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?
b. God wants to give you all things but you need Jesus first.
2. Another reason is that you may have been trying to do life on your own terms, as god of your own life. You may be rejecting God’s best and substituting your own ideas of what you need and want.
a. Over and over you get into that tough place, the abusive relationship, the financial hardship, strangling debt…and you think God is against you.
b. But it is you that is getting in His way of being “for you.”
c. You must let Him be God!
c. ;v6b: I will not fear; what can man do to me?
i. Do you know what fear is? It is a natural, normal reaction to the perception of danger.
ii. David is not saying that he will not experience the emotion of fear. What he is saying is that he will not give into its control.
1. Fear is an emotion. A very powerful emotion. We must learn where it comes from and if it is a valid emotion or if it is from a lie.
a. In Search for Significance, I learned a very valuable truth. I hope that you will take this to heart today.
b. Basically the book says that our actions come from our emotions, and our emotions arise from our beliefs.
i. Let me illustrate. If you are sleeping at night at a relative’s house and hear a rattling outside your window, you may perceive that someone is trying to get into your room. That perception, along with your other beliefs about danger and safety will build an emotional fortress that will lead you to do something, like scream or shoot the window.
ii. Of course, the rational thing to do would be to find out what is causing the noise (get the facts because emotions are built upon what we believe, true or untrue).
c. In our passage, David says, “I will not fear” and he gives his reason for this choice, “what can man do to me.”
d. In other words, He believes that God alone holds the key to what any man can do to him.
i. He understands the powerful truth that when He trusts God, that nothing will happen to him that God has not permitted.
ii. Matthew 10:28-31 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." 31 "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."
iii. Psalms 27:1 The Lord [is] my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord [is] the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
d. v8-9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
i. Over the past few weeks I have spoken about what it means to take refuge in something. It means to hide from danger.
ii. I also shared with you that to trust means to place ourselves totally in the care of another.
1. We trust that person (God in this case) to take care of us. We don’t tell Him what to do or how to do it (recall the awake patient micromanaging the surgeon illustration).
2. But for many of us, trusting God is a lot like skydiving. We pack two chutes, a main one (which can be God or ourselves) and a reserve (which could be God or plan B in case the main one doesn’t work).
a. Now if you are jumping out of airplanes, a reserve chute is simply being prudent.
b. But when it comes to life, we have to learn that trust is about placing ourselves completely in the care of God.
c. We refuse to trust anything else.
d. We refuse to trust man, ourselves, our eyes, or even our understanding.
3. How many of you trust God in a situation but have a “plan B” just in case?
iii. In these 2 verses he tells us not to trust in man.
1. John 2:24-25 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew what people were really like. No one needed to tell him about human nature.
2. I was counseling someone this week and was sharing this passage from Psalm 118 and how it said, “don’t trust men.”
3. Some women might agree with that.
4. But it actually says, “don’t place your trust in people.”
e. Some of you put your hopes for a euphoric or joyful moment in a local sports team.
i. Movie about Vince Papale, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles. Actually, while the players were on strike, they did a publicity stunt that asked for regular folks to come play football. They had no intention of hiring any of them. But Vince was persistant and made the team. He was urged by his friends, in fact by the entire city to persist, because “the whole town’s hopes, its psyche, was wrapped up with the rise and fall of their team.”
ii. Folks, that is setting yourself up for a fall…trusting in a sports team for your hopes and happiness.
iii. Now with the Indians, you probably know better.
1. But maybe you get all wrapped up in the OSU football or basketball teams. They are only people. They will fail someday. And even if they win, they will someday lose, because they are people. They cannot bring you joy that lasts.
i. But God can when you look to Him. When you trust Him, placing yourself in His hands for joy and your future, He will not disappoint. He says He will do “exceedingly and abundantly above all you can ask or imagine.” (Eph. 3:22).
ii. Why, oh why would we ever place our hopes and trust in a sports team?
f. When we put our trust in our employer we will be let down someday, because the business may fail, the economy may change, the boss may abscond with the finances.
iii. When we trust man, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.
iv. You must learn to trust God for your finances and well being.
v. Men and jobs will change but God will never change. Amen?
g. Some of you may be placing your trust and hopes in me as your pastor instead of in God. If you are new here, you may be saying, “he is such a good pastor.”
vi. Folks, let me tell you what people who know me really well would tell you…I am just a man, and a fallible one at that. I mess up, I fail, I struggle with prayer, and I struggle with just about everything that you struggle with.
vii. Don’t place your faith or trust in me. I will disappoint you because I cannot possibly live up to your expectations. Put your faith and trust in God, He alone can meet and exceed your expectations!
h. Perhaps you place your hopes in a political candidate. You just are so sure that this man or that woman will change this country’s course in a direction to your liking.
viii. We all know the saying that “You can’t trust politicians” but every election cycle we all act like we can.
ix. Folks, a man cannot carry our nation. Only God can.
2. Results of trusting in man:
a. When we trust in man, we stop praying.
i. But when we trust in God, we pray continuously
b. When we trust in man, we will be disappointed.
i. When we trust in man, we will exhibit jealousy, or criticism because we are looking at what they are or aren’t doing.
ii. But when we trust in God, our attention is upon Him and not the fallible, grace filled people that He uses.
4. Who will you trust today?
a. Will you give your heart to Jesus, and receive God’s best? God is for you. And if He is for you who can be against you? Only you. You can make the choice today to let God carry you or whether you will walk alone. What will you do today?
