Trust God and Stand Firm

There are two rival suitors who want your devotion. Each devotes great effort in seeking your absolute loyalty and your devotion to Him. I'd like to tell you a story about a church member, not unlike yourself, who, like you and me, has the pull of both of these potential suitors. This individual heard the truth. God opened his mind to understand it, gave him the desire to pursue it, and at some point in time he was baptized. He and his wife moved to the headquarters of the church where construction was going on, and he was hired by my father to be a carpenter, in fact a finished carpenter in the cabinet shop. He had good skills, and there at headquarters he learned even more. He became absolutely convinced and convicted that this was the way that he should live. In fact, he became so convicted and so convinced that with God's help he began to be able to express it more and more. And with some speech training he became a teacher of it, and he was ordained into the ministry and eventually went into the field and pastored churches.

This man was tall, he was strong, he was devoted.

Jesus Christ wants you and me to come out of where we were and begin a relationship with him that is firm, that is founded firmly on him as the rock. We read of this process in Ezekiel 16, verses 8-10. It is a process that he uses with all those that he chooses to have a relationship with. It begins with him choosing us, calling us, opening our eyes, and we are to respond in kind. Ezekiel 16, beginning in verse 8, says, When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love. So I spread my wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine, says the Lord God.

That covenant that you and I enter into with Jesus Christ is a strong one, and we become purchased by his blood. It is an indelible covenant that we consider to be not only lifelong but eternal.

Going on in verse 9, Then I washed you in water, symbolic of baptism. Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood. I anointed you with oil. I clothed you. Dropping down now to verse 13, Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen, which in other places is related to the righteous acts of the saints.

Silk and embroidered cloth, you ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you succeeded to royalty. We are called royalty.

Now, that is suitor number one.

There is another suitor who also is pulling at you and me. That, of course, is Satan. Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 24, that for you and me in the church, there will be false Christs, another suitor, like him, pulling for you also, trying to get you to believe, but false. And false teachers. And they will rise. How does somebody rise? They have to be promoted in order to rise. Satan is there promoting them, helping them rise, and they will show great signs and wonders which humans can't do on their own. And these will be done to deceive, if possible, even the elect, even you and me. Two strong pulls, aren't they? Both wanting absolute commitment. This man was told at some point, you don't need to be burdened by the law. God doesn't want you to keep that old covenant law. And he said, hmm, okay. He was told, you don't need to tie 10% of all that money you earn. Just give what your heart feels like giving each week in the plate. And he said, wow, that sounds good to me. He was told, don't keep those holy days that are commanded and demanded. That would be earning your salvation through works. Make up your own holy days. Make up, well, you might just use the ones that Babylon made up. Those are great. Those are expressions from the heart. And he says, oh, that sounds pretty good off. Pretty good. You don't need to set aside 24 hours to worship as holy time. No, no, no, no, no. Just maybe take an hour on your day off and, you know, do a little praise thing. And God will really like that. And he said, oh, now that sounds good to me. You don't need to worry about what you eat. Eat everything that tastes good to you. Oh, all right. Don't restrict your desires.

If you're not with the one you love, love the one you're with. You know? Oh, okay. You need to prevent your enemies from taking your stuff. Yeah. Get a gun if you need to. Maybe get an army if that's what's required. But keep your stuff at all costs. It's yours. Exactly, he says.

Now, you won't die, he was told. You have an immortal soul. Just do a good deed or two and you'll go to heaven. Why? That's great. That's great. And so you had an individual who fully was committed, transformed his life with God's help, who gave it all up for mystic fables, gave up everything that he stood for spiritually and changed it for lawlessness. I felt awful for this man for a number of years because of all that he just walked away from. And the prospects of what he has now aren't good.

But with that little example, let's transpose that to your life and mine. How confident are you about your long-term relationship with Jesus Christ? I know right now we're pretty firm. Oh, yeah, we're here. We're committed, aren't we?

What about long-term? How could most, over 90% of all the people in the church, back when this person was in the church, have left, and you and I represent less than 10%? Where do we get our confidence from that you and I will remain in a strong relationship with Jesus Christ? How deep is your trust in his promises and his rewards for obedience or disobedience? Are those really firm, firm, firm, or are they arguable? What could shake your trust in God, his way, as you know it? What could remove your name from the book of life?

These are good questions. Today I'd like to examine a tendency of church members to leave the faith. It's a tendency. It's a trend. We're talking about more than 90%. This is something that you and I need to consider and even ask ourselves, Why am I still here?

