focus on there is beginning in verse number 12.
And I want to preach this morning about the subject of trusting in the Lord.
And trust is something that the Bible mentions hundreds of times.
God is constantly admonishing us to trust in Him.
And first of all, we see how important it is to trust the Lord in regard to salvation.
Look down if you would there at verse 12 of the chapter that we just read.
It says that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ and
whom ye also trusted.
After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
So here we see that trusting in the Lord, trusting in Jesus Christ is equated with believing
on Jesus Christ.
Because in the first part of the chapter He talks about trusting in Him and then He says
in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
You see when the Bible talks about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ or that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
It's not just simply believing that He exists but it's rather trusting in Him.
You know if I said to you, Brother Garrett, if I said I believe in you, it means I'm relying
on you.
I believe that you will do what you've said you're going to do or what you've set out
to do.
It doesn't mean I just believe that you exist.
If I said I believe in you, Garrett, it means that I trust Him, I rely on Him, I have confidence
in Him.
And according to the Bible, in order for us to be saved, our confidence must be in the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in ourselves.
Look if you would at Luke chapter 18.
Luke chapter number 18, Matthew, Mark, Luke.
In Luke 18 verse 9 it says, He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others.
So in Ephesians chapter 1 we see trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation
and then in Luke chapter 18 we see trusting in ourselves and trusting in ourselves is
defined as believing that we are righteous and when He says that they despised others,
it means that they thought that they were better than someone else and that's what's
going to get them into heaven, the fact that they're better than someone else.
Look at Luke 18, 9, it says, He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
and despised others.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess and the publican standing
afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven but smote upon his breast
saying God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone
that exalted themselves shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Look the Bible is clear, one of these men was saved and the other was not.
The one that beat upon his breast and wouldn't even looked up his eyes to heaven and said
God be merciful to me a sinner went home justified.
He believed that he was a sinner, he did not believe that he deserved to go to heaven whereas
this Pharisee trusted in himself that he was righteous.
Now look, I believe this Pharisee, I'm going to take him at his word, that he was not an
extortioner and that he was not an adulterer but that's not the point.
The Bible says it is written there is none righteous, no, not one.
The Bible says there is none that doeth good but one and that is God.
So even if he hadn't committed these huge sins that he lists there, he was still a sinner,
he was still a liar, the Bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone which is the second death and so there's only one way to be saved
and that's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Trust in him alone for salvation, not trust that you're righteous.
Let me tell you something, if you believe that you're going to heaven because of good
things that you do, that's trusting in yourself.
You're thinking that your righteousness is going to get you there and the Bible says
not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us.
So when it comes to salvation there are two choices.
Trust in Jesus Christ, what he already did, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his
shed blood or trust in yourself that you're righteous.
And how many times do you talk to people who say, well I think I'll go to heaven because
I live a good life.
This is one that you hear a lot, I've never really done anything that bad.
Isn't that kind of what this guy is saying in the story?
I've never really done anything that bad or I've never really hurt anybody and they'll
say I think I'm a pretty good person, I hope I get in.
We had a guy, we were out sold a couple weeks ago and a guy told us, he said, well he listed
off all his good works, I forget who I was with, but he listed off all his good works
and then he said, if that's not enough to get me into heaven, he just said then I give
up, if that's not going to get me in.
He listed all these things.
But you know what?
It's not enough.
It's not going to get you in.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But here's the thing, trusting in the Lord does not end at salvation.
Obviously that's the most important area to trust Christ in is to trust Him with your
soul.
And by the way, I wouldn't want to trust my good life to get me into heaven.
I mean would you like to stand before God and have your life judged to decide whether
you're going to make it into heaven or not?
Because you know what?
We wouldn't make it.
I wouldn't make it.
I'd much rather just coast in on the work that Jesus Christ has already done and that's
what salvation is.
The Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And look, if we were based on our works, none of us would be good enough.
None of us are righteous enough.
This publican in the story, he understood that.
That's why he just said God be merciful to me, a sinner.
He said I'm a sinner.
I deserve to go to hell but please save me is what he's saying there.
But trusting God does not end there.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Most of what the Bible talks about when it talks about trusting in the Lord is after
we're already saved.
After we're already believers, after we're already on our way to heaven.
And the Bible talks about trusting him in the course of our lives.
And one area that he talks about that is financially.
This comes up a lot.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17.
The Bible reads, charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded
nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy,
that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay
hold on eternal life.
Look, if God is telling those that are rich in this world not to trust in riches but to
trust in the living God, how much more those of us that are not rich in this world?
And yet we often put our trust in what meager riches we do have or put our trust in the
money that we have.
And we ought to be trusting the Lord to be our provider and to take care of our financial
needs.
In Proverbs 11 28 it says, he that trusteth in his riches shall fall but the righteous
shall flourish as a branch.
You say, well give me an example, well first of all, when it comes to providing for our
needs financially, are we seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
Or are we sacrificing our principles, sacrificing what we believe in, in order to amass enough
money that we think we need to make it when the Bible says, my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
The Bible says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
things shall be added unto you.
What happens when the time comes to choose between a job and church?
Which choice are you going to make?
You know, maybe a job wants to transfer you to some distant city where there isn't even
a good church or you haven't even done the research to see what kind of a church is there.
