July 19, 2026 Dr. Mark Turman - The God You Can Trust

Dr. Mark Turman — 2026-07-19

Transcript

Dr. Mark Turman: 0:00

and teamed up this week, as they often do, to basically do the introduction for the sermon already through that music, and so I'm grateful for that. You know, it's amazing the things that you remember over time, even decades. I can remember being a young Christian, maybe a year, coming to Christ at the age of 17 and getting involved in a church where I would eventually meet Judy, and I can Remember a Sunday morning, just a normal Sunday morning just like today, and the pastor saying something in his sermon that has stayed with me all of these decades now 40 some odd years later he said quoting another theologian the most important question in life is this who do you trust think about that for a minute the people sitting with you the people that you work with the people that you've lived around the people that raised you think about the people that you have and do trust the most don't those relationships shape and have shape they formed you they have steered you in profound ways and continue to do so that's what trust that we've been singing about that's what it does if you place it in worthy places some of you have heard of a pastor author theologian by the name of Frederick Buechner he had a great quote that I wanted to share with you this morning goes like this an agnostic is somebody who doesn't know for sure whether there really is a God that is some people all of the time, and all people some of the time. I don't know where you are in that today, in terms of your confidence about the reality of God, but we have a question in front of us. Who do we trust? That wasn't a question just for us or for me 40 years ago. It's been a question pervasive across all time and generations. and so i want to take you back several thousand years to a place in scripture called psalm 115 the psalmist has put a pen to paper with the guidance of the spirit of god and he has composed a song a poem that might have been used in a gathering just like this or perhaps much larger than this we don't know exactly the context of this song of worship some speculate when they look at the way that the words and the verses are laid out that this might have been like something that they split up in the congregation and the leader would say apart and then the people would share part of it and then a choir would weigh in and then people would come back and then the leader it kind of can lay out that way we don t know if it exactly happened in that way, but it might have been what they call a liturgical psalm or song, something that the group used when they gathered. It might have Been, we're not sure, but It might Have Been that this was a song of worship put together when the Israelites were dedicating what is called the second temple. They had been sent into exile for 70 years because of their lack of trust in God. they had learned a lot about what it meant to learn to trust him just like we sing about the stories of Daniel the stories Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace which was part of the song again Sheila and I didn't work this out the Holy Spirit worked it out those things happened in their lives and it might be that they have now come home after seven decades and God has allowed them to rebuild the place of worship and And they are gathering to celebrate the greatness, the goodness, the majesty and power of God. And that might be the occasion for these words. So listen to them as I read. Not to us, Lord, not to us. But to your name give glory. Because of your faithful love, because of your truth. Why should the nation say, where is their God? our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases their idols are silver and gold made by human hands they have mouths but cannot speak eyes but cannot see they have ears but cannot hear noses but cannot smell they have hands but cannot feel feet but cannot walk they cannot make a sound with their throats those who make them are just like them as are all who trust in them Israel trust in the Lord he is their help and shield house of Aaron trust in the Lord He is their health their help in shield you who fear the Lord trust in the Lord. He is there help and Shield the Lord remembers us and will bless us he He will bless the house of Israel. He will blessing the house Aaron. He will blessed those who fear the Lord, small and great alike. May the Lord add to your numbers, both yours and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord the maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the human race. It is not the dead who praise the Lord nor any of those descending into the silence of death. but we will we will bless the Lord both now and forever hallelujah what a great great word another thing that stayed with me something I read by the theologian A.W. Tozer probably 20 years ago written in 1961 contained in his book the knowledge of the holy what comes into our our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Think about that for a minute. What we think when we Think about God Is the most Important Thing About Us. The psalmist is giving us a guide for what it looks like, what it means to trust God with all of our heart, soul, soul, mind, and strength. That he is worthy of it because he is the great God in heaven who is full, the perfect essence of both love and truth. One of the other psalmists would say it this way, our God is majestic. You may have caught that as one of the lyrics to our songs this morning. What does it mean for God to be majestic? It's not a word we use very often. We're not completely clear on what it means we have some sense of it intuitively but i want you to think of it this way we know that when we see something we consider it to be strong or powerful we might see something else or hear someone teaching and we say you know what that is true it just rings true we might see something in the night sky or out on the lake and we go that is just one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Whatever virtuous, noble, admirable virtue and qualities you've ever seen, take all of those, put them all into one person, and that is God. He is the perfect expression of every noble and good value perfectly displayed at any time. That's what the psalmist is saying when he says that our God is in heaven and is worthy of our trust, worthy of our praise, worthyof our loyalty, because he is majestic in every way. What does that look like and mean in your life and mine today in these next few days? A couple of ways I want you to think about it. First of all, I wantyou to think about trusting