Evening, everyone. The name of the message is two words. Two words. I've been pondering
these two words for quite a while. And the two words are fear not. Fear not. We'll be looking at
various portions of Scripture, both in the Old Testament and
in the New Testament tonight. We'll be covering quite a bit
of Scripture. When I was down in Ashland visiting
and talking to one of my dear brothers down there, who's a
dear friend, Brother Ron Gregg, he was bringing forth how many
people in the congregation are going through different things.
And I told him, we know what that's like because it's the
same back home. And we were talking about how
no matter where you go, God's people are going through things.
And sometimes they don't say a word. They don't tell anyone,
and he was bringing that up, the fact that there's a lot of
people going through things that aren't saying anything, anything
at all, just taking it to the Lord, just taking it to Him.
And I hope that these words tonight, these two words as we look at
them, fear not, will give us great comfort no matter what
we're facing in life. Now parents often tell their
children when they are young, Not to fear. Probably every one
of us in here at one time had our parents tell us in a time
of fear for us, it's going to be okay. I fondly remember that
from both my mom and my dad. Crawling up into my dad's lap
in utter fear of something that's happened and my dad saying, it's
going to be okay, son. Or when my grandma died and my
mom held me in her arms and told me, don't worry. Because I had
a fear of death. I didn't understand death. I
was really young. And I thought I was going to
die because grandma died. And I can remember my mom saying,
don't worry. It's OK. It's OK. Now these two words. are scattered
throughout the scriptures, both in the Old Testament and in the
New Testament. And these two words have often
come up in my studies, and I found great comfort whenever I see
these words in the scriptures, because the ones that I've looked
at and the ones that we'll look at tonight are such a blessing
for God's people. Shows us that He is almighty.
And these are words spoken for the comfort of God's people. Now we who are preachers are
told to comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. And
oh my, what comfort comes from these two words, fear not, fear
not. Now why does God tell his people
not to fear? Why does he instruct us in such
a way? And why is it repeated in both
the Old Testament and in the New Testament? It's because we're
so frail, beloved, and we're sinful creatures of the dust. And we are prone to fear. We're prone to fear. Think upon this, we have plenty
of reasons to fear when we're left to ourselves. Plenty of
reasons to fear when we're left to ourselves because we're utterly
sinful and God will have nothing to do with sinfulness. He's infinitely
holy. This alone makes the believer
tremble in fear. And there was a time when God
revealed himself and we trembled before him, didn't we? Because
we saw our sinfulness and we still see our sinfulness. But
oh, the holiness of God in contrast. Let's start in the book of Genesis.
Let's turn to Genesis. We'll work our way to the New
Testament, looking at instances where these wonderful words are
used. Now this will not be an exhaustive
study. We'd be here for weeks. But my
hope in my prayer is that the verses we will look at will be
a comfort for God's people. And then there'll be five points
at the end that we'll look at from Scripture. And these will
give us comforting reasons why God has told believers not to
fear. So let's turn to Genesis chapter
15, verse 1. And here's the first instance
we see of these exact words. Now, I took the exact words when
I did searches in the scriptures. I only searched for these exact
words. Fear not. And again, it is not
an exhaustive study tonight. There's more instances of these
words, but I went through and chose certain verses for us to
look at. And look at this in Genesis 15.1. We see the Lord telling Abraham
to fear not because he alone, being Christ, is his reward.
And what comfort this can bring God's people. Look at this, verse
one. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, fear not,
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding reward. Again,
this is the self-existent one saying this to Abraham. This
is God Almighty. And we see that the Lord is our
shield and not just our reward, but beloved, He's our exceeding
great reward. He's our exceeding great reward.
