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Justified by Christ

6/16/2017

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The Spirit of God by the mouth of Paul said “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).  

​How am I, a trembling believer, to understand this momentous appointment? To answer this, consider the Gospels, the book of Hebrews, Romans, Galatians and many others. Consider especially Hebrews 11. That chapter answers the question, “How shall we then live?” It catalogs the lives of believers, God's saints. It shows that God is pleased with His work of faith in them (John 6:29; Heb. 11:6). The introduction to Hebrews 11 comes from chapter 10:38: “Now the just shall live by faith.” What we believe determines what we do. What we do evidences what we believe. Knowing this fact, I must conclude that my faith is small indeed! I join the cry of the desperate father, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24)! 

​When the Lord Jesus Christ takes account of His people on the last day, I believe He will not only own them as His sheep, set them on His right hand and confess their names before His Father and His angels (Matt. 10:32; 25:33; Luke. 12:8), but He will say of each of them what He said of those in Hebrews 11: “By faith…By faith...By faith...” He will show that they lived by faith and died in faith. He will show that they did what they did by the faith that is in Him, the faith which is by Him (Acts 3:16; Gal. 5:5). Believers live by faith. What we think, pray, say and do depends on what we believe (Matt. 12:34). By the grace of God, every believer believes that Christ is his all.

Few things are clearer in scripture than this: we are not justified before God by what we do. We are not right before God by anything we do, anything of us or from us. Paul said this three times in Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.” This is something we know. Therefore, we know that on the last day, we will not be justified because of our good works. Nor will we be condemned because of our bad works. Jesus said “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Believers possess everlasting life now. They are not now, nor ever shall be condemned, because their sin was condemned in their Surety (Rom. 8:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21). 

But Paul goes on in Galatians 2:16 to say how we are justified, how God made it so that when He examines us, He finds no sin and finds only perfect righteousness (Heb. 10:14-18; Jer. 50:20)! “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). We are justified “by the faith of Jesus Christ!” But what is “the faith of Jesus Christ?” Many think they are justified because they believe Jesus, that is, that God justified them by their act of faith. But “the faith of Jesus Christ” does not mean our act of faith. “The faith of Jesus Christ” identifies the faith that belongs to Christ (Rom. 3:22; Php. 3:9). The faith of Jesus Christ is what God considers as the basis on which He justifies sinners. How are we to understand this from scripture?

Many times scripture uses the phrase, “the faith” as a synonym for
the truth of the Gospel which we believe: the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which He saved His people from their sins and glorified God in all of His perfections. By His substitutionary death and representative life, Christ justified His people before God (Rom. 5:9,19; 2 Cor. 5:21). In Philippians 1:27, for example, the truth we believe is called “the faith of the Gospel” (see also, Acts 6:7; Rom. 1:5, etc.). Again, “the faith of Jesus Christ” belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And it is what justifies us.


Understand this: we are not justified before God because of an act of our faith. Nor are we justified through an act of our faith, as if our act of faith was the means by which God justified us. Such a view makes our act of faith trigger God’s response of justification. But even human courts do not work this way. When the judge passes down a decision in human courts, his decision is never conditioned on the accused believing it. Certainly the accused will only enjoy the truth of that sentence when he believes the decision of the court, but before the court, he is only guilty or not guilty based on the final ruling of the judge. But if by our act of faith we were justified before God, we would be justified by an action on our part, a mental attitude or disposition from us, something in our experience. But Gal. 2:16 three times denies this as a possibility: “not by the works of the law.” That is, not by our own personal obedience! If it were possible that our act of faith justified us in whole or in part, God would accept our faith as satisfaction to His justice and fulfillment of His law. But that cannot be. Some say, “God has relaxed the standard. We cannot keep the law; God only requires that we believe on Jesus.” But this is a perversion of justice and dishonoring to God’s law. How would such faith establish God’s holy law (Rom. 3:31)? If God required only our act of faith to justify us, why did God give the law at all? More importantly, why did He send His only begotten Son into the world to suffer and die, to bear the full load of all of the sins of all of His people, and make propitiation to God by His death, if our act of faith is an equivalent substitute for the demands of God’s law and justice (1 John 4:10; Rom. 3:24-25)?! If only the act of believing God or Christ were enough, why did God require Christ to die (Gal. 2:21)?! And since our faith is imperfect at best, how could God accept anything less than perfection (Prov. 17:15)? Our faith is also temporary. It will not last forever. It will become sight when Christ returns. It therefore cannot be everlasting righteousness. No! Faith as an action does not justify. Not in entirety, not as a means and not as a substitute for obedience and satisfaction to God’s holy law. Faith as an act on our part does not justify, but Christ, the One we believe justifies! His substitutionary death and representative life is all that God considers when He determines the matter of our justification. He is the only ground, the only basis of our justification! We are justified freely, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24; 4:25; 5:9; Heb. 10:14; John 15:25; Hosea 14:6)! Freely: without cause; undeservedly by anything that could be considered ours. By His grace. God, in sovereign grace, provided Christ to make satisfaction and work out righteousness for His people in His obedience unto death (Gen. 22:8; 2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s obedience unto death is the only righteousness that justifies. Our faith has absolutely nothing to do with God’s righteous judgment: the decision of the court of heaven that in Christ and for His sake alone we stand justified before Him according to His ancient purpose of grace  (John 8:11; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9)!