I asked myself that my whole life. Why me? I hope you will ask that question as well. Very seriously. I'd like to teach today how to endure to the end in a sermon entitled, Trust God and Stand Firm. It may seem simple, but as we've already seen, it's difficult for most. Everybody thinks that he or she is on solid ground. Just ask anyone. Are you on solid ground with God? Absolutely. People use the term rock. Rock Church. I'm a scripture about rock. I'm solid. I know I am.

I'm firm. It's an interesting concept. But you can deceive yourself. You can be self-deceived. Deceived in that state means you don't know you're deceived, otherwise you probably wouldn't be. But you're sure about it. Let's do a little test. Let's turn over to Luke 8 and verse 13. Let's see who is on the rock and who isn't. You don't even have to turn there if you don't. I'll just read it to you. Luke 8 and verse 13. But the ones on the rock. Now ask yourself the question.

Am I on the rock? Are you on the rock? I think I am. Anybody out there think you are? We're on the rock. The ones on the rock are those when they hear they receive the word with joy, and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now, are you on the rock? You see, that's exactly what's happened to the majority of people that we've known. They were on the rock.

And in a time of temptation, something came along and lured them, some better ideas, and they fell away. Now, as a pastor, a pasturer, of those who need real food, the bread of life, of the Word of God, we need to know what rock we're on. We need to know what that foundation is, to the point that nothing can shake us, including some great signs and wonders from Christ's that are false, or teachers that are false.

We need, in a sense, an inoculation against mistruth, but that alone won't do it. We actually need a trust in God that will see us through anything. And we can find that right in the Bible. I'd like to explore that today. What do you live for? Who do you live for? Where is your pursuit in life, and how firm are you in that?

Is it sort of good in good times, weak in other times? Do you find yourself in times of trial, kind of getting weak? Does your relationship fail? Are you having trouble praying? This is God's holy Sabbath? Do you find yourself not praying yet, even today? If so, think about this. Think about it seriously. How firm are you in pursuing what it is you say you stand for? Because we are all humans.

We all, every one of us, you and me included, tend to not be as solid and strong as we should be at all times. Those become our weak points, times where Satan can get at us and discourage us. In 1 John 4 and verse 1, we are told, first of all, to examine and test the spirits. Notice this because this is a starting point. If you can't test the spirits, you are susceptible to falling for anything.

You have to be able to test the spirits, because human logic will win out every time. If someone can go through logically and show you, using the Bible, that you don't have to obey God and the laws of God, you can believe it if human logic is your guide, if that's your litmus test. However, if you can test the spirits using a different method, you will always know what is of God and what is not. 1 John 4 and verse 1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Jesus in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24 warned of great deception and many false teachers, especially a component of the end time will be religious deception and people leaving the church. And what will they be going into? Lawlessness and a lack of love, agape, a lack of agape. It's not real complex to test the spirit. If the spirit promotes me, self, things that work for me, it's of Satan.

If it promotes self-sacrifice, humility, serving, and more than anything, obeying God in every situation, no matter how inconvenient or life-threatening it is for me, that's of God. You've got to test the spirits, whether they are of God, because God is about loving God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, our loving, our neighbor as our self, the same. And if the spirit is not teaching that, it's not to be believed. Consequently, you can get sucked up into human-devised notions that okay the satiation of the self under the name of God and Jesus, and it feels right.

But be careful, he says, because many false teachers have gone out into the world. Christ gave the church, his church, real shepherds and a mixture of false teachers to tend his flock. But the true shepherds were to tend the flock. He said, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, tend my sheep. We have this complexity, though, of just like he said, there will be many false teachers. There's a prophecy that said, Christ will not return until the falling away, the great falling away of members of the church. What does that portend to you and me? That means a lot of people will be going. The falling away has to come first. I don't want anyone here to fall away or anyone anywhere to fall away, but it's a responsibility I have, and it starts with testing the spirits to see whether they are of God. In 2 Timothy 4 and verse 1, we see a passage here about the true teachers, and it's to the true teachers. What they're to teach. This is of true spirit, godly spirit. He says, I charge you therefore, Timothy, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. In other words, this is serious. I am charging you before God and the kingdom and all that it represents. Verse 2, preach the logos. Preach the logos. Not just the Bible. Jesus Christ is the logos. The Bible is the word, the written word of God. You preach about him. You preach God's will.