We who are the redeemed of the Lord, we know this to be true
because we know that all spiritual blessings are found in Christ
and Christ alone. Now turn to Genesis chapter 26,
if you would. And in this chapter, Abraham is dealing with issues
with Abimelech over some wells, and let us consider what the
Lord said to Abraham here, Genesis 26, verses 23 to 25. And he went
up from Thentz to Beersheba, and the Lord appeared unto him
the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father,
fear not. Hear those two words spoken again. Why? For I am with thee. Oh,
what comfort for God's people. And we'll bless thee. And that's
not the word of faith kind of blessing. Them word of faith
false preachers talking about you sow your seed. That's not
talking about that. Remember what the Lord told us
in Genesis 15? I am your exceeding reward. We're
blessed in Christ, beloved, and in Christ alone. And multiply
thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. He built an altar there
and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there,
and there Isaac's servants digged a well. What can we glean here,
beloved of God? We can glean that God is our
provider. He takes care of His people. He takes care of His
people. We're very, very blessed in and
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Next, let's look at Genesis chapter
50, verses 19 to 21, where we see Joseph's brethren before
Joseph, and he reveals himself to them, But look at the comforting
words He says, and let us remember the setting here. He has all
power, doesn't He? He's second only to Pharaoh. Oh, what power He possesses!
He could have just said a word and they'd have been executed
right in the spot. Just spoke a word and they'd be executed. But He loves them, beloved. Just
as Christ loves His brethren, His bride, Let us keep an eye
to Christ here and think upon how wicked men crucified our
Lord. They meant it for evil, didn't they? But what did God
do? God used it for good, didn't He? And He redeemed a multitude
that no man can number at Calvary's cross by the death of Christ,
His dear Son. Look at this in Genesis 50, verses
19 to 21. And Joseph said unto them, Fear
not. Could you imagine what those
words meant to them? for I am the place of God. But
as for you, you thought evil against me, but God made it unto
good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people
alive." Oh, what a foreshadowing of Christ there, eh? Oh, my beloved. Now, therefore, fear ye not,
I will nourish you. And the Lord does that for us,
doesn't He? And your little ones, and He comforted them and spoke
kindly unto them. Oh, could you imagine what those
words meant to them? Fear not. Fear not. Like I said, he could have had
them killed right on the spot. Fear not. He meant it for evil. God meant it for good. Oh my. Now let's go to Exodus chapter
20. Exodus chapter 20, when God gave the Ten Commandments, the
people were afraid, beloved. They were afraid. They trembled.
Look at these words of comfort here in Exodus chapter 20, verses
19 21. We see again these words spoken.
Spoken by Moses. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us,
lest we die. Oh my. What does Moses say to
them? And Moses said unto the people,
Fear not. Fear not. For God has come to
prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, That
you sin not. And the people stood afar off,
and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. They were not to be afraid of
God, beloved, with a slavish fear. They were to be in awe
of God. A reverent fear. They were not
to be afraid of the thunderings and the lightnings, as if they
were like one of the plagues of Egypt, which terrified Pharaoh
and his people. No. They were not to be afraid
of being consumed by the thunderings and the lightnings, they would
not hurt them, and they did not have to be afraid of dying by
the hand of God at His presence. As these words were spoken of
in instruction, they were to be of good courage, beloved,
as God delivered them from the land of Egypt by His almighty
power. So what comfort we see here for
God's people. God has delivered us from the
world, hasn't He? And that's the type of Egypt,
beloved, that's the type of Egypt And He will preserve us and keep
us. He's given us this blessed book right here, this wonderful
book, which is all about Christ and Christ alone. It guides us
and directs us, doesn't it? It points us to Christ as we
travel through this world to our heavenly home, which He will
one day take us to. So He keeps us along the way
and then He'll take us home, beloved. Fear not. Fear not. Wonderful words. Now let's turn to Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy. I try to keep these in order
so we're not flipping all over the place. Deuteronomy chapter
20. And we see here that the Lord goes
forth before us in battle. We're not to fear our enemies
and we're not to fear his enemies. He does the fighting. He goes
before us, beloved. The battle is the Lord's. The
battle is the Lord's. And remember, He's giving instructions
to Israel for battles. Look at this in Deuteronomy 20,
verses 1-4. When thou goest out to battle
against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people
more than thou, now what would that do to most armies? Oh, they'd
get filled with fear, wouldn't they? They would, even men of
war. If you come out with an army
and you see double the army that you have, you're thinking, oh
my. And we know that the countries that they went to battle with
often had huge armies. Look what our God tells them.