God as the pathway of transformation. transformation. The second thing he'll say, and we'll point out this in a minute, is that trusting God is treasure. Don't go running off down a prosperity gospel pathway with me, but it is treasure nonetheless, and it is time sensitive. So just those three ideas, hopefully you can remember them that way, that trusting is about transformation, it is about treasure, and it is also about the right use of your time so he says first of all in the opening parts of this song that god is invisible he is powerful he is loving and he is free he says in the second verse he does whatever he wants and it is his way of saying that god we are so apt in our lives as sinful people to try to make life about us we try to making it about our pleasure our convenience it's about our glory and so his aspirational prayer right out of the bat verse one not to us god don't make this about us it's got to be it should be it must be about you not about us probably something they learned deeply while they were in captivity for those 70 years because that's what got them into exile they had been making everything about themselves themselves, and they were ignoring the God who loved them and led them. And so God allowed a season of discipline in their life. But now they have come home, and now they are celebrating in their passion, their joy, their goal. God, would you show up, and would you shows off? Would you reveal yourself continually in ways that show your love, your power, your truth, so that you will be the one who gets the attention you will be the one glorified you will be the ones praised and not us they want their hearts transformed into a love and a loyalty to God that will be unrivaled because you see as people fallen in sin our greatest temptation and our greatest sin is the sin of disbelief where we we stop trusting in the one true God and we start trusting in something else, oftentimes ourselves or in other things that the world will hope to get our attention with. If that is our greatest sin and our greatest temptation, our greatest privilege, our biggest calling is trusting, starting with our trust in God. Notice how he builds a contrast here in the fourth verse. He He says that if you're not trusting in God, that doesn't mean that you're not a trusting person. It means you're trusting in the wrong things. You're looking for something to fill the vacuum of your heart because everyone needs something to trust in. That's part of the reason that our emerging generation is so anxious. They have come to see so much twistedness, so much hypocrisy, so much brokenness. They're not sure that anything is worthy of their trust. because that's the way we've been wired. We've been wired to be people of worship. We're been wired to be people of relationship and trust and if we can't find it in God we go inventing it on our own. Do you have any axioms in your life that you live by? An axiom is one of those self-evident truths. When somebody taught it to you or when you came across it in some other way you just knew this is fundamentally self-evident truth and I can bank on it it's always going to be that way when somebody told you the Sun always comes up where some of you are not sure the Sun always come up where and it always goes down where okay when you were three four or five you did not know that intuitively on your own until mom or dad or grandpa shared that with you and then you started watching this is a compass this is east it will always come up in the morning even if it's cloudy that's what it does that's an axiom it becomes a self-evident truth the bible has several of them one of those axioms in the bible goes like this god is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble you go go study the bible from genesis to revelation you're going to find this thread this self-évident truth god opposes the proud that gives grace for the humble you're gonna going to find it all the way through the thread of scripture the bible also says this you probably familiar with it from the book of galatians you will reap what you sow that's the law of the farm or the law or the harvest if you're gardening if you want to grow corn if you put tomatoes in the ground you're not going to get corn related to that you've probably heard preachers say this over the years if you've been in church you reap what you sow you always reap it later you always reap it in greater abundance so if you sow good in your life if you so godliness in your life you're going to get more of a harvest of godliness if you sew the opposite you're going to give that and you're gonna get it later and youre gonna get more of it than you ever ever wanted well here's another axiom for you you right here in verse 8 you become like what you worship you may not like that you may want to push against that but it is an axiom of life on planet earth I didn't say you become what you worship you become light what you were because you're hardwired to trust and worship something something so the ultimate free choice is what or who are you going to trust so you notice what he says about those who don't trust in the living God he says they make their own gods they're called idols out of silver and gold they make them with their own hands but notice what He says they have mouths and cannot speak eyes but cannot see they have ears but cannot hear noses but cannot cannot smell hands and feet, but cannot touch or walk. They cannot make a sound, and those who make them become like them. I thought the words of the Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe were helpful here. Here's what he says about this passage. He says, the greatest tragedy is not what the idols cannot cannot do, but what they can do to the people who worship them or trust them. We become like the God we worship. As we worship the true and living God, he transforms our ears to hear his truth and the cries of those in need. He gives us eyes to see his word and his world and the path he wants us to walk he our spiritual senses develop and become more mature in jesus christ but those who worship false gods they lose the use of their spiritual senses they become blind to the light and deaf to the voice of god and if that's where we persist in the direction of our life where we arrive is that we become shells without souls you may know some people like that but write it down in your mind and in your Bible you will become like what you value most what you worship what you trust the second thing that he he says to us is is that when we trust there is enormous treasure let me take you back to the ninth verse you hear the exhortation over and over again