You preach God's word and be ready in season and out of season to convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. Verse 3, because the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

Sound doctrine is obedience to God, its lawfulness, its loving, serving, its following the example of Jesus Christ who gives all for others.

But they will not endure that. They will heap up for themselves other teachers.

Verse 4, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Fables are stories that everybody loves to hear. You and I all enjoy a good fable. It might be a romance, a movie, a TV show, a good book, some fiction. These fables are fun. They are kind of feel-good stuff. They are written in a way where you can be inserted in there. It draws the person right in there and you kind of vicariously participate. And it feels good. But the whole time you are involved in that, it is worthless, it is useless, there is nothing true in it. It is just a fable, but it feels good.

Fables.

In the church, being turned aside to fables can involve intrigue, can involve suspicion, plots, romance, can involve all kinds of things. A person can be distracted, you see, away from what? Loving God, loving your fellow man, including your enemies, and praying for them, and loving and serving, doing all that you can.

So, as Jesus said, you can be sons of your Father in heaven.

Fables turn us aside.

The result is right here in 2 Timothy 4.

They will turn their ears away from the truth.

So you get caught up in something that causes you to stop loving God.

You start doing some of the seven things that God hates, and you say, this is okay.

You start breaking some of the laws that God said, some of the principles that Jesus gave, and you say, but it's okay.

I can hate a little, I can slander a little, I can lie a little, I can use God's name in vain a little, I can lust a little, I can steal a little.

You see, pretty soon we start doing all the things and feeling good about them that God will have to deny us entry into His kingdom over.

What is the solution to deception? Let's go to Ephesians 6 and verse 11.

The second step, once we test the spirits, is this. Ephesians 6 and verse 11.

Just to put on the whole armor of God. I know you've heard this before. Don't tune out just yet.

That is an important point here in the armor of God that bears stressing.

But if you put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of suitor number two, because He's coming after you.

He's sending false prophets after you. He's going to send lying signs and wonders after you. He's going to try to get you to wither away on this rock that we find ourselves on too often, the wrong rock.

In particular, let's drop down to verse 16.

Above all, taking the shield of faith. Now the word faith comes from the Greek word pistis.

And Thayer's Greek lexicon says the definition of that word is conviction of truth.

You see how important that truth is here? You're going to resist this suitor number two above all by having a conviction of truth. Faith. The faith of God. The faith of Jesus Christ, which you are convicted of truth.

Now there is a deep component of this, or a component of this, is a deep trust in God.

Somebody can't be shaken by somebody coming up and saying, oh, just eat off of this tree. Just do this and you'll be fine. Just stop doing that. Do this other thing. It'll feel good. You'll be good.

But if you have a deep conviction of the truth, you'll say, oh no, no, I am convicted to the Logos and what he said and what he tells me.

Taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. It's a very complex thing to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. Very, very difficult.

When Paul says this, he's talking about a Roman shield. Taking the Roman shield, which was very difficult to make, several layers, several different components went into the shield. It was a certain size. It was made of two layers of canvas plus metal plus wood. It was dipped in water in advance and soaked so that when the fiery arrows came in with the pitch on them that didn't just extinguish what right away, those things in time, first of all, would not kill you right away, would not penetrate, would not ignite you or your clothing or your hair.

And in time could be quenched, dealt with, or would go out. Not just a simple thing. See, when trials come upon us, they don't just sort of instantly pop up and you, okay, that one's gone.

They tend to linger. They tend to be intrusive. They tend to really tear you up for a while. And this deep trust of God is the thing that's going to see you through. Because Satan is a master and he knows how to work on us. He's going to try to find doubt. He's going to try to create doubt if there's not any doubt there yet. And he's going to try to breed on that doubt to where you eventually won't trust exactly what God said or your conviction to it. These are the wiles of the devil, the scheming of the devil, back in verse 11. Causes one to eventually be turned off. If you can doubt a little bit, you can doubt humans, you can see faults, you can doubt this, you can doubt that, you can eventually get a little separated from God and separated from your fellow man. And finally you just say, well, I just don't know. I just don't know. I think I need to take some time off just by myself and see what happens. It's pretty much a dead end, isn't it? Deep trust of God turns into one who's offended, one who is trustless. I don't trust people. I don't trust organized religion. I don't trust God. It's a thing that Satan does to try to get one to leave the faith. It works. Distrusting God works.

Webster's Dictionary defines trust as a firm belief in the honesty and reliability of another. It's not just a belief, but a firm belief in the reliability of another.