He tells them, don't be afraid. Now see us horses and chariots
and people more than thou. Be not afraid of them. For the
Lord thy God is what? With thee. Let us remember that,
beloved. Our God's always with us. He's
always with us. Look at that, this, which brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt, who brought us out of the Egypt?
Who brought us out of the world? God did, didn't He? He did. And
it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the
priests shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say
unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle
against your enemies, let not your hearts faint, fear not,
and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them." Look
at this, for the Lord, your God, is He that goeth with you to
fight for you against your enemies to save you. Look at verse 3
though, fear not. You see it there? Let not your
hearts faint, fear not. There's those two little words
again, fear not. And do not tremble, neither be
afraid because of them. Why? For the Lord your God is
he that goeth with you. Who goes with us? Who goes before
us? Our God. Amen, brother. Our God
goes before us. And what did he fights our enemies,
doesn't he? He fights our enemies. The battles of Lord's blood is
his. Oh, now let's turn to Deuteronomy
31. Think of this, the Lord saved us from our enemies, doesn't
He? He saved us from our sins. Oh my, that was our enemy in
our natural state, wasn't it? Still our enemy too, even as
believers, isn't it? We still battle that enemy. We've
been delivered, beloved, by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's redeemed our eternal souls. Look at this in Deuteronomy
31. We see Moses was telling the
people of Israel that he would not cross over the Jordan. And
these two words again are spoken, let's look at the words with
them, we'll read a little portion here, verses 1 to 7. And Moses
went and spake these words unto all Israel, and he said unto
them, I am a hundred and twenty years old, this day I can no
more go out and come in, also the Lord has said unto me, thou
shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord thy God, He will go
over before thee. There it is. There's the Lord
going before us, isn't it? Always does. Always. And He will
destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess
them. And Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord
hath said. And the Lord shall do unto them,
as He did unto Shion and to Og, King of the Amorites, and unto
the land of them whom He destroyed. And the Lord shall give them
up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto
all the commandments which I have commanded you. Be strong and
of good courage." Look at this. Fear not. There it is again.
Be strong and of good courage. Fear not. "...nor be afraid of
them. For the Lord thy God, He it is
that doth go with thee. Will not fail thee. Oh my, look
at that. Here, never fail. Other folks
might fail us, hey. Our God will never fail us, Father.
And remember, he goes before us. Here not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Oh, that's wonderful. The Lord
will never leave me. Other folks might leave us. The
Lord will never leave us, ever. That's what he says here. and
never leave you. And Moses called unto Joshua,
and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and
of good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the
land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them,
and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He
it is that doth go before thee, He will be with thee, He will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee, again, fear not. Fear not. You know, we're told this continually
because we're prone to it. We're prone to it. Fear not,
neither be dismayed. See the word dismayed there?
In the Hebrew, it means to be shattered. You ever been shattered
in your life? You ever emotionally been shattered
by something or by someone? I think every one of us has went
through that sometime in our lives. Look at that. To be shattered,
to be dismayed, to dismay, to scatter, or to shatter, to scare. We're not to be paralyzed with
fear because we trust in the one who said he will never leave
us nor forsake us, never, never. Now let's turn to the book of
Joshua. The book of Joshua, we see these words spoken by the
Lord to Joshua before the battle of Ai. The Lord tells Joshua
to fear not, and again, not to be dismayed. Not to be shattered. Not to be scared. Joshua chapter
8 verses 1 and 2. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
fear not. Fear not. There it is again.
