Trust in God, He will Act

Psalms 37:12-15 ESV

 

“The wicked plots against the righteous

    and gnashes his teeth at him,

but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

    for he sees that his day is coming.

 

“The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows

    to bring down the poor and needy,

    to slay those whose way is upright;

their sword shall enter their own heart,

    and their bows shall be broken.”

 

Who are the wicked? They are all who practice evil. They are all who resist the Lord, who deny Jesus Christ as Lord, who refuse to humble themselves before God in true repentance and in walks of obedience to the Lord, who think they know better than God, and who think that they are invincible and that they can do whatever they want.

 

They may not all necessarily be aggressively plotting evil against the righteous or gnashing their teeth at them or trying to bring them down, but many are, and many of them profess faith in Jesus Christ, too.

 

For many of them have bought into the lie that says that they can believe in Jesus and have their sins forgiven and be guaranteed heaven when they die but that they don’t have to submit to Christ as Lord or obey his commands or forsake their sinful lifestyles. Now, there are some who go maybe halfway to where they try to live moral lives but they still believe they are going to heaven when they die regardless of how they live while still on the earth.

 

And so many of them are coming against the righteous to attack them because the righteous are still holding on to the gospel of Jesus as he taught it. The wicked are attacking the righteous because they are also attacking the gospel of Jesus Christ because they don’t want to have to forsake their sins or obey the Lord or submit to him as Lord, because they want to continue in their sin, only now with the promise of heaven when they die.

 

So, the message of the cross is an offense to them. They don’t want to be told that they must cease from living in sin. They don’t want to be told that they must walk in obedience to the Lord. It makes them uncomfortable. They feel judged, and they don’t want to feel that way. So some of them go on the attack in hopes to silence those who are teaching the truth because they don’t want to hear the truth but they prefer the lies.

 

But it isn’t just the professing Christian who wants to continue in his sin who is coming against the righteous. But it is those who created that cheap grace gospel with the full purpose of leading people away from following Jesus Christ to remaining in their flesh. They don’t like it that there are still some of us out there proclaiming the truth and that we might be having an impact on people’s lives to lead them to genuine faith in Jesus.

 

And so they come against us hoping to discourage us or to discredit us in some way so that people will listen to them and not to us. And they are being largely successful, for it appears that the vast majority of those making a profession of faith in Jesus in America are not surrendering their lives to Jesus, they are not honoring him as Lord, they are not forsaking their sinful practices, and they are not walking in obedience to Jesus Christ.

 

And those who are rejecting the true gospel are regurgitating the false gospel word for word on social media and on blogs and on Christian websites and in the institutional church in opposition to the true gospel and in opposition to those of us who are still teaching the truth. And then there are those who make no profession of faith in Jesus who also oppose Jesus Christ and his gospel and his messengers.

 

But the end is still the end no matter what they do. God is still God and his word will not return empty but it will accomplish the purpose for which he sent it. And they will be judged by God according to their deeds. If they do not submit to Christ as Lord, and if they do not walk in obedience to his commands, but they choose to continue in their sinful practices, instead, it will not go well for them in the end. They will be destroyed.

 

[Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; 2 Co 5:10; 1 Co 6:9-10; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Rom 6:16; Rom 8:1-17; Jn 15:1-11; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rev. 2-3; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27]

 

Psalms 37:1-2,8-11 ESV

 

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

    be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass

    and wither like the green herb.”

 

“Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off,

    but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

 

“In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

    though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

But the meek shall inherit the land

    and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

 

But we are not to fear those who can kill the body but who can’t kill the soul. We are not to fear those who are capable of destroying our reputations and turning others away from us but who can’t take our Lord from us. We are not to fear their evil plots against us because God is still sovereign. He is still in control. They can’t do anything but what God allows it for a purpose, and he will accomplish his will through it all for our good.

 

So, we are not to let their attacks against us or their intimidations or their tricks or their traps or their mocking, etc. get to us. But we are to place our lives and our reputations into the hands of God Almighty and trust him to work it all out according to his plans and purposes. And definitely we should not counterattack or try to get even. That would definitely be counterproductive, and would sully our reputations, for sure.

 

Sadly, by their own choice, the wicked will not inherit eternal life but they will be cut off. They will be no more. God will judge them for their evil deeds, and heaven will not be their eternal destiny. But the wrath of God will come against them in judgment and they will spend eternity in eternal punishment in hell and in the lake of fire where they will burn for eternity. And that breaks my heart that so many are making that choice.

 

Psalms 37:3-7 ESV

 

“Trust in the Lord, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

“Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

    and your justice as the noonday.

 

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!”

 

So, instead of giving way to fear of what the wicked are doing or might do to us, we must rest in the Lord, for he is our peace. He is our hope. He is our joy. We are to trust in the sovereignty of God and believe that God is in control and that whatever he allows in our lives that he has a plan and a purpose for it and that he will make a way for us through it. And then we need to just keep pressing on in following our Lord wherever he leads us.

 

God Will Make a Way

 

By Don Moen

 

God will make a way

Where there seems to be no way

He works in ways we cannot see

He will make a way for me

 

He will be my guide

Hold me closely to His side

With love and strength for each new day

He will make a way, He will make a way

 

By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me

And rivers in the desert will I see

Heaven and Earth will fade but His Word will still remain

And He will do something new today

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI6axX368ec

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