The difference between these two things is the difference between true and false religion, between the true Gospel and false gospels, between life and death. “The faith of Jesus Christ” can only mean all that Christ did in His work of redemption to glorify God and save His people from their sins. Christ's solitary work that obtained the eternal redemption of His people is the truth of the Gospel (Heb. 9:12; 1 Cor. 15-1-4). We believe Him. In so doing, we apprehend, understand and receive Christ as our all. In so doing, we enjoy the peace that He has made for us with God (Rom. 5:1; John 3:33; Rom. 5:1; Heb. 9:14).

The faith of the Gospel, the faith of Jesus Christ, is this: by Himself, Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for His people (Heb. 9:12). By Himself He purged their sins (Heb. 1:3). By His one offering of Himself to God, He sanctified and perfected forever all those God gave to Him (Heb. 10:10,14; 13:12; Jude 1:1). He made full remission of their sins (Heb. 10:15-18). He justified them by His blood (Rom. 5:9, 19; 2 Cor. 5:21). When He had fully accomplished all God gave Him to do, when He had purged our sins, when He obtained our eternal redemption, when He sanctified and perfected all those God gave Him to save, then, and only then, did He sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high! His enthronement in glory as our Mediator who is God and man, is proof of our justification (1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 4:25). We are justified by the faithfulness of Christ. He is our righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:16). He is therefore our justification before God! God-given faith enables every believer to enter into the truth of what Christ did. But their faith does not contribute to that work.

Circling back to 2 Cor. 5:10, as the Lord cataloged the faith of His elect in Hebrews 11, He will also catalog the faith of His elect on the Day of Judgment. He will show that our works were done because we believed Christ, and that that faith by which we believed Him was His work of grace (Eph. 2:8-9). He will show that we looked to Christ as everything in our salvation. He will therefore show that we are His workmanship (Eph. 2:10). If we are His workmanship, we must be His seed (James 1:18). If we are His seed, He must have chosen us as His sons (Eph. 1:4-5). If we believe Christ, it is because we were ordained to eternal life by God the Father and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ (Acts 13:48; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Rev. 5:9). Therefore, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth! Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:33-34)! If we believe Christ, we have abandoned all hope of being justified by anything that may be called ours, and we come to God only in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, by what God thinks of Him. In other words, we are justified before God only “by the faith of Jesus Christ.”
 
Now, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ” (Gal. 2:16). Faith is God-given sight that enables us to see Christ as all of our salvation (Luke 2:30). Faith is the God-given persuasion that Christ is all and has done all to save me from my sins and present me to God in His perfect righteousness (Rom. 4:21; Heb. 11:11; 2 Tim. 1:12). And faith is embracing Christ as my all. It is trusting Him, committing myself and my eternal destiny to Him (Heb. 11:13; 2 Cor. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12). We believe that Christ is our justification. We believe that we are justified because of what God thinks of our Savior and His work for us, according to the truth of the Gospel. We see that He is our justification. We are persuaded of it. We trust Him. This is God’s work (Heb. 11:13; John 6:29; 1 Pet. 1:22; Rom. 6:17; 16:25-26). It is the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:1). Faith is how we receive in our conscience the peace of our justification before God by the truth declared in the Gospel of what Christ has accomplished and obtained in the court of heaven. Believing Him, we rejoice and rest in God (Rom. 5:11; 15:13; Isa. 26:3).
Rick Warta
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Psalm 46

