Sermon: Who Do You Trust? (Part Two)
Wisdom and Truth
#1724
Mark Schindler
Given 26-Aug-23; 64 minutes
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transcript:
Please turn with me to John 1:1-5 because these memory scriptures must be etched into our minds always, if we are to trust Him in all things.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
I am going to quote what John Ritenbaugh said about these verses, as cited from his Bible study on the book of John. But he wrote and said this same thing many times during the course of his ministry, because this is what must be the reality to us always.
John said:
No other book written by men opens like the book of John. If we can compare it to something in music, it is like a tremendously loud, crashing chord. John introduces the main Character, laying down pertinent details right away so that we know—at least a little bit—of the length and breadth and depth of this Being. He was God. He is God. He was in the beginning with God. Therefore He was pre-existent. Before there was time, there was God. Before there was time, there was the Logos. The Logos is the main Character of this story that will unfold. He was God; He was with God; He is the Creator of everything that is. He is the One who gave life to Adam and Eve. He is the Power behind every law, force, and energy that exists. He is the One who was there from the beginning.
Please turn to Colossians 1.
Colossians 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Now the same from the Amplified Bible:
Colossians 1:15-17 (AMP) He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him. And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]”
We are now going to spend a great deal of time in this stage of the sermon taking a snapshot of the foolish short-sightedness of men that began all the way back in Genesis.
As a matter of fact, before going farther please turn with me back to Genesis 3.
Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:22-24 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"—therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
God is holding nothing back from men! But without His wisdom that He uses in building and sustaining the Creation (which we will look at in a bit), we cannot be trusted to handle it.
Tomorrow, August 27, 2023, is the 65th anniversary of the first time that science (which has been infamously proclaimed over the last few years as the object of our trust) set off the first nuclear explosion in outer space.
Although high altitude testing of nuclear weapons started to be conducted in April of 1958, it was not until August 27, 1958, that a rocket launched nuclear explosion test was conducted beyond the Kármán line, 62 miles above the earth’s surface. There are five layers of atmospheric conditions between the surface and 62 miles above the planet, but 99.99997% of the earth’s atmosphere lies below this 62-mile line that scientists have determined to be the edge of space.
As an aside, a discovery as recent as 2019, has determined that the earth’s atmosphere may likely extend as far from the surface, as 391,000 miles, where scientists discovered a cloud of hydrogen atoms that are in orbit around the earth. This latest discovery may extend the earth’s permeating envelope over 152,000 miles beyond our moon. How far is this beyond mankind’s ability to really understand, much less try to control? This is important to keep in our thoughts as we go through this sermon today.
The years 1957 and 1958 seems to have been another watershed period in the history of mankind’s penchant for pridefully moving forward without careful regard for the consequences. This period saw the first satellites put into orbit by the Soviets and the United States, as well as a discovery that men would use to begin to push the envelope of extermination.
In 1950, James Van Allen, who was soon to head of the University of Iowa physics department, gathered a group of scientists to discuss geophysics and international studies that had been conducted at the north and south poles over the previous 70 years. They discussed how the new rocket technologies could be used to investigate theories regarding electromagnetic waves, a study that was James Van Allen’s penchant from the time he was a boy.
In 1953, Van Allen and his students at the University of Iowa began experimenting with attaching instruments to rockets that they launched from gondolas below balloons. These balloons, which were first launched from a US Coast Guard ship off the coast of Greenland, carried the rockets up to 70,000 feet before firing the rocket engines to take their instruments into the area approaching the 62-mile mark.
They used this balloon launch system because the farther away from the earth’s surface, the less power it would take to overcome the physical impediments of atmospheric resistance and the earth’s gravity through the thinning of the atmosphere at higher altitudes.
In 1953, these “rockoons,” as they became named, were launched from Newfoundland. And as they approached space, their instrumentation discovered the first hints of electromagnetic radiation belts around the earth.
On September 26, 1957, 36 rockoons were launched from the icebreaker USS Glacier into regions over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Antarctica. These were the first known upper atmosphere rocket soundings over Antarctica that further recognized the distinct radiation belts around the earth.
This became conclusive from evidence gathered with electronics designed by James Van Allen on the Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 satellites launched by the United States the following January and March 1958. The magnetic fields that God had created surrounding and protecting the earth from solar storms became a known reality to men.
It may or may not be of note but the September 26, 1957 launch of 36 rockets, which for all intents and purposes began man’s entry into space and made clearer the extensive work of God alone, was on the Feast of Trumpets that year!
