A God We Can Trust

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, a God we can trust. Who can you trust anymore? Somebody says, well, let me tell you something very important, but you must not tell anyone. And yet, oftentimes the confidence is broken. People make promises they cannot keep, break confidences they don't want to keep, tell you things that absolutely are not the truth. Well, there is someone who keeps every single promise he makes, never lies, and never breaks a confidence, and that is Almighty God. And that's who I want to talk about in this message entitled A God We Can Trust. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Psalm 36. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Psalm 37. And in this 37th Psalm, we are admonished to place our trust in the Lord. And if you'll recall, for example, the gospel hymn we sing, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And I think most of us have found out that it's much easier to sing that song than it is to trust the Lord sometimes, especially when we're going through some difficulties, some hardships, some trial in our life, when the pressure's on deeply, we're aggrieved in our spirit about some hurt, very difficult sometimes to trust Him. But the truth is, that is the way you and I are to live because the Apostle Paul said, we live by faith. That is, the just shall live by faith.

That is our lifestyle, a lifestyle of trusting God. And so in this 37th Psalm, which is a very well-known psalm, David says, do not fret because of evildoers. Do not be envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because of Him who prospers in His way. Because of the man who cares at wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Now all through the Scriptures, you and I are admonished to trust the Lord. And probably one of the most familiar passages in all the Old Testament is Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. All through the Old Testament, we are continued to be

admonished to trust Him. Place our trust in Him. It sounds so simple, just believe Him. And yet, you and I find it very difficult sometimes to do. Well, in this message, I want you to listen very carefully because no matter what you're going through and what you're facing in life, if you listen carefully, here's what you're going to find. You're going to find an undergirding that will enable you and help you place your trust in God when everything in you says you can't, everything in you says don't. You look around you and you don't see any evidence for trusting God. When everything around you may be falling apart, the answer is still the same. Place your trust in Him. Now, what I would like to do at this point is to move to some very specific biblical reasons that the Bible gives us for which you and I can trust Him, a God in whom we can trust. And so, first of all, I want to say we can trust Him because the truth is He's the only God. Everything else is an idol. Men have idols of themselves. They have idols made of wood, stone, jewels, gold, silver. They have idols made of green. That's greenbacks. They have idols of their position and prominence and prestige, whatever it may be. People worship all kinds of things. Now, just because they don't bow down and kneel down and bow and

scrape before something doesn't mean they're not worshiping it. Whatever dominates, whatever controls, whatever causes me to ultimately make those final decisions in life, whatever is the highest motivating factor that governs and dominates and controls my thinking and my actions, whatever that is or whoever that is, that is the idol of my life. And so, therefore, when we think of our God, there is one true God, the God of Genesis chapter 1. Listen, in the beginning God, who is this? He is the only God. He is the sovereign God. He is the supreme God. And the Bible says his name is Jehovah and you recall that Moses said to God when he sent him down to Egypt to release the Egyptian to release the Israelites the Hebrews He said well, who am I gonna tell my fellow Israelites who sent me you he said you tell them I am has sent you I am has sent you the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of creation you and I serve the only True God and it's interesting what David said go back to 2nd Samuel if you will for a moment in 2nd Samuel in the 7th chapter David has been blessed so blessed by God that he's sitting before the Lord and I love that phrase That David went the king went in and sat before the Lord chapter 7 of 2nd Samuel and the 18th verse He sat down before the Lord and as he sat down and began to think about all the good things that God had done for Him and he says Lord who am I Oh Lord God and what is this house of mine that you've brought me this far? and he began to think about for example, he used to be a shepherd boy and God had made him king and now he here he was Living in this palace that God had provided for him And of course God begins to talk to him about him building him a temple But at this moment he's sitting before the Lord and notice what he says in verse 21 For the sake of thy word and according to thine own heart thou has done all this greatness to let thy servant know For this reason thou art great O Lord God for there is none like thee and there is no God beside thee and you'll recall that in commandments