Joshua 8 verse 1 and 2. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
fear not. Again, neither be thou dismayed.
Don't be scared. Don't be shattered by fear. Don't
be paralyzed by fear. Take all the people of war with
thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand
the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. Thou
shalt do to Ai and her king, as thou dost unto Jericho and
her king. Only the sparrow thereof and
the cattle thereof shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves, lay
thee in ambush, for the city behind it, but note again in
verse one, fear not. Fear not. Fear not, beloved. Now let's turn to Joshua chapter
10. Joshua chapter 10, we see when the five Amorite kings were
executed, Joshua proclaims these same words to the people of Israel. These same words. Joshua chapter
10, verses 25 to 26. And again, we're taught, we're
being taught by the Holy Spirit that we're not to fear. And it
keeps being repeated again because we're prone to it. And I don't
care what anyone says to you, there's no one that's not prone
to fear sometime in your life. No one doesn't get worked up
sometime in your life. And usually if people say, well,
I don't get worked up, then they find out they're going to get
worked up real quick. Oh my. Look at this. Joshua 10, verses
25 and 26. And Joshua said unto them, Fear
not, again, nor be dismayed, don't be scared, don't be shattered
by what's going to happen. Be strong and of good courage,
for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom
ye fight. And afterward Joshua smote them
and slew them and hanged them on five trees, and they were
hanging on the trees until the evening. Now let's turn to the
book of Judges. In the book of Judges, chapter
6, The Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel. The Midiites
were oppressing them. And look at what this prophet
tells them concerning the God of the Midiites. The God of the
Midiites. Judges 6, verses 7-10. And it came to pass, when the
children of Israel cried unto the Lord, because of the Midiites,
that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel,
which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought
you up from Egypt. There's who delivered them. They
didn't deliver themselves, did they? God delivered them, beloved. And brought you forth out of
the house of bondage. Who brought us out of the house
of bondage, beloved? God did that, didn't He? He sought us
out. We didn't seek Him. He sought us out. He brought
us up out of Egypt, the world. And He delivered us from the
bondage of our sins, beloved. It's all God. Salvation's a work
of God in Christ, in Christ alone. And I delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed
you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their
land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. Fear not the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but ye have not
obeyed my voice." Now look at that though. Fear not the gods
of the Amorites. Don't fear them false gods. We
worship the one true God, the living God, the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. Our Savior is God. God incarnate
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look a little further
down in the same chapter, we see that Gideon is told by the
angel of the Lord these same words, beloved. Look at verses
22 to 24. When Gideon perceived that he
was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because
I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said
unto him, Peace be unto thee, fear not. Oh my, fear not. There's those two words again.
Thou shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar unto
the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day It is yet
in Ophir of the Abyssinites. Now Jehovah Shalom, what's it
mean? It means the Lord our peace. The Lord our peace. Fear not,
thou shall not die. Jehovah Shalom, he called that
place. Who is the author and the giver
of our peace with God? It's none other than the Prince
of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him alone. We have peace with
God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way we
have peace with God. It's only through Christ. Again,
He's God incarnated in the flesh. What is He? He's the Lord our
peace, isn't He? He's the Lord our righteous. He's the Lord
our peace, too. He's Jehovah Shalom to us. That's what He
is. Prince of Peace is a fit name
for the angel that appeared to Gideon. He's no other than the
man of peace. who is our peace, the author
of peace between God and man. And the name he gave the altar
with respect to the words of comfort said to him in this fright,
look at this, this is wonderful, these words are spoken in the,
let's go to 2 Samuel, let's turn to 2 Samuel now, I'm sorry, I
got off track there. The name he gave the altar was
fit, no isn't it, Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. Now let's
go to 2 Samuel. Now think of this. Jehovah Shalom,
right? The Lord our peace. And we know
that we only have peace with God in and through Christ and
Christ alone. And the only way God tells us
fear not is through Christ, eh? Right? Because that's how He
sees us. He sees us in Christ, doesn't He? Look at these words
here though by David. 2 Samuel chapter 9, and we're
going to read all the way to 1 to 9. I just love this. This is one of my most favorite
portions in scripture. And David says to Mephibosheth,
and note how comforting these words are for the blood-washed
saints of God. It's a picture, Mephibosheth's
a picture of us, right? We're lame from a fall. Mephibosheth
was lame from a fall, wasn't he? And we've run from the king
too, haven't we? In our natural state, right?
