People God Trusts: Trust with Redemption

Intro:

Titus 2:11–14 NKJV

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Today, I want to begin a series entitled, [People God Trusts], the title of my message is [Trust with Redemption].

A 2021 survey entitled The Most and Least Trusted People in the World revealed that people felt that

doctors

scientists

teachers

ordinary people

armed forces are the most trusted people in the world

The least trusted:

journalists

bankers

advertisers

government leaders

politicians

What causes us to trust someone?

Trust is defined as reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person. When we hear trust we can also think confidence, credit, faith, assurance, or reliance.

When people do what they say they will do, we deem them trustworthy.

When people say one thing and do another, we have a hard time trusting them.

I learned as a teenager, trust is difficult to gain and really easy to lose. When my parents set boundaries and I followed them, I gained their trust. When they left specific instructions, I lost their trust.

The concept is universal. Some people have a hard time trusting ANYONE because they have had their trust abused.

There is an interesting phrase found on all coin and paper money— In God We Trust. I say it is interesting because simply saying we trust God does not actually equate with trusting Him.

In fact, if we look at our nation, it seems that trust in God is not very prominent. Which is a shame, because God is trustworthy.

He has full integrity

He always keeps His word

He never fails

He is always there

Much is said in the bible about trusting God. He deserves our trust and confidence in Him.

But recently, I prayed in my office and I asked the Lord for something. After it came out of my mouth, I felt the Holy Spirit shift my request. Instead of God GIVE this us, I asked, Lord, ENTRUST this to us.

Will God give something to people He cannot trust?

That question consumed my thoughts for some time. Nearly five years ago, I preached a message entitled, [I Trust God, Does God Trust Me]. I have revisited the thought now for some time.

God has so much to offer. He has so much He wants to bestow upon us. But in the long run, can He trust us with what He desires to give us?

Which led me to the question, who are the people God trusts?

Throughout Scripture, God desired to fulfill His plan and purpose. For some reason, instead of just doing what He wanted to do, He decided to use people.

He opted to work through people He could trust to accomplish His will.

I’ve decided, I want to be a person God trusts.

When He looks to use someone, I want to live in a way where He can trust me with His plans.

Should He desire to bless someone, I want to live in a way where He can trust me with His blessings.

When He wants to speak to someone, I want to live in a way where He can trust that I will obey His Word.

What are the attributes of those God trusts? How did they live? What did they do for God to say— that person right, there I can use them!

Today, I want us to look at two people and see how they handled God’s trust. Those two people are Eve and Mary. God trusted them and they handled God’s trust in a unique way.

Because of the way Eve misused God’s trust, the Lord entrusted His redemption plan to Mary. Through them, I want us to see that God also wants to trust us with His redemptive work in our lives!

I have three points, [Broken Trust], [Blind Trust], and [Building Trust].

Let’s begin

1. Broken Trust

Genesis 3:6–8 NKJV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The creation account reveals God desire to use and trust people. He made everything in the universe, and gave it to Adam. Knowing the complications that come with isolation, He created a wife for Adam, from Adam.

Together, they lived in a paradise. God trusted them to tend and keep the Garden of Eden. He gave them everything they needed with one rule— do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

He trusted them. He trusted them so much that every day when the cool breeze would blow God would come to the Garden to spend time with His people.

We do not know how long they enjoyed the Garden, but we do know one day Satan got involved. He began to distort the truth and deceived Adam and Eve into not trusting God.

Instead of adhering to God’s simple instruction, they ignored what God wanted and allowed their desires to take precedence. Notice:

the tree was beautiful

the fruit looked delicious

the desire to have knowledge was appealing

She placed the fruit in her hand, along with Adam, and took a bite. She ignored the words of God, trusting more in the lies of Satan and her own desires over what God said.

She was sorely disappointed at the results of their decision. Their eyes opened to their sin and the felt intense shame. Then, for the first time, when they heard God walking, they hid themselves instead of going to speak to Him.

They broke God’s trust. They fell prey to the lies of Satan, who does everything he can to get us to question God and doubt His credibility.

The consequence of their broken trust was bondage. From that point forward, humanity was under the bondage of sin. Now, there is an inclination in every person, a bend to do the opposite of what God desires and expects.

Had they simply trusted God, they could have avoided the penalty of their disobedience. Instead, they chose to give Satan power that he does not deserve.

They moved from being children of God to slaves of the enemy, shackled and chained down with sin.

But God had a plan.

Genesis 3:15 NKJV

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Speaking to the serpent, God prophesied of someone who will come to the earth and redeem what was lost. But notice HOW God would help— through the Seed of the WOMAN.

God would USE someone He could trust with redemption’s plan.

Adam and Eve show us broken trust, but the next person will show us...

2. Blind Trust

Luke 1:30–31 NKJV

30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

God never forgot His promise to send ONE who would redeem humanity and break the curse of sin.

I want us to notice something about God. He can do ANYTHING He wants. As we read through Scripture, He chooses to channel His divine power THROUGH PEOPLE.

For centuries He looked for someone He could trust. He needed the right woman to carry and give birth to redemptions plan. Eventually, He found her— Mary, a teenage unmarried girl.

The angel Gabriel came to her with a promise, you are favored by God and He will enable you to conceive and bear a child. You will name the baby Jesus, for He will save the people from their sins.