How strongly do you believe that you can rely on God's way and God's promises when you're hurting, when you're being persecuted? What will it take? David, in 2 Samuel 22, verse 2, came to this. He was tested repeatedly over and over. David came to this very important point as a man after God's own heart that you and I can learn from. 2 Samuel 22, verse 2.

He came to the point where that's how he felt. Verse 3.

The God of my strength in whom I will trust. See what gets him through? See how he stands firm no matter what comes at him? It's a firm trust in God. And an accompanying obedience. It can't just be faith without works. It was an obedience and a following, the directives of God.

He was trying to kill us. Dropping down to verse 29. I'm in darkness. I live in darkness. I don't really see. But God, you are my lamp to my feet. I can see. I can go places. I know which way to go. Verse 31. You see a strong reliance through a relationship. And that relationship was bulletproof with David. It needs to grow into that with you and me if it's not there already. Jesus said it's the one who endures to the end that will be saved. And you and I need to be unshakable. There are great examples in the Bible of unshakable church members. You can look in the New Testament and it starts right out with Stephen the Deacon, who with God's inspiration stood up and gave a sermon that got him killed. But God supported him all the way through and gave him a vision, actually, to see God the Father in heaven and Jesus Christ at his right hand. But Stephen had a conviction that went far beyond the angry crowd of leaders that was in front of him. You and I want to be like that. In Hebrews 11, verses 35-40, we see of fellow church members who have gone before us who trusted God deeply like David did. Hebrews 11, verse 35, And when the storms came and beat on them and the waves roared, they were unshakable. They were unmovable. They really were founded on the right rock. But notice what some of the storms were in their life. Hebrews 11, 35, breaking into the second half of the verse, others were tortured. I don't know about you, but that's one I don't like.

Torture. That's just a tough one. And they did not accept deliverance. There's trust. There's trust not only that there is a God, but God is faithful in what he promises. Both promises for sinning and promises for obedience.

That they might obtain a better resurrection. They firmly believed in the truth of the resurrection and the kingdom of God. Verse 36, Still others had trials of mockings and scourgings. Nobody likes to be mocked and made fun of by society. We all want to fit in, wear the right labels, look right, have people kind of think you're pretty cool.

But, scourgings? Having things rip your flesh open? Yes, and of chains and imprisonment? Not western prisons, where you have air conditioning and TV and some nice meals. Some dungeon where your fellow compatriots are rotting and where there's other things gnawing on you at night that run around in the dark.

That's bad, and there's no restrooms or toilets. It's just bad. And yet, verse 37, some were stoned, sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered about in sheepskins, goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. The whole point here is that these people trusted God with a conviction that was unshakable. And yet, 90% of everybody I've known in the Church blew right out the door.

What about you and me? How long will we last? What will it take? Either to get us to start being faithful, just showing up here doesn't mean we're faithful, or to remain faithful and convicted to living the way God commands us to.

In verse 6 of the same chapter, Hebrews 11, but without faith, it is impossible to please Him. God has just made your life and mine a matter where the only way you're going to make it is through faith, a conviction that He is trustworthy. God's not going to show Himself to you. You're going to have to believe in faith. You're going to have to obey in faith. You're going to have to hope in faith about your future. That's the way God has made it. And so there's going to be a lot of testing of that trust.

Do you trust? David trusted. These individuals in Hebrews 11 trusted. But will you and I? And for how long? For He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. None of us have seen the kingdom of God yet. We all believe it's out there in whatever form we think. But nobody's seen it yet, and nobody's actually seen God. And so it's a matter of trust, isn't it? It's a matter of faith. We can't even do that on our own.

Let's go back to chapter 3 of Hebrews 12 and read a warning. I'm sorry, chapter 3, verse 12 of Hebrews. I didn't say that correctly. Hebrews 3, verse 12, Beware, brethren! It's talking to the church, you and me, brothers and sisters. Beware! A lot of us don't like to beware. We don't like to read Christ's many sayings and His parables and the allegories and the seven lessons He gave to the church. We'd rather just think, oh, God so loved the world, He gave His forgotten Son, that those who, I don't know, will be saved.

Well, the missing part was believe in Him. See, it comes down to trust. God has set it up where we have to trust. Verse 12, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. That's where the rubber meets the road. And if you have a heart of unbelief, notice the rest in departing from the living God.

So, this faith or this trust that David speaks of is a very necessary component. That it really comes right down to the very fabric of who you are and what you stand for. Does that sound challenging? Well, it certainly is challenging, because you and I can't have that level of trust or belief on our own. It's impossible. Nor could Paul.

