Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Sep 03, 2008: Isaiah 50
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. As we continue our study in the book of Isaiah, we continue to get some insights into this person who is called the Messiah. The anointed one that was to come. It was to come. It was future as Isaiah was writing these things. For us, these things are past tense for the most part because they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He has already come and he has already fulfilled the mission on which he was to come and that was to pay the price for our sin, to take care of our sin issue so that we could have fellowship and relationship with God. He desires to have relationship with us, but because of sin, there was a roadblock. There was an obstacle, really something that we could not overcome. We could not have fellowship with God because of our sinful nature and our spiritual nature. Our spirit life was completely non-existent. Our spirit was dead. And so God had no way of having relationship with us because God is spirit and And those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And if our spirit is dead, well, there's no communication with God. There's no way to have fellowship or contact with God. But because of what Jesus did, because God sent his son, we can be born again, as Jesus explained in John chapter 3. And because we can be born again, our spirit is made alive. And now with a living spirit within us, with the Holy Spirit within us, we're able to have relationship with God. And so Jesus fulfilled his mission in accomplishing that, the opportunity for a new birth for us, A new chance, a new creature that we can become in Christ Jesus so that we can have a life and fellowship and relationship with God. There's still more to come for Jesus. His whole mission is not accomplished in that he is going to return to the earth again for the second coming and establish his kingdom on the earth here for a thousand years. But we'll be talking about that more in the future weeks. This evening, as we look at Isaiah chapter 50, we see again more insight into this first coming of Jesus Christ and some of the things that are prophesied about Him. This evening we're looking at chapter 50 and it's only 11 verses long. And so as we start off this evening, I'd like to read the entire chapter to you and then we'll come back and dig through verse by verse through some of these things that God has placed upon our hearts this evening. So let's start out in Isaiah chapter 50. Please follow along with me in your Bibles. Verse 1 says, Thus says the Lord, Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed, with my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God, verse 4, has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. Verse 7, Verse 8, Verse 10, Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of his servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled. This is what you have from my hand. You shall lie down in torment. Here in Isaiah chapter 50 we have, well for me it was a really interesting portion of scripture and I have been anticipating the things that God will speak through this passage as we examine this this evening. We start out with God asking a question, really several questions, and they're questions that are not meant to be answered. He asked them, where is the certificate of your mother's divorce? Now, I believe this is in response to chapter 49, verse 14. If you'll look at that verse real quickly, it says, But Zion has said, The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. We talked about this last week as we went through Isaiah chapter 49. God was promising to send the anointed one that he still had a plan for the nation of Judah. Although they were going to be judged, although there was going to be some judgment upon them because of their rebellion to God, God had promised that he had not... And as we were looking at those things in the first part of chapter 49, the people of Judah, God's people in verse 14, responded and said, The people there in the nation of Judah are saying that it's God who has left us. God has abandoned us and that's why we're going through all of these troubles and God is not helping us through these hard times and problems and difficulties. But what God is addressing here at the beginning of chapter 50, He's going back and answering this question. He asked the question, Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce whom I have put away? Or to which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? These questions are not meant to be answered because God answers them there in the last part of verse 1. He says, for your iniquities you have sold yourselves and for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Here's what God is saying. It's the same thing He's been saying the whole time. He says, look, it's not that I have forsaken you. It's not that I have cast you off. It's your iniquities that And by your iniquities, you've sold yourself into slavery. Every time we see a pronouncement of judgment in the scriptures, it is also accompanied with an invitation to repent. It's an invitation to turn and get right. And as God has been pronouncing judgment upon Judah, it's been an invitation for them to turn and that God would relent and not bring the judgment of Babylon upon them. And yet, although God sent many prophets... many messages, many opportunities of repentance, the nation of Judah refused to repent. They refused to turn and to walk with God. They insisted on continuing in their idolatry and continuing on in the things that, well, that God had commanded them not to do. And so God is sharing very clearly. He's making this very clear for them that, God has not abandoned them. God has not left them. He hasn't