Or maybe there's an okay church there, but you're making a major downgrade of a church.
You know, I would always, if I were moving, I'd make sure that I was at least going to
a church that was as good or preferably a little better.
I wouldn't want to take a big downgrade and say, well I'm going to get paid more, but
not really a good church.
It's decent, it's okay, well I want to raise my family in the best church I possibly can.
So I'd make that a priority.
But what about this?
What about when your job wants you to work through church services?
And look, there are 168 hours in the week, right?
But your boss just wants to sink his teeth into those three hours a week or whatever
that you want to go to church.
I remember telling my boss this so many times when he'd want me to work on Sunday morning,
he wants me to work on Sunday night, Wednesday night, I'd tell him, look, there's 168 hours
in the week.
I will work for you, I'll work all night, I'll work whatever hours you want, I'm not
going to work on Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night, and you can schedule me
any other time.
And it was always a battle.
I mean, years, I worked for him for years, I never did it, and he would still call me,
Steve, I need you to work this Wednesday night, and I'd be like, no, I can't, I'm not going
to.
And you'd say, why, is it a sin?
I'm not saying it's a sin, but I'll say this, I will say this, God blessed me for seeking
first the kingdom of God, and He'll bless you when you seek first the kingdom of God,
because that's what He promised to do.
And so when you put God first, and put financial concerns second, you know what, God is going
to bless you because He sees that you're not trusting in riches.
You're not trusting Him, you're not serving mammon.
You're trusting Him to provide your needs, because at the end of the day, it's not that
job that's going to provide, it's God that's going to provide for you.
He can provide you with a different job, He can provide you with a better job, or He can
just allow you to be blessed at that job more, or He can cause your job to fall apart and
you can lose your job when He feels like you're not putting Him first.
And so it's important that we don't trust in our riches instead of trusting in the Lord
to be our provider.
Another example is if our job asks us to do something that's dishonest.
You know, they want us to lie, they want us to deceive the customer, rip off the customer,
cheat the customer.
Are we going to just do that because we say, well, you know, we've got to make a living
somehow, got to make money somehow, or are we going to say, no, you know what, that's
against my principles, that's against my religion, I'm not going to do that.
That goes to show whether we're trusting in the Lord or whether we're trusting in riches
as our provision.
The Bible says in Psalm 52, you don't have to turn there, but it says in verse 6, the
righteous also shall see in fear and shall laugh at Him.
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of
his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness, but I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
Now when we think about trusting in the Lord, the man who comes to mind for me more than
anybody is David.
Go if you would to 1 Samuel chapter 17, because as I looked up the word trust in the Bible,
1 Samuel chapter 17, I looked up the word trust in the Bible, it was used 191 times,
but 71 of those times were from the book of Psalms.
Now think about that.
The book of Psalms is one book out of 66 books, and yet this hugely disproportionate number
of times, the word trust is found in the book of Psalms, 71 out of 191.
Other books it's found one, maybe two, maybe three times, and of course David is the one
who wrote most of those Psalms.
David is the one who's constantly talking about trusting in the Lord, constantly preaching
to us that we should trust in the Lord.
And all throughout David's life we see the man after God's own heart, David.
Why was he a man after God's own heart?
Well one of the major reasons is because he trusted in the Lord at all times.
All the way back to when he was there with Goliath in the beginning.
Look at how he trusted in the Lord.
1 Samuel chapter 17 verse 45, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with
a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord
of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine
head from thee, and I will give thee carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto
the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel.
And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saith not with sword and spear, for the
battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands.
Now look, he's not boasting about himself.
He's not bragging about his skill and his ability.
He's a young man.
He's not a mighty warrior.
He was offered armor and weaponry and equipment.
He didn't need any of it.
He told Saul to keep the armor, keep the weapons.
He went out with nothing but a sling and five stones.
He didn't go out saying, you know, I'm about to show you how I know how to use this thing.
You know, I'm going to show you the skill that I have here that's going to defeat.
He said over and over again in all three of those verses, he keeps on saying, I don't
need weapons, I don't need armor.
God is going to give the victory.
I'm trusting him to defeat you.
You are relying on someone else even to hold the shield in front of you, because remember
Goliath had another man that went in front of him bearing his shield.
You're relying on man.
You're relying on weapons.
You're relying on armor.
You say, I'm going to show everyone right now that there's a God in Israel and I'm going
to show you that the battle is the Lord's.
He has total trust in the Lord to win this battle, to win this victory.
Not trusting in the flesh and not trusting in other people.
As we go through his life we see that he's continually trusting in the Lord.
For example, when it comes to King Saul, who's trying to kill him, who's treating him unjustly
and he'd never done anything wrong to Saul.
He'd been a faithful servant, he'd been a good worker for him and he'd done everything
that he was told to do, but yet Saul wanted to kill him.
And Saul is constantly hunting him down.
And he had many opportunities where he could have taken things into his own hands, disobeyed
God, and killed the king of Israel and killed King Saul.
You remember when he snuck into the cave and Saul was relieving himself.
He snuck up on Saul and everyone around him is telling him, this is your chance.
It has delivered him into your hand.
Let's kill him.
