Well, Brother David, reading
that passage of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 41, after he finished,
I thought, well, I said, if a fellow can't preach the Gospel in that,
he doesn't know the Gospel. And then James singing that song,
that's a service in and of itself there, because that is the theme
of this message. I've entitled the message, Fear
Not. Fear not. Three times in that passage in
Isaiah chapter 41, the Lord told the people of Israel, He says,
fear not, fear thou not. He said, fear thou not, thou
worm Jacob. And this was spoken in prophecy
in Isaiah 41 to a people who were downtrodden, afflicted,
in prison, captive of a foreign nation. They'd been removed and
alienated from their homes. And from a worldly perspective,
they had every reason to fear. But God nevertheless, He says,
fear not. Well, what is the foundation
of such a statement that we who are in such dire straits should
not fear? Well, as Brother David pointed
out, the covenant. Anytime you see that many I wills
on the part of God, that's covenant language. For I will. I will. I will. Now, if it ever comes
to a point where someone would say, well, fear not, if you will,
then you've got a reason to fear. But whenever God says, fear not,
for I will, God will, then you don't have any reason to fear.
I want to read the 23rd Psalm as my introduction to tonight's
message. You know it, some of you, by
heart, by memory. It says, The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want, I shall not lack anything that I need. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures, in your concordance it may say pastures of tender
grass. He leadeth me beside the still
waters, waters of quietness. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. That means
he leads us unto Christ. Who is his namesake? It's Christ. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Fear not.
I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. God
is with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies." That's what Isaiah is prophesying
of in Isaiah 41. God says, fear not, for I will,
and I'll do it in the presence of your enemies, and I'll take
care of them. You don't have to. We want to
because we're so proud and self-righteous, but God says, you can't take
care of them. You don't have to take care of
them. He said, I'll take care of them. And he says, Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Now turn to Isaiah chapter 41. In the Bible, there are basically
two kinds of fear. There's a good fear, and then
there's an evil fear. Sinful fear. In the Bible, the
sinful fear is what we might describe as a legal fear. And what I mean by that is this.
It's a legal fear of punishment. A legal fear of loss of reward. A legal fear that brings a sinner
to look elsewhere other than to the true and living God in
Christ for salvation, for peace, for comfort. You see, some fear
is good, but any fear that doesn't drive you in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a sinful fear. It's unbelief
is what it is, arising from looking to self or circumstances or to
other people. But then there's a godly fear.
This godly fear is a grace of the Spirit. One of the descriptions
of an unbelieving person in the Bible is that there is no fear
of God before their eyes. That's a good fear, the fear
of God. That fear is not a legal fear
of punishment, but it's the grace of God in Christ that causes
a sinner to look to God alone and rest in His power, His grace,
His goodness for all salvation as He freely provides it in Christ.
It is looking to Christ. It's a reverent fear. It's a
respectful fear. It's worship. That's what it
is. The book of Ecclesiastes closes out with these verses
in chapter 12 and verse 13. He says, let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Fear God. Worship God. Trust
God. Serve God. That's what that means.
Fear God and keep His commandments. What is His commandments? Look
to His Son for all of salvation and follow Him in His Word. For
this is the whole duty of man. In the book of Hebrews chapter
4, after the Apostle Paul made a made a very, very strong point
concerning Israel in the wilderness after they had been redeemed
out of Egypt, that they could not enter into the promised land
because of what? Because of unbelief. And he says
in verse 1 of chapter 4, he says, let us therefore fear lest a
promise be left us of entering into his rest, his salvation
provided by Christ, any of you should seem to come short of
it. You see, they didn't believe. What did that show? They didn't
fear God. So let us fear. Let us believe. Let us respect
and reverence. Well, that's a good fear. So
what we know about Isaiah 41 here, look at verse 10 when he
says, Fear thou not. What's he talking about? He's
talking about that sinful fear, that sinful doubt that leads
a sinner not to look to and trust God. That's what he's talking
about. sinful, legal, it's a bad fear. Don't be afraid of men. Christ talked to His disciples
about this when He was showing them some of the things that
they would have to face when they go out and preach the gospel
of His grace to the world. And He said, I'm sending you
out among wolves, and they'll bring you up before their counsels,
and they'll accuse you unjustly. He told them later on, he said,
they'll kill you and think they're doing God a service. But he told
them in Matthew 10 and verse 28, he says, fear not them which
kill the body. Don't be afraid of them because
they're not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which
is able to destroy both soul and body and hell. Fear God.