We're off the load of bar. That's where we are. Just like
Mephibosheth. We're gone. We're gone. We take
right off in our natural state. And what happens? Go and fetch
them. The old timers used to call it
fetching grace. Fetching grace. The Holy Spirit comes and draws
us to Christ, doesn't he? Oh, it's wonderful. Look at this
in 2 Samuel. Chapter 9, verses 1 to 9. Oh, this is just wonderful as
we read these words. And David said, Is there yet
any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called
him unto David, The king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any in the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet. And the
king said unto him, Who is he? And Ziba said unto the king,
Behold, he is in the house of Markar, the son of Amuel in Lodabar. Then king David sent and what? Fetched him. Fetched him. Oh, fetching grace, beloved. Now when Mephibosheth, the son
of Saul, was come unto David, what did he do? He fell on his
face and did reverence. He thought he was going to die.
Remember when we studied this portion, when a king was slain
and a new king rose up, they usually wiped the whole house
out. usually just decimate anybody else. They don't want no heirs
hanging around. Usually just wipe them right
out. So Mephibosheth probably thinks he's going to die. He
fell on his face and did reverence and David said to Mephibosheth
and he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, What?
Fear not. What does God say to us in Christ?
Fear not. Fear not. Oh my beloved, for
I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake,
and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and
thou shalt eat bread at my table continually." And he bowed himself
and said, and what a reply this is. This is a reply of every
blood bought believer too, isn't it? What is thy servant that
thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am? Oh Lord,
You have mercy on a sinner like me. Then the king called, Desire
of us all servants and said unto them, I have given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and all his house. Now let's turn to Isaiah 35.
These same words are spoken of the redeemed of the Lord in Isaiah
35. Isaiah 35 and then we turn to
Isaiah 44. Isaiah 35 verses 4 to 8. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, here they are, fear not, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense, He will come and save you. Praise
God, He does that for His people. God saves us. We can never save
ourselves. God saves us. He saves us. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as an heart. Oh, Mephibus, lame from
a fall. We're lame from a fall, aren't
we? Do we not leap with joy when the Lord saves us? Oh, we do,
don't we? We leap with joy, beloved. In
our hearts, we do. In our hearts, we do. In the
tongue of the dumb, sing. The tongue that never worshipped
the Lord and praised Him now sings praises unto Him. Oh, what
a great God we have. What a great God we have. In
the years of the death, she'll be unstopped. And that's what
happens. Then shall the lame man leap
his heart in the tongue of the dumb, sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and the streams in the desert. There
was once a wilderness, and now all the joy of the Spirit within
us, beloved. In the parched ground shall become
a pool, in the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of
dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes,
and in highways shall be there, and a way, one way, and it shall
be called the way of holiness. We looked at that verse in depth.
The unclean shall not pass over, but it shall be for those The
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. But note
in verse 1, fear not. Now let's turn to Isaiah 44.
God's chosen people are told the same words in Isaiah chapter
44. Yet now hear, O Jacob, my servant
in Israel, whom I have chosen. Verse 2. Thus saith the Lord,
that made thee and formed thee from the womb. which will help
thee. What does he say to us? Fear
not. Oh, wonderful words. What wonderful
words. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and now Jezreel, whom I have chosen. Oh my, fear not, beloved
of God. Fear not. Now let's go to Daniel,
and then we'll go to the New Testament. Daniel chapter 10,
we'll just look at one verse, verse 12. Daniel was told these
precious words, and the fact that God had heard his prayer,
heard him cry out to God. Look at this in Daniel chapter
10 verse 12. Then said he unto me, fear not
Daniel. Same words, beloved, fear not.