And he refused to do so and instead he snuck up to him and cut off a little bit of the
cloth from the skirt of his garment, of Saul's garment.
He cut off that cloth and took it with him.
And then the Bible even says that his heart smote him just for cutting off that piece
of cloth, which is so minor.
I mean, here's the man who's hunting him down, here's the man who's trying to kill him, here's
the man who has every right to treat with enmity and he feels bad just for cutting off
a little piece of his clothing.
That's why he's the man after God's own heart, because he had a heart that was sensitive
to sin.
You know, even a small sin, even something small, smote his heart and he felt bad about
it.
But he had another opportunity when they snuck down into the camp, Saul was asleep with his
cruise of water and his spear at his bolster, he snuck down again, took the spear, took
the bull, could have killed him right there in his sleep.
And even other people offered to do it for him.
Here, his brother-in-law or his nephew, I forget the relation, said, look, I'll smite
him to the ground, I won't smite him a second time, meaning I'm not going to need to smite
him a second time.
In one blow I'm going to destroy your enemy Saul.
But the thing is, David trusted the Lord.
He didn't feel like he had to take it into his own hands.
He didn't feel like he had to kill Saul and he had to do this to protect himself and for
his own saving.
He just trusted the Lord because God said, vengeance belongeth unto me, saith the Lord.
I will repay.
And he trusted that the Lord would avenge him.
And all throughout his life we see that his trust is never in himself, it's always in
the Lord.
He always maintains a humble attitude.
When he's told, you're going to be a king's son-in-law, he says, who am I?
When God tells him that his posterity will continue to sit on the throne of Judah forever,
he says again, who am I, Lord?
I'm not worthy of that.
He never became puffed up.
He never thought to himself that it was because of his greatness.
It was always giving God the glory and he trusted in the Lord at all times.
That's why he was a man after God's own heart.
Let me read for you from some of the scriptures that David wrote in the book of Psalms.
He said in Psalm 5-11, but let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them.
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Psalm 7-1, O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust.
Save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me.
Chapter 9 verse 10, and they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou
Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee.
Psalm 13-5, but I have trusted in thy mercy.
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psalm 16-1, preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust.
Psalm 17-7, show thy marvelous loving kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them
which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.
And we can go on and on and on, some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but
we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
And over and over again, David is telling us, I'm trusting in the Lord, and he's telling
us to trust in the Lord.
Look, if we understand what it means to trust in the Lord, it means that God is the one
who holds our fate in his hands.
Therefore the most important thing we can do is make sure that God is pleased with us.
If we're trusting him to protect us, if we're trusting him to provide for us, if we're trusting
him to fix all the problems in our life, then it would never make any sense to violate his
commandments or to put the work of the Lord on the back burner in order to take care of
those things.
If we're trusting in the Lord, we'll say, you know what, if I do what's right, if I
stand by my principles, if I keep God's commandments, if I seek first the kingdom of God, I trust
the Lord that he will take care of it, that everything will work out okay.
The Bible says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
And so if we believe that God is the one who holds our fate in his hands, if we believe
that he is the one who can save us from our enemies, he's the one who can lift us up or
bring us down, whether it be financially, whether it be in our job, whether it be in
our family, whatever the case may be, then we'll realize that more important than what
anybody else thinks is what he thinks.
Every decision we make, what does he think?
Is he going to be pleased with what we're doing?
But not only that, turn to Proverbs chapter 3, verse number 5, Proverbs chapter 3 verse
5.
Not only should we trust in the Lord when it comes to God's provision, not trusting
in riches.
And by the way, it says not to trust in uncertain riches because riches are always uncertain.
They don't last forever.
And they're never completely secure, no matter how smart you are financially, God can bring
you down.
Look at Job.
I mean, Job had all of his assets diversified, he had all different cattle and all different
businesses going on, and yet God just destroyed all of it in one day.
Even though it was in different places, different areas, different types of wealth, it was all
destroyed in one day because God is showing us there that he can bring us down at any
time.
And that's why riches are always uncertain.
Not only should we trust the Lord for salvation, not only should we trust the Lord for his
provision, not only should we trust the Lord for his protection, which is the main thing
that David was trusting him, was to protect him from his enemies.
He's a king.
He's surrounded by hostile nations.
He's relying on the Lord to protect him.
He relied on the Lord to protect him from Saul, from Absalom, all these different enemies
that he had in his life.
Not only that, but Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 tells us, and this is a very famous scripture, that
we should trust in the Lord rather than trust our own understanding or what we think is
right.
Trust in the Lord to give us the answers to life.
Look at Proverbs 3, 5.
It says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Now in verse 5 here, we have a dichotomy here.
We have two different choices, and trusting in the Lord is contrasted with leaning on
your own understanding.
Now look, if the Bible is talking about leaning on our own understanding, that's what we think.
That's our opinion.
That's what makes sense to us.
Well the way I understand it is X, Y, and Z, so that's our understanding.
It's comparing that to trusting in the Lord.
Now when it says trusting in the Lord versus our own understanding, basically what's that
telling us but to trust in what the Lord has written in the Bible, in his word, right?
Because God's word tells us all about life.
It tells us how to have a marriage.
It tells us how to have children.
It tells us how to run a business.