We are to worship one God and one only we're not to bow down to any other gods We're not to bow down to their names in any fashion we're to recognize one true God the reason you and I can place our trust in God is that he is the only God and there are many many scriptures in the Bible that that would relate to that You'll call for example what Paul said to Timothy He said there's one God one mediator between God and man That is the person Jesus Christ God the Father between God the Father and every single one of us is his son He says seated at the father's right hand Continually making intercession for you and for me now Not only can I trust him because he's the only true God but secondly because he is the essence of truth itself That is all truth is going to be found in God now. I can trust the God who is Absolutely truthful. He is always truthful For example in the 31st Psalm if you'll notice in the fifth verse what he says He says into thy hand I commit my spirit and you're called that this is what Jesus said on the cross when he was crucified And here Jesus is quoting the psalm psalm 31 verse 5 into thy hand I commit my spirit there has ransomed me. Oh Lord God of truth What did Jesus say when he said I am the way the what? The truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me and so you recall also in John 14 John 15 John 16 Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as the spirit of truth three times He calls the Holy Spirit a person of the Trinity He calls him the the spirit of truth and of course in John 17 For example the 17th verse when Jesus is offering what is the Lord's Prayer that 17th chapter that long chapter of Jesus prayer He says to the father thy word is truth. Listen. The word is truth because God is truth now listen I may not be able to trust most people for some reason or the other or whatever it may be But here's one thing. I know God he says in Titus God cannot lie God cannot lie. He does not lie. You know why I can't lie because it is not his nature to lie Listen, the nature of God is the attributes of God The very being of God is that he is a God of truth so that God only speaks truth always speaks truth is truth I can trust the God that I know will always tell me the truth Now the problem is that most of us have we all have it sometimes I don't even want to hear the truth

Amen, sometime we hear the truth. We think oh dear Lord. Don't say that. Give me a break I mean do something don't why did you have to come up with that? Because he's a God of truth and because he cannot lie and because he absolutely cannot say speak anything But truth you and I can trust the God of the Bible because the God of the Bible is the God of truth He is the essence of truth. He cannot lie. God cannot change his character under any condition That's one thing God cannot do because the changes character will not be God There's a third thing I know about him That also gives me a great sense of faith that I can trust this God and that is that he is absolutely faithful You recall he says in Lamentations chapter 3 verse 23 He says how great is his faithfulness great is the faithfulness of God? What is the faithfulness of God it simply means that he's reliable that he's true Trustworthy you can count on him. He is reliably there. He will always be there when I need him He says I will never leave you nor forsake you. I can always trust him no matter what he is absolutely faithful No one can promise you that they will always be with you No one can promise you anything that God can promise Because he is the only one who can say that we know who is absolutely Unquestionably always in every single possible circumstance of life if he makes a promise He is faithful to carry out that promise. Think about the promises that all of us have we have the promise of his pardon He says if we confess our sins He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness We have the promise of all of our provision that we need my God shall supply all your needs according this riches in glory in Christ Jesus We have the promise of his protection if you read the 91st Psalm That is an awesome psalm of God's absolute protection of his children We have the promise that he will answer our prayers asking it should be given you seeking you shall find Knocking it should be open to you. We have the promise of his continued presence I will never leave you nor forsake you at any situation circumstance We have the promise that he will present every single one of us who is a believer faultless before the throne That's what he says now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the throne of God we have promise after promise after promise, but one of his wonderful promises is found in the 16th Psalm and

