Could you turn with me to the chapter that we read together, the prophecy of Isaiah 41, and the text you'll find in verse 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. So we are gathered here today to give thanks unto the God who created heaven and earth, the God who has enabled another harvest to be gathered into the barns, enabled the farmers the sufficient wisdom and strength to go about their daily work, to plant and to take care of and to harvest the crops. We come to a God who is all-mighty, all-powerful, a God who is holy, holy, holy, a God who is self-sufficient, independent of any human input or intellect, a God whose ways are higher than our ways, a God who has existed before the foundation of the world and will continually exist, the eternal, uncreated, being. A God who created heaven and earth, a God who created every single one of us, knit us together in the wombs of our mothers and enabled us even to be here this day. He has given us hearts to desire to come and to worship him and to give him thanks. A God who, although he is so great, so holy, so powerful, Yet from the foundation of time he set out a people, he isolated a people from the majority and called them his own. A God who entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham. A God who promised to Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars of the sky and as the sand of the sea. would all the nations of the earth be blessed. And this great God who entered into this great covenant with Abraham and dealt intimately with his beloved people, calling them his son, calling them as a bride, calling them his sheep, a God who continually and faithfully took care of the people of Israel even though they rebelled against him and went after idols and served other gods. As we read through the scriptures we see there were those times when the Lord came and he disciplined them. He sent them his prophets to proclaim the truth of the word, came to proclaim that judgment would come should they not turn from their wickedness. And so Isaiah is one of those prophets, the first part of his prophecy up to chapter 39, his warnings of the people. But then in chapter 14 and on to the end, he provides messages of comfort to the Lord's people. And these messages of comfort, especially in chapter 41, are a contrast to the useless comfort that the idols of this world offer to those who serve them. And bringing it into our day. the people who cry out that there is no God, who have a false comfort in their rejection of the true and living God. The same as it was in Isaiah's day, they bowed down to idols. They made their own idols with their own hands and they worshipped them. They said, you are our gods. You are the ones who have created the heaven and the earth. You are the ones that have brought out the harvest, and we give you the thanks for what you have done, yet they failed to acknowledge. After all that they had seen the Lord do to the children of Israel, they failed to acknowledge that He was the true and living God. And so this God who speaks through his prophet Isaiah comes with a wonderful message of hope and comfort to his people who are held captive in Babylon. Begins in chapter 40 with, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to them, to Jerusalem, and cry unto her. that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. As they went away into captivity for God to punish them, the time of their deliverance was coming, the time when he would release them and bring them back by a miraculous delivery, by raising up a foreign king to provide all that they needed to to help them to establish themselves once again in Jerusalem. And so the Prophet's tone changes. He begins now to offer words of comfort, words of hope, that this God who is a just God is also a God of mercy and truth, a long-suffering God, a covenant-keeping God, A God who had promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. The God who promised to Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And so he preserves his seed, he preserves his line to keep his promise. And so now as that deliverance time comes, his prophets begin to preach words of comfort, words of hope. and encouraging them that they should not fear. Fear not, for I am with thee. We look at the source or the reason for why people are afraid. It comes from sin. You see, as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, there was no fear. They were not afraid of God. They were not afraid of the animals. They were not afraid of any sicknesses or illnesses. They were not afraid of any injuries. They were not afraid of each other. There was no fear. It was a peaceful existence between God and man and husband and wife and the environment that they lived in. There was no reason for fear. But when they rebelled against God, it was then that fear entered into their hearts and they began to fear the Almighty. They realised that they had sinned against Him, they realised that they had upset Him, displeased Him. In Genesis chapter 3, from verse 7 it says, The eyes of them were both opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden because I was afraid. Because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that thou was naked? As thou eaten of the tree which I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat. They were afraid. The first time in their existence, fear had entered into their lives. There was now no peace. There was