It tells us how a nation should be ordered.
It tells us about church.
It tells us how to run the church.
It tells us how to serve him.
It tells us what is right, what's wrong.
It tells us how to be healthy.
I mean the Bible tells us all about life, everything we need to know about life.
The Bible teaches us those things.
And often the things that the Bible teaches us about life come into conflict with what
we think about life or what our opinion is.
I mean do you think anyone's opinion just always perfectly matches the Bible every time?
I mean there are times when I read something in the Bible, and this should occur less and
less obviously, the more you read the Bible and grow and learn, but there are times when
you read something in the Bible and you look at it and you say, that doesn't seem right.
I think it should be this.
Why didn't God do it this way?
Why didn't God say this?
Why do you have to say that?
And then often later in life, you'll look back and say, now I understand why he did
it that way.
Now I understand why he said it that way.
And especially when it's children and teenagers questioning God's word.
You know, you're young and a lot of what you believe is just something that you picked
up from TV, picked up from your parents, picked up from the radio, picked up from whoever.
You know, it's funny how every small child and teenager thinks that they are just this,
you know, philosophical genius that's just, you know, unlocked the riddles of the universe.
But often we, even when we get older, are still lacking understanding.
All of us constantly need to grow and gain knowledge.
And I can tell you, there have been many times in my life when I felt like, you know, I don't
know everything, but I pretty much know, you know, the important things, you know, the
main things.
I can't really see myself learning any new major groundbreaking thing because I've, you
know, I've read the Bible.
But you know what?
It's false.
Because then after I thought that, I learned some major groundbreaking thing and I learned
some new life-changing truth because we all have a lot to learn and there are always going
to be things that we don't understand.
And to this day, there are some things in the Bible I just don't understand.
And people ask me about them and I say, you know, I don't know.
I don't understand that.
I'm not really sure why God did that.
I'm not really sure why the Bible says that.
But there comes a choice constantly in our life to trust in the Lord with all our heart
or to lean on our own understanding.
And putting in the same category with that would be to lean on other people's understanding.
You know, lean on the philosophers of this world and the counselors of this world and
the advice of this world and the cultures and traditions of the nation that we live
in and trusting in that and saying, you know what?
Everybody's doing it this way.
It just seems safer just to do it the same way everybody else is doing it.
I mean, doesn't that make sense?
I mean, everybody around me has their marriage a certain way or has their kids a certain
way or runs their business a certain way, runs their finances a certain way.
Or all the other Baptist churches are doing it a certain way.
It seems like the safe bet to just go with the flow and just lean on their understanding.
And sometimes we just assume, well, so and so has been pastoring for 30 years.
I'm just assuming that he knows more about this than I do.
So I'm just going to go ahead and do it the way he's doing it and just trust his understanding.
Look, I don't even want to trust my own understanding.
I dead sure don't want to trust his understanding or your understanding.
Look, we need to trust in the Lord with all our heart.
And look, if the Bible says something that seems to be going completely contrary to what
everybody else is doing, what everybody else is saying, and even what seems to be our opinion
and what we feel like is right, look, we need to trust in the Lord and say, look, if
I think this and God thinks this, I'm going to go with what God thinks.
And that takes trust.
I mean, think about it.
It takes trust because if God's wrong, then we fail.
You see what I mean?
And of course we know God is never wrong, that's why he's trustworthy.
But think about it.
If I put my trust in you, let's say I trusted you with my car, I give you the keys to my
car and I loan you my car and I say I'm trusting you with my car, that means I'm relying on
you that you're going to be responsible with it, that you're going to bring it back in
one piece.
Or at least if it does come back in a million pieces, there will be a good reason that it
wasn't just your foolishness or your irresponsibility.
I'm trusting you.
Different people you trust to different degrees, don't you?
For example, if I met somebody last week, am I going to trust them?
Oh here, babysit all my children.
No.
In fact, we don't let anyone babysit our children.
The only person I let babysit my children is my own mother.
And you know what?
People don't like that.
People make fun of that.
People laugh at that and people get upset.
They want us to leave our children with them overnight or for the day.
They get upset, they get offended, because that is not the normal understanding that
people have.
But here's my thing.
I just don't trust people enough with my children because my children are so valuable to me,
they're so important to me, and frankly we're living in perilous times.
I mean we're living in a day where there's so much perversion and so much wickedness
and sin and you're constantly hearing about children being defiled and bad things happening
and so therefore I just don't trust people that much.
And the Bible says it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
So look, if I leave the children with my mother, isn't that showing that I trust my mother
very much?
If I'm leaving my children with her, which are very important to me, which I'm very protective
of, if I'm leaving my children with my mother, I am displaying trust in my mother.
If I were to loan you my car, I'm at least saying, you know what, I trust you with my
beat up piece of junk car.
And by the way, if I loan you my car, it's not showing that I trust you very much because
that car is worthless.
By the way, 352,000 miles and it's still going strong.
So this message has been brought to you in part by Hyundai.
But the thing is, we trust people to different degrees, right?
Whether we trust them to do a certain errand for us.
Maybe we say, hey can you take this to the post office?
There's some people you know they're going to mess it all up.
Would you fix this and that in my house or would you help me with my car or would you
take this?