6/10/2017

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Our Lord Jesus said that His people should expect trouble in this life (Matt. 24:1-4; Luke 21:8-28; John 16:33; Rom. 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 1:3-4; 1 Pet. 1:3-9; James 1:2-4; Heb. 12:5-8; Php. 1:29; 2 Tim. 3:12). Psalm 46 provides great comfort to believers in light of that certain fact. Throughout scripture, throughout history, God has designed that His people suffer in this world. His purpose for our sufferings is to make known His glory in our salvation (Ps. 50:15). Troubles wean us from the world (Ps. 119:67). Troubles drive us to Christ on His throne for mercy and grace (Heb. 4:15-16). Troubles increase our faith (1 Pet. 1:7). Troubles weaken our confidence in ourselves and reveal to us that Christ is our almighty Savior, all of our strength, who is able to save ruined, impotent sinners to the uttermost (Isa. 43:11; 45:5-6, 21; Hosea 13:4; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; Rom. 5:5-10; Rom. 8:31-39). Troubles endear Christ to us (1 Pet. 1:8-9). Let us therefore consider the comfort God provides to His saints in trouble.


v1) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Trouble teaches us to walk by faith in God’s promise that He is “Our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (2 Cor. 1:20; 2 Pet. 1:4). When we are at ease, God seems distant. But trouble makes the truth of the Gospel and Christ’s comfort precious (Ps. 119:67; 1 Pet. 1:7). From Ps. 46, our God and Savior promises us that He is very near to us in trouble: “A very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). In trouble, we draw nigh to Christ (Ps. 3:8; 34:6,14; 50:16; 35:1-3; 55:16-17, 22; 65:3; 94:17-18; 119:116-117; Heb. 4:16). And most importantly, our Lord draws nigh to us (Ps. 22:11; James 4:8-10), for He never leaves nor forsakes us. “He has said, ‘Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you,’ never” (Heb. 13:5, LITV)! Our weakness is the dwelling of His strength (2 Cor. 12:9-10; Rom. 5:6). When we were without strength in the guilt of our sins, under the dominion of our sin and guilty before the law of God and in our own conscience, Christ died for the ungodly! He called us in the preaching of the Gospel. We then called upon Him (Rom. 10:13-17). He persuaded us that Christ already answered all, and we fled to Him for refuge, and even now flee to Him in all trouble. Enduring faith cries to Christ in trouble (Ps. 34:17; John 6:68-69).


vv. 2-3) Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.


Jesus told His disciples that throughout time there would be Christ-imposters and proclaimers of “another Jesus.” (Matt. 24:5; 2 Cor. 11:1-4; Gal. 1:8-9). He said there would be wars between nations and kingdoms (Matt. 24:6). He said trouble would even arise from this groaning creation in plague, famine, earthquakes and more (Matt. 24:7; Luke 21:11; Rom. 8:22). He told us beforehand (Matt. 24:4-12, 25). He said His people would be afflicted and killed (Matt. 24:9), that many professors of Christ would depart from Him (Matt. 24:10). He said that because iniquity in this world would abound, the love of many would grow cold (Matt. 24:12). He had a purpose in view, a warning and a comfort to our souls: “Take heed that no man deceive you;” (v.4) “See that ye be not troubled” (v6). If Christ silences His enemies by His word (Matt. 22:22, 33-34, 37-40, 46), if He speaks calm to the winds and waves, then because He says, "be not troubled," we who believe Him have no cause for fear. He overcame and now silences every enemy. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" (Heb. 11:1). In Christ we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37). By faith we now possess the promised blessings. "Faith is the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). This precious faith is evidence that we are Christ’s and He is ours (Heb. 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:21-22; Heb. 8:10-12; Eph. 1:11-14; 1 Pet. 1:3-4). These things are not spoken to those who are at ease in life, but to those who are troubled, even those who were "counted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom. 8:36). They who are counted as sheep for the slaughter are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (Rom. 8:37)!


