Message: Confident in the Truth
Time: Isaiah, the prophet, the writer of this book, in Jerusalem. The year is 739-681 BC. Isaiah lived during the time of four Judaen kings and pronounced judgment on the people of Judah as they did not love their neighbors and serve God with humility, but offered meaningless sacrifices in temple. Isaiah asks them to return to Him.
What the Lord is Saying: I continue to follow Tabletalk, to help act as a guide and direction for me in reading scriptures and studying them. After Tabletalk covers the lessons related to an issue, it often ends by compiling a set of lessons linking a teaching series by RC Sproul with devotions. Today's lesson starts with a reminder that we live today in a world that values 'relativism.' Relativism is the belief that there is no absolute truth. Personally, I think this came alive in the 90s with the Menendez brothers trial occurred and they got off murdering their parents because their parents misbehavior justified their killing of them. To me it chronicled this idea that each person gets to define their own truth based upon their environment they find themselves in, thus there is no absolute truth.
This can make sharing the gospel then a challenge because of the idea that, "just because it is good for you doesn't mean that it is good for me." And so rather it seems today the only absolute truth is there are no absolutes that can be prescribed on every person. And yet our culture today in America does have absolutes now such as systemic racism and once a leader does something racist or abusive toward women, there is no forgiveness. So it seems like society or Satan really is coming against another key principle of the gospel: forgiveness.
Yet God in His word is not wishy-washy. He had high expectations for the people of Israel and Judah. I have been reading a chapter a day since November in the Bible starting with Jeremiah and now in Ezekiel and in this time I am seeing a Lord God that hated idolatry and expects a people to be completely surrendered to Him. When they are, God is honored, but when they aren't, God will judge them. The secret is that God must be honored. And obviously this is not a great principle for man because man instead wants to be God. And so naturally society (Satan) will continue to seek to strip the ways of God from the way of the world.
But as today's lesson is titled, we are to be confident and remain confident in the truth. Our church right now is having a series on evangelism and reaching our neighbors for Christ. It is interesting that we have to somehow manufacture this focus in our lives to share Christ with others. I find it odd in a way because as believers in Christ we should be bold and confident simply because of who Christ is in us (Acts 4:13 says, "As they observed the confidence of Peter and John..."). And yet Bobby and I hit the mall regularly to talk to people. In some ways we get out there and talk to people because we are trying to get our culture to re-align themselves to truth and in a way we need to remind them that there is a Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul also asked the church to encourage him to be bold in making the gospel known (Ephesians 6:18-20). The Old Testament lacks this, rather than it speaking of how we are to encourage one another to boldness, it seems to focus more on our direct commitment to God. But we live in a dark world and our minds and lives for that matter are like shifting sand. We get tossed to and from by this world and what it values as important.
Today's verse is a great one, found in a book that I think is similar to Jeremiah and Ezekiel that speaks to a people that keep living life their own way. A people that was around almost 3,000 years ago and yet how they live is similar to how we live. And in the midst of this is a verse and word from God that says, "The Word of God will stand forever." Life will shift, will ebb and flow, grass will wither, flowers fade, but God's word remains. Even in our day, what is important to people of the word is important now, but in 20 years it will be something different. But our lives and our message of live needs to remain confident in the truth of God and naturally then, with the help of the Spirit of God, we remain bold for Him.
Summary: Life will shift, will ebb and flow, grass will wither, flowers fade, but God's word remains and we remain confident in the truth of God.
Promise: Our confidence must be grounded in the Word of God itself, in our conviction that it is enduring and will always accomplish its purposes.
Prayer: God, you are good, indeed so good and yes, your Word endures and stands forever. It remains the same and you remain true and you still deserve all of my praise and glory. Lord, thank you for the church and the refuge it is and the encouragement we have to remain strong in our faith and remain bold before You. Lord, help us as Your people to stay in community and stay engaged with our neighbors and with the people of God. Thank you for placing so many good people in our lives and the mission we have in this world.
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