You're trusting people with certain things.
Or maybe you have an employee that you have to hold their hand all the time and watch
everything that they do because you don't trust them.
Because as soon as you leave, they're going to be fooling around, they're not going to
be working, they're going to be taking breaks, they're going to be not getting anything done.
So you have to be there all the time.
You can't trust them to work alone so you have to supervise them constantly.
So do you see what the Bible means when it says trust?
Trust means I'm relying on you.
So if I'm trusting God for his provision, that means instead of just making sure that
everything works out financially on paper, everything's going to be great because I'm
going to make it happen, sometimes it's well you know I'm relying on God to come through
for me.
I'm relying on God to bless because I know I'm doing what's right.
Okay, that's trusting in God for his provision.
Trusting in God for his protection is when instead of going out and taking vengeance
myself or fighting my own battle, sometimes I'm just going to say you know I'm just relying
on God to protect me.
I'm going to have to rely on God.
You know there are missionaries that go to really dangerous places to bring the gospel
or maybe they you know get in some little airplane with one engine that you know could
crash at any time because it's so unsafe and unreliable but you know what they're not relying
on that plane.
They're relying on the Lord to protect them and to keep them safe.
You know, trusting him is relying on him.
When it comes to salvation, we're relying on him to get us there.
We're not relying on our own good deeds which are as filthy rags before him, okay?
When we trust in him to give us understanding and to tell us what's right, what we're saying
is if the world tells me one thing and God tells me another, I'm going to trust what
God said.
And if my own heart tells me something and God says something different, I'm going to
go with what God says because the Bible says who so trusteth in his own heart is a what?
A fool, the Bible says.
Who so trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
The Bible says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
You know let's think of some examples where you know the Bible's understanding comes into
stark conflict or stark contrast with what the world says.
I mean the world will tell you one thing, God will tell you another.
You know how about when it comes to your family, when it comes to children?
You know the world's going to tell you, you know, make sure that you can afford to have
a child.
You know make sure that you have six months of salary saved up in the bank.
You know if we were to ask for a raise of hands who has six months of salary in the
bank, you know, very few hands would probably go up, okay?
You know make sure that you can afford, and look, or we can go with God's understanding
which just tells us it's good to marry, bear children, you know, guide the house.
The Bible that just tells us to trust in him, he says, I've never seen the righteous forsaken
nor a seed begging bread.
You know the Bible that teaches us that marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled
but hormongous and adulterous God will judge, and the one that says children are in heritage
of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
He is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
The world's going to tell you you're irresponsible to have children young.
The Bible's going to tell you blessed are the children of the youth.
The world's going to tell you it's irresponsible to have too many children.
The Bible's going to tell you that God opens and closes the womb and that he'll decide.
I mean look, do you really think that God is powerless to prevent you from having too
many children if he sees that it's too many for you to handle?
I mean do you really think that God is powerless?
If you get on your knees and pray, my friend, and ask God to bless you and ask God to give
you the children that he sees fit, don't you think that God is able to decide when and
when not to give you children?
Or do you think he's just powerless, just what are they doing down there?
Another one?
When God said he opens the womb.
When God said he is the one who rewards us with children.
Do you think he's just up in heaven just powerless just saying, you know what, I said I was going
to provide.
I didn't mean this.
I'm not going to provide for this, this is madness.
But you know what?
That is the birth control philosophy.
It's one that says, you know what, I don't trust God to decide I'm going to do it myself.
Point me to the nearest Walgreens because I've got to stop this myself.
I've got to take this into my own hands.
It's funny because people ask me, are you guys trying for another one?
You don't try, they just keep coming.
You have to try not to have them.
What do you mean are we trying for one?
Because my wife and I have no physical contact unless we're trying for one.
I mean, good night, we're married.
We're trying all the time.
But here's the thing, you've got to try not to have children.
That is not God's understanding because here's the thing, this is a pretty thick book, right?
Isn't this a pretty thick book?
Show me where it tells me to stop myself from having children or to try not to have
children or show me too many children.
It's always talking about, you know, multiplying is good.
But the world's going to tell you that we're overpopulated.
We use up our carbon credits, you know.
We're overpopulated.
Look, this world's not going to be here forever.
So don't show me some chart that in the year 2700, there's going to be way too many people
on this earth.
We might not even make it to the year 2700, I mean, we don't know how far we're going
to make it.
I'd be shocked.
And so what I'm saying is that God's understanding says, you know what, be fruitful and multiply.
You know what, marriage is good.
The marriage bed is good.
Having children is good.
It's a reward.
It's a blessing.
And he said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.
That tells me that I'm not going to be destitute if I trust in him and do it his way, but the
world's going to tell you something completely different.
They're going to tell you, no, you need to be more responsible and you need to use some
wisdom, brother.
God gave you wisdom.
That's the world's wisdom.
That's man's wisdom.
The wisdom that is from above tells me everything in this book and that's what I'm going to
live by and that tells me something completely different.
And then we get into raising the children.
I mean the world has a philosophy of just give them everything they want, spoil them
rotten, send them to a government school to be brainwashed eight hours a day.
And then they're going to tell you, don't ever spank your children.
You know, you just have to give them a lollipop when they do it right.