Fear God. Why do People compromise the
gospel at times because they fear men and not God. God's message to his believing
people in this world as they're troubled and tested and persecuted
and perplexed, our God says to you and me, fear not. Fear not. Because his power and
his grace and his goodness will overcome. Anything that comes
against us, look at it in verse 10, fear thou not for I am with
thee. We read that in Psalm 23. Though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We don't
have to fear death because God's with us. His rod and His staff
of comfort. He said, I'm with you. I'm for
you. I'm with you. He's not talking
just about geography here. He's talking about His engagement
of His glory and His purpose. and His will, and not only that,
but His love towards His people. You see, this is covenant language.
I'm with thee. Be not dismayed. You know, we
can't figure it all out, and that confuses us sometimes. We
don't know the whys and the wherefores of the actings of ourselves sometimes,
let alone other people. But now let me tell you somebody
who has it all figured out. God Almighty has it all figured
out. And that's why He says, be not
dismayed. He says, for I am thy God. That's why we don't have to be
confused and perplexed and all torn up, as one old writer said,
because He's our God. He's on the throne. He's in control.
He said, I will strengthen thee. Whatever power we have, it's
of God. It's not of our own. The Bible
says, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, in
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. He said, I will help thee.
I said last Wednesday about that. I said, you know, it's good for
us to help each other, but when it comes to salvation and when
it comes to overcoming the plagues of this life in order to be preserved,
the last thing I need is your help. I need the help of God. And that's what you need. He
says, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. You see, this is God's message
to His people who have fled to Christ for salvation. Fear not. I wasn't alive when President
Roosevelt made this famous speech, but I've heard it on tape, read
it, when he said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Well,
that's basically what God's saying to us. God directs His people
to trust Him against all that we see. We're going to see a
lot of things, and like I said, we can't figure it out. But who
are we to look to for our preservation and our salvation? We're to look
to the Lord. Things that we experience in
this world. Now, somebody might say, well,
why not fear? You think about it. Why not fear
Satan? Why not fear the world? Why not
fear the flesh? Why not fear men? Well, God had
already given them ample reason for us who have fled to Christ
not to fear. Look back up in verse 8. Think
about this again. Listen to these descriptions
that God gives of His people. He says, but thou, Israel, art
my servant. We've been made servants of God.
Listen, if we're resting in Christ for our whole salvation, That's
what we are, servants of God, bond slaves of Christ. Now, what
that means is this. We serve Christ not to be saved. We serve Christ because He already
saved us. We don't owe a debt to God's
law and justice. That debt was paid by our Savior
Calvary. If you're serving in order to
pay a debt, if you're serving in order to win favor from God
or to be recommended unto God, you're not a servant You're not
Israel the servant. You're a legal, legal forced
slave who's serving in self-righteousness. But he says, Thou Israel, servant
of God. And then he says, Jacob, whom
I've chosen, you're the chosen of God. God chose you from the
foundation of the world, the Scripture teaches. And it wasn't
because you were worthy to be chosen. It wasn't because I was
worthy. It wasn't God looking down through a telescope of time
and foreseeing what you would do in order for Him to make His
choice. If that were the case, then we'd
all be lost forever. And He makes a point to say Jacob
here, and I'm going to show you in just a moment why He does
that. Now, we know what Jacob represents. He's a sinner saved
by the grace of God. You say, well, I'm too sinful
for God to choose me. Well, He chose Jacob. And Jacob was rotten to the core.
So are we. Now, is that offensive? Hold
on, it gets worse. That's like the old farmer who
looked at the ocean. He said, man, that's just the
top of it. We haven't even gotten to the
bottom yet. And then he says, the seed of Abraham. I love this.
The seed of Abraham, my friend. Abraham, an idolater whom God
called out of the Ur of the Chaldees and justified him. Why? Because it seemed good in God's
sight. And called him his friend. The friend of God. Christ is
called the friend of sinners. God called Abraham, my friend.
