Therefore I Will Trust You #2

What's the next thing that you say as you're contemplating life and your dwindling bank account, contemplating dealing with the latest bad prognosis from the doctor, the chronic pain of life that just never seems to go away? What's the next word out of your mouth? I'll tell you what it usually is for far too many of us.

What's this word? I've got to hear it. Welcome again to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm Bill Wright, and Don is wrapping up our series, A Word of Trust, with part two of a message titled, Therefore I Will Trust You. Last time, Don pointed us to Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6, giving us the first two of four main points. God blesses obedience, so who will you trust? On today's program, you'll discover what an intimate walk with God is all about and how it leads to the certainty of God's blessing.

Let's join our teacher now in the Truth Pulpit. You see, we think about trust in the sense of just a blind trust. And I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm just going to trust that everything works out okay. That's not biblical trust. There is nothing glorifying to God thinking that way, nothing at all. No, what trust is, biblically speaking, as you can see from what we have said, is that trust is the righteous confidence that we render toward God in response to revealed certainties. It is a revealed certainty that God is loving, gracious, holy, true, infinite self-existent and that He is good and faithful to His people. The name for Him used here, Lord, in all caps in your English text, Yahweh, the covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God to His people. That's who God is.

He keeps His promises to His people. You say, you believe that, Christian. Well, that should affect the way that you think about the future of life, even in the most severe of circumstances, and some of them I know are really severe. I get that.

We're not talking about our circumstances here that shift and change with the waves of the ocean. We're talking about who God is and who God has revealed Himself to be. And this is certain, this is true.

This is more certain than your next breath, beloved. And so when we say we trust in the Lord with all our hearts, we're saying we believe the revealed certainties about God. We believe the revealed certainties about His character. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe His shed blood was sufficient to cleanse us from all sin and that in loving, gracious promises He makes that if you believe in Me, I'll forgive all your sins and take you into heaven. That's what we believe.

And it's certain. God be denied without sin. And so when Scripture calls you to trust in the Lord with all your heart, you're to know who He is, to know His promises and to commit yourself to them in a way that says, I unreservedly have confidence that God will be good to me in the end, period.

No questions, no commas, no hesitation. You trust God like that in the midst of all of the details of life, in the midst of death, in the midst of sickness, in the midst of financial reversal. In all of it, you do not let those external passing temporary circumstances knock you off of your spiritual center of gravity that says, I know these certainties. I believe them and I commit myself to them.

And more importantly, God has saved me to bring me into that realm of them. So what could go wrong in the end? Christian friend, it can only come out good for you in the end. That's the only possible outcome if you belong to a good God who is sovereign over all. Let's go back.

Let's remind ourselves of these questions. You believe that God is sovereign over all, right? I know you believe that. You wouldn't be in grace life if you didn't. You believe God's good, right?

You believe God is love when 1 John 4, 7 and 8 says, God is love? You believe that, don't you? Well then how could it possibly come out bad for you in the end if you belong to Him? Explain to me. That's rhetorical. I don't want anyone to stand up and say, well, yeah, you know, pastor, I do have an idea here. That's not the point. Explain to me then in light of His sovereign power and His sovereign love and that you belong to Him, explain to me how it can come out bad for you in the end then. That's impossible.

That is not going to happen no matter what's happening now. Now, that was the easy part. The question is, and you and I have all experienced this, you know that you're like me and I know that you're like me in this way. Sometimes we get off track. Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we spill over into anxious thoughts and that quicksand sinks down pretty quickly. How is it that you get off track? And all of these great things that should be a fortress and a bulwark around your heart, your rock and your certainty that you always cling to, how is it you get off track? It's because you forget the rest of verse five and you start to trust yourself.

You start to trust yourself. Look at verse five with me again. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Oh, you see, you see, trust is like a two-sided coin. We've been talking about the positive side of trusting God, knowing God, knowing His promises, loving that, and giving ourselves over to it.