Talk about the shock of a lifetime. Mary had just one question— HOW? How could this happen to me? I am unmarried, and I have never been with a man.

The answer was simple and supernatural all at the same time— the Holy Spirit will come upon you and His power will overshadow you.

What did the angel promise?

Trust in the one you cannot see. No one can see the Holy Spirit, He works in a way that is beyond our comprehension.

John 3:8 NKJV

8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The Angel Gabriel invited Mary into a supernatural dimension. Should she have faith in God’s plan for her life, she would become a personal participant in God’s redemption plan!

Her level of trust contrasts with Adam and Eve. They focused on what they could see, but Mary trusted in the God she could not see.

How do we know?

Luke 1:38 NKJV

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

May everything you have said come true!

Was Mary truly blind about what happened to her?

Yes and no.

She had to know people would doubt her. She had to figure out what to say to Joseph and her parents. She understood there would be some complications. She was not blind to that.

But there was NO way she could truly fathom all that God would do through her. She did not know that Jesus:

would heal the sick

raise the dead

or his prolific teaching

She could not see:

the agony of watching her son die

the sorrow of burying his body in a tomb

the questions she would ponder in her heart

She also did not know:

the joy that awaited see his resurrected body

the peace of His ascension to heaven

or the power that would come on her at Pentecost

All she knew is that God had a plan for her and she willingly said yes! She had blind trust.

God is calling us to have blind trust in Him. Not that we are unaware of the cares and concerns of life. Instead, He wants us to TRUST that He can see what we cannot see.

When we have that type of faith— we will walk in the favor of God.

Adam and Eve lived with broken trust, but Mary lived with blind trust. As a result, she became the one who would give birth to the redeemer of the world!

But what about us? God is calling us to start...

3. Building Trust

Titus 2:11–14 NKJV

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Even though humanity broke God’s trust, He used people with blind trust. In His great grace, He sent Jesus, who revealed and brought salvation to us.

How then do we build trust with God? How can we live in such a way where God will trust us?

Remember, trust and love are different. God can never love us anymore than He loves us right now, but He can trust us more than He does right now.

For instance, Bekah and I LOVE Davis. I do not know how we could love Him anymore. Though we love him, we do not trust him.

I do not trust him enough to:

keep him on our bed while we leave the room

sit in my recliner while I go outside

not eat anything he finds on the floor

go outside without us present

Why do we not trust him in these areas? He has not built enough strength FOR us to trust him. If we did, it would be misplaced trust that would cause him harm.

Likewise, God has given us His grace, but we have to build trust with Him. Not that He is untrustworthy, but sometimes we are.

How then do we build this trust?

We must deny godliness and indulging in sinful pleasures. Instead, we should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God.

How is that possible? When every part of our nature is untrustworthy, how can we really expect to live in such a way where He can trust us?

Because the grace of God that brings salvation gave Himself on the cross to REDEEM us from every lawless deed.

What is redemption?

Someone or something that is redeemed has been delivered from their enemy. They have been PURCHASED and bought back from someone else.

Because of Adam and Eve’s broken trust, EVERY person is born into sin. They are in bondage to the sin.

But because of Mary’s blind trust, she gave birth to God’s redemption plan!

It was NEVER God’s plan to allow humanity to live under the tyranny and burden of sin. Therefore, He sent Jesus to REDEEM us, literally, to pay the penalty of our debt, to buy us back from the enemy.

His death, burial, and resurrection provided the means for us to receive redemption. Redeemed how I LOVE to proclaim it, redeemed by the blood of the lamb!

Why did He do this?

Because He longed to reunite us in relationship with the Father. Now that we are redeemed, will we trust Him?

Will we trust Him enough to say NO to what we want because He has something better for us, even when we do not see what He has?

Every time we walk in God’s grace

Deny ungodliness

Avoid the lusts of the world

Choose to live righteously

We live the redeemed life. God is trusting us with His redemption plan! The way we live builds trust with God.

Close:

Who are the people that God trusts?

He trusts the redeemed, who have been bought back from the hands of the enemy and realize they are in relationship with Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus, we’ve been delivered, liberated, set free, because He paid our debt.

Galatians 3:13 NKJV

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),

The question I have is, how will we handle God’s redemption?

One choice is to continuously break God’s trust by living in a way that appeases our wants and desires. That is the route Adam and Eve took.

The lived in the moment and did not take time to think of the consequences that would happen with their actions.

Or we can live with blind trust. We can relinquish our lives, what we see and do not see, to the ONE who can see everything! That is what Mary did.

Should we choose that life, we will enjoy a life that is supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Every time we decide to trust God, in the seen and unseen, we slowly build trust with Him.

Building trust with God is not about earning His love, He could never love us more than He does right now.

But, He does have more for us that we experience right now. He has more for us:

more power

more wisdom

more blessings

more insight

more revelation

more help

Why doesn’t He give it to us all right now?

It all comes down to one questions— if God gave us EVERYTHING right now, could He trust us to steward it wisely?

Trust comes over time. Every time we choose blind trust over broken trust, we build God’s trust in us.

We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, do we live as people who have been set free, or do we still tamper and give into the life we lived in sin?

Let’s live the redeemed life...