Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. God is always the same. He is constant in his character. He is 100% reliable.
Now, because God is constant in his character, this is the point. Yes, you can trust him. Absolutely. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Scripture tells us to put our trust in God.
But when times get tough and you encounter obstacles and problems, Are you trusting God or relying on your own efforts? Today on the verdict, we're exploring another foundational question as we continue our series called What Would You Ask God?
Now with a lesson titled, Can I Trust God? Here's Pastor John Monroe. Do you find it difficult to trust people? Do you find it difficult to trust God? I think all of us sometimes struggle with this.
Today we're continuing in our series on What Would You Ask God. and considering difficult questions about God. Today the question is, can I trust God? The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. God is our Creator.
God loves us. God calls on us to trust Him with all of our heart. But you may find this to be difficult. You may be asking Is God trustworthy? Why should I trust Him?
So let's consider this question. As you listen, I trust that your faith in God will be deepened. that you will live a life of saving faith and authentic faith and so please God. Can I trust? God.
I'm sure all of us have asked that question. Can I really trust God? The Christian life is a life of trust, a life of trust in God. The Christian life is a life of faith. Faith is not just one way of pleasing God, it is the only way.
If you don't have faith, there are many things that you can do. You can come to church, you can read your Bible, you can sing in the choir, you can teach Sunday school, you can be an elder, you can even be a pastor, you can be a wonderful, kind person. But if you don't have faith, you cannot. cannot Please. God.
The writer of Hebrews makes that very clear in Hebrews 11, verse 6, when he says, Without faith, It is impossible, not just difficult, mark you, it is impossible to please God. You ask why is it so impossible to please God without faith?
Well, if we could get into heaven based on what we do Based on what we can accomplish, there will be no need for faith. But because we cannot save ourselves, because we cannot work our way to heaven and to God, the Christian gospel is this, that God and His great love sent Jesus Christ into this world to be our Saviour. to die on the cross for our sins, to do what we could not possibly do for ourselves, and that is for our sins to be forgiven and to be given eternal life.
So the Bible says that those who are forgiven, those who are true Christians, are those who have placed their faith, that's it. Those who have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ and receive God's provision, receive God's salvation.
So Paul, one of the writers of the New Testament, puts it this way in Ephesians two, verses eight and nine, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.
So, those who get into heaven, those who are received by God, are not people who boast in their accomplishments, boast in their religion. but rather Have trusted in Jesus Christ, have been saved by the grace. of God. Faith then is the empty hand. receiving the gift of God and receiving the provision of God.
We are pictured spiritually bankrupt. When we meet God and we meet Christ, we bring, as it were, nothing at all to the table other than ourselves and our sin, and we come to Him for forgiveness, and we stretch out our empty hands, and into these empty hands are placed forgiveness of sins, peace with God. Eternal Life.
Now faith is not only the way Two life. It is certainly that faith is also in the New Testament presented as the way of life. Not only do we begin the Christian life by faith. The Christian life is a life of faith, each step of the way. We are to depend daily on God.
for his help, his wisdom. His strength. Do you find that difficult? Your pastor does. There are days where I find that rather difficult to do because my tendency is and I know this sounds very silly, it sounds very foolish and immature, but my tendency is to depend on myself, my achievement, my gifts, my abilities, my education, depend on others rather than depending on On God.
And so we need to be reminded that the Bible says we are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. Says Solomon in Proverbs 3: Don't lean on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord with all of your heart. That's contrary to the message we hear from our society where we're told to believe in ourselves. You can do it. You have faith.
Dig down deep. You've got the answer deep within you, and the Bible says no, you don't have the answer. You're spiritually bankrupt. You're spiritually empty. And so we are to trust God.
So I ask you, are you trusting God? Are you trusting yourself. I want to encourage you to trust God, to trust the Lord in every circumstance of life, to trust the Lord in every situation of life, however difficult life is or however joyful it is. Whatever your circumstance. to trust The Lord.
You say, why would I do that? I'm glad you asked. Because God And only God. Can always be trusted. He can always be trusted because of his constant character, because of his eternal truth, and because of his faithful promises.
First of all, God can always be trusted because of his constant character. If you have a Bible, open it to the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi.
So, if you find the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, go backwards to the last book of what we call the Old Testament, the book of Malachi. And we're going to read just one verse, chapter three, verse six. We're learning that we can trust God. Always. because of his constant character.
Malachi three then, verse six The Lord is speaking. He says, For I the Lord, Yahweh, the old King James, has Jehovah. I, the Lord, Yahweh, the Lord's personal name. I the Lord do not Change. That's it.
I do not change. Therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Who is God? God is unchanging and unchangeable. He is Yahweh.
He does not. Change. Let's see that in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, towards the end of your Bible. Hebrews chapter 3. thirteen.