vv. 4-5) There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
 
How does our Lord comfort us in trouble? Pastor Don Fortner aptly pointed out in his summary exposition of 1 Peter (Discovering Christ in All the Scriptures) that the Spirit of God spoke comfort to His saints by the mouth of Peter when they faced the most cruel persecutions at the hand of the Roman emperor, Nero. The Spirit of God, by the mouth of Peter, spoke comfort to those persecuted saints by the one and only thing that comforts the hearts of believing sinners: our salvation in Christ our Surety! He spoke to them of God’s eternal electing love and His choice of them in Christ (1 Pet. 1:2). He spoke of Christ’s redeeming love in the sacrifice of His own blood (1 Pet. 1:2; 18-20). He spoke of the life-giving work of the Spirit of God who made them the sons of God in the new birth with faith in Christ (1 Pet. 1:2; 22-23; 2:2; John 3:3-15). He spoke of faith as precious because it makes Christ precious, convincing us that He has saved us from the trouble of our sins, that He is saving us out of the trouble of our sinful flesh and the troubles of this life, and that He will yet save us to the uttermost by His all-sufficient grace (2 Cor. 1:10). It is a great comfort to know that God’s eternal will of love and redemption in Christ will conform us to Christ’s image by His providential operations in this world and His operations in our soul as we gaze upon Christ in the Gospel of His grace (Ex. 12:13; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29). There is no trouble in which God does not make Christ all-sufficient grace to our souls through faith alone (Rom. 4:16; 11:6). Christ gives the water of eternal life (John 4:10; 7:37-38). The streams of Gospel grace flow to us from His throne, out of His wounded side (Zech. 13:1). If God reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son when we were His enemies, how much more will He save us to the uttermost by His life (Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25)?! With these cordials, our God and Savior comforts and helps us “right early.”


vv. 6-7) The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.


The kingdom of satan always opposes Christ and His people. How? They attack His glorious person and work. They make little of His salvation in an attempt to diminish His glory, distract weary saints and deceive men’s souls (Ps. 21:5; John 17:4; Heb. 1:3). The natural man hates free grace (John 16:8-11). Men hate that Christ gets all the glory. Fallen man naturally has an idolatrous, self-righteous heart (Gen. 4:3; Isa. 64:6; Luke 18:9). Men hate a salvation that excludes all boasting. But God’s saints love Christ and they love His salvation. He is the “God of Jacob”, the Savior of guilty, impotent sinners (Gen. 37:26; 1 Tim. 1:15; Rom. 4:5; 5:6-10). He is our only refuge (Heb. 6:18; John 6:68-69). We therefore flee to Him. He is with us (Matt. 28:20). 


vv. 8-9) Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.


Opposition to Christ will continue throughout time and at the end of time it will rise to an apex (Rev. 20). Throughout scripture, God has always shown Himself strong on behalf of His people when opposition against them was overwhelming and their own strength was weakness. When enemies appear their worse, God makes known His salvation to His people (Ex. 6:1; 2 Chr. 20:5-17). Every enemy will be made desolate by the hand of our all-victorious Savior! He bruised satan’s head. He will shortly bruise that fiend under the feet of His darling, virgin Bride (Rom. 16:20; 2 Kings 19:21). There is nothing too hard for Him who subdues our iniquities (Micah 7:18-19).


vv. 10-11) Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.


“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Col. 3:15). Be still and know that the triune God of glory is the God of our salvation! He will be exalted in the earth. He will save His people. He will judge the heathen. You and I will either be judged by the preaching of the Gospel from men sent by Christ, so that we are found in Christ without condemnation, having endured the judgment of God in our Surety, or we will be judged on the last day and found without a covering, naked and in our sins and helpless in our foolish pride (1 Pet. 4:5-6; Rom. 10:1-4; Matt. 7:21-23). Christ has triumphed over this world (John 16:33). We overcome by His blood, by faith in His blood, by the faith that is given us by Him. And we overcome by the Gospel that He made to be good news to us, and to be our only testimony and confidence and hope before God and men (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:25; 1 John 5:4; Rev. 12:11; 2 Sam. 23:5).
Rick Warta
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A father's prayer

6/5/2017

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“14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose” (Mark 9:14-27).

