Don't Trust In Man Series

Psalm 118 video - you can download this video for free from http://www.hereshopechurch.org/Videos/thy%20word.wmv

My message today will deal with our need to trust in God and not in man.

a. It is the central theme of the Bible.

b. It is the key to a successful life.

c. It is core to finding peace in a troubled world.

3. Our passage today is from Psalm 118:5-9: From my distress I called upon the LORD; The LORD answered me and set me in a large place. 6 The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me? 7 The LORD is for me among those who help me; therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. (NKJV)

a. The problem in this passage is that the author is in distress.

i. You probably know the international distress call, don’t you? SOS? When wireless transmitters were introduced in 1906 on ships, a distress signal was CQD, which meant “seek you, danger”. Unfortunately, the assortment of dashes and dots associated with it were so complex that dropping off one dot or dash would lead to the message being missed. They introduced SOS, three dots, three dashes, three dots, which when repeated would form an unmistakable pattern that would be instantly recognized.

ii. When we are in distress, we don’t need to send a complicated message to God that we are in trouble. A simple “call upon the Lord” is all that is required.

1. The Hebrew reads, “to call, cry, or utter a loud sound”

2. For some of us, it might be the last second gasp, “Jesus, help me!” before a car slams into us.

3. For others it may be the agony of a prolonged difficulty. The Message reads Psalm 118:5- Pushed to the wall, I called to GOD; “ and gives us a great word picture in contrasts, “pushed to the wall” - running out of room to run, no place left to turn”

4. Are you in that place today? Are your running out of room? Is your wallet empty, are your emotions running out of gas, are your hopes and dreams so crushed that you have no place left to go, you feel like giving up?

5. When you are in distress, Call To God!

6. CALL TO GOD! If you are pushed to the wall, CALL TO GOD!

7. David says that when he did, God set him in a “large place.” The Hebrew reads a pasture or large field. God answered him and set him free.

b. Verse 6: “the Lord is for me”

i. If there is any passage in the bible that should bring comfort to you today, it is this one.

ii. God is for you. He has your best interests at heart. It is His desire to give you His best.

1. Romans 8:31-32 “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

2. Is God for you? He wants to let you know HE IS!

3. He wants you to experience life in the way He designed it.

4. I’ll tell you how I know God is for me, that God will answer my prayers and that God cares about me.

a. I may not look like it this evening, but I’m actually a royal descendant of a king from Jerusalem!

b. (Perhaps you heard that the Queen of England made Billy Graham and royal knight of England)

c. Why that’s nothing, I am more than a Knight of a Queen, I’m a child of the king!

d. That’s why I know that God is for me, because he was willing to make me a child of the king! He gave me His Son.

5. Are you a child of the King? If not, you can be!

6. At the end of the service I will tell you how.

iii. You may not be experiencing God’s best for several reasons.

1. Maybe you are living outside of God’s love. He sent His Son, Jesus to bring you into a love relationship with Him. Have you rejected Him? He gave His Son unconditionally for you, to love you and to pay the price for your sins. And yet, you have the responsibility to receive that love, that wonderful gift and not to reject it.

a. You may say, “I just want the stuff God provides,” I don’t need Jesus…but if you reject God’s best, His own Son, what makes you think that He is going to give you 2nd best, a bunch of stuff that will rust or burn up someday?