Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

We are often confused as to how God will perform what He has promised us in His word.  God surely has promised us that “All things will work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)  God has promised to answer our prayers and give us all things that we need.  “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7)  Yet in the believer’s life we find that our experience seems contrary to His promises.  We are surrounded by troubles and evils both without and within.  We are often cast down and full of grief and sorrow.  We cry with Asaph in Psalm 73: I know you are good to Israel (your elect) but as for me my foot nigh well slipped.  My faith is almost gone because all I can see is the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.

But believer remember that we are not to live by sight but rather by faith in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit tells us that the just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17) Believer no matter our circumstance, no matter our outward or inward struggles, God is faithful.  He that hath begun a good work in you SHALL perform it.  Not maybe perform it, not perhaps perform it, but He SHALL perform it.  This good work of our salvation was purposed of God the Father in our election.  It was accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ the Son upon the cross, and it was applied by the Power of the Holy Spirit to life and faith in Christ.  So then no matter our trouble or tears or trials or sufferings in this life, all things shall work together to bring us to experience our eternal inheritance. (1 Peter 1:2-9)

Believer our Lord hears our prayers. (Proverbs 15:29) For if God has given us His own Son, how shall He not freely give us all things that are good for us and glorify His Holy Name? (Romans 8:31-32)

Let us then set our affection on Jesus Christ our Lord who first loved us.  Let us trust in His word and faithfulness rather than in what we see or feel.  This fleshly nature of sin still resides in us and our heart of flesh is deceitful and wicked.  Therefore we should not trust it nor should we hear its cries of unbelief and fear.  Trust in the Lord for He has set His word above His name and all His glory rest upon Him performing it. (Numbers 23:19)

Why should we ever doubt our Great and Loving Lord?  I confess that I cannot tell how God will work all things together for my good. I am not called to explain the providence of God but just to believe God no matter the providence. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

-Fred Evans

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. (Psalms 53:1)

Truly it is self evident that any man who says that there is no God is a Great fool.  To say that there is no God is to deny all human reason and conscience that are natural to man.  The existence of God is clearly seen by the creation that surrounds us.  No man is so foolish as to think that something ever came from nothing for this type of thinking defies all reason and experience.  (Romans 1:17-23)  Isaac Newton the great scientist had a model made of our solar system so that when the handle was turned the planets moved around the sun in their order.  When his atheist friend saw it he was amazed and asked Mr. Newton “who made this marvelous machine?”  Newton replied “nobody.”  After awhile of Mr. Newton giving the same answer to his question the man became upset and said, “Isaac this marvelous machine must have been made by someone.”  Newton replied “Isn’t it amazing I tell you that nobody made this simple toy and you don’t believe me.  Yet you gaze into the solar system and dare say to me that no one made that: I don’t believe it!”

But what is more foolish than an atheist is a self righteous legalistic man  who denies God’s Word regarding His Salvation. In the text the words “there is” are in italics, which indicates that they are not in the original.  Our text should read “The fool hath said in his heart NO God!”   God declares verse 2-3 that there is none righteous no not one. God says all men by nature are dead in trespasses and sins.(Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1)  All men are wicked and have a corrupt heart that is full of sin with no desire or ability to please God. (Romans 8:7-8; 1 Corinthians 2:14)

This text declares that salvation must come from God. (v6)  The Word of God says that God the Father has chosen an elect people before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:3- 6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 1:2)  The Father in a covenant of grace gave them to His Son to save them. (John 6:39-40; John 10:26-29)  Jesus Christ the Son of God was manifest in the flesh.  He obeyed the law of God as a man and offered himself once to redeem all of those the Father gave him. (John 10:11; Hebrews 1:3; 10:14) And now God has raised him from the dead and has set Him to rule and over rule all things for the salvation of His people.(John 17;1-3)  God the Holy Spirit is sent into the world to call out those elect people by name and everyone of them shall come to Jesus Christ by faith. (John 10:16; John 3:7-8; 6:37, 44)  They come as sinners and rest all their salvation on the person and work of Jesus Christ alone and not one of them shall ever be lost. (John 10:16; John 3:7-8; 6:37, 44)

But the fool says to this gospel: “NO GOD!  I’m not absolutely depraved.” The Fool says “I can and I will please you by my works.” NO God! I am not dead in my sins and I will come to you by my free will.  The fool says in his heart NO God, there are no elect people because Jesus loves and died for all men without exception.  NO God!  I will have my part in my salvation!  These man is the GREATER FOOLS than the atheist.  Those who believe the gospel of Free will works religion are greater fools because they “have a form of godliness by they deny the power thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:5) They are the greatest fools because they refuse to believe that Salvation is ALL of God and all of Grace.

-Fred Evans

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

 It is only the believing sinner that has an interest in sovereign mercy. Those who imagine themselves to be righteous within themselves find the infinite mercy of our sovereign God to be quite offensive. But the child of God has been made to know by the grace of God that he is in desperate need of the mercy of God all the time. We understand that if God, for one split second, ceased to be merciful, we would perish without his Son and without recovery. I will be merciful is the ETERNAL WORD OF GOD! This declaration is more than prophetic.

God is declaring that he will be FOREVER MERCIFUL! God must be merciful, because mercy is his very nature—He has declared it. God has chosen, by necessity of his character, to manifest his mercy for sinful man in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in the eternal Son of God, who was manifest as the eternal Son of Man, that we poor sinners are objects of infinite mercy. I will be merciful was not God’s declaration made first in time, but in eternity. This is his oath made to his Son in the eternal covenant of grace before the world was and repeated unto Moses for the assurance and comfort of all the elect of God. There is no mercy for fallen creatures apart from the person and work of God’s appointed substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our MERCY SEAT!

-Tommy Robins