Not going to work, my friend.
Not happening.
And by the way, those two things go hand in hand.
Because if you're not spanking your children, you're not going to want to have ten of them
because they're going to be, you know, they're going to tear your house to the ground.
They're not going to leave one stone upon another, you know, if you're not going to
discipline them and train them right.
So you know, you've got to trust in the Lord all the way around.
You've got to trust in the Lord with having children in the first place.
You've got to trust in the Lord with how to rear those children and how to raise those
children.
Look, you've got to trust in the Lord that His philosophy of family is right and the
world is wrong.
His philosophy of salvation is right, the rest of religions are wrong.
His philosophy of God's protection and not avenging ourselves and turning the other cheek
is right and everybody else is wrong.
Look, we've got to trust in the Lord and not lean onto our own understanding.
You might look at it and say, well, you know, it just doesn't make sense the way that you
live your life.
Or well, you know, there are just so many, and how many times have you heard this?
There are just so many things in the Bible that just don't make sense.
They don't make sense to you.
And there are even some things that don't quite always make sense to me.
You know, 99, 99 percent of it makes perfect sense to me.
But you know what, there are things in there that you look at them and you kind of scratch
your head and they don't quite make sense.
But you know what, that's why we're always learning and growing.
But I'm going to trust God for that one percent.
I'm just going to trust Him that the one percent is right and when I have to make a choice,
I'm going to have to go with what He said and not lean upon my own understanding.
Here's another one that flies in the face of what the world teaches.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 3.
This actually brings up trusting in God and this is a great example of not leaning on
our own understanding when it talks about trusting in God in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse
5.
And this is talking about wives trusting in God.
It's funny, I just performed a wedding ceremony a couple of days ago for my good friend Paul
Wittenberger out in California and it was a really beautiful ceremony.
It was great.
Who knows Paul?
Lots of people know Paul.
So he just got married on Thursday.
So I was out there and I got to have the privilege of performing his wedding.
I was preaching in the wedding service, I was preaching all about marriage and about
husbands loving their wives and all the different things that are going to make for a good marriage
and spending time together.
I was just going through the Bible, going through everything.
I came to a place that had something to do with the wife obeying their husband and a
woman laughed audibly from the audience.
You just heard just this loud laugh from the audience.
And I right away, I said, you know what, that's not funny.
I said, this is God's word.
There's nothing funny about it.
And we need to trust in what the Lord says.
But I'm just using that to illustration that the world laughs at this.
They think it's a joke, but I think that they're a joke.
And so this is something where people have a really hard time with this.
And they struggle with understays.
And look, I've been a Christian since I was a little kid.
I've grown up an independent fundamental Baptist.
I've been in all kinds of churches.
I've been in fundamental Baptist churches.
I've been around it.
And I'll tell you something.
This is something that God's people struggle with and struggle to understand.
Even Christians are way, way more in line with the world on this subject.
I'd say they're about 80% with the world and about 20% with God's word on this subject.
And that's been my opinion ever since I was a teenager, even before I was married.
I could see, I could see that that's how it was.
And I remember thinking, man, I am not going to order my household so this is not right.
And I remember just getting married and just being even more convinced of the truth of
this.
And the Bible is clear here.
But you've got your own understanding, don't you?
You've got your own understanding.
And I'm going to read this for you, but you've got your own understanding.
But what I said in the wedding ceremony, you know, when this woman in the audience
laughed audibly.
And then it's funny because her husband came up to me and thanked me for the sermon.
So a little bit of a disconnect there between man and wife there.
But anyway, what I said was, I said to the bride, I said, you know what?
I said first of all to the husband, you know, when you get married, you're making a big
commitment here because, you know, it's a responsibility that you're taking on to love
and cherish and take care of your wife and to provide for your wife.
You know, you're taking on that responsibility.
You're not just your own man anymore.
Now you've got someone else that you have to care for and be responsible for.
And then I talked about the fact that the wife was putting a lot of trust in her husband
because, you know, she's basically putting herself under his authority and, you know,
he's going to be the leader and she's going to follow him.
And you know, that's a big trust to put in somebody.
It's almost more.
It seems that the wife has to put more trust even than the husband.
You know, because the husband, yeah, he's trusting his wife to be faithful to him and
whatever.
But honestly though, the wife is really trusting the husband a lot more because she's trusting
him to call the shots and that's a big responsibility for us as men that we lead in the direction
that Christ would have us to go and that we don't abuse our power by taking the family
in a wicked direction, in an ungodly direction.
But notice where the trust is in 1 Peter 3.5, it says, For after this manner in the old
time the holy women also, and look at the next phrase, who trusted in God adorned themselves
being in subjection unto their own husbands.
Now let me ask you this, does that say that they were in subjection to their husband because
they trusted their husband?
Is that what it says?
Now that would be the world's understanding.
That's what the world would say.
Well if I trust my husband, I will be in subjection unto my husband.
You know, if I feel that he is trustworthy, if I feel that he's going to make the right
decision, and let me just translate that for you.
If he's going to do what I was going to tell him to do anyway, then I'll be in subjection
to him.
Right?
I mean if he does everything I want and what I think is right and what I think makes sense,
look that's not subjection at all.
That's no trust at all.