israel trust in the lord house of aaron that is the leading priest the servants of god trust inthe lord and then you who fear the lord trust in him why because he is your help and shield that is the exhorted that we need to hear every single day of our life because again our greatest temptation and our greatest sin is the sin of distrust or disbelief that's why we resonate so deeply with that father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus and the disciples couldn't do anything to help and Jesus comes and approaches him and says what do you need and and Jesus says anything is possible for you if you have faith and I don't know if you are doing like I do but I pray this prayer all the time Lord I do believe help my unbelief help my temptation to not trust you and didn't trust into something else God wants to help us with that all of our ability to believe all of faith and trust come from him as a gift and he nurtures that through creation he nurtured it through our conscience he He nurtures it through scripture and through other people and through our circumstances. But ultimately, it's our daily choice. Some of you saw, as we did on Facebook, the boat that sank a couple of weeks ago, I think, over at Hell's Gate. Mike and Sheila and I were talking about that last night. And we were like, well, what happened? Well, we don't know if they forgot to put the plug in the boat. We don't knows if they got swamped by a couple waves. waves but when Judy showed it to me all I saw was the tail end of the boat sticking out of the water is anybody with me you remember this story okay made me think of this quote by Mary Pickford all the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship all the disbelief all the negativity in the World cannot sink person unless it it gets inside their soul that's where trust lives that's where trust exercises itself and when we put our trust in the living god he makes enormous promises here that there is treasure that comes to us now this is one of those passages where our friends sometimes twist the teaching of god and they turn it into a prosperity well health and wealth kind of gospel if you just trust God the right way he will make you financially and materially wealthy and there is some evidence of that teaching in the bible but that's not really exactly what he is talking about here he is saying that God notice verse 14 may the Lord add to your numbers that word literally means increase or flourish and the first way he applies it is to your family family that that God wants to give you the blessing of many children and grandchildren so when you hear in our culture today about people who don't want any children it's becoming a pervasive kind of groundswell especially among the younger generation and if they don't want children at all some of them are at least deciding to put having children off till much much later in their life because they are fearful many times. Fearful about having a child in this kind of culture and in this kind of world. What are we to think about nuclear war? What are we to about AI? What do we to to think distrusting leaders all around us who turn out to be hypocrites? No wonder people are skeptical. But God says, as he says in the Psalms and other places, children are a blessing from God. And he wants them to to increase. You've heard that person say, have you not, the great theologian who said that every newborn child is God's declaration that the world should go on. Now, I know that they're ornery. I know they're loud. I that they can be just downright cantankerous, just like the rest of us. But they are a sign of God's blessing. But that's just one part. the increase and the flourishing that he is talking about that comes from our relationship with god is multifaceted this word flourish or increase doesn't have so much to do with simply material things that's where we often run but it has to do mit the things that are even more more precious, even more treasurable, even more wonderful than what financial prosperity might do for us. You remember reading in the Proverbs that it is better to have little and to have peace in your heart than to have great wealth and to have nothing but anxiety? That's why I wanted Judy to read that passage to you from James. I hope you noticed the first part of it. but many of you memorize at least a loose version of it in your mind. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above. But make sure you pay attention to the first part that she read. Brothers and sisters, do not be deceived. Do not be misled. All of that you're enjoying, all of that increase, all of that blessing, whether it's material or otherwise, it didn't come from anyone except the hand of a good, powerful and gracious God and you can count on it because it is not only a present reality it is a future certainty if you read this passage carefully and you watch the change in grammar he says that God is your help and shield and then later he says in the 14th verse that he will bless you that's a forward hopeful future oriented kind of statement and then ultimately he says in verse 14 may you flourish not just in present reality and in future certainty but with generational confidence i don't know where you are in your journey but this is what judy and i considered to be the sweetest season of our life we had a great time being young people dating we had a fabulous time in our young married life before children showed up we had a grand time most of the time being parents we're still weighing that one out but this is the season with three grandchildren we're gonna spend another another week with them up in the mountains next week don't you want the best of all things not just for you and for your children for your friends but for your grandchildren to a thousand generations if you want to affect not just this time and not just the people at your table today the best thing that you can do is keep trusting the ever-living God live that example live that testimony live that story in front of them because you know what he said verse 2 he says this our god does whatever he pleases that kind of sounds like an in your face statement doesn't it you know What Jesus said the father loves to do he loves to bless his children this passage is what you might call the old testament expression of what jesus said in john chapter 10 verse 10 when he said the devil the thief comes to steal kill and destroy but i came that you might have life and have it to the full or have it abundantly jesus also said on another occasion when he was urging us to pray which is the ultimate act of trusting god he said which of you if your son asked for