The Great Trust Failure
Psalm 4:1-5
By Brother David Rogers Bethlehem Baptist Church
Who do we trust in our lives? Do you trust your Spouse, your boss, your family members, your best friend? How do we judge someone or something to trust it? Do we judge it by it never failing us, by it always being there when we need it or do we have lesser qualifications for trust? Today we place our trust in many different things. We place our trust in the government to protect us, to take care of us in our old age or in a time of need, to watch out for us. We place trust in the Medical profession to take care of medical problems. We trust what they say. We place our trust in the Media to report the truth, to tell us the real story. But many of us never place our full trust in Jesus Christ.
People come and they hear a sermon. And that Sermon may prick their heart but they leave the church the same as when they came in. No change has taken place because they never placed their trust in the word of God. They would rather believe the media or government than believe God’s word. This week I had a young lady at school ask me and some other students how we new about what heaven and eternity would be like. When we told her because the Bible told us that was how it was. She just could not understand ho we could believe all that stuff. Now this young lady professed to be a born again Christian. She said that she placed her faith in Christ for her salvation but yet she was unable to trust God’s Holy Word completely. She failed to understand the truth because she could not feel or see something. This is where many are today. They claim to know Jesus but they sure don’t live like they do. They don’t have that passion for the Lord like someone who understood what their savior had done for them. We let too many things get into our lives that we forget to trust God to supply those things that we need.
People trust that their dogs want bite them but we can’t trust God to take care of us, to support us, or to answer our prayers. The reason why is because we don’t know what God means when He says trust me. We don’t know what the word means. This morning I want us to examine what the Bible says about trust. Turn with me as we read Psalm 4:1-5
Ps 4:1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness; Thou hast set me at large [when I was] in distress: Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Ps 4:2 O ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? [How long] will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah
Ps 4:3 But know that Jehovah hath set apart for himself him that is godly: Jehovah will hear when I call unto him.
Ps 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah
Ps 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in Jehovah.
Prayer
I. We trust God because He had mercy on us.
David understood this concept. God’s mercy was David’s saving grace. Because of God’s mercy David was saved from destruction several times throughout his life and because of God’s mercy David was saved. He understood that without God’s mercy there would be no grace, that God would judge and then there would be hell. But because He had mercy on us He sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to pay our sin debt. He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay a debt that we could never ever pay. He had so much mercy for us that He though of a way that our debt could be paid so that it could be wiped out. This is why we should trust Him.
Yet many today shame Him because they long for things of vanity. They seek after the world instead of trusting Him. They seek worldly answers instead of God’s answer for life. They chase after the pleasures of the world instead of chasing after the pleasures of eternity. Today trust the Lord Jesus Christ because of His mercy, give up your worldly life and starting today live you life for eternity. Because we are not a part of this world, we need to understand that we are just passing through.
II. We trust God because we are set apart from the rest of the world.
God has set each one of us apart. We are separated from the rest of the world. In fact we stick out like a sore thumb. That is what God wants of us. He wants us to stick out to stand above everyone else. He wants people to be able to see us. To be the outsider, the third wheel, those odd -ball take trust. We must trust Him to keep us and provide for our needs. This is the only way we can remain separate. If we don’t trust to do what He said He would do we will blend back into the world. Allowing the world to take over our lives. We will no be separate, we will no longer look different, we will look like ever body else. How about you? Do you stand out from the crowd? Or when you go back to work Monday morning can’t they tell that you are different. If you set there and say I look like every body else I am not different from the rest of the world I don’t stand out. This morning you can be separated. The Lord will hear when you call Him. Call Him now and ask Him to separate you from the crowd.
III. We trust God because He will not forsake us
Ps 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; For thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
God will never ever forsake you if you are one of His children. No matter how many times you wonder off God will not forsake you. Unlike the many worldly things in which we place our trust God will never fail you. He will never turn His back from you. God will always be there when we need and He is even there when we don’t need Him. Yet we will place our trust in programs, self help book, our jobs, even our family members and then we are surprised when they forsake us. We never look for God. But God will never leave us hanging. That is why we are to trust Him.
IV. We trust Him because He is our refuge
Ps 9:9 Jehovah also will be a high tower for the oppressed, A high tower in times of trouble
Who do you go running to in times of trouble? As children we mostly went to our mothers trusting that she will make it all better. Most of the times she could but at other times she could not. But with God there is nothing he can’t do. So instead in times of trouble running to the world for advice or council why not come to you father. Crawl up in His lap, curl up and let Him make it better. Would your earthly parents do something to make it worse or ignore your pain when you sought refuge? No, so how much better would it be to trust in your father in Heaven and let Him be our refuge. Who better to protect us than our creator and Lord?
V. We trust God because HE is our righteousness
Ps 37:5 Commit thy way unto Jehovah; Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.
