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[ Silence ] [ Music ] [ Singing ] ♪ Oh, yes I love him, I love him, I love him ♪

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♪ I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him ♪ ♪ I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him ♪ ♪ And I know he loves me ♪ ♪ Oh, yes I love him, I love him, I love him ♪

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♪ I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him ♪ ♪ I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him ♪ ♪ I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him ♪ ♪ He loves me ♪

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- Let's all say amen. Amen and thank him before Sunday and our worship services for the rendering of the music. and they're doing a marvelous job.

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A marvelous job. And they are being faithful to their commitment and we deeply appreciate that and praise God for it. We're continuing our sermon series

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based on the book of Psalms. And we come today to the 146th number of the Psalms. I'm going to read this Psalm using the

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Living Bible paraphrased you heard it read earlier in our service in the King James version of the Bible Praise the Lord Yes, really praise him. I

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Will praise him as long as I live. Yes Even with my dying breath Don't look to men for help Their greatest leaders fail.

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For every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended. But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as

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his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the God who made Earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them.

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He is the God who keeps every promise and gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners and opens the eyes of the blind.

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He lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men. He protects the immigrants and cares for the off'rings and widows, but he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.

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The Lord will reign forever. Oh, Jerusalem, your God is king in every generation. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. We wanna focus on this third verse,

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King James, it reads, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man "in whom there is no help. "Don't look for men for help.

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"Their greatest leaders fail, for every man must die. "His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment, "all he planned for himself is ended. "Put not your trust in princes."

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Trust in me. Oh, this is a word we hear time and time again in our relationships. Someone says, "Trust me, trust me."

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It's a way of saying, "Take my word for it." You can rely on what I say, trust me. You can depend on what I promised. Sometimes it's a teenager

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who wants to have the family car, who says, "Trust me." Or who wants to be out later than the curfew that has been given,

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saying to the parent, "Trust me, trust me, trust me." In so many ways, this comes to us. It may be someone who wants a special favor and the words are uttered, "Trust me, trust me."

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And sometimes when we hear these words, We are skeptical, sometimes we are cynical, we are doubtful. But trust me, or trust in me is a word designed to cause confidence,

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in order for a person to feel relieved, not be afraid. But how can we react to these words in a way that will help us? How can we react to these words that will in some way strengthen our character? And I think the way we react may determine the strength of our character.

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A short time ago I was in a meeting where the leader was expressing some programs that were being carried out with business executives and one of the things that they were asked to participate in this period of training had to do with a group that would be below and a person who was on a raised

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platform and they were to have their hands together hope to catch the person who would be asked to leap from that platform and into their hands. And in reporting it was said that there were those who found it difficult to do that. and these were people who found it difficult to trust because they were

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somewhat doubtful about how they would end up if they made that leap. Well wouldn't you say trust me what we are really talking about is making a leap because that's what faith is. Soren Kierkegaard the renowned Danish philosopher, theologian, says that really being rightly related to God involves

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taking a leap of faith. It involves risk. Anytime you take a leap there is some risk involved. So what we're talking about when we really say trust me or trust in me is to have the courage to leap. The scripture here says, "Trust not in princes." Oh, we think of that which is exact, that which doesn't change, and we like to take certain

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rules in mathematics, axioms or whatever may be those things that are considered reliable. And when we talk about that, we're talking about something that's rather impersonal. But here in the biblical sense, we are talking about a person-to-person relationship. Trust me, faith in the biblical sense has to do with not some body of knowledge, not just

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intellectual ascent, but faith has to do with a living relationship. It is a personal relationship. the individual trusts in God, the living God, a living relationship, person-to-person relationship. So the psalmist here takes a look at human relationships and he considers the princes, he considers those who have authority, those who have power, those who rule the realm,

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those who have at their disposal all of the resources of government. It's the duty of the prince to govern well, to be concerned about the welfare of his subjects, to take the necessary precautions to protect them. But the counsel of the psalmist here is trust not in princes.

