Living by Faith: Confidence

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You've likely seen a video on the internet of someone putting their whole weight onto something that could not truly hold them up. Whether it's a man swinging from a worn out rope or a woman standing on a decrepit ladder, the result is never good. These people put their confidence in something that failed them. We realize that we can't move forward with confidence unless the object of our trust is truly trustworthy. In today's message, Pastor Rich shows us that following Jesus is not at all a blind leap, as some have suggested. We can move forward with confidence because the object of our trust is the greatest of strongholds.

Let's listen in. And from our text today, the last two verses of the 37th Psalm, we will find that living by faith leads to a life of confidence. The text that was read earlier from Romans Chapter 4 tells us that Abraham's faith was counted to him as righteousness. One's confidence is relative to one's object of trust. Your confidence is not about how much faith you have.

It's all about your object of trust. It says in the text before us, Psalm 37, 39, the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The righteous is the one who builds his life upon God. God is his object of trust, is his foundation. That person is called the righteous, as opposed to the wicked. We've seen through this whole Psalm, the wicked is the one who counters God.

You can counter God actively by pushing back against him and his people, or you can counter God passively by simply ignoring him, marginalizing him. But it says the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. The salvation here is a strong word that carries the sense of deliverance from adversities in the fullest sense. So the idea here is that final glorification that we have, the destiny to which God carries us, if indeed we are his.

And it says the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. The sense that it's from the Lord means that it is sure, it is complete, it is enduring, because it comes from an infinite being who does not change. Who is the object of trust? Who is Abraham's object of trust? Well, the text in Romans 4 described it very succinctly this way in Romans 4 17. He who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Now, how about that? That is an infinite personal being. Personal meaning he is intelligent and relational. And he communicates with a view towards communion. He who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. This is God.

This is the Creator. And how must we know God? We must know God today as revealed in Jesus Christ. Because God has made himself known through Jesus Christ. The apostle John says it very clearly in chapter 1 of his gospel in the 18th verse. That this one who was with God at his side has come to us and has explained him to us.

Not just with words but with his life and with his work. So, back to the Psalms, the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their stronghold. That stronghold is a hiding place.

It's a word that is used as opposed to like a fortress that is built. It's just simply a hiding place. It is a place of safety. So, the sense there is that the righteous runs to the Lord and in the Lord finds his safety. He finds his rescue. It is the protection of God's presence.

Do you know that this morning? The protection of God's presence. Why do I need to know the protection of God's presence? Because there is a time of trouble.

He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. What is this time of trouble? There's two senses to that. The time of trouble is what we experience in this life under the sun. We all experience some form and some level of adversity. Adversity is that broad umbrella.

In philosophical terms, they would call it evil. When things go wrong, when bad stuff happens. And that bad stuff can be at the hand of the wicked who would deliberately want to injure you or natural disasters. Things that we would consider bad. Things that manifest that this created order is a broken system. Things that remind us that things are not as they ought to be.

Something has gone horribly wrong. It is that time of trouble. But there is a second sense as well. And that is judgment. Adversity is one and judgment is the second.

A judgment seeing this that there is an accounting that is coming and that accounting is before the one whose opinion counts alone. Because scriptures inform us that all things were created by him and for him. Therefore, he is the one who defines the very purpose of your existence. And the very purpose of your existence is to know him and to enjoy him.

Short of that is failure. And if you think you know better, one day you will stand before the one by whom and for whom are all things. And if you are not prepared for that adequately, it will be a time of trouble. See, for the righteous, he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. It says the Lord helps them and delivers them at the beginning of verse 40.

The Lord helps them and delivers them. This is a beautiful portrait of who God is. He is not just a force.

He's not just a concept. He is a caring, compassionate person, personal being. The Lord helps them and delivers them. Three senses here, one that he comes to their aid.

And we see that in the advent of Christ, the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity, that God came to us like one of us and lived and walked among us and lived a perfect life. He came to our aid because he is a helper. But he is compassionate. He is compassionate in his life. He lived a life of compassion. In Acts, it says that the Lord Jesus went about doing good as he lived the perfect life, pleasing his father.

His was a life of compassion, of deep care and concern for us. But it even goes deeper than that because as he came to us, he manifested grace. Grace.

What do we mean by that? Grace is favor. And grace is just simply this, that God has invested himself in us for our Godward movement. Because without him, it would be impossible. And so he came to give us grace, God's favor for us. And in that grace, he took upon himself God's holy necessary judgment.

You see, that's why we need him. Because it says he delivers from the wicked in the middle of verse 40. He delivers them from the wicked and saves them. Now, let's think about this for a moment. When you think about the wicked, probably your first thought is other people, isn't it?

Naturally. He saves them from the wicked. The wicked encompasses three entities. First of all, he delivers them from the wicked. The first entity he delivers us from is the adversary, the one that we call the adversary. The names for him in scripture are the devil or Satan. That ancient serpent. The one who separates us from God, the one who would separate us from God by enticing us to find satisfaction apart from God.

It's exactly what he did in the beginning. He is the adversary. And in doing that, he leads us astray and leads us to rebellion, thinking that we know better than God. And in that rebellion, where do we find ourselves free at last? No, we find ourselves enslaved to our passions. We find ourselves in captivity, in a captivity that leads only to corruption.

In this fortress, in Christ, we are saved from that wicked one. There is a second entity and that is the system that does not acknowledge God. The system in which we live. It is our context. The system that does not acknowledge God.

What does it do? It venerates nature while ignoring the God who made nature. That nature might be you and me as human beings. Humans are venerated to the highest position as just a part of nature. But that system that does not acknowledge God elevates and worships nature instead of nature's creator. That is wickedness. Because that blinds us from the very purpose of life. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.