forgotten about them. He did not divorce them in that sense and put them away and give up on them. Instead, they have sold themselves into slavery by their own sin. He asked them to present a certificate of divorce. Now the custom of the day was, if there was to be a divorce that would take place between a husband and wife, Deuteronomy chapter 24 describes this for us, that the husband would write a certificate of divorce for the wife. Now, since the beginning, God has not desired divorce. He does not like divorce. In fact, Malachi tells us that God hates divorce. But Jesus explains that God allowed divorce, or Moses allowed divorce in Deuteronomy 24, because of the hardness of men's hearts. And so in this allowance of divorce, because of the hardness of hearts, the protocol was to write a certificate of divorce and the husband would send the wife away with this certificate of divorce. And the certificate of divorce was important and significant. It's not like, you know, a wedding certificate or a wedding license that we would have today. But the certificate of divorce would be the proclamation of the reasons for divorce. The certificate of divorce, if the woman had been unfaithful and adulterous, would proclaim that and would have that written down that that was the reason for this separation. If it was not for adultery that they were being divorced... The man had found some uncleanness and there was different variations on how strict the law was and if you could divorce for any other reason. We won't get into that. But they divorced for a variety of reasons. And so the certificate of divorce would be the statement of that reason. And if it was not for unfaithfulness... then the woman was not at fault. The woman was free to be remarried. The woman was free to be the woman that God had called her to be. So the certificate of divorce would be really her redemption from shame. It would be something that she would hold on to. And so she would be able to present it to God. Maybe a person who is interested in her. Maybe someone who had laid some accusations against her. She would be able to present the certificate of divorce as proof of that she was faithful in the marriage and that is not why her husband divorced her. So it was something that was very important for a woman who was divorced to have and it would be really what would redeem her from shame there in the culture. So God asked them, God asked Sarah, Judah to present the certificate of divorce. And why does God ask them to present this certificate? Well, because what God is proving to them is that this divorce, Judah has been or is going to be judged. But it's not God's fault. It's not that God has given up on them. It's not that God had abandoned them. It's their own sin. They've sold themselves into slavery by their own sin. And so God asked the question, where is the certificate of your mother's divorce? Proof. They're calling out and they're saying, God has forsaken us. And God says, okay, let's see it. Have I been unfaithful? And of course the answer is no. God has been faithful. It's the people who have been unfaithful. It's because of their own transgressions that they have been put away. Verse 2, why when I came was there no man? Why when I called was there no answer? And then again he asks the question, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? So God continues to ask these questions. And these are not questions really that you want God to ask you. Because he's asking them, proving to them, his questions are, his argument to them, that he is not the one who has been unfaithful. He says, why when I came was there no man? Why was it that there's not, well, there's not someone standing in the gap? Why is it that Jerusalem is being leveled. Why when I called was there none to answer? Why is there no one listening and responding to my call? God is saying to the nation of Judah. He asked the question, is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? I get my picture, I get this picture in my head. I don't know if you guys ever watched the movie Hook. When He hasn't yet remembered that he's Peter Pan and can fly and he's trying to save his kids and he's hanging off the mast and they're in the net and they're reaching and they're just inches away and the deal is if he can grasp their hand then they can go free or something like that and he's just, the dad, I forget his name, Robin Williams, Peter Pan, whatever, he was reaching and he just could not do it. And this is the idea that God is saying, is my hand shortened that it cannot save? Like, I'm trying really hard, I'm reaching, and I just can't save you guys, and that's why you're going through all this trouble, and that's why all these judgments are coming upon you. Of course, that is not the case. God is saying, no, my hand is not shortened, my arm is not shortened. I'm well able to save. I'm strong enough. I have the strength. I have the power. I have the authority to redeem. He says, or have I no power to deliver? Well, of course that's not true. God is God Almighty. He has all power. He is able to deliver. And he goes on to explain that. He says, God says, God says, God says, God is not lacking in strength or ability. He's not lacking in capability. He's not lacking in power. He is able to save. The whole point here that God is making is that it is not because He is weak. It is not because He is unfaithful. It is not because He is not able to save that the people of Judah are going through this judgment that they're going through. God is making it very clear here This is their own doing because of their own sins, because of their own unfaithfulness, and because they will not answer when God calls. God has been calling out to them, and yet they would not answer. God says, why was there no man? Why wasn't there