Where you have forgotten to bake the cake, where you've forgotten to flip the pancake so that the other side also warms up and becomes what it should be, is that you have not sufficiently abandoned your confidence in your own thinking and judgment. Verse five, look at it again with me. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. There's a positive and a negative here, and you've got to get both sides right if you're going to be the kind of Christian that God calls you to be. Positive command, trust in the Lord.

Negative command, do not lean on your own understanding. The word lean is, you know, just a word, where do you find your support? You know, I lean on this pulpit and it supports my weight. Where is it that you are putting the weight of your confidence in order to be able to have confidence as you look to the future? Well, in the spiritual realm, to lean on your own understanding, I can't tell you how important this is. I would stand on this pulpit to emphasize it just to try to make the point. This is really important for you.

In the spiritual realm, to lean on your own understanding means that your sense of confidence rises and falls based on your perception of your circumstances. And we can do this in simple ways. We can illustrate this with the difficult things. Simple enough. Right now I am just consciously relying on the Holy Spirit to work in your heart because there is nothing about my feeble words that can convey the importance of this to you or persuade you that it's true.

I'm helpless here. You have a sense, a disposition, maybe you don't even consciously think about it like this, that says, well, we have our health, we have money in the bank, this coming year is going to be pretty good. What are you doing there except relying on your own perception? When Scripture says, you fool, you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. But you have this sense that all is well because I feel good and I've got some money and therefore everything's well. You're leaning on your own understanding when you do that. And as understandable and as easy as that is to fall into, Scripture says, don't do that.

Think about it another way. Beloved, look, I'm here to help you. This is the only reason I'm here. I'm here because I love you and because I want to help you. And I've got to help you, I've got to be able to speak directly to you.

Leaning on your own understanding can look like this. Why does God treat me this way? This is too hard for me. Put it in a different context, spiritual context.

What if my loved one never comes to saving faith in Christ? What am I going to do then? What about what if, what if, what about all of that? You see, when you're like that, when you're thinking in those kinds of realms, it's very tempting to want to illustrate that another dozen ways, but I'm not going to.

You get the idea. You see, beloved, and this is always the problem. This is always the problem with people who have a lot of Bible knowledge and think that that equates to having personal trust in God at all times like this calls us to. There is more to trust in God than simply acquiring more and more Bible knowledge.

There are a lot of people with a lot of Bible knowledge whose lives are a mess, who give you no sense of calm serenity as they go through life. And so let's make sure that we understand what we're talking about here. Let's love each other enough to be honest and not make excuses for each other here. This is so important. Here's what happens. You hear the great truths about redemption in Christ. You hear the wonderful truths about the character of God and the unchanging nature that He is. And to that, because I'm speaking to brothers and sisters in Christ, right? You say, amen.

Great. You should say amen to that. You need to know the great truths of redemption. You need to know the great character and attributes of God.

We're talking about something a little bit different here today, though. When it comes to your life, beloved, right where you're at right now today, here's the question. And here's how you can find out if you are trusting in your own understanding or not, or if you're trusting God like Scripture calls you to do. Easy. What is the next word out of your mouth when you say amen to all those things? What's the next thing that you say as you're contemplating life and your dwindling bank account, contemplating dealing with the latest bad prognosis from the doctor, the sorrows, the accumulated sorrows, the chronic pain of life that just never seems to go away and there's no prospect that it will? What's the next word out of your mouth? I'll tell you what it usually is for far too many of us. Having heard the great character of God, the great redemption in Christ, wouldn't you like me to just get to the point?

What's this word? I've got to hear it. I want to know. The person who is leaning on his own understanding can be identified by this one word because he'll hear the character of God, he'll hear the promises of Christ, he'll hear the future of heaven and then he or she will say, but. I know all of that is true but you don't understand my circumstances. You don't understand that life is hard. You don't understand...but see, you don't see that my problem can't change. Everything is but, but, but. I know that's true but my situation is different.

