Thursday, November 18, 2010, 6:43 a.m. – This song was playing in my mind when I awoke this morning:
‘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 21-51:
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:
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).
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']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!” [/FONT]
‘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 21-51:
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:
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).
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']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!” [/FONT]