I tried to lay this background because one of the first things men did was try to emulate God’s perfectly designed layers of protection around the earth with a simulated belt of its own for protection against nuclear attack without regard for the consequences.
On August 27, 1958, Argus 1 was launched into space and a 1.7 kiloton nuclear explosion was created within the recently confirmed radiation belt around the earth (now known as the Van Allen Belts). Its goal for all intents and purposes was to duplicate what God had done.
Within an online article about this and other nuclear tests in space I found the following section that I would like to cite here:
The tests were proposed by Nicholas Christofilos in an unpublished paper of what was then the Livermore branch of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory as a means to verify the Christofilos effect, which argued that high-altitude nuclear detonations would create a radiation belt in the extreme upper regions of the Earth's atmosphere. Such belts would be similar in effect to the Van Allen radiation belts. Such radiation belts were viewed as having possible tactical use in war, including degradation of radio and radar transmissions, damage or destruction of the arming and fuzzing mechanisms of ICBM warheads, and endangering the crews of orbiting space vehicles that might enter the belt. Prior to Argus, Hardtack Teak [a subspace nuclear test on August 1st, at 47 miles up in the atmosphere] had shown disruption of radio communications from a nuclear blast, though this was not due to the creation of radiation belts.
The Christofilos effect, which became known as the Argus effect, refers to the entrapment of electrons from nuclear weapons in the Earth's magnetic field. It was first predicted in 1957 by Nicholas Christofilos, who suggested the effect had defensive potential in a nuclear war, with so many beta particles becoming trapped that warheads flying through the region would experience huge electrical currents that would destroy their trigger electronics. The concept that a few friendly warheads could disrupt an enemy attack was so promising that a series of new nuclear tests was rushed into the US schedule before a testing moratorium came into effect in late 1958. These tests demonstrated that the effect was not nearly as strong as predicted, and not enough to damage a warhead. However, the effect is strong enough to be used to black out radar systems and disable satellites.
The blast did not produce a sustainable effect, as was hoped by Christofilos and other scientists. The separated electrons quickly disappeared within moments of the explosion. However, testing 4 years later, in 1962, showed those scientifically assumed vanished electrons that carried signature of the 1958 blast, had been absorbed into the radiation belts surrounding the earth.
The trusted scientists had left something within God’s creation without any idea of the long-term consequences nor how it may affect the perfect balance and order within His creation.
However, their failure in 1958 did not dissuade them, but made them double down in their efforts to deal with things beyond comprehension because of prideful brilliant minds.
I want to read to you an account of another test of a 1.4 megaton hydrogen bomb explosion almost 250 miles into space on July 9, 1962, code named Starfish Prime.
This is from a 2010 NPR article. And although a bit slanted, it certainly makes a point regarding, “Who do you trust?”
Since we're coming up on the Fourth of July, and towns everywhere are preparing their better-than-ever fireworks spectaculars, we would like to offer this humbling bit of history. Back in the summer of 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in outer space, some 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. It was a weapons test, but one that created a man-made light show that has never been equaled—and hopefully never will.
The online article then has a video of the spectacle that a good portion of the planet witnessed in the heavens, as the product of science trying to play God. Continuing:
Some of the images in this video were until recently top secret. Peter Kuran of Visual Concept Entertainment collected them for his documentary, ‘Nukes In Space.’
If you are wondering why anybody would deliberately detonate an H-bomb in space, the answer comes from a conversation we had with science historian James Fleming of Colby College.
‘Well, I think a good entry point to the story is May 1, 1958, when James Van Allen, the space scientist, stands in front of the National Academy in Washington, D.C., and announces that they've just discovered something new about the planet,’ he told us. Van Allen described how the Earth is surrounded by belts of high-energy particles—mainly protons and electrons—that are held in place by the magnetic fields. Today these radiation belts are called Van Allen belts. Now comes the surprise: While looking through the Van Allen papers at the University of Iowa to prepare a Van Allen biography, Fleming discovered, ‘That [the] very same day after the press conference, [Van Allen] agreed with the military to get involved with a project to set off atomic bombs in the magnetosphere to see if they could disrupt it.’
The scientific basis for these proposals is not clear. Fleming is trying to figure out if Van Allen had any theoretical reason to suppose the military could use the Van Allen belts to attack a hostile nation. He supposes that at the height of the Cold War, the most pressing argument for a military experiment was, ‘If we don't do it, the Russians will.’ And, indeed, the Russians did test atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs in space.