For from the first day thou didst set thine heart to understand,
and to chasten thyself before God, thy words were heard, and
I had come for thy words. The Lord hears us when we cry
out to Him. Sometimes we don't always get an answer or we don't
get the answer that we want. But if you're not beloved, He's
heard you. He's heard you. He's with you. He'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Now let's go to the New Testament. We'll look at a few
verses with this phrase in them. Matthew chapter 1, let's consider
these words spoken to Joseph about Mary being pregnant but
yet a virgin. Matthew chapter 1. We'll read
verses 18 to 21. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on the wise, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, verse 19, her husband, being a just man and not willing
to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
Well, he thought on these things. Behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, now son of David,
fear not. Fear not. To what? To take unto
thee Mary for thy wife, for that which is conceived in hers of
the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Why? He shall save His
people from their sins. And praise God, He's done it,
beloved. He's done it. He's done it. Now
let's turn to Matthew chapter 10. Take note of these words
spoken by our Lord. And think of Joshua's exhortation
to the Israelites. Remember, Joshua told them, be
strong and be a good courage. Why? Because God alone is our
strength and refuge, isn't He? Matthew chapter 10, God alone
is our refuge, our high tower, our defense. Look at this in
Matthew chapter 10, starting in verses 26 all the
way to 33. Fear them not therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. What ye hear in the ear, that
preach ye unto the hostops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear
Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. There it is again. Fear not them
which kill the body. But beloved, fear Him who is
able to kill both body and soul. the in hell. Look at this now. Now, I want
us to mind these last verses after he's told us to fear not. Right. Look what he tells us
in verses twenty nine to thirty three are not two sparrows sold
for a fart. Now, how many sparrows do we
see in a lifetime? Us are just little birds. I love
sparrows. I can't get enough of watching them, little guys.
And every time I see them, beloved, I think the Lord's providing
for them. It's a constant reminder for me, ever since the Lord saved
me and I've seen these verses. It's wonderful. I don't look
at a sparrow anymore like I used to. It's amazing. Look at this.
That little sparrow. Some would think an insignificant
little creature, right? Look at this. Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father? Now look at this, look how intimately
the Lord knows his people. And think of this in light of
fear not. If he knows us so intimately, this is incredible. And he constantly
has to tell us, oh, don't be afraid, fear not. Because again,
we're prone to it, but look at this. But the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore ye, his
people, are of more value than many sparrows. He so watches
a sparrow fall to the ground, that sparrow don't even fall
dead to the ground without Him knowing. You're much more valuable. You
know why? He's purchased us with His precious
blood. We're redeemed. We're redeemed. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me Before men, him will
I also deny, before my Father which is in heaven." Now we saw
that Joseph was told to fear not at the birth of Christ. Let's
turn to Matthew 28 and look at verses 5 and 6, and we see these
same words spoken to Mary by an angel to not fear because
the tomb was empty. Why? Because the Lord was risen,
beloved. He's risen. He's risen. And if you notice, looking at
these words in the various scriptures, we see all parts of life covered,
don't we? Fear not. Just don't fear not
when you're going through things. Fear not in general. Because our God takes care of
us. He watches over us. He watches over us. Look at this,
Matthew 28, verses 5 and 6. And the angel answered and said
unto the woman, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus,
which was crucified. He is not here. Why? For he is
risen. Oh, praise God. He said, come
see the place where the Lord lay. But look at those words.
Fear not. Fear not. Don't be afraid. The Lord's not
here. He's already risen. He's risen. The Apostle Paul was comforted
with these words. Now turn to the book of Acts, chapter 27.