no peace. They were driven from the presence of God and now sin was a barrier. between them. There was no peaceful relationship with them and their creator. There was an enmity. They were the enemies of God and they were afraid. And sin makes people afraid of God. We look at the instances when the Lord appears In the Old Testament the people are immediately filled with fear. They cry out with fear that we have seen God face to face. But another consequence of sin is that people don't fear. They don't fear God. You see, when a sinner enters into the presence of God, there is a fear. When a sinner comes face to face with the Holy God, there is a realisation that they are guilty and therefore they are afraid. But when a sinner walks in rebellion against God, there is no fear in their eyes before their creator. Think of a criminal. A criminal lives in fear of the police. He understands that he's guilty, that he's broken the law, and that when a policeman or policewoman comes into his presence, he is anxious. He realizes that he could be caught. And so he is afraid. And sinners should be afraid of a holy God. We look around us. and there's no shame. There's no shame in sin. There's people who live without a conscious realisation that they are accountable to a holy God, that they are under the law of God and that they are guilty. They are not ashamed. We see people on the in the news covering their faces because they don't want to be seen. They're ashamed, but yet people are not ashamed before a holy God. They do not fear a holy God. But they live in fear. Although they're not afraid of the holiness of God, they're not afraid of the justice of God, they're not afraid that they have sinned against a holy God. Yet they live in fear. The Bible tells us they are slaves to fear. If we acknowledge ourselves, we will admit that we are often filled with fear. Ministers, as they get up into the pulpit, often we're filled with fear. And we are experiencing our first day at college or at school, we are afraid of new situations. And we've done something naughty. We disobeyed our parents. Fear wells up in our hearts. People are afraid of the creation of God. They're afraid of the animals that he has created. They're afraid of getting sicknesses. They're afraid of dying. They're afraid, slaves to fear. They fear what God has created, yet they don't fear the God who has created all of those things. And so sin, the Bible tells us, distorts the mind. Satan has blinded the eyes, blinded the mind. And so instead of fearing God, they fear the creature. But God comes with a message of comfort to his people. Yes, they have been rebellious. Yes, they have gone after idols. Yes, they should be in fear of him. But he comes to them with a fear not. Sometimes when we are under the chastening hand of God, we can believe that God is not with us. We can believe that we have been separated from God. The children of Israel in the Babylonian captivity for such a length of time, they began to feel that God had abandoned them, God had left them. But he comes to them through his prophet with a fear not, for I am with thee. And so he comes to remind them that he is in a covenant relationship with them, that he is the true and living God, the almighty God that drew Abraham out of the Ur of Chaldeans and brought him into the Promised Land. That he is that same God, the God who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, divided the Red Sea, led them through the wilderness and provided everything that they needed. and gave them the promised land. And he comes to them and he says, fear not, for I am with thee. And he reminds them. He reminds them of who he is to Abraham. But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. And so he enters in, he begins his message of hope with pointing out who they are to him, that he chose them. They're of the seed of Abraham. God's friend. If someone says to you, don't be afraid, don't worry, it will matter who it is who is speaking. If a little child came up to you and you're in a rather tricky situation and they said to you, don't be afraid, I can help you. You may look at them and think, well, they don't have the strength, they don't have the ability or capacity to help me, therefore your fear will remain. And so God draws their attention to who it is that is speaking, that he is the one who is all-mighty, he is the one who is all-powerful, the one who has dealt with them, the one who is in a relationship with them, the friend of Abraham, and that they were his servants. They were His, they belonged to Him. And He reminds them that He is with them. The Almighty God is with us. If we are in a relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ and He speaks to us, don't fear, but do not be afraid, for I am with you. Therefore, our fear Our faith lays hold of the promise and our fears are removed. There would be no reason for us to be afraid. There is no reason for them to be worried because the Lord is with them. And He always was with them and He always will be with them. And the time was coming for them that they were going to be delivered and released. They were not to be dismayed. the external situation that they were in was not to bring them down, was not to lay them low, they were not to be discouraged by all that was taking a place round about them because Jehovah was their God, the Almighty God with whom nothing can stop his hand, nobody can say unto him what