‘In any case, says the science history professor, ‘this is the first occasion I've ever discovered where someone discovered something and immediately decided to blow it up.’
As I said, this is a bit slanted and not a verifiable conclusion about James Van Allen and his thoughts or actions at the time. But it does point to what is in truth the millennial actions of men, blinded by pride and with only the vaguest idea of the real consequences.
Continuing under the heading Code Name: Starfish Prime
The Americans launched their first atomic nuclear tests above the Earth's atmosphere in 1958. Atom bombs had little effect on the magnetosphere, but the hydrogen bomb of July 9, 1962, did. Code-named "Starfish Prime" by the military, it literally created an artificial extension of the Van Allen belts that could be seen across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to New Zealand.
In Honolulu, the explosions were front page news. ‘N-Blast Tonight May Be Dazzling: Good View Likely,’ said the Honolulu Advertiser. Hotels held what they called ‘Rainbow Bomb Parties’ on rooftops and verandas. When the bomb burst, people told of blackouts and strange electrical malfunctions, like garage doors opening and closing on their own. But the big show was in the sky.
From another online source here are some of the known consequences of the “trusted” science:
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse that was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 900 miles away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.
While some of the energetic beta particles followed the Earth's magnetic field and illuminated the sky, other high-energy electrons became trapped and formed radiation belts around the Earth. There was much uncertainty and debate about the composition, magnitude and potential adverse effects from the trapped radiation after the detonation.
The weaponeers became quite worried when three satellites in low Earth orbit were disabled. The half-life of the energetic electrons was only a few days. At the time it was not known that solar and cosmic particle fluxes varied by a factor of 10, and energies could exceed 1MeV (1,000,000 electron volts).
In the months that followed these man-made radiation belts eventually caused six or more satellites to fail, as radiation damaged their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite, Telstar, as well as the United Kingdom's first satellite, Ariel 1. Detectors on Telstar, TRAAC, Injun, and Ariel 1 were used to measure distribution of the radiation produced by the tests.
In 1963, it was reported that Starfish Prime had created a belt of MeV electrons. In 1968, it was reported that some Starfish electrons had remained in the atmosphere for 5 years.
Brethren, I know this may have been a bit long and a good deal to consider, but I am hoping it shows an important example of what the most brilliant of men do without godly wisdom. This is a tiny illustration of the unimagined consequences from the “trusted science,” as opposed to trust in our Great God and His awesome work that is always to be trusted.
I have just one more example that points to the chaos and disorder that foolish men will produce in pride, as opposed to the beauty and order within God’s creation.
The following is an account that was an addendum to the NPR article and explains why Starfish Prime created rainbow skies.
To understand where the colors come from in Starfish Prime, you first have to know a little bit about Earth's atmosphere. Nitrogen and oxygen are the two most abundant gases in our air. The concentration of each gas is different depending on the altitude.
When Starfish Prime detonated, charged particles—electrons—were released from the explosion. According to NASA astrophysicist David Sibeck, those particles came streaming down through the Earth's atmosphere, energizing oxygen and nitrogen atoms, causing them to glow in different colors.
As electrons collide with the atoms, energy is transferred to the atoms. After holding onto it for a moment, the excess energy is released as light. When many excited atoms release energy together, the light is visible to the naked eye. Depending on the type of atom and the number of atoms, you get different colors.
It is similar to what causes the aurora borealis, although those electrons are coming from the solar wind pounding into Earth. The electrons first encounter a high concentration of oxygen at the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere, causing the atoms to release a red light. Then green appears as the electrons travel to lower altitudes where there are fewer oxygen atoms. Even lower, where more nitrogen atoms are present, the collisions throw off a blue light.
This is the explanation of the colors seen in the Aurora Borealis that God created.
But in the Starfish Prime explosion, charged particles went in every direction. That's why you see the sky filled with a rainbow of colors nearly all at once in the footage.
Please turn with me now to Proverbs 8, where we are going to read what God has to say about His wisdom that makes Him the only One we can trust to discern what is good and productive for eternal life in peace and harmony. While carnal-minded men, even when full of the most native abilities as gifts from God, will only end up untrusted to make the long-term judgments regarding good and evil.