My friend. If you're looking to Christ,
if you're resting in Him, God calls you His friend. Now, that's amazing grace to
me. Isn't it to you? That He called
me His friend. There's so many times in my life
I've been so unfriendly to God. You say, well, when have you
ever been unfriendly to God? Well, have I ever been unfriendly
to one of his children? You know, to be unfriendly to
one of his children is to be unfriendly to him. Let somebody
be unfriendly to one of your children and see how you react. Let someone say something against
one of your children. See how you react. You think
God's any different? He's infinitely higher than us.
Christ takes it personally, and He calls us His friend. Now,
isn't that reason enough to not fear men and this world and the
flesh and the devil? Satan can bring his charges.
Satan can accuse. But what does God say of His
friends, of Israel, His servant? He said, I'm for him. I've saved
him, I've chosen him, he's my friend. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. He's our friend. And
then look at verse 9. This and this, he says, Thou
whom I've taken from the ends of the earth. I had a man ask
me one time, he said, He said, he was telling me, he said he
didn't believe people had to hear the gospel to be converted.
And I don't believe that. The Bible doesn't teach that.
Listen, God's people, God's Jacob whom he's chosen, he's going
to get the gospel to them. Don't you think he's powerful
enough to do that? I believe he is. Well, look at
what he says here. Thou whom I've taken from the
ends of the earth, you were never too far away for the Lord to
come and get you and bring you home. You let your children out and
they play in the neighborhood. But they're never too far away
for you to go get them. That's the way God is to his
children. And he goes on, he says, and I called thee from
the chief men thereof. There may have been somebody
more noble than you. You may have looked at it this
way. Why didn't he call Esau rather than Jacob? You know,
Esau was a more noble fellow in the eyes of men than Jacob. He was the apple of his father's
eye. He was what we would call the all-American boy. He played
football, basketball, and baseball, hunted, fished, treated his dad
with respect. Jacob was all the time conniving,
trying to scheme around and get things done through the back
door. You say, well, none of us are. But he said, I called you from
the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, thou art my servant
again. I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. I think about
the cast out infant in Ezekiel. Well, God won't cast us out.
He takes us. He picks that infant up and cleans
it up, washes it in the blood of Christ, and puts the best
robe on it, wraps it up, salts it. That's the healing medicines. And He makes it His own. So He
says, fear thou not. But you see, the consolation
of Israel doesn't stop there. God goes on. Look at it. Fear
thou not, I'm with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will, I will, I will, I will. He keeps saying it. It's almost like he's saying,
can't you get it through your thick skull? I will. Has God ever made a promise He
didn't keep? No, sir. He says, yea, I will
help thee, I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness.
Now that's significant there in verse 10. The right hand in
the Bible signifies judgment and justice. the right hand of
judgment. The right hand signifies the
right hand of power, but it also signifies the right hand of acceptance. Now, the Bible teaches that Christ
came and kept the law for his people, died under the penalty
and the sentence of death for our sins charged to him. He was
made sin, Christ who knew no sin. that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him, that he was buried and rose again
the third day, he as God's man ascended to the heavenlies, and
now is seated," where? At the right hand of the Father. You see, Christ is seated at
the right hand. As I quoted it before, who is
he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen, who is even at the right hand of God. who also
maketh intercession for us." How does God uphold us with the
right hand of His righteousness? He upholds us in Christ. That's
exactly how. He doesn't even depend upon us
or look to us for our upholding. Christ upholds us. Look at verse
11. He says, Behold, all they that
were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. Now,
you notice there he doesn't say, Behold, all they that were incensed
against me. He says, against thee. And you
know why he says it that way? Because we're united to his Son. And you can't separate the two.
And just like I told you earlier, whatever the world does to the
church, they do it to the head of the church, Christ. You know,
if I stump my toe, I feel it up here in my brain. Don't you? It hurts. There's a signal, they
say, that goes from the brain to the toe that says, something
hurts. Well, whenever the body hurts,
whenever the body is attacked, God is attacked. Do you know
that? You can't separate the two. You
can't do that. And he says, all who are incensed
against thee, they're fervent against thee. That's what he
means. They're determined against thee, shall be ashamed and confounded. Look at it, they shall be as
nothing. Nothing. They that strive with thee shall
perish. Verse 12, thou shalt seek them and shall not find
them. You know, when somebody attacks us, we can't hardly get
it off our mind, can we? Here, he says, you're going to
seek them and you won't find them. They won't even be there.