But they say, well you know you've got to be able to trust, I just don't.
And look, I'll tell you right now, I would say in my opinion, 90% of the reason why wives
do not submit themselves to their husband is because they don't have the faith or the
trust to do it because they are afraid of what will happen.
They're basically afraid to give up the reins, they're afraid to give up all their control
that they have and that they grip so tightly.
They're afraid to just say, you know what, I'm going to be in subjection, I'm going to
submit to him and let him lead.
They're afraid to do it.
And you know what it is?
It's a lack of trust in God.
Because God tells us that that is the right way to do it in Ephesians 5.
He tells us in Titus 2.
He tells us in Genesis 3.
I mean all throughout the Bible he tells us that is the right way to do it.
But wives are afraid to relinquish that control.
And see, God has not given us the spirit of fear.
It's a lack of trust in God.
But you see, if you trusted God, you'd say, you know what, I'm just going to do it God's
way.
I'm going to put the reins in the hands of this, you know, this imbecile of a husband
that I have.
This guy who just totally doesn't know what he's doing.
But you know what?
You're doing right.
And you know what?
I guarantee you that women who've done it, women who've said, you know what, I'm going
to give up the reins.
I'm going to reference my husband.
I'm going to submit to him.
I'm going to let him take the lead.
You know what?
I guarantee you that after they've done it, they realize it was the best decision that
they ever made and they're glad that they did it.
You know, whenever you trust in the Lord, you're always glad that you did, but it's
a leap of faith.
You know, when Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, that was a leap of faith,
wasn't it?
Because if Jesus didn't come through, he's through.
I mean, he'd step into those waves, he's going to drown so fast, he's going to be gone.
But I guarantee you, after he did it, he was glad that he did it because he was the
only one besides Jesus who walked on water.
I mean, Peter walked on water.
Okay?
Peter walked on water.
Do you think he had any regrets about that?
Never.
And we never have regrets when we trust God.
Sometimes it's hard.
And sometimes our own understanding rears up its ugly head and says, no, don't do it.
You're more qualified.
You're smarter.
You are better at it.
You know, you're going to make better decisions.
Don't let him lead, you be the boss.
You're going to make, he's going to mess everything up.
And you know what?
Honestly, sometimes men just need to be given that trust and given that confidence and just
given the reins and sometimes it will cause them to flourish and to do better.
Like I use this illustration.
My wife sometimes, she'll be at home and I'll be at home and she'll want me to do something
around the house, you know, help her out with something.
And I just, I like to, I love helping my wife.
I love to, you know, help her with, you know, the housework or something just to, just to
be nice.
Right?
You know, I mean, you know, you as husbands have done that.
You know, you just want to help her out a little bit and then you can spend more time
together because you help her get something done.
But you know, I just, I don't like my wife like standing over me though and supervising
me.
Do this, do that.
So I like to help my wife when she's not around.
You know, or if I'm helping my wife, I always just tell her, okay honey, I want to help
you.
I'll say this.
I'll say, honey, I want to help you.
What would you like me to do to help you so that we can get this done quicker?
You know, what would you like me to do to help you, honey?
And you know, she'll say, oh, you know, do X, Y, and Z.
Okay, great.
And then she'll, here's how you do it.
I'm like, no.
Just because I, you know, well, I don't want to be micromanaged.
I don't, you know, I don't have her just standing, you know, now do this, now this, now you're
doing it wrong.
You know, so like my wife is often amazed because sometimes when I'm working with her
to help her with something, she's looking at me like, oh man, you know, you're not getting
anything done.
You don't know what you're doing.
But then this is what will happen.
She'll leave, if she leaves the house for like 45 minutes, and I'm like, honey, just
don't worry about it.
I'll take care of it while you're gone.
And then she comes back 45 minutes later and everything's like, she walks in the door,
everything's got this little sparkle.
Like everything's just immaculate.
She's like, how did you do all this?
Because I've unleashed the, the worker inside, you know.
And I, it's just, I can't unleash it, you know, when I'm, when I'm being micromanaged
by a woman, you know.
But when she's gone, man, it just comes out, you know, I just get it all done, just, you
know.
I tell her, I'm like, you've never really seen me work, you know, because it's only
when you're not around.
As soon as you're gone, really I just hire a bunch of illegals, bring them in, get it
done.
That's the real secret.
But anyway, a bunch of illegal housekeepers come in and I'm like, come on, trenta minutos,
andale, you know, hurry up.
She's going to be home.
But anyway, I'm just kidding.
But what I'm trying to say is that, you know, it takes trust in the Lord to basically submit
yourself unto your husband as a woman.
I mean, you have to trust God.
You may look at Him, I don't trust Him.
I don't trust Him.
Do you trust God?
Because He's the one who told you to do it.
But let's read the passage, it says in 1 Peter 3, 5, for after this manner in the old time,
the holy women also who trusted in God, adorn themselves, being in subjection unto their
own husbands, 1 Peter 3 verse 6, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose
daughters ye are as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
So notice, verse 5, what do we have?
Trust.
Verse 6, what do we have?
Fear.
Right?
There's trust, and then there's fear.
I'm afraid to trust God with my finances because I'm afraid He's not going to come through.