But please consider what we have just read only as a small illustration of the unexpected consequential behavior from the foolishness of men without God’s Holy Spirit. As we do this, I hope this helps us think about how much greater the consequences for the Body of Christ could end up being when we do not each keep obedience to Christ the focus of our trust.
Let us pick this up in Proverbs 8 where wisdom is personified:
Proverbs 8:1-7 Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: "To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things; for my mouth will speak truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
Proverbs 8:11-14 For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her. "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength.”
Proverbs 8:22-32 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men. Now therefore, listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways.”
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
With all this in mind turn with me again to Genesis 3:
Genesis 3:4-6 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Note that trusting Satan’s word produced the exact opposite of trust in God that is built on the obedience to His Word alone.
As Martin said in his sermon two weeks ago, God uses reversal as a teaching tool. Martin cited the definition of reversal as, “An action that produces or causes the opposite effect intended or expected.” Brethren, is that not what happened here right in the beginning? Everything that God declares as good for food (physical and spiritual), good to behold, and wisdom is absolute.
As we saw from His inspired Word, the wisdom of God has been part of everything He does from eternity and is to be trusted absolutely, while the wisdom of vain men, full of prideful riches of this world, including judging good and evil, is far from trustworthy.
Life and wisdom do not come from doing things that satisfy our self-centered lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, but from trusting the Word of God through Jesus Christ.
Trust is submitting to Christ in faith, within the place He has chosen to put us.
As I hope you saw in the lengthy illustration, God has allowed mankind to be on the edge of destruction as a result of his self-serving broken trust. This literally began with distrust of His wisdom and truth in the Garden.
As complicated as the problems of this world are, they all boil down to misplaced trust! This world is slivered into thousands of pieces of distrust of everything and everyone because they do not and cannot see the only One who could be totally trusted.
However, within God’s carefully designed plan a small group has been put back into the Garden, so to speak, to faithfully learn to walk trusting in Him!
This world’s most brilliant minds, blinded by their own soaring intellect, are hurtling toward disaster; they have become very clearly confronted with good and evil, but having not the wisdom to handle it.
As for us, there is quite a lesson in this that can only be learned and lived from the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit when used to develop our own trustworthy relationship with Him and one another.
I titled these two sermons, “Who Do You Trust?” But perhaps the more proper title would be, “Can God Trust Us?”
So, for the remainder of this sermon, we are going to spend our time considering how our Great God who we can trust beyond a shadow of a doubt has already given us everything we need to be trusted members of His Family right now, while loyally working within the place He has carefully selected us to be.
Just as a reminder, then, please turn with me to Romans 8:
Romans 8:9-13 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:18-31 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
To the called of God and the wheat that God has carefully planted in His field, trusting Him to work everything to the good is not in question. His Word is impeccable! The question is, can He trust us with what He has given us to be able to walk in His image and likeness right now, even though we may stumble along the way?
Through Jesus Christ dwelling by His Holy Spirit in us, we are becoming just like Him. If we continue to submit to His wisdom regarding good and evil, which will be our way for eternity, we should all know that God can be trusted—but can we?
After my last sermon on trust, I received an email from Pat Higgins that I would like to consider at this point. It was in reference to Exodus 34:6. It is literally the lynchpin of our relationship with Him right now, and how we can walk courageously through this world of good and evil, while making the right choices. So as we read Exodus 34:6, keep in mind this context.
In the preceding chapters we all remember that while God was giving Moses the terms of the covenant agreement that He had written in stone, the impatient Israelites went back to worshipping as they learned in Egypt. Moses had come down from the mountain. And he broke the stone tablets in anger at the base of the mountain, and you all know the rest of the story.
So now, we come to Exodus 33, and God in His patient judgment tempered with His ever-present mercy is meeting with Moses. Moses beseeches God to make all the nations around them know that Israel is His by His grace, and for His presence to always be with them as they go forward.
Let us pick up Exodus 34:6 by going through verses 1-10:
Exodus 34:1-10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation." So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance." And He said: "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
In that email Pat sent he cited verse 6 as it is written in the Contemporary English Version [paraphrase], because there is an absolute declaration hidden within this verse that runs the length, breadth, width, and depth of everything God does with His church now. The CEV translates Exodus 34:6 this way: “Then He passed in front of Moses and called out, “I am the LORD God. I am merciful and very patient with my people. I show great love, and I can be trusted.”
The word that is translated as "truth" in the NKJV is number 571 in Strong’s—it means stability; figuratively it means certainty; truth; trustworthiness.