What do you mean your situation is different? What kind of boastful, self-centered pride is that when Scripture says, you trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding? Where do any of us get off saying but in response to divine revelation like what we've been luxuriating in? How can you say but to that?

You know what? The word but is? But is a word of contrast. But is saying that's true but this is also true, this is equally important and this is where I'm going to center my thought and attention at. I know that's true but life and somehow and in fairness and in kindness, you've probably never thought about it that way.

But that's exactly what you're doing. You see, beloved, this is so vital. This is so central to your spiritual well-being. You know what word trust uses? You know what the word of trust is? Trust doesn't say but and thereby push the character of God away and push the redemption in Christ away and push the hope of heaven away but, but, but leaving yourself to your own circumstances and resource. Trust uses a different word. Trust says therefore. Trust says therefore. Trust can look at its life, say this is really bad, this is really difficult, didn't see this coming, I feel like a freight train has run over me. Trust in that hears the character of God, loving, gracious, knows the hairs on your head, knows what you need before your ass.

No one will pluck them out of my hand. Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will not pass away. Trust hears that and says, ah, therefore, I believe those things. Therefore, I am going to look at my circumstances with confidence in the future because I know that God always blesses His children and I am one of His children. Therefore, He will bless me too, despite what it looks like right now.

So ask yourself, help yourself. This is the bridge from what you know to be true about Scripture and theology. This is the bridge between that revealed truth and how it plays out in your soul. Are you going to trust God enough, do you believe Him enough to say, therefore, I'm not going to be afraid. Therefore, I will look forward to the future with confidence. Therefore, I will persevere without complaint, without resentment, without retaliation against those who've wronged me.

See, this shapes everything. You can look at the wicked things that people did in your past, say God was over that, therefore, I'm going to trust Him going forward. You can look at reversals now, you can look at the way you've been passed over for different stuff, say, you know what, God loves me, God's over it all, therefore, I'm going to trust Him. I'm not going to be angry, I'm not going to be bitter, I'm not going to be jealous, I'm not going to argue, I'm not going to fight back. But or therefore, you see, trust says, therefore, my brother and sister in Christ, I'm affirming you as I say these things, you believe in who God is, you believe in Christ, you belong to Him. I can't say the next word for you.

I can only tell you what it is. The next word out of your mouth ought to be, therefore, I will not be afraid. Therefore, I will be able to trust Him. Therefore, I will not even fear death because I trust Him all the way.

I trust Him without condition, without qualification, I just trust Him. You see, in the days to come, I want you to stop and think about this. In light of what we're saying, in the context of what we're talking about, the word but out of your mouth opposes the truth, therefore, fits to the truth and puts its confidence in it.

What's it going to be for you? But or therefore? Now, third point, now we're going to go a lot more quickly. There's a lot to go through here. Let's go on to verse 6 and see point number three, the call. And the call is an intimate walk with God.

We said the context was God blesses obedience. The contrast is who will you trust, God or yourself? Thirdly, we see the call and the call is to an intimate walk with God. You see, beloved, what we're talking about here, this intimate walk with God, trusting God, it is a comprehensive approach to life. This is what you do all the time in every circumstance. This is why I said at the beginning, this passage is defining why you exist.

There is no circumstance in your life where this does not apply. Look at verse 6. In the simplest and plainest of language, it says, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

It says, here's what you do, in all your ways acknowledge Him, here's the promise, He'll make your paths straight. Now, in English, you and I think about the word acknowledge in kind of a superficial way. At least that's one way that acknowledge can be used here.

We think of acknowledge as a matter of like superficial recognition. You know, you pass a stranger in the aisle at the grocery store, you might nod at him and acknowledge his presence. Hello. Hello.

You just nod your head and you acknowledge him by nodding at him. This word and what this is talking about here is not that superficial approach at all. This Hebrew word in this context is expressing intimate knowledge. It's the same word that is used in Exodus when God says He's known Moses by name.