I'm afraid to trust God to protect me because I'm afraid if I don't avenge myself, I'm never
going to be avenged.
I'm afraid to do this or that or the other, but what does the Bible say?
And do we trust in Him?
And look, verse 6 right here, I guarantee you that verse has probably never been read
in 99% of churches in America.
That verse has never even been read.
Why?
Because we're on the world's program.
If that verse does not, I mean, if you tell the world that the wife should obey her husband
and call him Lord, what are they going to tell you?
What if we just went down the street with a microphone, you know, like, man on the street
reporter, like, you know, what would you say if I told you that the Bible said that you
should obey your husband and call him Lord, you know, and I asked women that all over
the street.
What do you think they're going to say to that?
You're crazy, that's stupid, you're an idiot, or this is what probably a lot of people say,
the Bible never says that.
That's probably what a lot of people would say, even though I just read it for you.
And then it says, verse 7, likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge.
You say, oh, that's degrading to women, okay, read the next verse.
Giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the
grace of life that your prayers be not hindered, and one last point, because I'm running out
of time, go to Job 13, we must trust in the Lord when things go wrong.
We've got to trust in Him when things go wrong.
First of all, we've got to trust Him for salvation, we've got to trust His provision, we've got
to trust His protection, we've got to trust His knowledge and His way versus our own understanding
and what we think, we have to trust His word above what this world will tell us.
And look, sometimes there's going to be a real stark contrast.
But not only that, we have to trust in the Lord when things go wrong.
Things will go wrong in your life.
Things will go wrong in my life.
Whatever things are going really well in my life, I'm always just bracing myself.
And I'll even say to my wife, man, things are going so good, what is about to happen?
Everything is going so great, what is coming?
And then sure enough, you know, wham, the IRS sends you something in the mail, you know,
it's always something.
But what I'm saying is, we have to trust Him when things go wrong because we have to understand
that the Bible doesn't tell us that things are always going to go right, okay?
He tells us that our end will be good.
But along the way, there are going to be bumps in the road, there are going to be trials
and tribulations.
Look at Job 13 verse 14, wherefore do I take my flesh and my teeth and put my life in mine
hand?
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him, but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.
The Bible tells us, look, we've got to trust Him even when things are going bad.
Here's Job, his children have died, he's lost his wealth, he's lost his business, his own
wife has told him to curse God and die, his wife has turned on him, his friends have turned
on him, everybody is attacking him, everybody is telling him that he's the problem, he's
covered in scabs and boils from head to toe, he's in physical pain, he's in emotional pain,
he feels that God is not pleased with him.
I mean, down the list, everything is going wrong in Job's life, but he says, though He
slay me, yet will I trust Him.
And look, we go through bad things in our life, hard things happen, bad times happen,
but you know what the Bible says?
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.
He says, I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be continually in my mouth.
And look, when something bad happens, don't you think that God could have prevented that
bad thing from happening if He wanted to?
Think about that.
Let's say you get in a bad car accident.
Would God have prevented that car accident?
Well, but I'm just afraid that I'm doing something wrong and God's chastening me.
Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.
The Bible says don't faint at the Lord's chastening and the Lord's chastisement, don't faint.
Just praise God, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
And so, when bad things happen, we often get down and discouraged and we think to ourselves,
you know, God's not with me, God's not taking care of me.
Look, bad things are going to happen.
You know, when the car crash comes, maybe you do experience the death of a child, maybe
a miscarriage, maybe you experience horrible sickness, maybe you lose your job.
You know, maybe you have a problem at work, maybe something breaks at work and it's blamed
on you.
Maybe you were the one who really broke it.
You know, bad things are going to happen in our life.
Don't you think that any of those things that I just mentioned, God could prevent from happening?
And look, that means if it happens, we just need to realize, you know what, this is what
God's doing in my life.
Praise God.
Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither, the Lord gave and
the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
And just trust Him that He knows what's best and that all things work together for good
to them that love God and to them who are the called according to His purpose.
We need to be willing not to just place our soul in the Lord's hands at salvation, but
to place our whole life in His hands and just let Him guide and direct our paths.
Let Him tell us what is right and what is wrong.
Let Him protect, provide, care for us, nurture us, and lead us and guide us.
Much like a husband and wife relationship, you know.
He is going to lead us and guide us and in return He's going to protect us and cherish
us and take care of us.
Look, it's a great feeling to just trust God and even when your whole life is spinning
out of control, everything's falling apart and you go home and you put your bed on the
pillow and you just realize, you know what?
God's going to take care of it.
I'm going to let Him lead.
Not my problem.
I'm going to sleep like a baby.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for your promises and God
we thank you so much for the fact that you are trustworthy and that we can put our trust
in you, that our heart can safely trust in you for everything and that we don't have
to lean on our own hand and our own flesh and our own understanding or this world's
understanding.
Help us to always believe you and your word first and to trust in you.
And God, I pray if there's anyone here who's not trusting you for salvation, I pray that
they would not think that they are righteous as that Pharisee did, but rather they would
understand that they are a sinner and put their trust in you to get them to heaven.
And Lord, those of us that are saved, which is the majority, I pray that you would allow
us to just trust you in our daily lives and trust you for everything that we need.
And in Jesus' name we pray.