anyone there who was walking in relationship with me? Why wasn't there anyone there listening to me and being obedient to me? Why was there no man? It was because of their own iniquities and their own rebellions against God. that they experienced the judgment of Babylon coming upon them, conquering them, taking them captive and leading them into Babylon for the 70 years of captivity. It was through their own sin. Now we need to be careful. We have the book of Job as an example of this. Just because someone suffers affliction does not mean that they're in sin. We cannot look at circumstances and determine it from that. Good circumstances means you're doing good and God's pleased with you and bad circumstances means you're doing bad and God's unpleased with you. That's not the case and we can't look at circumstances and use that as the basis of determining a person's relationship with God. But for our own selves, it should be something that we evaluate. For our own selves, not for others, but for our own selves, And God was very clear with the nation of Judah. This is not something that just happened upon them and they were really surprised and they had no idea that judgment was coming. God had sent messengers to them and warned them in advance that this is going to happen. You're going to experience judgment. He'd sent opportunities to them to repent, to turn over and over again. And so they knew exactly what was going on, although they did not want to admit it, although they still wanted to blame God and say, it's God's fault, He's forsaken us. But God's making it very clear, it's not His fault, they have turned from Him. Now as we go on in verse 4 and the following verses, now it changes direction a little bit. And it begins to talk about this Messiah that is to come. Really, He begins to speak in first person. It says in verse 4, "...the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned." Here the Messiah begins to speak. Jesus Christ here begins to speak. And it's appropriate in this context because the people are blaming God and saying that God has forsaken them and forgotten them and divorced them. And God is saying, it's not my fault and my arms aren't shortened and it's not that I lack power, but it's that your iniquities have sold you into slavery. And now enters the person of Jesus Christ. Because like... The Jewish people, every one of us, because of our sinful nature, we've been sold into slavery. We have been enslaved to sin. We've been, well, children of wrath, as Ephesians chapter 2 calls us. We've been there. We've been in that type of bondage. And yet, God is not shortened. His arms aren't shortened that He cannot save. He's able to save. We're not able to do it. We can't do it. And it's our own fault that we're there because of our sin. And yet, what God does to reach us and to redeem us, to bring new life into us, is He sends His only Son, Jesus Christ. As Jesus enters into the picture, He says, Well, that's when things begin to change. And that's when we have an opportunity to follow the example of Jesus. And so we see the contrast between these rebellious people and now the servant of God, Jesus Christ, the Messiah that is to come. Here on this side, we have no one who would answer when God called. But here in verse 4, we have Jesus who says, He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. Here we have Jesus as a contrast to the nation of Judah, that he was listening to what God had to say. He was listening to what the Father would share. Now, as we look at these things about Jesus Christ, again, they were yet to come, yet future, as Isaiah is writing these things. They're past for us. We're looking back at them. And as we look back at Jesus Christ... and we look at these characteristics that He has, we can understand that not only are these things true about Jesus Christ, but also that He is the example for us. That these things, well, they're really the potential for you and I. They're the potential that we have as a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is the example for us that we can follow in His footsteps and have these same characteristics In our own lives. From Jesus this evening we learn to listen, to commit, to obey, and to trust. To listen, to commit, to obey, and to trust. And as we look at these things about Jesus Christ, it's always very tempting for Christians. Well, we kind of do the same thing as the Jewish people. We shift the blame off of ourselves and we place it somewhere else. We look at the example of Jesus and we understand that He's our example, but in our minds we also say, yeah, but He was God. And so, although I'll try, you know, really hard on some of these things, and some of these things I won't try that hard on, but it's okay. I'm going to mess up, and I'm not going to be as faithful, and it's not going to be in the same way as Jesus, because, well, Jesus was God, and I'm clearly not God. I'm just a person. And yet, I want to encourage you this evening as we look at these things. Yes, it is true that Jesus Christ is God, but do not let that subtract from His humanity. Jesus Christ became a man. He became a man to be the example for us, to show us, to show the nation of Judah, to show Israel, and to show you and I, look, this is how you do it. This is the way to walk with God. This is the way to have relationship with God. And so you and I have this great example to follow. This man, Jesus Christ, who modeled for us the way that we are to be. Not to excuse ourselves, And say, well, he was God, and so might as well just give up and not do it because it's too hard. No, Jesus Christ was a man, and he walked in these things. Look at verse 4 again. The first thing we see here is to listen. The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. Jesus says, God has given