Listen to what he says. Here is a promise Here is the promise of pleasure He says in verse 11 thou will make known to me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy in thy right Hand there are pleasures forevermore people so I've become a Christian But I won't have any more fun Listen friend You don't know what joy and peace and happiness and contentment are like until you place your trust in Jesus Christ and God Doesn't take away our joy. God doesn't take away our fun What God is up to listen is teaching us how to live in a relationship with him that makes life Complete and absolutely no matter what our troubles and trials and heartaches and burdens may be God will give us this Overwhelming sense of joy and undergirding peace that we stand upon the immovable rock of God God is faithful to keep every single one of those promises. That's the kind of God He is he is faithful. That means you can trust him. He's trustworthy But there's another reason that you and I can place our trust in him and that is because he has all power You remember what Jesus said? He said for example before his disciples were to Commission he gave them a great Commission at the very beginning of it He said all power and authority have been given unto me He said also that all judgment had been given to him Jesus at all authority all power has been given to me in heaven and on Earth he says therefore go and make disciples of all nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all the things that I've commanded you and Lo, I'll be with you. He says until the end of this age I'll be with you every step of the way only a God who has all power can make such a promise as that Now I want you to look at a verse or two I want you to look into a hundred and third Psalm This is a very important verse It's more important than most people think I think and that is the 19th verse of the hundred and third Psalm And when you're looking at that, let me define what I mean by this The sovereignty of God means that God is in absolute control of every situation circumstance of life This is why Jesus said every hair upon your heads numbered He said even the sparrow that falls to the earth the father knows about it Nothing happens beyond the reach the knowledge and the power of Almighty God look at this 19th verse

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all That is Almighty. God is in absolute control of every single solitary thing in all of life There is nothing out from under his country. You know what I can trust the God who has all power I can trust the God who has all power because he is truth I know he's gonna tell me the truth because he's faithful He's gonna do what he says and because he's omnipotent He has the power to do what he promised to do I can place my trust in a God who has all power to do every single thing. He promised to do but there's another reason and that is because I know he loves us unconditionally and there are many many verses that you and I could turn to concerning his love I Want us to turn to Galatians or Ephesians chapter 5 for a moment and you recall what he says in the beginning of this chapter He says in the fifth chapter and the first couple of verses there He says in verse 5 chapter 5 verse 1 therefore the imitators of God as Beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us and offering it a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. He says, we're to walk in love. He says, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us. Now, when I think about how much he loves us, the degree to which he loves us, he loves us, the Bible says, absolutely, unconditionally, he loves us. Now, this is a verse of scripture. I want you to turn to John chapter 15 for a moment. Here's the verse of scripture that sometime you have to read this several times and think, now, do I really and truly believe this? Listen to what Jesus said in this 15th chapter, remembering that the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th chapters,

17th chapters of John are those chapters right before his crucifixion. Listen to what he says in this ninth verse of the 15th chapter. Look at this. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you, abide in my love. Now, think about that. He says, you want to know how much I love you? He says, then you think about how much the Father loves me, Jesus is saying. Now, how much did the Father love the Son? He loved him with absolute, perfect love, eternal love, indescribable, incomparable love. Jesus was so loved by the Father. Here's what he's saying. He says, now, just like the Father loved me, he says, in the same way the Father has loved me, that's the way I love you. I love you the same way the Father loved me. Now, think about this. Jesus says, I love you with the same intensity the Father loves me. Now, can I put my trust in a God who is the only true God? Can I put my trust in a God who is in the essence of truth himself? Can I put my trust in a God who is absolutely faithful? Listen, who absolutely has all power to perform every single thing he promised?

Can I put my faith in a God who loves me absolutely unconditionally? And what is the answer? What is the answer? Give me a good answer. What's the answer? Yes, you and I can trust the God like that. Now, I want you to listen very carefully and I'm gonna slow down. But suppose God changes his mind about me. Then what? Now, I want you to listen carefully so you'll be able to go back and look at these verses and remember exactly what we're talking about. Listen carefully. God does not change in his person, in his being, in all his perfections. He does not change in his purpose or his plans or his power. God in the essence of who he is does not change. Now, he has emotions and so therefore he says he loves. He likewise can be angry. He swallowed up a whole bunch of disobedient servants in the Old Testament, just swallowed them up in the earth so God can get angry. But he also is a God of love. So when we say that God doesn't change, that doesn't mean that he has one emotion only. But listen carefully. It means that God never changes