The Apostle Paul was comforted with these words in Acts 27. That his life and the life of
all those on the ship with him, and this ship was in a tempest,
would be spared. Because the Lord said, you must
appear before Caesar. Now the ship was going to be
lost, but there wasn't going to be a soul that perished on
that ship. Look at this in Acts 27, starting in verse 21 and
going to verse 25. And think of this, beloved. God
will not lose one of his sheep. Not one of them will perish.
Not one of them. They'll all be brought home safely.
They'll all be brought home. And the Lord tells Paul here,
you've got to stand before Caesar. This is wonderful. Look at this
in Acts 27, verse 21 to 25. But after a long absence, Paul
stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, ye would have
hearkened unto me, and have not loosed up from Crete, and have
gained this harm and loss, and now I exhort you to be of good
cheer." They're in a tempest. There's a huge storm going on.
They're being tossed to and fro. He says, be of good cheer. Only a man filled with the Holy
Spirit of God and trusted and rested in the grace of God can
say that, and given the grace to say that, eh? Oh, look at
that. For there shall be no loss of
any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood
by me this night the angel of God, whose I am. Oh, look at
that. God's people are His. And whom
I serve, and that's who we serve, we serve our great God, saying
what? Fear not, Paul. You're not, Paul. Thou must be
bought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them
that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer,
for I believe, God, that it shall be even as it was told me." And
we know from the rest of the story, not one of them perished.
Not one. Not one of them. Now turn to
Revelation chapter 1. And we see these comforting words
when the Lord appears to the Apostle John in the Isle of Patamos,
when He declares who He is, when He declares who He is. Look at
this in Revelation 1, verses 17 and 18. And when I saw him,
I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, what? Fear not, fear not. I am the
first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Fear not. Why? I am the first
and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I am alive forevermore. Forevermore. He has the keys
of hell and death. Now let's turn back to Isaiah
43. In light of all that we've read, I left this portion out,
and I want to look at this at the very last. We'll look at
five quick points that are from these verses here, and then we'll
be finished. Isaiah 43, we'll read verses
1 to 4. And we'll see these same words,
and we will here see five reasons why we, who are the people of
God, should heed these words of great comfort, fear not. There's
five reasons within this text right here why we should heed
and not fear. Five reasons. Isaiah 43, verses 1 to 4. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel.
What does he say to us? Fear not. For I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name, and thou art mine. When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through
the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sebia for thee, since thou was what? Precious
in my sight. God's people are precious in
God's sight. This is wonderful. Thou hast been honorable and
I have loved thee, therefore will I give men for thee and
people for thy life. Now note what we see here in
verse 1, beloved. We see here, but now thus sayeth
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Beloved of God, we are not to
fear because we are God's creation and formation. The church of
the Lord Jesus Christ is his creation, his creation. We're new people in Christ, aren't
we? We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're His chosen
people. He chose us. God Himself chose
us in eternity, in Christ, before the foundation of the world.
And He chose us to be His bride. And there's nothing in us that
made Him choose us, is there? No, we're... There's nothing
at all. This is the pure, free, and sovereign
grace of God in Christ. So a reason that we shouldn't
fear is because we're His creation and formation. Everything the believer has before
God is by God's sovereign grace. Our salvation is in Christ by
His grace, and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus by the
grace of God. By the grace of God. Beloved,
fear not. Fear not. Now, note our next
point in the text. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have chosen thee by name,
thou art mine. Now look at this. Here's another
reason for us not to fear. Because God himself has redeemed
us. He's redeemed us. It says it
right there in the text. He's redeemed us, beloved. And
we know that our Lord Jesus Christ paid the enormous price to redeem
His people from all their sins. All that were given to Him before
the foundation of the world, He fully paid the price for it.
He has purchased us with His own blood. We're redeemed. This is a fact. This is a fact. We are redeemed. And you know
what? There is therefore now no condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus. Fear not, beloved. Fear not. This gives us good reason not
to fear. Our next point is found in the same verse. It says here,
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he
that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee.