One verse The writer in the context is talking about your spiritual leaders. To honor them, to appreciate them, but we have to acknowledge, don't we, that leaders and pastors and elders sometimes let us down. There are Fallible. But notice the contrast. Hebrews thirteen verse eight.
Jesus Christ is the same. Yesterday, Today Yes, and Forever. How beautiful. Who is he? He's the same.
Yesterday Today Yes, and Forever. He never Changes. Click over a couple of pages to James chapter 1, Hebrews, James, next book in the New Testament, James chapter 1, verse 17. James writes, Bestowed, and every perfect gift is from above. Remember that when you're eating your lunch.
Remember that when you are driving your car. Remembering that when you think you're pretty smart. Or you've got great capacity to make money, or you're a great singer, or whatever it is. Remember that everything that you are and you have comes from God. coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, who doesn't change.
There is no variation with God, He doesn't change. With Him, there is no shifting shadows. Being the eternal, perfect God, He is constant in His character. There is no variation with God, no shifting shadows. God, unlike you, unlike me, God never changes.
He's the Lord, He changes not. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, yes, and today, Yes, and forever. God. is always always faithful. He was faithful yesterday.
He was faithful one thousand years ago. He will be faithful, I guarantee, to you tomorrow. And he will be faithful a month from now, a year from now, ten thousand years from now. He is God, he never ever changes. We live in a world of change, don't we?
We have job changes, weather changes, relationship changes, health changes, political changes, life is uncertain. Family changes, families which once seem secure then shatter. I Remember a couple in another church where I pastored? Who had adopted a little boy. The boy had some serious health.
Problems, but this couple very lovingly and very tenderly took the wee fellow into their home. And brought him up in love. and care. But something happened as the years passed The husband, the father. developed a friendship with another woman and persisted in it.
And so his wife came to see me and told me the situation and said, Pastor, one of the sad things is that my husband has really changed. Not only Is he very cold and indifferent and even harsh towards me? He's very cold and indifferent and harsh to her son, who was about thirteen. At the time. I met with the man who was a professing Christian.
challenged him Read the word of God to him, prayed with him, reminded him of the vows he'd made to his wife. reminded him of the commitment he'd made before God to bring up this little boy in the fear and nurture of the Lord. And remember the man sitting at on the other side of my desk looked me straight in the eye and said to me, I know all that you're going to say, but I want to tell you, I'm going to continue my course of action. He was tired, he said, of taking care of this handicapped son. He was tired of living with a woman.
He said that he no longer loved He said, It's now time for me to focus on me. It's time that I enjoyed myself. What had happened? A one un Once a man who was unselfish, caring, loved, devoted to wife and family, was now self-centered. Life was all about him.
His pleasure, his enjoyment, responsibilities, commitment before God and others mattered nothing. He had changed. That happens, doesn't it? God I want to tell you, my dear friend, we'll never ever be like that. God is always the same.
He is constant in his character. He is 100% reliable.
Now, because God is constant in his character, this is the point. Yes, you can trust him. Absolutely. You can place your trust in Him in every situation. He's always dependable.
Friends may change. People may let you down. Members of your own family may fail us, but God is always totally reliable. In the Old Testament, To emphasize this, God is likened to a rock. On the face of it, that seems rather strange to liken God to a rock.
But think of it. Deuteronomy 32, verses 3 and 4. Ascribe greatness to our God. The rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are just.
A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. God is an unchanging and an unchangeable rock. When you stand on God, He never caves in. There is never a crack, there is never a variation. He never shudders, there is never an earthquake.
He's always strong, he's always steadfast, he's always the same, he's always totally reliable. God, unlike us, is never subject to moods. He never gets tired of us. He never acts towards us unkindly. He never gets irritated towards us as we sometimes do with others, even to those whom we love.
God, his character, is constant. He's the father of lights, with whom there is no shifting shadow. God never gives up on his children. You will never ever However persuasive you are, you will never be able to talk God into doing something that isn't right. He's always faithful.
He is God. He is constant. in his character. Therefore, Trust them. There is a second reason.
God can always be trusted, first of all, because of his constant character. Secondly, God can always be trusted because of his eternal. Truths. God can always be trusted because of his eternal truth. Sulzenitsyn, the famous Russian novelist, quotes a Russian proverb and says, One word of truth outweighs the whole world.
In other words, I don't care what the whole world is saying. Because one word of truth. Outways A world of lies. I want to remind you That God's Word, this book, is absolute. Truth.
We live in a world where it's often very difficult to know who to believe and what to believe. We're coming up to election time. You're like me, you listen to the politicians and you wonder, well, what do they really believe? Are they just after my vote now that I'm a US citizen? Or are they going to deliver on their promise?
Where are they? We think of the spin of the politician. The slickness. of the master of spin. We think of the hyperbole of the salesman, the hype of the advertiser, the confident but sometimes very inaccurate weather forecasts, people saying this is what's going to happen, this is truth, and then we find out it's lies.