me the tongue of the learned. He's caused me to hear as the learned. Jesus is saying that God has given him great insight and understanding. It's interesting that Jesus, when he was young, he was 12 years old and his parents took him to the temple. It's one of the annual feasts and you know the story, they leave and Joseph thinks he's with Mary, Mary thinks Jesus is with Joseph. They get together at some point, three days into it I think, and they realize, hey, Jesus isn't with you, he's not with me, I thought you had him. And it's, oh no, he's home alone. And so they go running back to Jerusalem and they find him there in the temple talking and asking questions with the teachers. And the people are all amazed, amazed. At his insight, at his wisdom. Throughout Jesus' ministry, that's really a characteristic of his ministry. And the response of people, they're amazed at what he says and the understanding that he has. In John 7, verse 15, it tells us, "...the Jews marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never studied?" What they mean by that is he's not a scribe, he's not a Pharisee, he's not gone to our rabbi schools. How does he know all these things? Well, we know it's from here. We know that God revealed those things to him. God has given me the tongue of the learned, Jesus says, that I should know how to speak. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. Jesus Christ was listening to God. He was hearing God the Father, listening to what the Father would say to him and speaking those things which the Father would give to him. This is the same opportunity, capability that you and I have. You know you can listen to the Father? Jesus says, He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. Do you want to hear from God the Father? Do you want to hear from God? We have this opportunity. God desires us to speak to us. God said of the nation of Judah, why when I called did no one answer? Sometimes God says that to us in our lives as well. Why is it that I was calling you? I've been trying to get your attention. I want to speak to you and it just keeps ringing and ringing and ringing. There's not even an answer machine. How come you're not paying attention to me? We need to listen. I like how it says morning by morning. We're talking here about a daily relationship with God. You know, weekly is not enough to hear from the Lord. Scripture often is compared to spending time with God and reading the Word of God is compared with food. So if you can eat once a week physically, then you can eat once a week spiritually, but you can't. It's a daily thing, physically and spiritually. God wants to speak to you morning by morning, day by day. God desires... That type of relationship with you. Are you listening to God? Jesus listened to God. And the result was that he had the tongue of the learned. He was able to hear as the learned. He had great understanding and insight. But it wasn't just Jesus. In Acts chapter 4 verse 13, the disciples are on trial for their faith and for their preaching the gospel. And it says, as they were called before Peter and John, or called before the Jewish court, And it says, And all they could recognize, all they could realize is that they had been with Jesus. And this is the wonderful thing about God. You can listen to God. And you don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to be a reverend or a bishop. You. You don't have to be educated. You don't have to be trained. You don't have to have special and unique classes in order to be able to listen to God. You are able to. You're able to by spending time with Jesus hear from the Lord. You're able to by having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ hear from the Lord and have boldness and power in your life that cannot be explained by education or training or classes or 12 steps or 25 steps or 4,000 steps or degrees on your belt or whatever. You have power. You have insight. You have understanding that Because you have a relationship with God. But it requires first that you listen morning by morning. That daily you walk in a relationship with God. In Psalm 119 verse 99, the psalmist says, I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation. You want to listen to God? Meditate on His Word. Spend time in His Word. Spend time with God morning by morning, day by day. Hear from God. Allow Him to speak to you. Verse 5, Jesus goes on to say, The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. So first, we see in Jesus, He listened, and we learn that we need to listen. Second, we see that Jesus committed. He was committed. He wasn't half-hearted in this endeavor to hear the Lord and walk with the Lord. He was committed to His relationship with God. In the same way, you and I need to commit ourselves to Jesus Christ. He says there at the beginning, the Lord God has opened my ear. Now, this is a reference in Exodus chapter 21. You can check it out on your own time. Verse 5 and 6. There was a practice that was put in place in the law that God allowed for those who were enslaved. God had made the law that the Jewish people could not enslave another Jewish person for more than six years. And if they were their slave for six years, in the seventh year they had to go free. However, if that Jewish slave wanted to continue on serving their master, they were free to. After those six years, they said, you know, my master has been so wonderful and great to me. And my master is, I just, I want to serve this master for the rest of my life. He's given me a wife, given me opportunities and keeps me well fed. That was the obligation of masters to take care of their slaves in that way and provide for them well. So the slave could say at the end of six years, I don't want to go free. And if the slave said that, if that was the heart of