I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. Now here we see
here that God has called us to Himself. We're His, beloved.
We're His. We're His. God is intimately
acquainted with all His people. We saw that in the text we looked
at in the New Testament, didn't we? The very hairs of our head
are numbered. It's absolutely mind-blowing for us. We who shook our fist at Him
and hated Him, yet He so loved us. And His love for us has never
changed. Never. Because we're His people. We're His people. And He's called
us to Himself, hasn't He? He's called us out of darkness
into light. We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And
we're saved and redeemed in Christ Jesus and Christ alone. So let
us take great comfort that He's always known the names of His
people. You ever think of that? He's always known the names of
His people. Remember, they're engraved in
the palms of His hands. John Claude says they're ever
before him that way. They're ever before him, beloved.
Oh my. There is people, there is sheep.
And he will in his own purpose and grace irresistibly call them
to Christ in faith. Therefore, beloved of God, fear
not. Fear not. Now let us consider
verse 2 for our next point. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Beloved, fear not. No matter what you go through,
God is ever with you. He's ever with you. Fear not,
ye who are the people of God. This verse proclaims that our
God will be with us in all situations. in all situations. His people
are a created people, a redeemed people, a called people, but
beloved, they're also a tried people, aren't they? Tried people. But they will never... Now, okay, let's say this again. There are created people we've
looked at, there are redeemed people, there are called people,
there are tried people, but you know what they'll never be? They'll
never be a forsaken people. Never. We can see that right here. They
will never be forsaken. Never. Fear not, beloved. Fear not. The Good Shepherd will
provide and protect His sheep, just as the Scriptures proclaim.
And think of this in light of what the Scriptures proclaim.
If God be for us, who can be against us? No one. Fear not, beloved, fear
not. Oh, we're such a blessed people.
Here's a blessed promise in John 16, 33 in light of this. I'll
just read it. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace in the world. You shall
have tribulation, which we saw right there in verse two. Right.
And we know we've experienced that. And we're experienced that
until we go home to be with the Lord. but be of good cheer. Why? I
have overcome the world. Fear not, beloved. Fear not. He who has overcome the world
keeps us. We're in his hands. We're his sheep. He's the good
shepherd. Let us not fear, but let us trust
in Christ Jesus. The last point is found in verse
3. Look at this. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sabaea for thee. Beloved of God, we are not to
fear as our God is the only one true God and Savior. The only
one true God and Savior. He claims that right here. For
I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel. Look at this.
Let this sink into your souls, beloved. Thy Savior. I read that,
my Savior? God is my Savior. Is it so with
you? If you're one of his people,
it's so, isn't it? God's my Savior. He says, I give Egypt for thy
ransom and Ethiopia and Syria for thee. Our God is in sovereign
control of all things, beloved. He alone is both just God and
the justifier of all those who look to Christ alone for salvation. Jesus Christ is God and He has
infinite ability to save His people from all their sins. And
none, again, for whom Christ died will ever perish. They shall
be saved. They shall be saved. And for you who are the born-again
believer, they'll never be forsaken. They'll never be lost. Fear not. Fear not. So in light of what
we've looked at tonight from the scriptures, child of God,
fear not. Fear not. Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee for this wonderful time in your scriptures and these
words which speak to our hearts. We're so prone to fear and we're
so prone to anxiety and different things, oh Lord, but your scriptures
proclaim to us again and again that we are not to fear, Lord.
We are but to trust and rest and look to Thee. And we are
told this over and over again because we are so prone to it,
Lord. And we cry out, just as others have, Lord, help my unbelief.
Help me, Lord. Give me strength and grace just
to rest and trust in thee. May these words of scriptures
that we looked at tonight, may they be comfort to your people.
May they comfort us this week and in the weeks to follow, Lord.
We love you and we praise you. And we love you because you first
loved us in Jesus' name. Amen.