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And you know it's so easy for the prince to become lifted up in pride, to forget about his subjects, to become wrapped up in himself. It's so easy for the prince to suffer from the arrogance of power. Remember the proverb, "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power."

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mean? This has been the admonition of the prince and the prince often has ways that are not desirable, ways that may involve treachery and tricks and the like. You read Mike Uvele's The Prince, shows you all of the things that are Suggested there about how to be successful as a prince and many of those things don't have to do with

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Doing that which is which is praiseworthy in the Christian sense You know the parable of the trees There in the book of Judges when the trees

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want a ruler the olive the fig the vine all of them reject the offer to become the king of the trees and And finally the Bramble Bush accepts that offer and the Bramble Bush says,

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now if you really, really want me to be king, then you've got to submit yourself to me. You must place yourself under my rule, under my shadow. Put your future in my hands.

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Trust me. That's what he's really saying, the Bramble is saying. You must put your ultimate trust, your greatest love, your highest loyalty, your supreme allegiance

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must be given to me. Trust me, this is a call for complete dedication, complete commitment. The leap of faith means when I jump,

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there is not someone out there that are just somewhere, Well, it means that there is somebody that's involved, somebody you're expecting to land in their arms,

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and to make that kind of leap is radical action, and yet somehow there is this uncertainty many times on our part about making that kind of leap. You say, "Well, put all your eggs in one basket."

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Well, ordinarily we say, "Well, don't put all of them in one basket. "Put some in this basket, some in that basket." So if something happens to one basket,

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you have the other one to depend on. But here, we certainly live in a world that's built on trust, built on trust to some extent. Even though we find that there is that which we can

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depend on to some extent, and other things, we find out maybe we can't. I'm told that my grandfather lived to be in his 90s. He didn't trust banks.

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So we had up to just before he died. He had some seven eight thousand dollars in a shoebox

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under the bed and the children had to prevail upon him mightily to finally take that money from under the bed that was in that shoebox, 'cause he didn't trust banks.

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Well, a lot of banks, and it failed. And of course, we know they still fail. And it's what the psalmist is saying, that while we have some confidence in princes,

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the princes rule over us, and the princes have some responsibilities and all of that, What he's really saying is do not put your ultimate confidence and your trust in man.

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Because even at our best, we find that we cannot follow through with some of the things we'd like to do. So this is a word that calls us to recognize that when we deal in human relationships,

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We deal with that which is temporary. It's temporary. We don't know how long we're gonna be here. Just our sojourn in this world is temporary.

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And what we plan to do, we have some plans for this week, but whether or not we can carry them out even with our best intentions, we are not certain about that even.

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You know, we can try, and many times it doesn't work out the way we plan. And so it is with the Prince. So it is with all of us.

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And so the psalmist says that while we are here in this world, tied up with certain human relationships that we all recognize as being temporary, that we need to be sure that we are hooked up

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with the eternal. So trust not, don't put your ultimate trust in princes. because the power of the prince is wrapped up in ambiguity. Don't put your ultimate trust in princes

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because you can never be certain. Don't put your ultimate confidence in who's president. Don't put your ultimate confidence in who is governor. Don't really put your ultimate confidence

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and who happens to be mayor, because all of these have to do with that which is temporary. Even now, we say we have a lame duck president,

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and he's not able to get through many of the things that he would like to get through, because everybody knows that he's gonna be out in just a few months.

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So he says, really, as you look at your life, as you look at your relationship, put your trust in that which is eternal. Trust in God, do not put your trust in princes.

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And when you look at the life of the Jewish people, they were, as they are now in the world, a very tiny nation. They were a minority.

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There were great nations that far outnumbered them all around them. And one while they found themselves in the hands of Babylon, the next time they found themselves

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in the hands of the Persians, then they were in the hands of the Greeks. They were in the hands of the Romans. In fact, they were just being passed around

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one time from this one to the other, and here is a word that is a word of comfort in the midst of all of their experiences Now don't put your trust in these princes.

