I am always surprised at how much I grow in knowing God, especially while preparing for teaching, and how there always seems to be a new depth into His word that I had not seen prior.
According to dictionary.com the definition of trust is: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; or confidence.
In some or most cases, there is only a superficial trust that we place in God, and I believe this is because, however intentional our effort may be, we place our trust merely on an image of God in our minds, instead the God revealed in Scripture. I'm sure that this error varies from person to person in the details, but the root I believe is the same.
I vividly remember when I was a kid, ashamedly, I was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, not so much the thunderstorm, but the tornado I feared that it could produce. I was so consumed by this fear that everyone eventually knew that I was obsessed, and would joke that they could always rely on me to tell them the weather. I'll admit there were perks to this fearful obsession, and over time I developed a heightened sensitivity to the weather. I could walk out and with a feel of the air, and with a quick glance at the clouds, I could tell what the weather was going to be, more or less, at any given time.
As a child, I always believed in God, or at least I thought He existed. On certain occasions when a certain massive black cloud would be forming over my house, and I would be getting nervous, my uncle would very confidently say: "Chris, your in Gods hands, when he decides to take you home he will." He was probably 15 and I was around 10 or 11, but despite the youthfulness of us both, I'll admit, this did give me some hope. I knew that God was real, and I knew that he was sovereign, or at least when there was a thunderstorm, because I would pray to Him and trust that he could prevent it with His on will. This hope was always short lived.
I had a created image of God in my mind, and any trust I had was not rooted by true godly-fear. Trusting in the God of the Bible was far from me, and it was soon smothered and overtaken by disbelief, and gave birth to sinful-fear. But as for trusting what my uncle said to me, why didn't what he said produce unshakeable trust in me toward God? When he said "Chris, your in Gods control, He'll take you home when He's ready," I took this as a promise, and I did trust it, but why didn't I trust this to the core of my soul? The lack of deep trust in God was on account of an unanchored heart in true godly-fear. The main issue was that I truly did not believe the words he (my uncle) spoke, and therefore there was no possible way that I could ever trust them, much less the God that were directed toward.
So to sum so far, if we do not know God then we can never truly trust Him, because ultimately we will be putting our trust in a figment of our imagination. Any trust placed in anything other than the true and living God revealed in Scripture will be very short lived and soon overtaken in disbelief and despair, just as my brief testimony gave witness to.
I have four points that I believe will make a good outline to help us wrap our minds around trusting God as we ought.
1. We must know God in order to trust Him.
2. If God is known he will be feared.
3. Therefore one must fear God in order to trust Him.
4. We fear and trust God because we know His Word and it's truth.
1. We must know God in order to trust Him.
What a concept, knowing God... If you just think about it, it has the tendency to blow your mind. To bad we do take this for granite, more than cherishing the fact that He has revealed Himself and His will to us to know Him personally. I want to propose that if we know God, trusting Him will absolutely follow hand in hand. Therefore I believe it true to say, to know God is to trust God. I want to pause here to make clear two sub points under the main point:
1. We must know God in order to trust Him.
1a. How do we know God?
2a. By what means do we trust him?
1a. How we know God:
With the acknowledgment of general revelation that we posses as created beings of God, that we do know the eternality and power of God by God's creation and His image that we bear, this knowledge is not sufficient for salvation. So then I will propose that we only know God personally in a saving way only by the authority of His Word.
(John 1:1-4)
(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(2) He was in the beginning with God.
(3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
(4) In him (in the Word) was life, and the life was the light of men.
Note John MacArthur on John 1:1-4:
"John borrowed the use of the term "Word" not only from the vocabulary of the old testament but also from Greek philosophy. The word "Word" used in the Greek is Logos. A word in which served in Greek philosophy as a principle of divine "reason," a divine "mind," or even divine "wisdom." John, however, saturated the term entirely with OT and Christian meaning, and made it refer to a person, i.e., the Word or the Logos is Jesus Christ. Here are a few examples of God's Word as his powerful self-expression, in creation, wisdom, revelation, and salvation:
(Gen 1:3) And God
said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
(Psa 33:6) By the
word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
(Psa 107:20) He sent out His
word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
(Pro 8:27) When he established the heavens,
I (Wisdom) was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep...