This father gives us an example of faith and prayer. When Jesus came, he stepped out of the crowd and told the Lord about his son in detail. He told Him how the devil had treated him. He asked Jesus to have compassion on them both. He said, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us!
” This father’s life was bound up in his son’s life! He loved his son as he loved himself. And he spoke plainly and honestly. When we pray, we should try to tell the Lord our needs and the burdens our heart. Tell Him what you have done and what you have failed to do. Tell Him what the enemy of your soul has done to destroy you and your children. Tell Him that your children are deceived, spiritually lunatic, ruined by sin (2 Tim. 2:25-26). Tell Him what you tried to do and what failed to save. When you tell the Lord your sad case and your helplessness, then, when He saves you, you will know what He has saved you from, and you will glorify God for His mercy! And be sure to tell Him the truth about yourself! When the Lord told this father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth,” the father “cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief!” Tell him your confusion. Tell Him about your unbelief. True faith, God-given faith, comes honestly to Christ alone, but never trusts its coming! God-given faith comes for deliverance from evil within and evil without (Rom. 7:24-25; Matt. 6:13). It comes to Christ for salvation from the powerful enemies of our souls against which we have no strength: our sin and the condemnation we deserve from the hand of God’s justice (Ps. 34:17; 50:15; 65:3; 79:9). True faith confesses that I have no obedience to recommend me to God. God-given faith comes empty-handed in all of its need, having exhausted all other hope, looking to Christ alone (John 6:68-69). In so doing, we are not only telling the truth about ourselves, but we are describing the evil from which Christ alone must save us. When the Lord saves us, He will make it known what He saved us from. He will get all of the glory from our own confession of our sin, the deadness of our souls, the deception of the devil and our unbelief. He will show that it is His compassion, His grace and His power alone that saves sinners to the uttermost who come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25)! And we will be eternally thankful and eternally praise Him for it (Rev. 1:5; 5:9)!
Rick Warta
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It all comes down to who you're going to trust

6/1/2017

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That’s the answer I would give to anyone who searches their mind and the world for answers, yet doubts the truth revealed in scripture concerning Christ. But as I think about it, it is more than merely, “Who are you going to trust?” Do you see yonder graveyard? If I go to the headstone of a dearly loved one, and say, “It all comes down to who you’re going to trust,” well, that would only go part way, and really, not accomplish anything at all! Something additional is required. Our ability to trust must come from the One whom we trust. We are dead in sins (Eph. 2:1-4). Faith in Christ is impossible for us apart from sovereign, saving grace (Acts 13:48; 2 Thess. 3:2; Titus 1:1; Rom. 11:32). Yet we are commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; Isa. 42:22; 1 John 3:23). Therefore, when we trust so many other things, we are culpable; we are guilty and blameworthy. We have failed to believe God who alone is true! Nevertheless, we lie without strength in our lost condition, blind, ignorant and helpless. We must be given life (John 3:9-15; 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6). We must be granted repentance to the acknowledging of the truth (Acts 3:26; 5:31; 11:18; Jer. 31:18-19; 2 Tim. 2:24-26). We must be given faith (Acts 16:14; Rom. 10:9-17). We must be pointed to Christ (John 1:29; 4:10; 6:37-40,44-45; 9:35-41; Rev. 22:17). We must see and know and believe Him as God has revealed Him in His word (Heb. 11:3,13; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Heb. 1:1-8).
 
So there you have it. It’s all about who you’re going to trust. Will you trust Christ to save you, though you are spiritually dead? Or will you foolishly trust your own intellect (Prov. 28:26)? Will you trust your heart? God, who created you and knows the thoughts and intents of your heart, says that your heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9-10)! Well then, should you trust the intellect of others? Will you put your eternal destiny into the hands of another sinner, or a world of sinners, whose motives can only be sinful to gain your loyal admiration, and who sell your soul as a commodity to enrich themselves? Or will you in your pride set yourself up as an oracle for equally lost, ruined, blind and dying men and women? 
 
Evil men seek the worship of others (Matt. 23:5). Will you trust them, my son? Or will you hear your father’s instruction and trust Him alone who can do no wrong, whose judgments are right, whose wisdom is infinite, whose grace is as abundant as the riches of His glory (Eph. 2:7), whose salvation is able to raise dead sinners to life and give them a sight of Christ and Him crucified, and persuade them that He alone is worthy of all of our trust! Dear sinner, do you trust Him? O, with all my heart, I pray that you do!

  • “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. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (Prov. 3:5-8).
  • “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa. 26:3).
  • “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD” (Ps. 4:5).
  • “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed” (Ps. 37:3).”
  • “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes” (Ps. 118:8-9).
  • "In his name shall the Gentiles trust" (Matt. 12:21).
  • Jesus "spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, 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 every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:9-14)
Rick Warta
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