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Put your trust in God. Put your trust in the one who is eternal. Well, when you say trust me, as God says to us, trust me, when we say trust me, it involves making a choice.

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And when God says to us, trust me, he's calling upon us to make a choice. He's calling upon us to make a decision. In other words, leap into my arms.

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Well, that's not very popular, I said, to leap. But yet, you asked, all of us are asked, to leap into the living arms of the Lord of history. And this is the one whose arms are above all.

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He's asked us to choose good. God says to us, "Trust me, make the decision for me." And this means in the midst of all of the choices that we have before us,

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to make the choice to be obedient to God. That's what really Adam was asked to do. In other words, here is the creator. Remember, this is the creator.

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This is the one who made the world. This is the one who has fashioned the garden into which Adam is placed. And Adam is placed there,

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and give him all the things that he needs and all that he needs to do, is that just trust me, trust my word. Just trust me, put yourself in my hands,

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be obedient to what I have commanded, but Adam would not obey. He makes the decision to listen to a snake rather than to listen to the creator.

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And so when God is saying trust me, he's really asking us, so to speak, or saying to us to trust him, the one who is the creator.

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In other words, he is able to make new. No matter what may be the structures that we face in our society today, it matters not how entrenched may be evil

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that God is able to create and make new. He's able to abolish the old and to bring in a new order of things. And what he's saying to us,

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no matter what may be our condition or circumstances, Trust me. And you notice as you read that psalm, as you read it,

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it says that God helps. Reason he said trust me is that I'm your help. I'm your help. That in the midst of all of your needs,

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and there's a special word in there for the poor and the oppressed. If there's any group that really needs the help of God, more because they don't have these material things to really comfort and strengthen them

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as they would like in many instances. It's the poor, the oppressed. So he says that I am the help of the poor. I am the help of the oppressed.

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I am your help and you can trust me. You can trust me. So it involves decision. It involves decision.

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It also involves doing something you've got to do. You just can't just make a decision and that's all there is to it, sit in the pews the rest of the way.

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It involves doing something. There is action in our faith. There is commitment. There is that which you give to God

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and he receives it. You, you, and he somehow protects that which we do. He preserves it in a strange way. That's what is involved in faith.

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That's what Paul was talking about when he says, I know, I know that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I know he's able to keep it.

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You can't be certain of the princes. When I was in high school, I had a bicycle and I was in an English class that was taught by a lady by the name of Mrs. Leola King.

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And so she would have me to take her check to the bank. The teachers would get their checks given to them many times about the payday, they would get it in the morning and so sometimes she wanted to write checks

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or had written checks and so she wanted the check to get down to the bank as soon as possible to cover those checks, you can understand that. (audience murmurs)

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So, and so since I had a bicycle, and we were over in South Dallas at Lincoln High School, I was to take her check, and she endorsed it, and she gave it to me, and I was to take it downtown.

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And she also had written some checks, a check or so, that was to be cashed, and she had endorsed her check, and she had endorsed those that were to be cashed,

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I was to bring this money back. So this was an honor, you know, to be the messenger for your teacher and carry her check to the bank. I felt good about that. So I, on this particular trip, rode as fast as I could down to the bank, across town. I got there and I looked in my pocket for the check and I didn't have it. Here was her paycheck for that month and

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have it. I looked again and again and again and again and the checks just weren't there. I think I had the checks that she had written to be cashed you know but I didn't have the main check you know that was to be deposited and so I finally got on the bicycle and rode back to the school and I was just

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walking around retracing my steps from the yard where my bicycle was back to her room. I was afraid to go into the room and finally she looked out from the window there room and she saw me and she said, "Boy, get in here!" She said, "You lost my check and another boy had found that check and had brought it she had

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endorsed it said I had endorsed it and you'd lost it but she was glad that this fella had found a check and I was relieved there were two of us glad and I don't have to tell you that she never sent me back to the bank with her check. Now she liked me, I don't know what I did as well in English that particular

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semester, but what she had given me, what she had committed to me, I was not faithful in being able to protect. I was sincere. I really intended to carry it to the bank.