He says, them that contended with thee. They that war against
thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught." They'll
be as nothing and as a thing of nothing. Nothing, nothing,
nothing. What was it, O Jethro, you say? Naught plus naught equals
naught. They're naught. They're nothing. That's what he means. This is
amazing. All our enemies will be as nothing.
Sin. We don't have to fear sin. Now listen to me. We have to
fight sin because it's still present with us. It still contaminates
everything we think, say, and do. We're in a battle of warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. We have to fight the flesh. We
have to stand in opposition to the world. We have to stand in
opposition to Satan. But we don't have to fear any
of those because Christ is already taking care of the problem. He's
borne our sins away. God says He won't even remember
them. Their caste is fought behind
His back, He says. That's symbolic language to show
us that they're gone. They're not even there. That's
right. In the eyes of His justice, they're
not even there. His law has no matter against
us for our sins, for Christ took the full measure of our sins
under the justice of God for us on the cross of Calvary. Satan has been defeated. He's
already been judged. All he's in is a waiting period.
It's almost like this world is his waiting room. He's just waiting
for the sentence to be carried out. This flesh, Well, what did
Paul write? He said, who shall deliver me
from the body of this flesh? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. This world, this world is on
the way out. We gripe about how much worse
it's getting. We shouldn't expect anything
less. You think it's going to get better? What do you think,
this world is going to evolve into another Eden? No. Now, let
me tell you something. I'm just as patriotic as any
man here, but the United States of America is not our hope and
is not our Savior. Christ is. Now, that's so. Remember, all who stand against
the Church stand against Christ. He told Abraham back in Genesis
chapter 12, he said, I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families be blessed.
And when Christ stood before them, and people say, well, that
means that you're supposed to treat the Jews right, or you're
going to be in trouble. Now, let me tell you something.
Let's treat all nations right, including the Jews. We're responsible
to treat all people right. We're responsible to treat all
nations with justice and fairness and charity. But that's not what
the Lord was talking about when he made that covenant with Abraham.
Now it's true under that old covenant that those who stood
against Israel were cursed of God. But the underlying purpose
there is the purpose of saving spiritual Israel through Christ.
And our Lord stood in the midst of the Pharisees who were Jewish
people themselves, physical descendants of Abraham. And he told them
in John chapter 8, he said, I know you're Abraham's seed physically,
but you're not Abraham's seed spiritually, for if you believed
Abraham, you'd do the works of Abraham. But you're trying to
kill me, he said, and Abraham didn't do that. Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. He saw it and he was glad. Abraham
looked to Christ. That's what he's talking about
here. Look at verse 13, he says, For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.
Just like a father who takes the hand of his child and holds
on to that hand and leads that child where he needs to go. That's
the way God looks at his children, looks at us. And then God distinguishes
Himself from idols here. Look at it again. He says, "...for
I, the Lord thy God," verse 13, "...will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." Now, you remember
back in verse 7. Look over there. He's talking
about the makers of idols here. He says, "...so the carpenter
encouraged the goldsmith." In other words, to make their icons. They have to have a carpenter,
they have to have a goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying it is ready for the soldering,
he fastened it with nails. You see, those icons, those idols
of their imagination that they made into icons, they had to
be fastened with nails. Well, who nailed them? Men did.
That it should not be moved. They had to be nailed down or
they'd get blown over. They'd get taken away. You know,
the pharaohs of Egypt, they tried to put their icons down in the
pits of the pyramids with them, but grave robbers always got
in. They always got in, and they moved them, you see. You see,
that's one thing about our God. You can't go into our grave and
steal our God. He's not fastened down with nails.
He's not sealed in with any tomb of man-made help. You see, idols,
you have to hold them up. But God holds us up. Idols have
to be nailed down or somebody's going to steal them. But our
God shall not be moved. He says, I will uphold you with
my righteous right hand. You should never trust in a God
that needs your help. Idols need your help because
they're false. Our God doesn't need our help.
