CAN I TRUST HIM?

-{Number 23}

-As a preacher I sometimes analyze my preaching or other people’s preaching styles to see what can be done better to get the message across to all of you. I’ve found that I have some catch phrases that I like to use over and over. Like I’ll use the catch phrase, CAN I BE HONEST WITH YOU. I find I like to use that one right before I say something that I know might not go over well with some people, but I’m going to say it anyway.

-It’s a funny little saying, because of course from the pulpit I’m going to be honest with you as best as I know and understand it. Of course, not just the pulpit either… But generally I consider myself to be an honest man. I like what Mark Twain said: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” All in all, honesty really is the best policy.

-I’m not alone in thinking that I’m basically an honest person. 2,624 out of nearly 3000 people who took a Reader’s Digest poll said they thought they were “basically honest,” yet the average respondent admitted to having been dishonest in an average of 5 out of the 13 questions they responded to in the survey. For instance, 63% said they had called in sick when they really weren’t ill. 77% admitted that they had lied to friends or family members about their appearance so they wouldn’t hurt their feelings, and 37% have downloaded music from an Internet site without paying for it. After taking the survey, one man said, “Answering these questions is making me re-evaluate my honesty.” (http://www.freshministry.org/illusrations.html)

-Those numbers are startling, and even more so when you stop to consider that some of the people taking the poll may not have been totally honest in answering those questions. And I don’t mean those who claimed to be dishonest. If a person tells you they are being dishonest, they are probably telling the truth that they have been dishonest. But if someone tells you they are truthful, you can’t be so sure. Sounds confusing, but as Captain Jack Sparrow said: “I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for.”

-It is said that the philosopher Diogenes walked around ancient Greece carrying a lantern and searched for an honest man. If he walked through your neighborhood, would he find one? Even people who consider themselves “basically honest” have to admit that there have been times when they’ve been dishonest.

-The only One who can claim to be “totally honest” and not just basically honest is God. Our text says:

Numbers 23:19 NET 2nd ed.

19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen?

-What is so interesting about this statement is that fact of who the man is that is making this statement. Balaam, the pagan prophet hired by the Moabite king Balak to curse the Israelites is given specific instructions from God to bless the people instead of curse. When Balak gets angry about that, Balaam gives Balak this little reminder of Who the God of Israel is.

-So, can we trust God?

Joshua 23:14 NET 2nd ed.

14 “Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized—not one promise is unfulfilled!

-So, according to Joshua, we can. I’m going to quickly answer two questions to help encourage our trust in Him.

I) How can we know we can trust God?

-the verse gives us several different reasons how we can know we can trust God:

A) Because of His nature

-our verse reminds us that God is not a man, so he doesn’t have the nature of a man. The nature of man is fallen, and has a propensity to lie. God, on the other hand, is perfect and holy and righteous. He does not lie. He cannot lie. Why? Because it is against His nature.

-man naturally lies. Tell me, did any of us parents have to teach our children to lie? No, it’s the opposite, we have to teach them to tell the truth, lying comes naturally. But God doesn’t have that kind of nature. Man has tendencies toward falsehood, deceit, misfortune, and calamity. But that’s not God.

B) Because of His unchangeableness

-The fancy theological term is immutability. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The text says He doesn’t need to repent. It means He doesn’t need to change His mind. God is not like man that goes back on His word. God isn’t wishy washy. He doesn’t waiver back and forth between doing something and not doing something. God is a God of integrity. He says what He means, and He means what He says.

C) Because of the effectiveness of His Word

-The verse says that God is going to fulfill His Word—the fancy theological term is the efficacy of the Word of God—it means when God speaks, it produces the results God intends for it to produce. Unlike humans, God doesn’t use empty words. God’s words are perfect, choice words, that have the power to bring about whatever God’s will and desires are. We can trust His words because the power of His nature and character and ability back them up.

-so the verse tells us some reasons why we know we can trust God, but then let’s personalize it a little bit:

II) With what can we trust God?

-what are some areas of life that we trust God?

-The most important area is that we trust Him to give eternal life. Titus 1:2 “in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.”

-God says that trusting in Jesus gives eternal life, so that’s where we place all our trust. It’s when we don’t trust what He says about salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we try and add all sorts of stuff to salvation. Well yes, I’ll trust in Jesus, but I’m going to also throw in with Mohammad or Buddha just to be safe. Or I’m going to throw in some good works, baptism, and church-going. We trust God through the works of Jesus Christ for our eternal salvation, without hesitation and without any addition.

-Closely related, we also trust in God for the forgiveness of our sin. Jeremiah 31:34 “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.” What a blessed promise. Aren’t you glad that God not only forgives you of your sins but that he forgets them too? They are taken from us as far as the east is from the west. They will never catch up to us. Our sins have been taken care of, and as far as God is concerned we all have a clean slate.

-How about during times of serve trials, do you trust in God then? Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you.” With all the testimonies in this church alone about God getting people through severe trials, we wouldn’t have time to hear them all. God promises to get you through them. If you truly trust Him, in your darkest days, the most Satan can do is to get your faith to flicker, because he never can get it to fail. What about you? Has your faith sustained you during times of trials? When you went through deep waters and walked through the fire and experienced great trouble, did He keep His promise?

-God’s promises echo through eternity as trustworthy, because He is the only one who is “totally honest.” George Orwell once said during an interview, “At a time of universal deceit -telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” What may be a revolutionary act for man is the norm for God. But what might be another revolutionary act for man is to trust in the truthfulness of the God Who speaks and reveals Himself. That might be the recipe for being a world changer: to immerse ourselves in God’s instructions and take Him at His word when He promises something.

-In his book entitled, The Name of God’s Promises, Mark Tabb writes, “The message of promise is the beginning and end of everything that is included in the Bible. It undergirds every word, sometimes openly, sometimes subtly, but it is always there. God’s promises are the common thread that unites the Old and New Testament, the core that makes sixty-six books into one.” (P. 15). What would we do without His promises?

-If God is “totally truthful” then he will keep all of his promises. Just like we can trust God with our salvation, to forgive us of our sins and be with us during our trials, we can trust Him to keep His word to bless us when we tithe; we can trust Him to supply our every need; we can trust Him that He will never leave us nor forsake us; we can trust Him that He will return in triumph someday.

-Today, I invite you to really consider this one verse and what it says about God and what it means for us. Are you trusting Him in everything? And most importantly, have you trusted in Him for the salvation that He provides in Jesus Christ?