If it is, you're blessed. The
scripture says you're blessed. For he shall be, look at this,
look at the fruit of this. For he shall be as a tree planted
by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river. And
shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green.
And shall be careful in the year of drought, neither shall see
from yielding fruit. He's the vine, we're the branches. The only reason we're fruitful
is because we're one with him. And then look at this warning.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? The heart will deceive people.
The natural heart will deceive people. Oh, I'm good with God.
I patched it up years ago. I prayed a prayer. Some preacher
told me to pray. I went to this priest and confessed
all my sins to him, and he told me to go and pray 15 this and
15 of that, and I'm good now. No, you're not. You're trusting
in a man. Trusting in something you said.
Trust Christ. He's the only Savior for sinners.
So the awful consequence of not trusting Christ is eternal separation
from God forever. The last motive I'd like us to
consider is the testimony of God's people. Turn, if you would,
to 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look at this, listen, and then
put your finger in Psalm 40. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Let's listen
to some testimonies quick here, and then we'll close up. Some
testimonies. First, the testimony of Paul. 2 Timothy 4, verses 16 and 17.
And then we'll go to Psalm 40. Second Timothy, here's Paul's
testimony. Verses 4 to 16 and 17. At my first answer, no man
stood with me. They all departed from him. But
all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me. Never forget that. There's a
testimony of one of God's people. He says, everyone else left me.
but the Lord was with me. The Lord didn't leave me. He's
promised that, right? To never leave us nor forsake
us. And strengthened me, look at
that. Paul was probably disheartened
when they all left him, but the Lord strengthened him. That by
me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles
might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will
preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. That's a testimony of one
of God's saints. And you know, that's true of
all of us here. Deliver us from every evil work and here preserve
us unto his heavenly kingdom. And we give him all the glory
and honor and praise forever. Now let's turn to Psalm 40 and
we'll read the testimony of David. Two more places and then we're
finished. Testimony of David here. Psalm 40, verses 4 and
5, and then put your finger in Psalm 116. Psalm 40, verses 4
and 5. Here's a blessed testimony of
David. So these are testimonies of God's born-again, blood-washed
people. Psalm 40, verses 4 and 5. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor turn such
as turn aside the lies. Look at that. that's a statement
of fact blessed is the man or woman that make it the Lord that
make it Jehovah his trust is Jehovah your trust many Oh Lord my God are they
wonderful works many which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can
be numbered." That's our God, beloved. This
is a testimony of one of God's people, of who God is. Now turn to Psalm 116, and we're
closed with this. Verses one to six. Look at this wonderful, wonderful,
these wonderful words. I love the Lord, I love Jehovah.
God's people truly love Jehovah. He's put that love in our hearts
because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Verse two,
because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I
call upon him as long as I live. Isn't that amazing? There was
a time when we didn't call upon the Lord. And now we do. Now we do. The sorrows of death
can pass me, and the pains of hell get hold upon me. I found
trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
the Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. What did that
publican say? God be merciful to me, the sinner. We called out to God, didn't
we? We who are his people. in our own way, didn't we? Lord,
I'm a sinner. I need to be saved. Please save
me. If it be your will, save me. What did the Lord say to
the leper? The leper said to the Lord, he
said, Lord, if thou will, thou can make me clean. And the Lord
said, I will be thou clean. And immediately, he was clean.
God can save you without you moving a muscle. Oh, it's all by his almighty
power, beloved. Sorrows of death can pass me
again, and the pains of death got hold upon me, and I found
trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of
Jehovah. O Jehovah, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious
is Jehovah, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful." We've tasted
that mercy, haven't we? All we taste is that the Lord
is full of mercy and full of grace. And look at this, the
Lord preserves the simple. I was bought low and he helped
me. He brings us low, it's called stripping grace. He strips us
down to nothing, doesn't he? Shows us we're sinners and we
need to be saved. Then he builds us back up in
Christ. Praise his mighty name. So today we've looked at some
motives for trusting God. They're wonderful motives, aren't
they? Wonderful reasons to trust Him. He's eternal. He's all-powerful. He's everlasting. He's long-suffering. He's God. He's the Everlasting
One. And in His promises to us, I
will be with you. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Wonderful promises. And then
the awful consequences of not trusting Him. separation from
God. And now we, like David and Paul,
can testify, can't we, of the wonderful things that God's done
for us. Want no reason for trusting God?
Ask his people. They'll tell you. We'll tell
you. We'll gladly tell you. Oh, he saved my soul, praise
his mighty name.