Noting the emphasis that these few scriptures from the old testament put on the power of Gods Word, I want to turn to the new testament. We have already looked at John 1 and the emphasis He put on the Word of God being the person of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ being part of the trinity from all eternity with God. So with this in mind, lets consider 2Timothy 3:16:
"All scripture is inspired (literally God-breathed) by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
So far we have the Word of God established as the second person of the Trinity from all eternity in John 1, and now here in 2Tim 3 we have it said that God has, literally breathed out Scripture, so it qualifies that the canonized Scripture, new and old testament is the Word of God, and that he has chosen to reveal Himself to us in it.
I want to note here how exactly we are brought to know God through His word...
2 Peter 1:21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:6-11 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. [7 ] we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. [8 ] None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [9 ] But, as it is written,
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
[10 ] these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11 ] For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
In light of these verses we know that it is the Holy Spirit that brings us to the knowledge of the truths of Scripture. Not mans will, but that by which the Holy Spirit leads us to understand. Now I want to go back to the first point:
How do we know God?
We know there is general revelation as in our general knowledge of God who made everything, but more In particular I wish to look in to personally knowing God as Lord and savior, not just solely and generally the creator. According to 2Tim 3:16 all scripture is God-breathed, old and new testament, so I believe it true to say, we only know God as much as we know His word. Scripture is His revealed Word, and the only way we are enlightened to the truths of Scripture is when the Holy Spirit works in us to turn our hearts to believe them. So, Lets consider Psalm 138 for just a moment
David says "I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word"
John 8:31-32 [31 ] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32 ] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
We must know God in order to trust Him; and now that we have established that God intends for us to know Him through His word, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we can move to the 2nd point.
2a. By what means do we trust Him?
What does it mean to trust God, and why should I trust Him? We trust him on the basis of His Word. We know God through His Word, and we trust Him because of His Word. Lets consider these few verses...
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 [10 ] According to the grace of God given to me (Paul), like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. [11 ] For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." [12 ] Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— [13 ] each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. [14 ], If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. [15 ] If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Similarly Paul warns again and says in Galatians "[6 ] I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— [7 ] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8 ] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [9 ] As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
(Galatians 1:6-9)
Jesus also says in Matt 24:35: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
Ok, so we must note here in light of Gods Word that, put simply, Jesus Christ is the foundation for everything. Every purpose in the mind on God rest in the personal Word of God, Jesus, through whom everything in existence is made. [36 ] For from him and through him and to him are all things" Romans 11:36. Therefore, we should also note that no other foundation will stand the wrath and judgment of Gods fire against sin except the foundation of Jesus, Gods own Word, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
By what means do we trust God? We trust Him by and through the authority that He has placed on His word. We have no other hope or foundation to trust, than that of the forgiveness of sin through the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture, the Word of God, in which Paul claimed:
"[2 :1] And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. [2 ] For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. [3 ] And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, [4 ] and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5 ] that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV)
We know God through His word, we trust God because His word is true, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that will stand true on judgment day. Jesus says in John 12 [48 ] "The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge;
the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. [49 ] For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. [50 ] And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
There is absolutely nothing else to put our trust in, besides the forgiveness of sin through the gospel of Jesus, revealed in Gods Word... So now to sum up all that we have went over.
1. We must know God in order to trust Him-
1a. We know God and trust God, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, by and through His Word.
2a. And we trust His word because it is true, and we find in it the forgiveness of sin by the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only foundation that will withstand the judgment of God against sin...
Now we have established that we have nothing else to put our trust in besides Jesus, and His gospel revealed to us in the pages of Scripture, Gods Word.
I had some hang ups preparing the second half of the lesson. I couldn't seem to find a way to tie in the fear of God with trusting God. But for some reason it kept setting the foundation for everything that I was writing, and I couldn't get away from it. This isn't a lesson of the fear of the God but I do want to touch on it, just for a moment, just to press what we have already stated about trusting God deeper into our hearts...
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
Job 28:23-28 [23 ] “God understands the way to it (wisdom),
and he knows its place.
