‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus / Louisa M.R. Stead / William J. Kirkpatrick
’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”
O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!
Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life, and rest, and joy, and peace.
I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Will be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Thee!
How I’ve proved Thee o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Thee more!
Yesterday I read the first 14 verses of Matthew 24 about the Signs of the End of the Age. In it I learned about many of the things that are taking place and will take place in these last days before Jesus returns for his bride. The last verse in this section spoke of the gospel being spread to all nations and then the end would come. V. 15 then picks up with “the abomination that causes desolation” and on to the distress of those days. Matt 24:21-25:
For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
My Understanding: First of all, I believe the focus here is on trusting in the Lord Jesus, not just in making some one-time decision in one’s life to receive Jesus Christ and/or to believe on Him as Savior, but in producing a life-time commitment of trusting in the Lord on a day to day basis. And, the emphasis is about a relationship with Jesus Christ, like one would have with a new love - to see our trust in Him and the promises in/of His Word as “sweet.”
The third stanza of this song spells this out when it speaks of ceasing (stopping; ending) sin and self-will and instead receiving from Jesus life, rest, joy and peace. I know of no greater joy and no greater peace in life than to be fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ and completely committed in mind and body to serve Him wholeheartedly and to turn from sin and self-will that had previously taken us captive, and had formerly enslaved us.
In this next to the last stanza of the song, the writer expresses how glad he is that he learned to put his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. I “amen” that one!! Jesus was not only his Savior, but he considered him his friend. That should be how it is for each and every one of us. Also, because of this trust, those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus have the continued assurance of Jesus’ abiding presence with us always! What a wonderful promise!!
So, what does it truly mean to trust in someone, especially in the Lord Jesus? MS Word Thesaurus describes trust as “faith; belief; hope; conviction; confidence; expectation,” etc. Encarta Dictionary defines trust as “confidence in and reliance on good qualities, especially fairness, truth, honor, or ability; hopeful reliance on what will happen in the future.”
Harper’s Bible Dictionary defines trust with these words:
“fidelity to God as the sign of the righteous person. God alone can be the object of trust and faithfulness because he ‘is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold’ (Ps. 18:2).” And, “For Paul the concept of faith is a dynamic one. Thus, he can refer to the ‘activity of faith’ (1 Thess. 1:23), an activity that manifests itself in love (Gal. 5:6: ‘faith working through love’). Faith involves ‘progress’ (Phil. 1:25); it is not something static, captured once for all, but involves striving (Phil. 1:27: ‘with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…’) and it increases (2 Cor. 10:15) and it is an energy at work in believers (1 Thess. 2:13). Since faith is not a static possession, Paul urges that faith be established (1 Thess. 3:2) and made firm (1 Cor. 16:13; 2 Cor. 1:24), for it is possible not only to have deficiencies in faith (1 Thess. 3:10; Rom. 14:1) but also to believe in vain (1 Cor. 15:2; Rom. 11:20). Essential for Paul’s understanding of faith is the conviction that God assigns to each the measure of faith he wishes (Rom. 12:3, 6; 1 Cor. 12:9). Yet no matter what that measure of faith is, the obedience of faith is expected from all (Rom. 1:5; 16:16).”
The book of I John makes it clear that if you say you believe or have faith then your actions should demonstrate that, i.e. if you believe, for instance, that Jesus set you free from sin, you would thus not continue in a life of sin, not that you would be perfect from that point on, but that you would make a conscious choice of the will to turn from sin and to turn to Jesus in faith and obedience. The writer of I John also stated that if we say we love God and yet hate our brother that we are liars. James, in the book of James, agrees with this concept of faith when he says that if our actions don’t match our confession, then our confession doesn’t mean anything – it is dead, in other words. Paul alludes to that idea of the necessity of faith in action when he says that it is possible to have believed in vain, if our faith is not based upon the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which requires not only that Jesus had to die for our sins in order for us to be free but that we must also die to our sins and to walk in newness of life, having crucified the flesh so that we no longer obey its lusts. Jesus said that if anyone wants to come after him that he must deny himself and take up his cross daily. He said that if we want to hold on to our old flesh-driven lives, we will lose them, but if we lose our selfish wills, then we will find true life that is free from a life of sin in Christ Jesus. This is how we prove Jesus o’er and o’er (last stanza of the song).
So, when this passage in Matthew says that we must “keep watch” and that we must “be ready” and that a “faithful and wise servant” is one who continues to do what he did at the beginning in obeying the Lord Jesus, so that Jesus finds him doing so when He returns, it is speaking of this kind of trust and faith that is active, that manifests itself in love for God and others, that is progressive, increases, is made firm, is obedient, and walks the talk. Then, we, too, can prove Jesus o’er and o’er. Lord Jesus, “O for grace to trust Thee more!”
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