A word study I referenced put it this way:
To walk in truth means to conduct oneself according to God's holy standards. Truth was the barometer for measuring both one's word and actions. Accordingly, God's words and actions are characterized by this Hebrew term also. Indeed, God is the only God of truth.
It is good to keep in mind that God is literally telling us that everything He does is in accord with the way He Himself lives. And, on top of that, within the context, He is working to make His Family just like Him by His grace, with His abundant mercy and forgiveness. Everything He said and does is truth—His Word is always true, and therefore He can always, without exception, be trusted!
I did an online search, and even carnal-minded men can recognize that truth and trust go hand in glove. I would like to cite one of them here. Please keep in mind, even though this concept is obvious to the carnal-minded, those living in this world without God’s Holy Spirit are still looking at the truth, which is the bonding agent of trust. However, they are full of compromise and situation ethics.
Just as those scientists without the wisdom of God made and continue making untrustworthy choices without God’s eternal wisdom, it is the same for anybody who is confronted with decisions apart from God who face this world’s system of things.
The following citation is from an article by Stever Robbins, who has developed and runs a number of companies. He is also co-designer of Harvard Business School’s Leadership and Learning curriculum, and has been an advisor and mentor to senior managers in several high-growth companies. The essay he wrote is entitled, “Trust and Truth: They Go Together.”
I am not going to cite much of the essay that discusses truth and trust being inseparable where he readily admits that with the foolishness of men, truth is compromised to get things done. But I will cite his last paragraph because I think it is something we should consider while God is training us to be trustworthy like He is.
Mr. Robbins wrote in his conclusion:
Pay attention to how often you tell the truth, how often you make decisions as if other people (customers, employees, suppliers) don’t matter, and how often you put the well-being of others ahead of your own. Then ask yourself: Am I someone I would trust?
That last part of the penultimate sentence is exactly what God is working at throughout His whole plan to teach mankind to be just like Himself. To repeat, Mr. Robbins wrote: "How often do we put the well-being of others ahead of our own, while asking ourselves if we are a people to be trusted?” God is doing an awesome work in us right now as part of His plan to bring all of mankind to absolutely be able to declare, “I can be trusted for all eternity to be just like Him!
I hope we deeply appreciate our Great God who began in the Garden of Eden to create beings in His image and likeness that can be trusted throughout eternity. He can always be trusted! His word is always true! He has given us, the least of all men, the gift to know this.
The next time I speak to you on the Sabbath between Trumpets and Atonement, God willing we will pick this up. The path God has us on is to be created absolutely trustworthy just as our Elder Brother Jesus Christ is. We know by the gift of faith He can always be trusted.
We have a responsibility right now within the world. Men have taken to themselves to know good and evil without the perfect wisdom of the Father through submission to Him. God is ensuring through Jesus Christ that all the Family will be as trustworthy as He is for eternity.
With this in mind, the fall holy days should give us clearer insight into the incredible awesome work of this Great God who has invited us to know and trust His wisdom and truth.
I would like to give you something to think about regarding what God expects from us in return, citing once again from John Ritenbaugh’s 1997 article, “A Church in the Grip of Distrust!”
Our dilemma is not nearly as complex or hopeless as the world's is. We can unerringly pinpoint the real cause and agent of the distrust now abounding in the hearts of many in the church. After all, the Devil began this whole mess called “the world” in the Bible when he introduced distrust for God's word in the minds of Adam and Eve.
Through distrust, Satan seduced Adam and Eve away from submitting to the most wonderful, lovable, giving, concerned, sensitive and helpful Personality in all creation—God. Can you imagine that? The Devil convinced them that God could not be trusted!
Distrust is a powerful incentive whose fruit is divorce. Our first parents sinned, and division began. The world has not been united since. When there is distrust, faith evaporates. Fear, anxiety, and depression escalate, and the motivation to be personally secure and free from the hassles of coping intensifies. The “fight or flight” mechanism kicks in.
In my opinion, the most damage was caused in the area of trust and loyalty. Members of the church have become suspicious, fearful, and distrustful. Alarmed and confused by doctrinal changes, we are fearful of being hurt and misled further. We are unsure whether anybody, especially the ministry, can be trusted, so we do not trust many lay members either. As a result, our loyalty to God, His truth, and to each other has broken down even while we deny that it has happened.