sayest thou, that he is in control. Sometimes in our lives things may look like they are out of control. As we look at the situation in our own land and the unrest that there is and we look at the situation on the world stage and the war and the destruction and the hatred can look like everything is falling apart. But God still sits on the throne. He still speaks to his people, fear not for I am with thee. Do not be dismayed by everything that you are seeing, everything that you are hearing, for I am thy God. And as he says to the people of Israel, in chapter 40, he offers those words of comfort. Then in verse eight, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God stands forever. You see, everything in this world is continually changing, yet God remains the same. Harvest seasons come and go, seed time and harvest come and go, but our Lord remains unchangeable. He's still on the throne, whether the thrones are changing here below. The word of our God stands forever. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. and are counted as a small dust on the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing. The greatness of God. That God looks upon this world, as the Bible tells us, the heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. We cannot comprehend the greatness and vastness of our God. The nations are as a drop in a bucket. You think of Donald Trump, seemingly the most powerful man upon the face of this earth at this time, yet God says America is just as a drop, a little drop in a bucket. Nothing in his sight. He has the ability to raise up nations. He has the ability to pull down nations. He has the ability to alter the course of the events of this world in a moment. And he says to his people, fear not for I am with thee. be not dismayed for I am your God. I am in complete control of all of these things and yet I am able, I am so great yet I'm able to be intimately acquainted with every one of my dear children. Although the nations are as a drop in a bucket in my sight yet I know you by name. How great is that? How wonderful is that, to be in a covenantal relationship with God, the Creator, to be able to speak to Him, to be able to see His hand in our lives, for Him to say, don't worry, do not be afraid, I am your God, you belong to me, you are my servant, and I am with you. In verse 18 it says, whom then will I liken God? Or what likeness will he compare unto him? It goes on to say about the foolishness of those who seek to create gods of themselves. They try to restrain and compare God to something that God has made, yet the Bible tells us But no man has ever been able to see God. And if we create God in our minds, it will always be limited. He will always be something like ourselves, as we see the nations of the world and the gods that they have created, that they create gods like unto themselves. But our God created the heavens and the earth, and he is almighty, all-powerful. And he sits on his throne, yet he loves his individual people. And he says unto them, fear not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. The path for the children of Israel to get back to Jerusalem was not going to be an easy pathway. The Lord promised them that he would make the crooked places straight and he would make the rough places plain. He provided everything that they needed for them to get back, to build the walls, to build the temple and to build the walls, yet they suffered much opposition and persecution, much mockery and yet the Lord enabled that to continue to be built and then it was completed and they were able to come back to the world, they were able to worship God. And as we look at the state of the church here in England, and we may see that it is suffering much persecution, we may see that it is being built very very slowly, yet the scripture tells us that I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, although Ezra and Nehemiah experienced hardship and opposition Yet they continued to labour and they continued to see that building up until there was that completion. And so God says to them that I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And as we read the account, We see God provided, God strengthened, God helped, and God upheld his people. Not because of anything that they had done, not because that they were better than any other people on the face of the earth, but because he chose to love them. Even in all of their sin, all of their unbelief, all of their rebellion, all of their idol worship, all of their going astray, God remained faithful unto them. And because of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and because of his promise for the coming of the Lord's servant, the Lord blessed them and upheld them. So he encourages them, because he says, because thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. As we bring this over into the gospel day, as we see that the Lord Jesus Christ and him living and dying for a people, a people that are sinners in his sight, a people who he saved to call his own, a people who he redeemed from all of the nations of the earth. He enters into a covenant with them. This is the new covenant in my blood, the new testament in my blood. This do ye as often as ye dink it in remembrance of me. And he says unto them, fear not, for I am with thee. The gospel calls people from fear to faith. Slaves to fear. to servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fear that