in the circumstances as it is. Aren't you grateful that when difficulty comes or trials or temptations, that you come to a God who can say to you, I know how you feel. I'm sympathizing with you. I know how you're hurting. I'm hurting with you. That's what he, what is he doing? Listen carefully. He's feeling what I need to feel in that circumstance. If I turn around and disobey him and he disciplines me and he is displeased, has he changed his mind or hasn't changed his mind? He's feeling what he normally feels when the object of his feeling is now living in disobedience to him. So in his person, in his being, in his perfections, in his purpose, in his plans, in his power, he does not change. And so when we talk about a God whom we can trust, thank God he does not change. Now, so somebody says, but wait a minute now. I got a few verses of scripture I want you to look at. So I wanna, I want you to go back, if you will, to Exodus chapter 31, 32. You'll recall that when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the 10 commandments, when he came back, he heard this noise. I mean, they were having themselves one big idolatrous party. They created a golden calf.

They would dance around this calf and carrying on all kinds of extortions. And so the scripture says that Moses got so angry. Listen, I mean, he really got angry. Threw the commandments down. And God, listen, God was angry. And verse 10 says in the 32nd chapter, now then let me alone that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. I will make of you a great nation. So what happens? Look at this 11th verse. Then Moses entreated the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why doth thine anger burn against thy people whom thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak saying with evil intent, he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy burning anger and change thy mind about doing harm to thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, thy servant. to whom thou didst swear by thyself, and didst say to them, I will multiply your descendants into the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken, I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit the land, inherit it forever. So the Lord changed his mind. He said, aha, aha, the Lord changed his mind. No, He didn't.

Watch this carefully. You say, but it says He did. But now what changed? This is the nature of God. When there is sin and the judgment of God is coming and there is an intercessor, one who is willing to come to God in behalf of those people, crying out in their behalf for God to be merciful, what does God do? God responds to intercessory prayer. God responds to intercessory prayer. And so what is He doing? He is responding to Moses' intercessory prayer. It's not that God has changed His mind because, listen, it is the nature of God to respond to intercessory prayer. And so what is He doing? He is being Himself. So are the circumstances changing? Yes. Now watch this. God, listen, God in His person, in His being, in His perfections, in His purpose, in His plans, in His powers not change. What has happened is this, that Moses has interceded before the Father. God is simply being Himself in answering the petition, the crying, weeping, heartfelt petition of Moses as He intercedes to the people of God. So when He says He changes His mind, you have to remember what that means, that God, listen, God hasn't changed.

And the fact that God was waiting for Moses to intercede in behalf of Israel. And then what He said is, I will not destroy them in response to your intercession. If anything should shout to you and me, it should shout to us this, how important it is, how powerful it is for a child of God, walking in the Spirit, living a pure life, living a holy life to cry out to God in behalf of people who desperately need to be saved, whose circumstances need to be changed because God by His nature will hear and answer our prayer and alter and change the circumstances of the people for whom we pray. Well, let's look at something else here. For example, when we think in terms of God changing His personhood, for example, what about Jonah? The Bible says, Jonah, I want you to, God says, Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to preach the judgment of God is coming. So, of course, we know the story of Jonah and the whale and so forth, and so he finally does get there against his will, preaches the truth, and Nineveh breaks out in a great revival, sackcloth and ashes, I mean, a tremendous revival breaks loose. Well, Jonah ends up sulking, fretting over the fact that it looked like he lied. He told them the judgment of God was coming. Why did God send Jonah to begin with?