a slave, then they would take that slave and take him to the doorpost of the house and they would drive a spike through his ear into the doorpost. And they would put a gold earring into that hole that they had driven the spike through. And that would indicate that that person is going to serve their master for the rest of his life. It's in Exodus chapter 21, verse 5 and 6. It gives all the details of that. When a slave says, I love my master and I don't want to go free. I want to continue to serve. then they would open his ear, they would pierce a hole in his ear to the doorpost, signifying that forever now, I am going to serve this master. This is what Jesus is saying here. The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. He committed. Forever, Jesus says, I'm going to serve God the Father. Forever, I'm going to be faithful to him and in his house. He was committed. He made a lifelong commitment. He wasn't wishy-washy. He wasn't undecided. But he said, no, I'm going to do it. Whatever it takes, I'm going to walk in relationship with God. And it's going to take a lot, as we'll see in verse 6 in just a moment. In the same way that Jesus listened and then committed, you and I, well, we need to take that same step to fully surrender to God. Jesus came to the point in John 5, verse 30, He says, I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own, but the will of the Father who sent me. Jesus says, I can't do anything on my own. The only thing I can do is what I hear. It's what God tells me to do. I can only do the will of the Father who sent me. This is the kind of commitment that you and I need to make. That we decide we cannot do anything of ourselves. We cannot do anything on our own. But we can only do the will of the Father who sent us. Sometimes we wonder, why is it that I don't hear from God? Why is it that, man, God doesn't really speak to me? And why is it that He just doesn't seem to be giving me any direction in my life? Sometimes, not always, but sometimes. It's because we haven't been committed. We just have gone through the book of Jeremiah. I'm going through the Bible in a year. We see many times that the nation of Judah before this destruction of Babylon that's being prophesied about here in the book of Isaiah, that the leaders would come to Jeremiah and say, tell us what the Lord is saying and we'll do it. And then they don't do it. And God tells them, God speaks, and then they don't do it. And sometimes that happens in our life where God has spoken to us. We've wanted to listen and He's spoken, but then when He's spoken, well, that's when we find out that we're not really committed. Because often he speaks and, well, it's not what we expected to hear or wanted to hear. It's not something that we think we can do or accomplish. It's not something we're comfortable doing that God is instructing us to do. And we're not committed to just do whatever the Father says and whatever God wants me to do, that's what I'll do. So sometimes God waits. He waits for you and I to come to the place where we'll be committed. Where we'll say, Lord, I will do whatever you want me to do. Lord, your will be done in my life. Not my will. Lord, I want your will in my life. God says, perfect. Now start listening. Pay attention. Because I want to share with you. I want to speak with you. We've brought it up in several weeks, the last several weeks, several times. God's not off in a distance, in a corner, trying to hide from us. He desires to speak to us. He's seeking for those who would listen. He's eager to share with you things about your life. decisions He wants you to make. He's eager to share with you directions He wants you to take. Commit yourself to the Lord fully, wholeheartedly, 100%. He is your master. He is my master. And I will serve Him forever. But understand, there's a cost that goes along with this commitment. Verse 6, Jesus says, I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. So Jesus says, I listened, I listened, I committed. And thirdly, I obeyed. Notice the wording here. He says, I gave my back to those who struck me. This was not something that was done to Jesus. It's something that Jesus volunteered for. Here we see graphic description of some of the beating that Jesus took in those last hours leading up to the cross. It's pretty specific and direct and it's just really a snippet. We'll get into more details in chapters 52 and 53 and some of the things that he went through. But the wording here gives us the understanding that he gave himself willingly. He gave his back. He gave his cheeks. He did not hide his face from the shame and the spitting. I'm not going to go into all the details of what it would have been like. I would encourage you to consider those things on your own. It's a good idea to take verse 6 and just take it piece by piece and consider what it was like, what it must have been like for the creator of the universe to subject himself, to humble himself, to become a human being and be obedient to the God even to the point of death, the death upon the cross. He was obedient. Even though it was costly, even though it was painful, even though it was hard and difficult. Again, do not... Do not let Jesus' deity subtract from his humanity. He was 100% God, but he was also 100% man. He experienced the pain. He endured the cross. He endured these things willingly, obediently. Verse 7, For the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed." So here we see the fourth thing. Jesus listened, He committed, He obeyed, and He trusted. The reason why He was able to endure the beating and the shame and the scorn and the humiliation and the excruciating pain of the cross is because He trusted the Lord. Verse 7 again, For the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. He has an absolute confidence