2 Tim 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 
	I must confess that I am finding it very difficult to leave this wonderful passage. It has such rich and full meaning and should have a tremendous impact for and in our lives. It is one of those passages of God’s Word that will take the entirety of eternity to fully grasp and appreciate. However, we will confine our continued consideration of this chapter, to this morning and next Sunday, and will then proceed, Lord willing, onward the following week. 
The key, that we want to look at these next two Sundays, is that there are some very special and very practical promises held within the reality of God’s Trustworthiness. As the Apostle writes, I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. There needs to be instilled in all the people of God, that complete trust wherein we know, beyond any shadow of doubt, that God will do that which He tells He will do in His Word, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. The Apostle Paul knew this beyond any disbelief. God is to be trusted completely, absolutely, fundamentally, accurately, and triumphantly. Let us look, together, at the very basis of that solid assurance of the trustworthiness of God, as delineated in the Old Testament, the historical source of the Apostle Paul’s validation of this truth.
The Prophet Samuel writes the following in 2 Sam 22:29-33. "For Thou art my lamp, O Lord; And the Lord illumines my darkness. "For by Thee I can run upon a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.  "As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. "For who is God, besides the Lord? And who is a rock, besides our God? "God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless in His way. This is a mighty stand to take on behalf of the Lord, wouldn’t you say? God is so trustworthy, that He is our very refuge, no matter what this world’s course of attack and destructive intent. God is our refuge, if we will but turn to Him and trust Him. He is our rock of defense, our light Who shines in the darkness, the very lamp of our salvation. This is a fantastic reality in which to seek asylum from the seemingly endless onslaughts of our day. God is to be trusted, no matter what the outward appearances, no matter what it looks like through the pitiful vision of these eyes. God is to be trusted, to be cried unto and to be sought in time of distress and calamity. He is there with His Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent arms wide open to cradle us unto Himself in our times of direst need and strife.
The Psalmist, as well, knew this characteristic of God’s trustworthiness, as we read throughout the Psalms. Consider Ps 31:19-21. How great is Thy goodness, Which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee, Which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in Thee, Before the sons of men! Thou dost hide them in the secret place of Thy presence from the conspiracies of man; Thou dost keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city. In the very midst of this world’s blitzes and battering offensives, God is our shelter. We are to bless Him because He exudes all the uniqueness of Himself in His loving-kindness during the most dreadful of situations. This is a glorious thing to recognize, especially as the powers of this age seem to be closing in for the kill. We are sheltered, hidden in the secret places of God’s presence of peace and calmness and rest and assurance that all is well in Jesus Christ, the true Lord of all creation. 
As well, in Ps 32:7-11, Thou art my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble; Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. 
We are to rejoice and to be glad in the Lord, no matter what is taking place in our lives. We belong to Him and can trust Him to deal with every issue, with every problem, with every circumstance, and with every dilemma, great or small. Nothing is outside the wondrous power of His grace to conquer and to overrule. 
In that knowledge, we are to rejoice, to sing praises, to worship, and to bring honor to Him in the very midst of the calamity. This is a key that the Church, that you and me, need to learn to ever greater measures. Many of us look at worship and praise and songs of rejoicing and prayers of deliverance as things that are done during times of pleasant reflection on God’s goodness. We rejoice and worship when we have been delivered and are looking back at the manner in which the Lord has made Himself known. This is a valid consideration, but it is not the only time to celebrate the goodness and the mercy of God. We are to praise and to worship Him with all joy and purity of heart and trust in the midst of the trials and the heartaches and the difficulties. When we can whole-heartedly and ceaselessly praise Him, we are showing a firm and complete reliance on the trustworthiness of God to deal with all the problems and the evils and the tribulations. We show forth the faith that we know that God is in control, before we even see Him in action. We affirm, through our heart’s praise and adoration, that God has already conquered and triumphed. When His Church can show forth that assured relationship of worship and honor, no matter what is taking place, all of creation will notice and be forced to honor God as we so honor Him in our living trust in His Faithfulness.
	This brings us to another truth of the special promises of God’s trustworthiness. We will be afflicted. We are promised that there will be many opportunities to be dependent utterly and exclusively on the trustworthiness of God. Ps 34:19-22 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked; And those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His servants; And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned. 
Notice, many are the afflictions of the righteous. We are to count on them to be a vital part of our lives, just as we count on the Lord to be our deliverer in every time of need and distress. We are to expect them just as we expect God to make Himself known, livingly in our hearts and beings. We are to consider with assurance those times of the trials and the testings and the proving of the trustworthiness of God. This is not because we enjoy them, but because we treasure the greater measure of Jesus Christ established in our hearts as He faithfully and victoriously takes us through each one. We become ever more enamored and united with Christ, as we go through these hardships together. They serve to establish our living fellowship with and in Him. It is as the hard times are overcome, by the grace and the mercy of Christ in our lives, that we learn, evermore forcefully, Who our Savior is. 
We are redeemed in Him, and we come into a greater recognition of that redemption as He proves Himself over and over and over again in our lives. We begin to realize that our being saved is a living, day by day course of salvation in His victory of death and sin. It is as He takes us through the difficulties and the stresses and the miseries of this earthly walk, that we show forth the greater glory and majesty of the life that we now, this very moment, have in Him. That is why we can celebrate Him and worship Him, no matter what may be the seemingly dreary details of this life.  
	The final aspect of the trustworthiness of God to His people, that we will consider this morning, is found in Ps 125:1+2. Those who trust in the Lord Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever. There are, at least, two aspects to what the Psalmist declares in this passage. The first is that when we learn that we can trust the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our spirit, in other words, with all our being, we will never be moved from that truth. No matter what the world throws at us, individually and corporately, with all its philosophical, educational, psychological, emotional, and intellectual endeavors, we will not be moved from our earnest trust in Jesus Christ. We will hold onto the truth of the Living God Who has proven Himself trustworthy, over and over again. We will never be carried away from the reality of the personal relationship that we have in Christ Jesus. This world can assault us with all its expertise and its incriminations of stupidity, and physical martyrdom, but we will never be pulled away from the truth of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We will be as established in Him, as the mountains are established on the face of this planet. We will not be ashamed to be called Christians and will regard the abuse of this age for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ as a badge of spiritual honor.
	The second aspect of this passage is that God will never forsake us. He will forever be our fortress of love and righteousness and trustworthiness from the brutality of this age. We will find our solace and our comfort and our strength and our wisdom and our protection and our life fully and eternally secure in Him. He will surround us with His Faithfulness and His Mercy and His Grace and His Salvation and His Loving-kindness for all of eternity. We are secure in His Love in Jesus Christ and, therefore, we have absolutely nothing to fear from this world power. Try as it will, it will never be able to remove us from our eternal security in Christ Jesus. We are hidden securely and eternally in the Lord, now and forevermore. Therefore, let us ever trust in Him and seek to find our delight and peace in Him through all the course of our complete walk on this earth. There is no area of our lives that is hidden from Him and His trustworthiness to establish the life of Jesus Christ. Recognize and live in Him. Let our hearts echo and manifest the heart of the Apostle Paul in his absolute and unshakeable assurance of God’s overruling Grace and established Faithfulness and Trustworthiness. So be it. 
For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. Amen

This morning’s benediction is Ps 115:11-18 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, The small together with the great. May the Lord give you increase, You and your children. May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; But the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the Lord From this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! Amen