We need His. And that's what He's saying there.
I'll help you. That's the kind of God we need.
I need one who's going to help me. I don't need one who needs
my help. That's a pitiful God, isn't it? Well, look at verse
14. Now he turns here in the second
place to God's redemption of his people ensures victory. He
says, fear not again. But look how he describes us.
Thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. Your concordance may
have few men of Israel because we are few compared to the population.
I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel." Behold the wisdom of God. Now, I want you to listen
to this. I told you, you know, people talk about, well, you
know, none of us are worthy, and that's offensive to men.
Well, look how far he goes. God always has a way of comforting
His people, and He comforts us and encourages us and gives us
assurance, and yet at the same time, He doesn't puff us up or
lift us up And he doesn't flatter us. He says, fear not. We can be
bold, confident, and at peace. But now what kind of people is
he dealing with? The cream of the crop? The best
of the best? He says, thou worm, Jacob. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. Now
think about that. Thou worm. Now the name Jacob. as applied to Israel here, always
points back to Israel's lowly and deceptive past. That's what
Jacob stands for. So that it's by no means a name
of honor. The name Israel always points
to the power and grace of God in Christ to save such low, deceitful,
unworthy, wretched people. That's how God saved Jacob. He
took him and changed his name to Israel. And here's what he's
saying, we are all weak and helpless worms. Now you want to know,
would you like to know what the real word is there? It's maggot. It's maggot. And that's how we
are before God. Now man by nature considers that
a great insult. You remember the song, Alas,
and Did My Savior Bleed? Who's that by? Isaac Watts, wasn't
it? Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed? And Did My Sovereign Die? Would
He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? That's the
way we sing it, isn't it? In a lot of modern hymnals, that's
been changed. It reads this way. Alas, and
did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote
that sacred head for sinners such as I?" They removed the
word worm, but I believe God led Mr. Watts to write it the
way he wrote it, because he took it from this verse. But you see,
worm is just too offensive to human pride, but you know we're
worms nonetheless. Worm really describes us adequately. That's right, a worm is weak,
despicable, at home in the muck and the mire of the earth. You've
got to dig worms, don't you? That's where we are by nature.
We're at home in the sin and the muck and the mire of the
earth, easily killed. Maggots feed upon dead things.
That's us without Christ we feed upon dead religion, dead works. Dead men feeding upon dead things. And listen to this. I don't know
who wrote this. I don't know what he believed,
but he had it pretty straight here. He says, really, he says,
for us to be called worms and maggots is an insult to these
lofty creatures who never sinned against God and compliment us. I never saw a worm that rebelled
against the Lord. But this old worm did. And here's what God says. He
says, I will help thee, saith the Lord. Who's He going to help?
Thou worm, Jacob, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Now turn
to Psalm 22. I want you to see this. Psalm 22. And if this don't float
your boat or wind your clock, I don't think anything will.
But listen to what I'm saying now. Now, men get insulted when
the Word of God tells it like it is, thou worm Jacob, thou
maggot. And here's what he says there
in that verse. He says, I will help thee. There's another I
will. That's the covenant language. Oh, thank God that he will. Saith
the Lord. That's Jehovah. That's God who
saves. And then he says, and thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. The word Redeemer there is the
same word that's used in the book of Ruth and throughout the
Old Testament of the Redeemer, the Goel, which is the kinsman
Redeemer. So thou worm Jacob, your kinsman
is going to redeem you, the kinsman of worms. Look at Psalm 22 and
verse 1. He says, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Now, where have you heard that
before? That's one of the sayings of our Savior on the cross. Matthew
made a point to quote this because this is a messianic psalm. And
that is indicative of the separation of the Father and the Son because
of our sins laid to his charge. And he says, why art thou so
far from helping me and from the words of my roaring, O my
God? I cry in the daytime, but thou
hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. But
thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers
trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee,
and were not confounded." Verse 6, "...but I am a worm, and no
man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people." That's our Savior. He says, I am a worm. He took
His place with the worms in order to save us from our sin. He called
Himself a worm. Now, let me tell you something.