I know Him. It's the same word that's used in Psalm 139 when the Psalmist tells God, says, you know when I sit down and rise up. What could be more intimate?

What could be more close than that? A God that knows when you sit down and when you rise up. Point here is not divine omniscience.

It's the meaning of this word know that it's talking about an intimate knowledge, a thorough intimacy with Him. Look at verse 5 again. Verse 5 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Verse 6 says, know Him in all your ways. Do you see, beloved? Do you see that this is calling you to a thorough pervasive knowledge of God, a lifelong pursuit of a deeper understanding of Him and trust in Him and communion with Him that covers all of your activities, all of your affections, all of your priorities, everything in life falls in here, doesn't it? Trust the Lord with all of your heart in all your ways.

Know Him closely. Jesus said, greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with what? All your heart, all your soul, all your might, all your mind. Pervasive, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31 says, what does it say?

You tell me. Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. See there is this thorough going intimacy of which Scripture speaks in which Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 apply to. What that means is this, among other things it means this, beloved, trusting God is not your last refuge.

It's not your last appeal when everything else has failed. It's not where you go when all of life has gone wrong. No, that's trusting God, knowing God, acknowledging God, knowing Him. That's what you do on the front end.

That's what you do now. That's where you, without the pressure and without the appeal and without the temptation of earthly circumstances around you, you say, I'm going to set my heart and mind to know Him and this will be the pattern of my life. This is the fundamental core commitment of my heart, to know Him and to trust Him. Everything else is secondary.

Everything else is details. That is the claim on your heart that the Lord Jesus Christ makes. Christ will own all of you. Christ calls all of you to come in submission to Him, to come in trust to Him, to come in loving adoration to Him. No division of life, no pockets where, okay, this area of sin is okay because I like it and I'll give God everything else. No, in all your ways, you know Him.

You don't know how bad it is. No, in all your ways, know Him, acknowledge Him, trust Him, be confident in Him, rely on Him even when you can't see the outcome. Beloved, don't you understand? Don't you understand that trust would be meaningless if you could always see the way it was going to work out? Then trust would be meaningless.

Then there's no love of character. There's no knowledge of the character of God built in that. Any non-Christian can be confident in the future if all of his circumstances are lined up to his liking. Call on you to be different and for you to have a fundamental sense of serenity and confidence because you know who this God is. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. I'll say it one more time, beloved, knowing and trusting God is the reason you exist. This is your purpose in life. And God gives you different life circumstances and things work out differently.

You just take it all. This is the life that God has given you in which you will know Him and you will trust Him, okay? One point. The comfort is this. The comfort is this. He will bless you. He will bless you. God promises to bless the one who walks with Him in this way. Look at verse 6. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.

Matthew Henry says this. He says, in all our ways that prove fair and pleasant, we acknowledge God with thankfulness. In all our ways that prove cross and uncomfortable, we acknowledge God with submission. Our eye must ever be toward God. Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it. Today on The Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green has concluded our series, A Word of Trust, and the message, Therefore I Will Trust You.

If you truly trust God, that word therefore replaces the word but. There's more great teaching headed your way next time, so don't miss a moment. Right now, though, Don's back in studio with news of a great resource. Well, my friend, as we bring today's broadcast to a close, I want to offer you a very special gift, a special resource as a gift from our ministry. It's my series called, Trusting God in Trying Times.

This series over the years has proven to be the most popular set of messages that I've ever done. It helps you know how to trust God as you're going through the deep sorrows that sometimes come to us in life. It comes from the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament, and it comes from some very deep sorrows of my own that were present early in my Christian life. It's very personal, it's very helpful, it's very biblical, and I would love to see you have it in your hands.

It's available in CD album or by download. Transcripts are available if you prefer that. My friend, Bill, is going to give you information on how to find it. Just visit our website at thetruthpulpit.com to get the resource Don just mentioned. Once again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, and we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit.