What a Trustworthy Savior!

Good evening! Maayong gabii sa tanan! Welcome to Golden City Alliance fellowship. It’s a joy to be with you tonight, and it’s also a privilege that the Lord has given to me to share God’s word to all of us tonight. I praise and thank the Lord for the praise and worship team who has led us into singing songs for the glory of God tonight. This evening, we will be continuing on with our study in the book of Matthew and we are focusing now on Matthew Chapter 8 verses 23 up to Chapter 9 verse 8. I gave the title of our message tonight as, “what a trustworthy Savior!” talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. What a trustworthy Savior! And we pray that the spirit of God will move upon this place and He will teach us in things that we will be able to live out because that will be one of the most important things the way we live out our trust in our faith in God and His word.

Two weeks ago we have a big event all over the country where in our beloved Manny Pacquiao fist-fought Keith Thurman, and many of us  stood onto our feet and cheered in round one when the moment Keith Thurman fell into the canvas, but prior to that particular fight there’s actually this celebration that that event was also celebrating, and it’s the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The 50th anniversary, during the time where man went into the moon and one of the astronauts, there stepped into the moon, and in the center of this moon landing mission and the 50th anniversary are these three guys – the three men who went up there and step into the moon. This guys, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, who actually did not go into the moon but stayed in the module, in space to man that particular module, and Buzz Aldrin. Only Aldrin and Armstrong went, and was able to step into the moon. And it was Neil Armstrong, who said this… The words there is, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. It tells of a “one small” step but yet one big successful event and step for the whole of humanity – that particular moon mission.

But there’s actually a story behind this moon mission. Because when you look at the supposed SOP, it was supposed to be this man, Buzz Aldrin, with whom probably many of us do not really know – it’s actually Neil Armstrong, with the most popular among the three. This was supposed to be the man who is going to step out first because the SOP is when there is a particular mission, especially a military mission, it is supposed to be the lower in rank who will go out first for scouting and reconnaissance. Buzz Aldrin is the lower in rank because Neil Armstrong is ahead of him, one year, in their particular organization that they are in.

But there are three stories behind these theories, some of it are coming actually from the mouth of this astronaut. Buzz Aldrin said that he allowed Neil Armstrong to go out first out of respect and honor to his superior. So he said that you take the first step, because the first ones will always be remembered. The second ones will always be – not always, but sometimes most of the times forgotten, you know, so out of respect and honor to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin said that he allowed him to take the first step.

But NASA, on the other hand, also have another perspective of this, according to NASA, that it’s the architecture of the space spacecraft that they are in beside Buzz Aldrin was the door, by which both of them would go out, and Neil Armstrong is by his left, so the door will open up inwards, according to NASA. So if he would go out first, it would be very awkward, and it would be very hard, because the spacecraft is very small, so it has to be that Neil Armstrong’s to go out first and then Buzz Aldrin would follow ahead of him. Which is why it was Neil Armstrong who was able to make the first step into the moon.

But there is this story that is going around. There are some people who probably made this up, or probably this is there is some truth to it, but it’s the story says something like this. It was about the time we’re in Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong was supposed to go out and by SOP it’s the lower in rank who would go out first so they are standing by the door and there is this command coming from the communication from NASA and it says, “go ahead Mr. Aldrin, you can go out of the spacecraft now!” But then there is this hesitation that came into the heart, and in the mind of Buzz Aldrin, even though that the technology during that particular time is already top notch. The kind of space suit that they are in has already been already been proven by math and science, that it could survive the difficult situation in space. But yet there is this doubt and hesitation in the heart of Buzz Aldrin, and he said that if I would probably go out, space would suck me in, and I would die. And with that split second hesitation, the communication from NASA went in again and it said “okay, Mr. Armstrong, go ahead, make your move”. And Neil Armstrong, without any hesitation at all. Probably he is very excited to step outside of the spacecraft into the moon. He was the one who was able to step out and said the famous line, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. All because of this simple hesitation, a simple doubt according to the story that Buzz Aldrin had in his heart.

(Do) you know that trust and faith is the biggest aspect when it comes to our relationship with God. Many times, we as Christians, even though we have heard numerous preaching about who Jesus Christ is, we have read through the different books in the Bible and, probably, many of us have memorized verses after verses about who Jesus Christ is, yet somehow during the times wherein there’s a lot of pressure that is coming into our hearts and into our minds, there are times that we often doubt. Our trust and faith in the Lord. Often times we hesitate in giving to Jesus our full confidence in our full trust. This evening, we will talk more about this about who our Lord Jesus Christ is and why He deserves our full trust without any, any hesitation at all. Now let me, State this in a question so that we can continue on in discussing who Jesus Christ is.

Is Jesus worth your trust and my trust? Is Jesus worth of our full obedience, our full confidence, our full trust.

If our answer is yes, then why is it that many times in our life, especially during the times where we have big decisions that we need to make? Why do we hesitate in putting our full confidence in Him? Why?

Matthew Chapter 8 begins with a particular story, 3 stories, coming out of the sermon of the Mount Jesus now is trying to prove all those words that he had mentioned in Chapter 5 to Chapter 7. And in chapter 8, the very first thing that he did was that he went all over the towns in the houses in in Israel during that time and healing all the people from their sicknesses and preaching about the Kingdom of God. And everywhere they he would go there would be miracles of healing, after miracles of healing, and thousands of people would see these miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result, there were thousands of them that is coming to follow the Lord Jesus Christ – the crowd. And as Jesus saw, the crowd coming towards him, trying to follow him, trying to overwhelm him and his disciples, Jesus said to them to his disciples that we better get away. We better get away because there’s just too much of them, we want to go on the other side of the Lake. The other side of the see through the boat. But as Jesus went towards the boat, there were few people who had the audacity and the confidence to come to Jesus and ask Jesus, “Jesus, we wanna follow you!. We want to follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus seeing through this few people that coming, that want to follow Him Jesus said, “are you really sure? Are you sure of that decision that you really want to follow me?”

Jesus said that you know it’s better for foxes because they have holes and they probably have a hard pillow where they can rest. Even though it’s hard, but still it’s a pillow to rest, to have some kind of comfort. “But when you follow me, the Son of Man. You can find nothing such as this.”

“There is no Wi-Fi to where I would go. There’s no Facebook and YouTube to where I would go. There’s no beautiful 3D TV sets and surround sound system to where I go. Do you really wanna follow me?”

And hearing all of these things from Jesus, this this few people that came to Him realized something that, “hey I don’t want to lose my comfort so Jesus, you go ahead I will bury my father first.” And we don’t even know if his father is dead or alive but, “Jesus, I’ll bury my father, you go on ahead.”

But even through this crowd and this some pretenders that are there, one thing to follow Jesus because of the power that He has. There is this few disciples, few students that Jesus had during that time who really wanted to follow the Lord who have left everything that they have and went with Jesus, no matter what and, wanting to follow Jesus in whatever he wants to do and where he wants to go.

So together with this few people, Jesus set on towards the Sea of Galilee, crossing this very big body of water, going onto the other side. Now this is where Matthew 8, chapter 8 verses 23 to 27 happened. As they were already in the deep part of this body of water, the clouds started to gather, black cloud started to gather. You could hear the thunder and the lightning that were there. The wind started to blow and the big waves are coming and banging onto the boat of Jesus and this few followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and these followers started to feel worry and fear because of the threat of their very lives. But when they looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, He was there sleeping, having the sleep of his life – probably feeling the rocking of the boat as if He was a baby.

“Why is Jesus Christ asleep? Wake him up, can’t you see that we are about to die, to drown and die?”

So probably somebody went over to Jesus, “wake up Jesus, we’re about to die, can’t you see?” And when Jesus woke up, the first thing that he saw was not the wind, and the waves was not the lightning and the thunder and the clouds in the rain but it’s the faith of His people. The faith of the people who gave this life to Him who said to Him that, we have left everything to follow You, Jesus,” but yet at that particular trial, a tempest that was there, Jesus saw the kind of faith that they had through the fear and the worries that they have in their hearts.

Jesus said, “Oh, you of little faith, why are you so afraid?” In this short statement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see that there is actually a measurement of how big the faith of a particular believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. It actually can be measured during the times of adversity. The kind of fear and worry that you would allow to creep in and dominate your heart and your mind would actually tell us, tell you, the kind of faith, the small faith, that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s the (amount of) worry and the fear that would determine how big and how great is your faith, or how little is your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So when adversity comes, how much fear and how much worry do we allow to creep in into our hearts and into our minds? What is that aspect in your life that you are so fearful of that so that you are so worried of that you would allow this particular pressure to overwhelm your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

It’s probably a good question that we would want to ask during this time. What is it that in that is in my life that gives me the biggest fear and worry? Because it is during that particular time or at that particular area in your life, that would actually determine that you have little or no faith to Jesus at all.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Oh! you of little faith, you owe of little faith, why are you afraid?”. Jesus looked to the winds and the waves, and He rebuked the winds and the waves and right after that there was stillness in that particular body of water. Everything was peaceful. Everything was still.

And as a result of this, the men who’s looking at the Jesus, they were so amazed and they ask themselves, “what kind of a man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?” Is Jesus worthy of your trust? My trust? I would say, yes. Hopefully, you would say yes with me because Jesus is trustworthy because He is Lord over nature, over tempest, over storms, over calamities. Whether it’s the literal calamity that would always befall over Cagayan de Oro City, He is Lord over that or, whether it’s the spiritual battle or the spiritual tempest in storms through the problems that would come into our lives, Jesus is still Lord over all that.

Would you trust Him? When pressures come when big decisions would befall upon us, would you give your full trust and confidence in the Lord? Because he is Lord over all these. I hope you would say not just, in your mouth, “Amen!” to this, but when this thing really comes, you would truly put your full trust in Him.

Right after the 10:00 AM gathering as I was walking there at the back, there were two young (men) said to each other, “you know, bai it’s really easy to say, you know, I trust the Lord, I will obey Him and not really not fear but when you know the reality comes, when there are bills that needs to be paid and when there are, things that you need to do at home or with at work or with the business that we have, It’s actually very hard.” And that is actually the Battle of faith that we need to have in order to grow that, even though it’s hard, we put our full trust and confidence in the promises of God because at the end of the day He is Lord over all these, He is Lord over the literal storms in life, in the figurative storms that would come into each of our lives. He is Lord over that, and we put our full trust in the Lord.

As the wind and the waves, died down and there was stillness and peace at that particular part of the sea. Jesus and His few disciples continued on and they came into this particular part of Israel that is named. Gadarenes, that’s the name of that place! It’s actually a place that is not occupied by Jewish people, but it’s mostly by the Samaritans. And then as they went, went out of their boats together with his disciples during that time there were two men, two men who were demon possessed by according to Luke legions of demons that were there in them. They ran towards the Lord Jesus Christ. These two men were living in a particular cave that has also become a tomb during that time and in this particular cave, nobody would dare go, or even just pass by. Because these two men were so violent that they would chase away everyone who would pass by that particular cave. So that is a haunted cave in today’s term.

But yet when Jesus came to that particular place, these two men ran towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and they fell onto their feet and said, like this, what do you want with us, Son of God? It’s so amazing that sometimes, demons are better than us in recognizing Jesus – Son of God. This is what the book of James said, that even the demons would shudder the moment they hear of Jesus’s name.

They continued on, have You come here to torture us before the appointed time and in these words, demons are sometimes better than us in recognizing that there is this judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, that one day all the demons, including them, would come face to face with Jesus Christ and be judged by Him because he is the righteous judge.

The demons recognized who Jesus is, the righteous judge, the son of God and they shudder at the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they shudder at the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they looked around and they saw this herd of pigs and they said to Jesus, “Jesus, if you want to rebuke us, allow us to go to those pigs”. Jesus said, go ahead, you go. And at the word of Jesus Christ, these demons fled and went into this herd of pigs and the herd of pigs panicked, and they all run away, and they jumped into a cliff, and all of them died at that time.

And the people who tended the pigs were also very afraid, afraid seeing the scene that came to them and they started to run going to the community and they told the community what happened – everything that happened. And many of us would think that this particular community would rejoice in the miracle that had happened to these two people. But, on the contrary, this community went out of their houses, went to Jesus Christ, and they told Jesus Christ to go away. Go away from us! Leave!

I was thinking about this and then I realized that in this particular community, the thing that they value the most is not the righteous Judge the Son of God, Jesus Christ – no no! The miracle making God who is there with them, Jesus Christ, no! It’s actually their pigs and their livelihood “If this particular guy would continue on staying with us, all our pigs would probably die. And we will have no more livelihood. We don’t have any source of money anymore, so if you please go away, leave this place.”

We would somehow laugh at this particular community but isn’t it that there are also times, in some areas of our lives that we don’t want Jesus to have anything to do with this particular area. Yes, Jesus, my Sundays are for you, but Lord, in this particular relationship that I have. Whether it’s a girlfriend, boyfriend relationship, whether it’s the way I treat my wife or whether it’s this wrong kind of relationship, please leave.

Not only in the relationships probably there are some things that we do at our work where we don’t want Jesus to do anything with it. Whether, it’s in the decisions that we have in our business that we sometimes say to Jesus’s face, “leave.” And this is the times where we often choose the wrong path in our lives without the words of Jesus, we hesitate on truly following and obeying His words. But I tell you, brothers and sisters in the Lord, Jesus Christ is trustworthy. He is trustworthy, because He is Lord over this demons in the spiritual authorities, in the spiritual battles that we face every day of our lives.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of heaven of evil, in the heavens.” And many times, when we read these words, we often think of this Hollywood-like exorcisms and spirits that are living in the trees and in the corners of our houses that we want to, you know, drive out and rebuke. Yes, there are some truths into that, but if you would look into the words of Paul who penned these words in Ephesians 6:12 (and) in all of his letters, the book of the spiritual battles that he would often drive upon is in the area of temptation.

More than the exorcisms and more than the spirits that are there in your houses or in your trees, in your garden or whatever that is, Paul has a bigger concern with the spiritual battle of temptation because this is in this battle that we are sometimes led to believe that there is no battle at all. But yet every day there is this battle of pride within our hearts. There is this battle of lying. Whether it’s big lies or small lies that we do every day. There is this battle of lust in our in the eyes and lust that we allow, and we entertain in our minds.

Just as Jesus is Lord over the demonic realms in this world, Jesus is also Lord over the temptations that you face every day. Never ever say that the temptations that we face in life is so overwhelming that we can’t resist it. No! We have Jesus Christ who is Lord over this temptation, and He can carry you through impurity as we resist this temptation that we face every day. Jesus is trustworthy – hold on! – because he is Lord over this.

And right after that, because of the situation that Jesus was in wherein the community doesn’t want to welcome Jesus, Jesus together with his small band of followers, went again into their boats and they went into their hometown – the hometown of Jesus in Galilee. And in Matthew Chapter 9 verses 1 to 8, Jesus was going out of their boats and going into the town of Galilee and there they met these few friends who’s bringing with them their paralytic friend in, probably something that they would carry. They place their friends into the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you remember that during the boats Jesus told his band of followers, “you of little faith”, because of their fear and because of their worry? But as Jesus Christ saw these friends, Jesus had in His heart and His mind, He saw, the great faith of these friends.

If I was there, probably looking at the condition of this particular person, I would probably say that this guy is hopeless, a hopeless case. Although I’m not a doctor, but if a doctor was there with me also, probably they would tell this person, “Ah! (this is a) very hopeless case no hope at all, a paralytic the end of his life.” Probably he would die now or he would suffer more sufferings because of this particular disease or disablement that he is experiencing, that he has.

But yet, why did Jesus say that these guys have great faith? I believe that these guys because that they knew that Jesus was there instead of fear and hopelessness and worry because of their friend who is a paralytic, these guys were instead hopeful, joyful that Jesus was there and Jesus can do something, and Jesus can do a great, amazing thing for their friend. So as they were bringing their friends, this hope and this joy, and this faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ exuded out of them and Jesus saw that. And Jesus said, “what a great faith.”

Again, we see, that the measure of our fear and worry would actually determine the kind of faith that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. For these guys, instead of hopelessness, worry and fear, they have joy in their hearts knowing that Jesus is here. They have hope in their lives because Jesus was there and when they placed this paralytic in front of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus saw that, and he said to the paralytic, “your sins are forgiven.”

Probably these friends would say, “what?”, you wanted Jesus to heal why did he say that your sins are forgiven? For Jesus, it was a test for Him because among the crowds that were there, there were these teachers of the law. (At this) Hearing this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, this fellow is acting like a God He is blaspheming. Why? Because it is only God who can forgive sins and it’s not like this! You don’t just say it, that I forgive you or you’re forgiven. You have to go and get all the things that you need – the live spotless lamb or birds or whatever it is to make some offerings to the temple to God. Not like this! And when He forgave, it’s not it’s the authority of God, but it’s with His authority. I forgive you, your sins are forgiven.

And they said, “He is blaspheming”, He’s acting as if He’s like God. Jesus, probably knowing their thoughts during that time, I believe that they did not shout it to the crowd they were probably talking to themselves, but Jesus knew all that. And you know what Jesus said? Jesus said, “why do you think evil things in your mind and in your heart? Why is it that there is this evil corruption that is in your hearts and minds?”

What is Jesus trying to say? Jesus is trying to tell these people the, teachers of the law that, what they said that, this fellow is blaspheming is actually evil. What they said that Jesus is acting as if he is God is actually an evil kind of thought. Why? Because Jesus is God. He is not only acting as if He’s God. He is God. And to say that Jesus is not God is an evil thing that a person can say to his heart and into his mind. Jesus is God.

Jesus said, why do you think such evil things in your minds and in your heart? What is more easy to say according to Jesus? Is it easier to say that your sins are forgiven or to say get up because now you are healed? What is Jesus trying to say? To forgive sins – only God can do. To heal this particular paralytic person a hopeless case, who can do that? No one. It’s only God who can do that. What is Jesus trying to say? “As God, I can forgive sins. As God, I can heal this person. You want to see that? You wanna see that? Then Jesus said stand up, it’s not just that your sins are forgiven, but also you are healed, take up your mats and go.”

By this, Jesus is saying that His not only Lord over sin. But yet he is also Lord over our physical bodies, the healing of our bodies now, and the ultimate healing of our bodies in the future, wherein we will have glorified, uncorrupted, and will-never-be stained bodies. Jesus is Lord over that. Is Jesus trustworthy? Yes, Jesus is trustworthy.

And when the people saw all of this, the miracles of Jesus in healing this person, they said this: “when the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised God, who had given such authority to man” – when people would praise Jesus.

Is Jesus trustworthy? I believe so. From the bottom of my heart that Jesus is trustworthy because he is the only Lord over sin in death. That’s who our Jesus is.

He is worthy of your unwavering trust because he is Lord over nature, over the tempest that comes literally or figuratively in your life He is Lord over that.

He is Lord over the spiritual battles that we face with every single day. Whether it’s the real demonic powers that we experience, or the real temptations that we face every day of our lives. He is Lord over that

And also, He is Lord over sin and death in Jesus Christ. There is the forgiveness of our sins, the real one, the forgiveness of our sins in the eternal life that comes if we put our trust and faith in Him and in Him alone.

Let’s remember this: that the trustworthiness of Jesus is validated through His unparalleled power. And where do you see this? In His word. In His word, it records the greatness of the power of God, of Jesus Christ, his amazing miraculous deeds and also, the word of God, we see the penultimate act that Jesus did at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, where the saddest day of history became the biggest and the greatest celebration of your lives and of my life because it’s there in the in the Cross of Jesus Christ wherein He defeated sin and death and when He became alive, He proved to us all that he is not a fake kind of prophet or teacher, but He is real and He is God worthy to be worshipped and worthy to be trusted.

In the year 1871, there was a great fire that happened in Chicago, and one of the people who experienced the devastation of that great fire who killed hundreds of people and destroyed millions of properties, was a man his name is Horatio Spafford. And I am not making up his name. His name is really Horatio Spafford and according to Christian historians that even his son died during that particular time and not only his son. Many of his investment as a Christian businessman, a devout Christian businessman went away in a Job-like experience. One night everything went away – all of the things that he own.

And from year 1871 to 1873 they were struggling hard together with four of his daughters and his wife in making ends meet. But yet, because of an of an offer that’s coming from a friend and this friend is D.L. Moody, he was invited to go to England, to minister to the people there, together with D.L. Moody. And as a result of this, because he wanted his family to experience time away from all of these problems that they are facing, he brought with him his family and they went on aboard this ship from Chicago going to England. But before Horatio Spafford was able to climb onto the ship, he received a summon that an important meeting will happen and it asks for his presence. It’s important for him to join in that particular meeting, so he said to his four daughters and his wife, “you go on ahead, I will just follow” The next ship that would come, I will take it and follow with you in England.

So Horatio Spafford went on to this particular meeting and the next news that he received was a news that the boat where four of his daughters and his wife who have come aboard, had sunk in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. His four daughters died during that time, and his wife barely survived. She’s there in England and in need of his presence. So at that particular time, Horatio went onto another boat going into England and as he was crossing through the Atlantic Ocean and going through the area where that body of water took out four of his daughter’s life with so much pain in his heart, he penned a hopeful and a precious words in his notebook and it said something like this, “when peace, like a river attendeth my soul, when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has called me to say it is well with my soul, it is well with my soul.”

And this is a hymn that has been echoing through hundreds of years that even up until now, we sing this hopeful song even through the depth of worries and fears that come into our lives. And this is also what it means for us when we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It may not be easy. There might be times wherein it would be so hard and it would be so painful to experience all these but yet, in this hopeful song, and in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is worthy of our trust, we can also say that it is well with my soul, it is well with my soul.

Not only as individuals, but even as a church as we face the different storms that had come and will come into our church. We don’t run away from God because out there are only deserts. We run all the more to the Lord Jesus Christ with all our worries with all our pains and with all this angers, the strong emotions that we have, and we put all the more our trust in him, and we can say, “it is well with our soul, it is well with our soul”, because we have a trust worthy God In Jesus Christ. Is Jesus worthy of your trust, is He worthy of our trust? I believe so. Do you believe that? Let’s all stand as we close this time in prayer.

 

Let us pray, tonight o Father, we put our full confidence and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Though the realities of life may come so hard at times and in many times it may, it might be very difficult for us. But yet, Lord through Your words, we have seen that You are a trustworthy God. You are Lord over the tempest. You are Lord over the spiritual battles in each of our lives. You are Lord over sin and over death. You are worthy of trust. And we declare that tonight, help us to live our lives in full confidence in unwavering trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because it is only in Him that we can find our hope – the joy, the peace in times of trouble. Teach us, O Lord to obey Your words, to heed to your promises, even though at times it might be so hard. Teach us oh Holy Spirit, because by our own strength, there is nothing that we can do. Thank you so much, Jesus for this words of truth and encouragement into our lives to You be the glory in the honor in Jesus name we pray Amen and Amen. Can we give a clap of offering to our Lord? Amen. Let us all be seated.

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