an egg got that you would give him a scorpion or spider he goes on to finish that teaching by saying this if you who are evil people every one of you if you know how to give good gifts to your children how much more your father in heaven knows exactly the best gifts to give to you at any given moment in your life apparently the church picked up on that through the holy spirit that's why the apostle paul writing in what may be the most incredible chapter in the whole bible romans chapter 8 he says this if god did not spare his own son for you how will he not freely give all things you want to know how far god has already invested just look at the cross that's how much he loves to give you the greatest treasures in heaven and they come by the pathway of trust the last thing and then we'll be done is the issue of time trust is always a time sensitive matter so in verse 16 he gets It's ready to land, this celebration of God with these words. The heavens are the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the human race. It is not the dead who praise the Lord, nor any of those descending into the silence of death, but we, but we will bless the Lord both now and forevermore. Hallelujah. In the ancient Jewish mind, they didn't have an understanding of heaven like you and I do as new testament christians standing on this side of the resurrection of jesus the ancient israel hebrew mind believed that the universe was composed of three levels the earth the heavens and where god was above that as my pastor used to say you see the first one by day the second one by night and the third one by faith he says but that's where god is up in the high heavens above Above us, king over all the universe, but he has entrusted this earth to be the place for mankind. And he has placed it here for us to enjoy as well as to steward. And this is our time. This is our moment. Now listen to this. That is exactly the opposite of what the world and even going back to the Greeks taught about mankind. One theologian put it this way, while the pagans present the creation of mankind as an afterthought and as man being slaves to the gods, the Hebrew and biblical mindset understood mankind as the crown of God's creation, that we were placed here to be co-rulers with God of the earth, responsible for the upkeep and care of the world, and only, only a free God would be secure enough to do that and so this is the moment for us to seize not to put it off not to substitute something else this is our time to trust him one things I have come to love about the Bible in the last number of years is how the Bible manages our understanding of time and opportunity the bible never ever encourages you and me to rush it never ever tells us to be in a hurry i'd encourage you to read people like john mark comer dallas willard dallas Willard on one occasion said to one of the students under his care he said you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry to which his his mentee said okay great i got that written down what's the next thing he said no that is the only thing you must ruthless eliminate hurry from your life another theologian said this hurry is not simply from the devil hurry is the devil and in In our Western, aggressive, productive mindset, we have to learn to intentionally slow down. I hope and I suspect that that's why many of you come to this lake. Because as we talk about sometimes, there's a whole different time zone operating around this water. And that mindset, if we'll listen, can help us to slow down and to get better acquainted with the voice and activity of God that is operating near us. It's been 25 or so years now, but our church in McKinney sponsored a ladies' retreat. treat and off I don't know 50 60 70 ladies went for a couple of days had a great speaker when Judy came back I did what I always do how was it what'd you like was the food any good did everybody you know get along so she was unpacking that for me on this particular occasion and she said you know this speaker made a really good point she gave an acrostic for the word busy the word busy can be interpreted spiritually as being under satan's yoke i've never forgotten it when tempted to put away and to forget about the sabbath and tempted to rush into all the activities and to do's of my life if there's not room in my life for constant and continual conversation with God, then I am too busy. The Bible never causes you or teaches you to rush. But on the other side of that, the Bible has a very distinct teaching about urgency and intentionality. You hear it in words like this, the Apostle Paul writing under the Holy Spirit, it today today is the day of salvation don't put it off don't defer it to a later more convenient time the writer of hebrews talking about disbelief says this hebrew's three therefore listen to who it's addressed to holy brothers and sisters this is to the church therefore holy brothers brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, consider Jesus. That means think deeply and often about him. Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of your faith. As the Holy Spirit says, today, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Watch out, brothers and sisters, that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God but encourage each other daily while it is still called today today this is our time let me pull the curtain back for just a moment we'll be done I've been a preacher for some 40 something years now do you know what the hardest part about being a preacher is it's choosing what to talk about Sunday by Sunday from this book because there are so many choices so when I started thinking about talking to you today I started on Monday and I had competing passages and I ultimately felt like God wanted me to park us in one in In Psalm 115 today. Do you want to know what the other passage was? I actually think it fits together. It comes out of Luke chapter 9. Where Jesus said this. If anyone wants to follow me. If anybody wants to trust me. He says this. Let him deny himself. Take up his cross daily. And follow me, let's pray about that jesus thank you for being so so good so true so beautiful so strong so purposeful lord as we sang a little while ago help us give us grace to trust you more some in this room have walked with you for a very long time some just a few days or years but the question still presents itself every single day including today who do you trust lord may it be our aspiration and our daily commitment to deny ourselves and to trust you wholly fully and completely with every question with every opportunity with every need with every joy so that we can say again and again and