in the Lord. He will not be disgraced. He's trusting in the Lord completely. And so he says, I've set my face like flint and I know that I will not be ashamed. Although I'm being beaten, although I'm experiencing shame, although these men are spitting in my face. That's a heavy one to consider. Our Lord enduring, but he endured it because the Lord God will help me. I'm not going to be ashamed. Jesus could have absolute confidence and trust in the Lord because, well, going back to verse 4, He's been listening to Him. He's not there by accident. He's not in the situation of Judah where iniquities had sold Him into this slavery and brought upon Him this judgment. No, that's not Jesus. He was perfect. No, He's been listening to God. He's been committed to God. He's been obedient to God and so therefore He can trust in God. And know that he will not be ashamed. He can trust in God because he knows he's exactly where God had called him to be. He's exactly in the center of God's will. He can have absolute confidence that he will not be ashamed. Verse 8, He is near who justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near. He's enduring the cross. He's being beaten. He's being nailed to the cross. And he says, Who's my adversary? Let him come near. I will not be ashamed. God is going to be victorious. He's not brought out of it yet. He's not done with it yet. He's going through it. He's in the midst of it. He says, who's my adversary? Like Paul says in Romans 8.31, if God is for us, who can be against us? Who's my adversary? I'm right in the center of God's will. I don't care what they do to me. I will not be ashamed. I won't be ashamed that I follow God. I won't be ashamed that I was obedient to God. I won't be ashamed later on that I was faithful to do what God had called me to do. He has absolute confidence and trust. Verse 9, Surely the Lord God will help me. Who is He who will condemn me? Indeed, they will all grow old like a garment. The moth will eat them up. Those who come against me, those who condemn me, they're going to fade. They're going to grow old. They're not going to last. I'm going to last because I am in the center of God's will. The Lord God will help me. He's with me this whole time. He's with me all through this difficulty, Jesus is saying. All through these beatings and this crucifixion, God is with me. I will not be ashamed. He is near who justifies me. Jesus trusted in the Father completely, absolutely with his life. He trusted in the Father. He was willingly beaten and abused in obedience to God because he had absolute confidence and trust that God is right there with him. And that in the end, in God's will, in God's perfect plan, he will not be ashamed. And is Jesus Christ ashamed? Is it a shame that Jesus bore the cross? Is it a shame that Jesus was beaten? As Christians, we rejoice in that. It's a glory that he endured the cross, that you and I might have relationship with God. We're called to follow the example of Jesus Christ. As Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. We're all following after that example of Jesus Christ. And God wants you. He desires and you have the opportunity to listen to Him. You don't have to be deaf to the voice of God. You can hear the voice of God just as well, just as clearly as any other person. You can hear the voice of God. You can listen to the Lord through relationship with Jesus Christ. Not only do we need to listen, though, we need to commit. Too many times we ask God because we're hoping that He'll say the thing that we've already decided to do. Because that would be easy. When He agrees with us, man, things are wonderful. Are you ready to pierce your ear to the door hole, to the door frame? Are you ready to commit yourself? I'm going to serve God completely, 100%. for the rest of my life? Are you ready to be committed to the Lord as Jesus was? Knowing that it may be difficult, knowing that there may be pain, knowing that it may cost your life. Are you willing to be committed to God? It's that type of commitment that God is looking for. As there is people that wanted to follow Jesus, in the book of Luke it gives us the account that a couple guys came up and Jesus tells them to count the cost. Consider what it's going to be like. If you want to be my disciple, You need to consider. It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be great. It's not going to be easy, but there's going to be joy and peace. It's not going to be easy, but in the end, there will be glory. Are you committed to the Lord? Are you obedient to Him? That's the third thing. It's one thing to say I'm committed, but now you've got to prove it. Do what He said. Put it into practice. Be obedient to what He has put upon your heart. And it doesn't matter what the outcome looks like. and you can't use your rationale well it might be painful or it's going to be hard it's going to be difficult and therefore god must not want me to do that consider jesus what he endured he was obedient yeah it might be difficult what he's called you to do it might be hard it probably is exactly opposite of what you were hoping and wanting to do but god's way well it's better than your way and if you've been listening with him to him and you're committed to him then in the midst of that, you can be obedient willingly because you trust in Him, because you have complete confidence. Confidence comes from walking with God and hearing Him and obeying Him. And so when the affliction comes and the difficulty comes, I don't have to be freaked out. I don't have to be all worried and stressed out. And what am I going to do? Because, well, I know I'm where God wants me to be because I've been walking with Him and I've been listening to Him and I've been committed to Him and I've been obedient to Him. And as He's told me to do things, I've been faithful to do them. This is what God desires. This is the kind of trust and foundation that God desires for you so that you don't have to be freaked out when trials come. Don't count it strange, this fiery trial that has come upon you. It's not a strange thing. We're going to face trials. Just be ready for them by listening to the Lord, by committing to Him, by being obedient to Him. And then you can trust in Him with all your heart. Look at verse 10. Who among you fears the Lord? Do you fear the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His servant? Do you obey? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Are you walking with God? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon His God. Here's what he's saying. Look, do you fear the Lord? Do you obey? Do you walk in darkness and have no light? That is, do you walk? Are you in the midst of this and you have no understanding and you don't know what's going on and you don't know how it's all going to work out? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. Hey, if you fear the Lord, that is, you've been committed to him. If you've been listening to the Lord, you've been hearing his voice and you've been walking with him. Even if you don't understand, even if it's darkness and you don't know why you're going through those things and you don't know what the outcome will be, trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon your God. He's your God. He's got you. He's a good God. All his ways are faithful and just. He's gracious and merciful and he doesn't deal with us according to our sins. Trust in the Lord God. However, verse 11, look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled, this you shall have from my hand, you shall lie down in torment. So this is the reference to walking in darkness. Here's what we have, the opportunity. As we walk through darkness, Those times we don't understand, those afflictions we can't comprehend, those things we don't know what the outcome will be and we can't see how it's going to work out. We have two options. We can walk in darkness and trust in the Lord. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Leaning not on our understanding but acknowledging Him in all our ways and He directs our path and okay, it's dark to me Lord. I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know how it's going to happen. I can't see it. But Lord, I'm relying upon You. I'm trusting in You. Or, We can kindle a fire. And we can encircle ourselves with sparks. And we can light the fire and the sparks. And God says, so then walk in the light of your fire. And this you have from my hand. You shall lie down in torment. We can either trust God or we can try to figure it out on our own. We can rely upon our own methods. Kindle our own fires. He says, look all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and the sparks you have kindled. And this is often what we do. We get in the midst of a situation, we can't figure it out, and so we work on it, and we work on it, and we work on it, until we get it figured out, how we want to do it, and the method that we're going to use to get out of this situation, and to overcome this obstacle, and how we're going to fix this issue, we kindle our fires. And so God says, hey, if you want to kindle your own fire, you can do that. Walk in the fire, walk in the light of the fire that you've kindled for yourself. Go ahead, do it your own way. Figure out your own way. Whatever you want to do. You're allowed to. You have the choice. But this you shall have from my hand. You shall lie down in torment. We have the choice. We have the opportunity. Yeah, it might mean that we walk in darkness for a little bit. Without understanding. I don't know how it's going to work out. But we can trust in the Lord. We can trust in the Lord. He will lead us and guide us. And the choice is ours. We can listen and commit and obey and trust in Him. Or we can just ignore Him and try to do our own way and try to figure out on our own. And the burden of life is all upon us. You want to be with Him where the yoke is easy and the burden is light? Or you want to have the burden of life on your shoulders? The choice is yours. Do you want to walk in His light and relying upon Him and letting Him direct your path? Or do you want to light fires and work up all these things and have all these plans so that you have your whole life figured out ahead of time? The choice is yours. God desires for you to walk in relationship with Him. And it means that sometimes it's going to hurt. Sometimes it'll be dark. Sometimes you won't know how it's going to be worked out. But yet, like Jesus, you can trust Him. He's with you. He'll help you. And you will not be ashamed. The worship team is going to come up and close us in a couple songs. And as they do, I want to encourage you to be listening to the Lord. To be listening. Again, Jesus said, He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. God desires to speak to you this day. And if He spoke to you yesterday, that's great. But let Him speak to you today. Morning by morning. Day by day. God desires a relationship with us. And as they lead us in this first song, listen. Listen to what God is saying. Seek the Lord. Allow Him to speak to you, but seek Him and listen to Him, not saying, Lord, I want to hear what you want to say to me so that I can decide if I want to do it or not. Listen with a committed heart. Lord, I've been fastened to your doorpost. I'm yours. You're my master. Whatever you say, I will hear. Whatever you command, I will do. I will walk in obedience to you. So let's commit ourselves to the Lord this evening as they lead us in worship. And let's listen to what He would speak to our hearts. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.