they once had as they look to the law and the fear that they once had as they realise that they have offended a holy God, that fear, that petrifying, paralysing fear is changed because their sin is removed. No longer are they petrified of offending a holy God, they have entered into a relationship with him through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, their sin has been dealt with and they come to him as their father. They come to him with fatherly fear, with great reverence and respect they approach the holy God and he says unto them, fear not for I am with thee. How is he with his people? We look to the Old Testament, we see that God dwelt there in the temple and in the Holy of Holies. He had his prophets, he had his servants, he had the high priests and the Levites. He dwelt there with his people. But Jesus says, when I am ascended on high, I will send to you the Comforter, I will be with thee. And the Lord Jesus Christ is with his people. He's present with them. Though as he says that Abraham my friend, in Christ Jesus we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother. For I am with thee, be not dismayed. How often it is in our lives that fear enters back in. We become afraid of situations, we become afraid of different experiences that we pass through. And fear paralyzes. We say, don't we, people are rooted to the spot by fear. paralyse the saints, the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 14. Verse 27, But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. And the Lord Jesus Christ came to the disciples walking on the sea. They were filled with fear. They were in a situation that they couldn't comprehend or understand. And that paralysed them. The fear made them lose their faith and the Lord Jesus then has to encourage them and speak to them. and tells them, do not be, it is I, do not be afraid. He reveals himself to them in the storm of life. How often it is with the Lord's people, paralysed by fear. The old nature rises up in us and we are stumped. The situation that we can't understand paralyzes us and we're afraid that the Lord maybe has lost control or he has left us. We have made the whole thing up and we were never even a real Christian and we're afraid. And the Lord Jesus comes to us in the middle of the storm and he speaks, fear not for I am with thee. Fear makes us Deny the Lord Jesus. Think of Peter, who was filled with fear when he denied the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are times in our lives when we've experienced that. We've been in a situation, we know we should speak. We have an opportunity to speak, but we are filled with fear and we become mute. We're not able to speak. We're paralysed by fear. Just like Peter, we deny the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't want to own him as our saviour. Paralysed. But Jesus says, fear not for I am with thee. If you think of those who have been martyred for the cause of Christ, if there is a moment when you would think that people would be filled with fear, and anxiety and deny the existence of the Lord Jesus and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we look at them and we read of them and we find that there is no fear. Their fear has been removed. There's a young girl that I was reading of yesterday, Blandinia. She was from France, a slave girl to some Christians. and her owners were taken captive by the Romans and killed and so she also was taken captive. They tortured her and beat her and told her to say, just say, I am not a Christian. But she refused and she said, I am a Christian. I am a Christian. And so they threw her to the lions and the lions refused to eat her. She wasn't afraid. The Lord took all fear from her eyes. She wasn't afraid. And in the end, they put in a bull into the arena and the bull killed her. But as she was being attacked, she wasn't screaming. She wasn't crying. She was singing. Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. What faith is given in times of triumph. Think in your own life. If you pass through experiences of life and you look back and you wonder, well, how did I get through that? You can only acknowledge the goodness of God, the strength of God, the ability of God. That God has enabled you to persevere. And as we look at this time as another harvest, We see again the faithfulness of God, reminds the Lord's people that God is merciful and kind and long-suffering, that he is indeed a covenant-keeping God, that he has promised to provide seed time and harvest, summer and winter, cold and heat until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it gives us an encouragement, it's a faith-strengthening exercise to meditate on the goodness of God. And as we see the farmers out again planting, And we know that God in his mercy will enable those seeds to germinate and it will bring forth a crop and once again we'll be able to give thanks for his goodness and for his mercy. And so God sits on the throne even today. God, although he's so great, he's so long-suffering and merciful, Yet he is so loving that he enters into a relationship with individual people through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the nations of the earth was a drop of a bucket in his sight, yet he knows his individual people by their name. He loves them with an everlasting love and he speaks to them. And he says, fear thou not, for I am with thee. May the Lord bless these remarks. Amen.