That is humility. Now, when we call ourselves worms,
that's not humility. That's just fact. That's right. That's just recognizing
the reality. But for the Lord of glory, God,
in human flesh, to come down to this earth and even consort
with sinners, let alone take their place, and suffer the derision
and the agony and the humiliation that came from sinners, and to
go to the cross and to be beaten so badly and suffer so badly
from the hands of sinners, so as to call himself, I'm a worm
and no man, despised and rejected of men." That is amazing, isn't
it? And yet in Isaiah 41 over, that's
exactly how he redeemed thou worm Jacob. That's how he did
it. Isn't that something? The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when he was made to be sin for
us and hanged upon that cross as our substitute, he became
a worm. Why? Because he's the kinsman
redeemer of worms. Thou worm, Jacob. So that he
might lift worms from the dung heap of fallen humanity, and
transformed that worm into Israel, a son, a prince, a servant of
God. As old Hannah prayed, he lifteth
the beggar off the dung heap. He was abased that we might be
exalted. He was cursed that we might be
blessed. He was made to be sin, a despicable
thing, a man of sorrows, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Delightful to God. He was crushed
to death under the penalty of sin that we might be raised to
life and freed from sin. Look over here at Isaiah 41.
Look at verse 15. And listen to this now. He takes
these worms, and here's what he makes them. He says in verse
15, Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument,
having teeth. A mouth. He says, Thou shalt
thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the
hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the
wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.
And Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the
Holy One of Israel. Think about that. He takes a
worm, and through that worm, by His power, they can cut down
a mountain. And they do. When God saves His
people by His power and grace, they become a powerful machine.
able to bring down mountains and hills and carry them away
and scatter them to the wind." What's he talking about? That's
all symbolic language of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom he said, the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Why? Because he said, I will.
And he did. And he continues. That's the
power of our Lord. Rejoice in the glory of the Lord.
You see, you notice there, he says, thou shalt rejoice in the
Lord. Not in yourself. Thou shalt glory in the Holy
One of Israel." You're going to glory in Christ. God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's something to take a worm
and make that out of. Well, let's listen to the last
part here. Now, here's God's provision of all our needs. And
that's what's going to sustain us unto glory. Look at verse
17. He says, When the poor and needy
seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth the
first, I the Lord, I will," there's another I will, I'll hear them,
I the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Every provision
is made for our refreshment, our comfort, our success. The
Lord God delights in taking weak worms as instruments in His hands
and magnifying them in His holy, omnipotent power. Why does He
do it that way? Why does He use such people as
we are? Because He doesn't want any flesh
to glory in His presence, that all the glory may be unto Him.
And when they need water, He'll provide it. Christ is the living
water. He told the woman at the well, well of living water. He says in verse 18, I'll open
rivers in high places. Rivers where there are no rivers.
Fountains in the midst of the valleys. I'll make the wilderness
a pool of water and the dry land springs of water, even the desert.
He's going to provide it. I'll plant in the wilderness
to see if there's going to be a flourishing forest here. The chita tree, the myrtle, the
oil tree. I will set in the desert the
fir tree and the pine and the box tree together. It's all going
to be there. And he says why, verse 20, here's
the why. "...that they may see, and know,
and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the
Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created
it." Salvations of the Lord. The church made up of Jacob's
worms, who have been made princes of God, is the creation of the
Lord. It's the work of His hands. And you see so many examples
of that down through the Old Testament. You see him taking
a blind Samson and bringing down the Philistines. You see him
taking a young man named David and killing Goliath with a rock
and a slingshot. You see a man like Peter. who
a few days before denied the Lord three times, openly and
publicly, standing in Jerusalem, preaching one of the most powerful
gospel messages that was ever preached, and 3,000 souls were
saved. And Peter didn't save a one of
them. Christ saved every one of them. Paul said we have a
great and powerful treasure It's the gospel, the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. But now listen, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, weak clay pots, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. And when he besought
the Lord three times to remove his thorn in the flesh, he said
this, the Lord told him, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly there will I rather
glory in my infirmities, Paul said, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. His grace, His power, His goodness.
Why does God do it that way? That sinners may know that God
did it for His glory and that no flesh
should glory in His presence. Let's sing hymn number 235 as
our closing hymn. Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior.
235.