[24 ] For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
[25 ] When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
[26 ] when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
[27 ] then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
[28 ] And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Psalm 19:9 [9 ] the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever...
Now some people will get very nervous when we start talking about the fearing God. I want to focus on this verse from Psalm 19 and Proverbs 1 and give an illustration to demonstrate what I believe this passage is saying.
First of all we know that we should fear God because the Scriptures give us many examples of why we should, from men falling face down as dead, to fear and trembling at the presence of God because of His holiness and majesty...
To give an example: imagine that there is a person standing 10 feet away, facing you. This person looks calm, collected and altogether relaxed. All of a sudden, a full grown lion walks up behind him and he crouches like he's about to pounce on the person. Now picture your self as the person I''m talking to, and I say to you "hey, there is a full grown lion behind you and he crouching behind your and he looks hungry...." Now let’s just say that you did believe me, and imagine the shear terror that you would feel!! Let me ask you a question.... Is that terror a bad thing? No! It’s a fact.... The lion is behind you and if he pounces on you, you are more than likely dead... So naturally you fear the lion, it’s a healthy fear... Now we know that God hates sin, and well, we are sinners... We are in a similar situation of the guy with hungry lion standing behind him... Except it’s a holy God in eternal glory that we have offended.... It’s more serious than a lion, it’s God. My pastor gave a really good example when I taught this lesson that really explained it better than I ever could have, He said, "In the Chronicals Of Narnia one of the kids visiting the world asked if Aslin was safe, and One of the people from there said, and note this, 'No He's not safe... but He's good...'" I thought that was awesome! That’s what I want us to focus on- It says in scripture that when men of old were exposed to a vision of God, it wasn't just butterflies and rainbows, they were terrified! Like in Revelation, John fell at the vision of Jesus Christ in glory, as if dead, because John‘s sinfulness was fully exposed to himself in light of the presence of God, and like Isaiah said in a similar situation, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips....
But Now remember, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.... Proverbs 1:7
To sum this all sum I want to note a very good quote from John Bunyan: "This fear of God is called God's treasure, for it is one of his choice jewels, it is one of the rarities of heaven, "The fear of the Lord is his treasure" (Isa 33:6). And it may well go under such a title; for as treasure, so the fear of the Lord is not found in every corner. It is said all men have not faith, because that also is more precious than gold; the same is said about this fear—"There is no fear of God before their eyes" ; that is, the greatest part of men are utterly destitute of this godly jewel, this treasure, the fear of the Lord. Poor vagrants, when they come straggling to a lord's house, may perhaps obtain some scraps and fragments, they may also obtain old shoes, and some sorry cast-off rags, but they get not any of his jewels, they may not touch his choicest treasure; that is kept for the children, and those that shall be his heirs. We may say the same also of this blessed grace of fear, which is called here God's treasure. It is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs and children of the promise; all others are destitute of it, and so continue to death and judgment.
To close I want to focus on the very last sentence of the quote from Bunyan.. It (the fear of God) is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs and children of the promise; all others are destitute of it, and so continue to death and judgment.
Bunyan says “it (the fear of God) is only bestowed upon the elect, the heirs and children of the promise.
Remember that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Proverb 1:7
1. So we must know God in order to trust Him.
2. If God is known (from the established point of knowing God only through his authoritative and sovereign Word) He will be feared.
3. Therefore, one must fear God in order to trust Him properly.
So then, to sum up the last point, we trust God because we have His word. With the foundation of the fear of God in our heart, our knowledge of God through his word, and the forgiveness of Sin through the gospel of Jesus Christ, let us take heed and trust God.
Romans 8: [18 ] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19 ] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20 ] For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21 ] that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
[22 ] For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [23 ] And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24 ] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25 ] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
[26 ] Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. [27 ] And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
[28 ] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29 ] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [30 ] And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(Romans 8:18-27; Romans 8:28-30 ESV)
[6 ] And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6 ESV)
Jesus says in John 3:16 "whoever believes in me shall not perish but have everlasting life."
So let’s rightly glorify God in everything that we do through the gospel of Jesus Christ, trusting in His Word, and knowing that all of His promises are true...
Yours in Christ, Christ Fincher