Please turn with me to Hebrews 10. Keep in mind what distrust does:
Hebrews 10:16-27 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. [That is us, now, so long as we trust God.]
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Brethren, among the undeserved gifts God gives to His elect is the gift of faith. And, by faith we know God’s Word is truth, and therefore He can always be trusted. But if we let distrust of His Word in anyway get a foot in the door, especially in shrinking back from what God has given us to do within the Body of Christ, willful sin sets in! As John said, with distrust faith begins to evaporate, fear sets in, loyalty to God, His truth, and each other wanes, and we will die!
God certainly does not want it to be this way. It will not be so long as we remain constantly trusting Him as He has clearly shown us through the gift of faith what we can do through Jesus Christ.
John continues:
Genesis 1:26 expresses the specific purpose statement of the Bible. God, the creator, the master potter, is reproducing himself! This is the work of God. He is in the process of making man in his image. That project is completed in two stages, the physical and the spiritual. When the physical aspect was completed at creation, the spiritual one began. This is the overall project He is supervising.
God is already a unit: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is One but consists of more than one person. When Jesus came, He proclaimed the gospel of the Kingdom of God. In doing this, He publicly announced the expansion of this unit to include other beings besides the two beings already revealed.
A kingdom is synonymous with a nation. It consists of a large number of people, but it, too, is one. Indeed, the church is called a holy nation in I Peter 2:9, and though it has many members worldwide, it is one church. Thus, Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God will consist of many more personalities. He also told us how we can become part of it and how it will be accomplished. Through these means the project stated in Genesis 1:26 will take a giant step toward fulfillment.
John continues a bit further down:
God intends mankind to be an active and contributing part of the physical community. “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him. . . Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.’” (Genesis 2:18, 24). Perhaps verse 18 could be rephrased as, “It is not good that man be independent.” Our God establishes principles and patterns in His Word from which we can extract wisdom, and the practical applications of truth.
Everyone understands from their own experiences that the more people who comprise a unit or community, the greater the number and intensity of problems. This occurs largely because our carnality drives us to compete rather than cooperate. Sometimes a person desires so strongly to be independent of this kind of community relationship that he separates himself in order to be completely free from the suspicions, distrust, offenses, and other hardships that occur within a group.
To put it another way, it is similar to a soldier running away from the battlefield to protect himself. In its rawest form it is selfishness and self-interest. It can be a self-serving avoidance of being useful, of contributing steadfast strength and encouragement, of being a right example to others, or of being found wrong and corrected. If nothing else, we are detaching ourselves from the unit to which God intends we show allegiance and give service.
Finally, a bit further along John writes:
The church is under attack. A powerful persecution is under way, and many sheep have been scattered. But what I am hearing from the independents are cries such as, “I'll never follow another man,” or “No man is going to tell me what to do,” or “Beware of any group that has a hierarchical government structure.”
While there is a limited amount of wisdom in such thinking, these independents may be failing to see a very real problem, because they are looking in only one direction. While they critically examine others, problems of equal or greater magnitude in areas of ignorance of God's Word, of respect for government, or gross intolerance for another's weaknesses, may be in them.”
God has put us within the Body of Christ to learn to live according to His perfect wisdom, applying the truth of His Word while in an untrustworthy world for our good! He has given us the ability to trust Him, and He is making sure that He can trust us within His Family for eternity!
We are going to close this sermon today in the Psalms.
Psalm 34:1-10 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
Psalm 34:19-22 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
Psalm 146:1-6 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever.
Finally those same verses from CEV:
Psalm 146:1-6 (CEV) Shout praises to the LORD! With all that I am, I will shout his praises. I will sing and praise the LORD God for as long as I live. You can't depend on anyone, not even a great leader. Once they die and are buried, that will be the end of all their plans. The LORD God of Jacob blesses everyone who trusts him and depends on him. God made heaven and earth; he created the sea and everything else. God always keeps his word.
In summary and with reference to Exodus 34:6-10 and God’s owns declaration: By grace His covenant is assured. He is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in His gifts to thousands of generations. By His grace He assures forgiveness of offenses, crimes, and sins, even though they may have teaching consequences for generations.
But He has just as firmly assured that He will not acquit the willful sinner, who continues to follow his own way of life and rejects God’s way of life, trampling on God’s own sacrifice to make this awesome work sure.
God’s answer to Satan in Genesis 3 is, I can be trusted in all that I say and do, as all will eventually see in My awesome work through the weakest among men!
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