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I really intended to deposit it just like she instructed. But I just, in my best intentions, I fell short of the goal. And what the psalmist is really saying, yeah, remember that man at his best, even when you take the prince,

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With all of the resources that he has at his disposal, he's not able to satisfy your needs. Trust me. Trust me. I understand.

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I made you. I control all around you. I can provide for you. I can protect you.

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Trust me. Trust me. I can provide for you, I can protect you, trust me. You know, a wonderful thing,

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as we come to close here, is what you can carry to it. I went last night to hear the Austin Symphony and Andre Watts was playing this Brahms concerto

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for the piano in D minor. And that first movement has to do with the composer's expressing his anguish over the nervous breakdown attempted suicide of the musician Robert Schumann. And the passage is described by

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saying not only do you have the trills expressed in that opening movement but you have anguished melodic leaps. Anguished melodic leaps. And that struck me that all of this anguish we got, and we all have some anguish, we all have some frustration, we all have some ambiguities, all of our anguish, and yet

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somehow he gathers up this anguish and he puts it in a song, in music, in a melody and then he takes a leap with it so we can gather all of our anguish, all of our troubles, and we can leap into the arms of God. Isn't that wonderful? We used to sing take your burdens to the Lord and leave leave it there. If you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out. Take your burdens to the Lord and

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and leave it there. So trust me. I hear him this morning saying to every one of us, trust me. Oh I know the way may be dark, but I am the light in the midst of your darkness. Trust me. I know you're weak, but I'm strength for your weakness. Trust me. Trust me. He said that to Moses. Moses said, oh Lord, my tongue, I'm stammering. But he says, trust me and I will use your mouth

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to speak for me. Trust me and I will cause Pharaoh to let the people go. Moses, trust me. Trust me. Trust me. I'll be bred in a starving land. Trust me. Trust me. I will provide healing for your wounds. Trust me. Oh, Gideon, Gideon, trust me. Trust me. Oh, I know you have a large band, but don't trust in that. I'll reduce that band to 300,

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let you know that you can win the victory with a small number. Trust me. David, I know Goliath is out there. He's a giant and you're just a lad, but trust me and you can win the victory over that trust me, trust me. And he says to us, trust me. So lift him up in your life, lift him up. Trust him, trust him who has the power to draw all people unto him. Don't exalt the preachers, the song

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says, don't exalt the few, but trust him. And he is able to give us victory no matter what may be be the condition, a circumstance. As we come now to the hymn of invitation. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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(laughing) (piano music) ♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪

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♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ In I and I ♪ ♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪

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♪ I will trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ 'Til I die ♪ ♪ I will watch, fight and pray ♪ ♪ I will watch, fight and pray ♪

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♪ I will watch, fight and pray ♪ ♪ Till I'm alive ♪ ♪ I'm going to watch ♪ ♪ The light as it fades ♪

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♪ I'm going to watch ♪ ♪ The light as it fades ♪ ♪ I'm going to watch ♪ ♪ The light as it fades ♪

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♪ Till I'm alive ♪ ♪ I want to stay on the bendy beach ♪ ♪ I want to stay on the bendy beach ♪ ♪ I want to stay on the bendy beach ♪

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♪ Until I die ♪ ♪ I want to stay on the bendy beach ♪ I'm going to stay on my bended knees. I'm going to stay on my bended knees until I die.

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I'm going to trust in the Lord. I'm going to trust in the Lord. I'm going to trust in the Lord till I die. I'm going to trust in the Lord.

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I'm going to trust in the Lord. I'm going to trust in the Lord until I die. [BLANK_AUDIO]