We need help from God, and we need it constantly. We need it daily. That's one reason we get on our knees and we pray and ask God for our daily bread, the spiritual bread. We ask Him for help. We ask Him for His Spirit and the encouragement to do good and to forgive one another and to ask for deliverance from this other suitor, number two, as we fight Him.

In 2 Timothy 1, verses 12-14, Paul shares something with us about his conviction. You know, Paul was an incredibly convicted guy. I think we all appreciate Paul just for the fact of how open he was. He was open about everything, his faults, his strengths. But he was always wrestling and fighting and working and having problems and challenges and being left for dead and beat up in stone and flogged and prison. And he just kept slogging it out. You think, wow, could I have done that? At some point what I said, is there really a God? If there is, why am I getting beat up so much?

If I'm his favorite, one of his favorites, not Paul. 1 Timothy 1, verses 12. Let's look at how Paul looked at his conviction. For this reason, I also suffer these things. Paul was a sufferer. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed.

I am confident about my belief, about my trust. And I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. Verse 13. Hold fast. Now, hold fast is an interesting term. That means don't be moved. That means endure to the end. That means you're not going to be shaken off the rock or blown away.

You're hanging on tight. Hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love, which are in Christ Jesus. Notice, they're not in me. They're not in you. They're in Christ Jesus. Faith is the faith of Christ. Love is the love that comes from God. These are components of the Holy Spirit. We need that bread. We need God living in us. So hold fast those sound words, which you've been taught from faithful shepherds, and continue on with God's help.

That good thing, verse 14, which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit, which dwells in us. So first of all, we've got to test the spirits. Secondarily, we have to trust, and we have to really trust with the conviction of our very being. And third, we have to have God's help, because that is of God. We've got to have a strong relationship with Him, a continual relationship with Him. Belief, trusting God and doing godly deeds leads to the kingdom of God. It always does. It always will.

Most since the 1960s in the Church have failed. Failed. How about you and me? I'd like to give you an assignment. This is a literal assignment. If you're here, or if you're listening or later watching this, here's an assignment for you. I'd like you to study 2 Thessalonians 2, to determine what will become of your relationship with God. You can just write that down. 2 Thessalonians 2. Study it. Read it. With this in mind, what will happen to me and my relationship with God over time? It's a very interesting chapter that speaks directly to that.

David said in Psalm 119, verse 165, Great peace have those who love your law. The word peace, shalom, is defined by brown driver brigs as meaning safety or soundness.

You could say, great soundness have those who love your law. The one thing that you can firmly be resolute about are the teachings of God. Soundness means you're not going to crumble, you're not going to fall, you're not rotten, you're not made of a deck of cards.

There's soundness there. And you're going to be safe around the devil in his pursuits. If you love God's law, and the last phrase says, and nothing causes them to stumble.

So when you think of your future leading out to the return of Jesus Christ and the salvation, the harvest of the firstfruits, and you wonder, will I be there? We've got to test the spirits. We've got to trust God. We need his help. And we've got to be firmly fixed to loving his law.

And nothing can cause such a person to stumble or to fail. The Bible tells us that.

In conclusion, you have been called to trust. You have been called to be loyal to suitor number one, to Jesus Christ.

But suitor number two, once you're dead, and that's all there is to that one, through clever means and temptations, trials are going to come, prophecies are certain, there is a testing of your faith in mind, and there is a prophesied falling away.

That is great, that will come before Christ returns.

David said in Psalm 56, verses 3 and 4, Whenever I am afraid, do you ever get in a situation that's like, oh, I wonder what's going to happen?

There are many tough tests in life, and the prophecies, even to the church, Christ has warned all the lying signs and wonders and the persecutions that will come before His return. Those things can be scary.

But He says in Psalm 56, verse 3, Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. See what gets us through? I will trust in you, no matter what happens. Was it Daniel? My God can remove all of these things and save me from this fire, but nevertheless, I will not bow down and worship your pagan image. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed, faithful people, it doesn't matter what happens to me.

Whenever I am afraid, David said, I will trust in you. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear. See how that changes, just in verse 1. Whenever I am afraid, I will not fear, because there's trust in God. What can flesh do to me?

Brethren, more than anything, God wants you to live. His Son gave His life so that you can be successful and live. So believe Him. Trust Him. Do all of God's commandments. Trust God, and you will stand firm.