He sent Jonah not simply to announce the judgment of God, but to preach the truth in order that they may repent of their sins, that the judgment would not come. But the judgment, listen, the message had to be the judgment of God is coming. And so what happens? They repented of their sin. God did not send His judgment. Did God change His mind? No, because it is the nature of God to respond to genuine repentance. Listen, it is never the will of God just to wipe out cities and wipe out nations and wipe out groups of people. It is the will and purpose and plan of God to bring people to repentance, to bring people to worship Him and adore Him and to serve Him. So therefore, it's not His purpose to wipe them out. It is, it's the nature of God. It is the attributes of God. It is the person and being and plan of God that there'll be repentance over sin and genuine repentance that brings people to God. Therefore, God responds. So here's what I want you to remember. He responds in the circumstance, whatever it is. As the circumstance changes, listen, the nature of God is such that God is going to be

the same that He always is in a circumstance that is like that particular circumstance. So God isn't changing. Why would God have to change His mind when He is omniscient? He does not. Now I want you to think about how important this is. We said, we know He loves us unconditionally. No, He's absolute truth, absolute faithful, absolute power in His hands. Now, but suppose this, but even if, listen, all those other things being true, suppose God could change. Well, think about this. If God could change to get just a little bit better than He is, that means you and I have been serving a God who is not absolutely good. If He could just get a little bit evil, it means we're serving a God who could be better than He is. Where in the world would our faith be if God can change in His person, change in His being, change in His attributes? change in his character. Where are we? Imagine suddenly having to believe that God's changed his mind. Maybe he's not gonna be so faithful. Listen, listen carefully. This is the reason the unbeliever has so much difficulty in trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness

of their sin. First of all, they don't know God, so we understand that. So when we say to them, if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And they say, but look, you don't know what I've done back yonder. But we say, listen, God is faithful. If he says, if you confess, he is, listen, he puts the word in there, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But the unbeliever says, but you know what? I just, I don't, he may have for you, but I'm not sure he will for me. Listen to this. Can you imagine living in a world in which you and I are trying to serve a God whom we're not sure whether he's going to change his mind about us tomorrow or not? Imagine being a part of a kingdom of God that this, that this God in this kingdom in which you and I live could decide that he's going to be evil. And we end up living in a, in a kingdom under a dominating, listen, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, evil God. Friend, here's what that does. That absolutely destroys everything you and I believe. We have nothing to, listen, nothing to stand upon, nothing to rest in. Me commit myself to a God who could change his mind? You want me to believe that I'm going to serve a God who's, who believes this today and that tomorrow, who changes his mind,

he loves me today and hates me tomorrow? Listen, you can't name me one thing about almighty God that can change and he still remain Jehovah God of the Bible. The same yesterday, today, and forever. That verse of scripture is not in the Bible by an accident. The same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, what does that say? It says that you and I are the most fortunate people in the world. Listen, when I think about every single believer, we have a personal relationship with a God who can't change. What did he say about you? He says, I love you. I love you so much I'll sit my only begotten son to die on your behalf and pay your sin, debt, and filth. You want to know how much I love you? That's how much I love you. But God supposes you will never change my love, God says. God cannot change because it is not his nature to change. And thank God you and I never have to worry about him changing. Listen, somebody says, what do you think God's opinion of you is? I can tell you what it is. He loves me to death. That's what his opinion is. But you know what? He loves you the same. Oh, but me. No, no, no.

Listen, he loves you just the way you are. I didn't say he was satisfied. He loves you just the way you are. What is he doing? The reason I know he's not satisfied, that is this, he says he predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of his sons. What's his goal for us? His goal for us is to be like his son. What is he doing? He's not changing. He's changing us, changing our attitude, changing our conduct, changing our behavior, changing our thought patterns, changing our love and devotion for him. So what am I saying? I'm simply saying this, that it doesn't make a difference who you are and what you've done in your life and where you are. When he says if you confess your sins to him and place your trust in him and in his death at Calvary for the forgiveness of your sins, he will forgive every sin you've ever committed. He will make you one of his children. He'll write your name in the Lamb's Book of Life forever and ever and ever. You will be a child of the living God. That is the promise of God. It is the promise to every single one. Listen, he says, he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, period. That is the promise of God and God never changes.

What a tremendous sense of encouragement and assurance to people who are living in sin, people who are in prison, people who've got a record behind them so long, people who've given up on life, people who are so despairing. Here is a God who does not change. Here is a God whose love cannot be altered under any condition and he loves you, my friend, no matter what's going on in your life.