We cannot do enough good works to be righteous. No matter how we try, no matter how hard we work we can never be righteous in God’s eyes. This is a problem that God had to work out. So when we come to Jesus He covers us with His righteousness. When God sees us He sees Jesus’ righteousness and counts it for us. So if you sitting here today and you are saying I will come to God when I clean myself up some more I want you to know that you cannot clean yourself up enough to come to the Lord. The only way you can ever approach the Throne of God is by being covered in the blood of Jesus. Then when God looks at you He is seeing Jesus’ righteousness. Are you covered in Jesus’ righteousness? Are you Trusting Him today?
VI. We trust God because He is our salvation
2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
Many people in America and the world today are being fooled. They are placing their trust in some type of a system. This system promises to deliver them if they do certain things. It causes them to jump through hoops to validate their belief. Many people are placing their trust in works. The Buddhist believe that they are born many times into many different lives. During these lives they have lessons that they are to learn. If they learn their lesson they move on to another life if not they must be reborn again and experience the same things to learn the lessons of this life. Finally if they are lucky one day they will have learned all that they need to know and become enlightened and they go to nirvana. It is sad to note that all the practice of good will and sacrifice for others does just a much good for them as it did Buddha. Buddha died and because he did believe in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior he will spend eternity in Hell and so will all who follow his path. The Hindu worships their God made up of many little Gods. They sacrifice to them, they hold certain animals to be sacred, and they perform numerous pious exercises throughout their lives. But in the end no matter how many prayers they have prayed and alms they have given in their lives, if they don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior they are going to die and their final destination is hell. The Muslim worships ali and prays to him 5 times a day. They even claim that he is the god that we worship. But sadly he is not because their god is totally against the Jews and Christians and even teaches them to kill us as enemies to ali because we are infidels. Where on the other hand our God teaches us to love our enemies. Quite a difference there don’t you say. But no matter how many prayers they pray, or no matter how many infidels they kill they are going to end up in the same place as Mohammed did and that is hell there is no heaven with 70 virgins for them. Their god is the devil not our God Jehovah. And the only reason why they are going to go the hell is because the refuse to trust the only one that can save them.
The Jew worships the same God that we worship but because they refuse to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior they will die and go to hell because of their unbelief.
The only way that you go to hell is not trusting Jesus for your salvation. Having faith that He died for you and paid you sin debt. Many people today have heard the gospel preached and they have refused to believe that Jesus came to save them. It is easier for them to believe that they can save themselves if they do enough good than it is to believe that all they got to do is accept the free gift of salvation. That is too easy to trust in. There must be more to it than that.
Others believe that when you die that is it nothing else you simply cease to live. There is nothing after death. How sad that life must be to know that when you die there is nothing else you no longer have a presence. But then I guess you wouldn’t know would you.
Then there are those who accept that Jesus came to earth. That He died on the cross. And that He was a good man but that was all that He was a good man even a great teacher nothing more. But they miss the central truth that trusting Jesus saves and nothing else.
How about those who accept that Jesus died on the cross to pay for their sins, that He was resurrected on the third day, and now He is sitting at the right hand of God. They claim to have trusted Jesus for their salvation. They got baptized but they don’t trust Him enough to let Him be their Lord and Savior, the Guide of their life. They come down the aisle and get dunked but then they went back to their life unchanged. The things of God are not the most important thing to them. I come to church on Sunday morning therefore I don’t need to go back until next Sunday. The big game is on I can’t miss that the Lord can wait. I am tired and I need to rest so I can go out tonight. Or my favorite T.V. show is on and I can’t miss that. It is either one excuse or another why they can’t trust God to provide what they need maybe not what they want we want a lot of things that are of this world but very little of this world is what we actually need. It is time to quite our business as usually attitude about life. God is not calling us to be like everybody else. He has separated us to be different from the masses. We are to trust Him because it will be through His strength that we will be able to stand out of the crowd. It is time that we quite putting our wants and preferences ahead of God. No where in the Bible does it say okay my plan is for you to accept Jesus as your savior and then you go about your business as usual.
No what it actually says is you must have faith in Christ and be reborn to start a new life as a new man. The bible from Genesis to revelation is all about trusting the Lord. Trusting that God will provide everything that we need and fulfill every promise that He has made.
What about you are trusting God today? Are you saved but you have been so caught up in the world that you have quite trusting Him for your needs and instead have been trusting worldly things to fulfill your needs and wants. If so than today you change that all you have to do is confess and repent. Or maybe you are sitting here and you have never placed you trust in Jesus Christ. And you are feeling God’s tug on your heart. That is Him saying trust me to save you. Trust that there is no other way but through Jesus Christ. Don’t delay or hesitate this may be your last chance. Come as a song of invitation is sung.