Think of the lives of powerful men. For Lenin, truth was a bourgeois concept to be manipulated for his revolutionary ends. Stalin Despised. True. Didn't believe in it.
Hitler propagated the idea of the big lie. That if you tell something if you tell a big enough lie and repeat it enough, People then will begin to believe it. a distortion of truth. Ma Ze Tung kept the masses in ignorance in China through his lies. President Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States when he was caught in his lies on tape.
President Clinton lied over his relationship with that woman. We live in a society of lies and of distortion. of unreliable statements. And we sometimes wonder Who do I believe and what can I believe? Who really is telling me the truth?
Is it the whole truth, or is it just part of the truth? Is it a spin? is a distortion. Even Christians, sadly, sometimes lie. and deceive.
I remember when I was practicing law representing a Christian client, in an appeal in a civil case I hadn't conducted the original trial, but was handling the appeal. And as I read the transcript of the evidence, I was amazed to read that the judge said. that he had great difficulty in believing my client. Who was appealing, who was a professing Christian, not only a professing Christian, but very well known in the community as a Christian. And the judge characterized my client, this Rather well known Christian.
As a unreliable. How is that? Haven't you found that the lines between truth and error, truth and lies in our society are being blurred? People are redefining morality. We no longer have objective standards, we no longer believe in absolute truth, now we have personal preferences.
Or other people try to redefine the character of God. We make God more palatable, more amenable to our way of thinking and lifestyle.
So someone says, Well, my God accepts my lifestyle, or my God would never judge anyone, or my God would never send anyone to hell. And I always think, who cares about your God? That's not the question. The question is about the true God. You can, in your own mind, manufacture any little god that you like.
That's called idolatry, that's foolishness. But what about the true God? What about the God who made the heavens and the earth, as we've been considering over these months? What about the God who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? What about the God before whom every individual will stand?
The God who is our Creator? What does He think? What does He say? Because God is always truthful. And his word is Truth.
Let's look at Psalm one hundred nineteen to see this The longest. Psalm in the Psalter, Psalm 119, just one verse, verse 89. We are saying that God's word is truth, therefore Trust God, believe God, accept His word. Psalm one hundred and nineteen, verse eighty nine. Forever, O Lord.
Your word is settled in heaven. How long is God's word settled in heaven? Until God changes his mind, until he revises his idea of right and wrong, until he changes his plans and purposes? You say absolutely not. That's ridiculous.
You got it. Forever. Forever, O Lord. Your word is settled in heaven. Jesus says that the heavens and the earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away.
It is forever. Settled in heaven. You can choose not to believe it. You can base your life on a lie, you can base your life on fantasy, you can make your own truth, you can manufacture your own little God, but it doesn't alter the fact that God's absolute truth is forever settled for all of eternity. And if you're wise, you trust that God and place your life and place your eternal future in the hands of that God.
Go back to Numbers chapter twenty-three, the fourth book. in the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, not that difficult to find. Numbers twenty three, verse nineteen. Here is an important verse which emphasizes that God is always truthful, unlike us. Numbers twenty-three.
Verse nineteen. God is not a man that he should lie. Don't judge God by your own standards. He is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. God never goes back on his word.
God His word is eternal. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it eternal? Good. Jesus said to his father in John 17, verse 17, Your word is truth.
Paul says at the beginning of Titus 1 that God cannot lie. Are there certain things that God can do? Yes, there are. Things which are inconsistent with His character, and God cannot lie. It's impossible for God to lie because He's absolute truth.
Now, this God who is absolute truth, this God who cannot lie, has given us His word written. in scripture. Paul says, Second Timothy three, verse sixteen, all Scripture is inspired by God, that is, God breathed, this God who is truth, gives us His Word, so that what we have in our hands are the very Word of God, written as it were, with the very finger of God. Yes, we know he used Man To give us his word, but the Whole process, the process of inspiration, is superintended by this God who is truthful, so that what we have in our hands is the very word. of God.
As we were studying the closing verses of First Peter chapter one, we remarked how Peter quotes Isaiah forty, verse eight and says, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord abides forever. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are, and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God.
To help you do that, John wrote a booklet titled Eternal Security, Finding Certainty in a Chaotic World. Through this special resource John shares his personal testimony, along with a careful examination of Scripture, to offer us clarity on matters of eternity. Get your copy today by visiting our website at theverdict. org. While you're there, consider making an investment in this Bible teaching ministry.
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We're located on the corner of Highway 51 and Ray Road. If you've been looking for a church home or a community to help you grow in your walk with Christ, We invite you to join us for our Sunday services. For more details about Calvary and our service times, visit theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I know you want to trust God, but Why do you find it so difficult? Perhaps there was a time when you felt betrayed or abandoned by God. Can I suggest that the more you know God, the more you experience His love for you, the more you will trust Him. God is always reliable.
God will never fail you.
So live a life of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. And join me next time as we continue this important subject of trusting God. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. M
