Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah 41. Look at verse 10. Verse 10 of Isaiah 41. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I'll strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Lord willing, this will serve as our text for this evening, this one verse of scripture. And just a few questions I'd like to answer from this passage.

And the first one is this, who? Who should not fear? Who is this promise to? Who is this command to? If you look back at verse eight of the same chapter, it says, but thou Israel. Thou Israel art my servant. Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend." Who should not fear? Is this just a blanket promise to all? Pretty specific, isn't it, who this is written to? He says, Israel, my servant. That's not the nation Israel. This speaks of true Israel.

Israel's a reference to all of God's elect. Jew, Gentile, the whole Israel of God shall be saved. Over in Romans chapter 11, if you want to turn there, Romans 11, Look beginning with verse 25. Here we read, verse 25, Romans 11, I would not brethren that you be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel. That's natural Israel. until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so, all Israel, and that's again, that's spiritual Israel, that's God's elect, all Israel shall be saved.

As it's written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer. Who is that Deliverer? It's Christ. And shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, again, a reference to God's elect people. God's elect people scattered among the nations of this world, all of them. And it says right here they're going to be saved. Well, Israel, God's elect, has no reason to fear. We just read that in Romans 11, all Israel shall be saved." God's true Israel, a covenant people. Abraham's spiritual seed, they shall be saved.

Well, we read here in our text, he says, Jacob, here's another one, Jacob whom I have chosen. Chosen. Who did the choosing there? God did, didn't He? God chose Jacob. Not the other way around. God chose a people and He chose them in His Son. He chose them in Christ. God chose us. We didn't choose Him. We have no, apart from Christ, apart from His calling, we have no interest in Him. Man by nature hates God. God chose a people. Chose them from the beginning. Chosen before they did anything. Chose a people for reasons not found in them, but rather in Him. Explain that.

Known unto God are all His works from the beginning. Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. We read that when Rebecca had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good, having done any evil, but that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, I say that again, not of works, but of him that calleth.

He said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Jacob, Jacob chosen by God in everlasting love. Who has no reason to fear? Jacob. God's chosen people have no reason to fear. And then we read this, another description of those who have no reason to fear.

In fact, this is a command not to fear. It's the seed of Abraham. He says, the seed of Abraham, my friend. My friend, listen to the words of our Lord over in John 15, 15. He said, henceforth, I call you not servants. For the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But he said, I've called you friends. I've called you friends for all things that I've heard of my father, I have made known unto you.

How can an enemy be made a friend? There's only one explanation, and that's found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, a friend is loved. That's what's great about a friend. We love a friend, don't we? They're taken into our confidence, they're taken into our consideration, And Christ has made known to us, He's made known to His friends something of His glory. He's made known unto His friends His gospel, His word, God's purpose. Listen to just a few verses of Scripture here. It says this, God's Word declares, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And listen, he was called, he was called the friend of God.

Exodus 33.11, the Lord spake unto Moses face to face. Now you think about this, he spoke to him face to face as a man speaketh to his friend. The Lord Jesus Christ, what was he called? He was called the friend of publicans and sinners. And his friends are commanded not to fear. Look at verse nine again, Isaiah 41.

He said, I've taken you from the ends of the earth. I've called you from the chief men thereof and said unto thee, thou art my servant. I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. You're my servant. You know, a servant, a good servant's interested in his father's will, isn't he? That bond servant we read back in Exodus, remember what he said?

He said, I love my, he could have went free. He could have went and served somebody else. He could have went and served himself. That wasn't his desire, was it? He said, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free. Let me just abide here as a servant. We read, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. That's a servant. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. You content to be a servant? Are we content to be a servant? Lord, make me A servant.

He said this, he said, I've chosen thee. What'd he do? He chose thee. He chose a people in Christ. The words of that hymn, Lord, tis not that I did choose you, that I know could never be, for this heart would still refuse you, had you in your grace not chosen me. a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people upon the face of the earth."

And then he says this, he said, I have not cast thee away. We've given him every reason to, haven't we? if we're truthful. We've given Him every reason to cast us away, but He hasn't. He said, I will not cast thee away. A people that He will never leave and a people that He will never forsake. Well, back to our text. Again, Isaiah 41 verse 10.

Fear thou not. Here's the second question. What is the cause of fear? Why are we fearful? You know, the first time fear is mentioned in the Bible was right after the fall, right after Adam fell. Turn to Genesis 3. Verse nine. Genesis three, verse nine. Here we read, the Lord God called unto Adam.

And he said to him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice. Adam said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you you were naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? What caused that fear? We read nothing of it before.

Sin. Sin. Disobedience to God. And Adam now, instead of that harmony and unity and oneness with God, he now fears God. In 1 John we read this, there is no fear in love. There's none. No fear in love. But perfect love casteth out fear. Fear hath torment, and he that feareth is not made perfect in love." We've sinned against God. And on this subject of fear, we see examples of it throughout God's Word. We're all subject to it, all subject to fear.

You know, David, I think of David, and you would think David would be just fearless, just absolutely fearless. The man that fought that giant Goliath. And David was, he was surrounded, obviously he was surrounded by cowards, Because here he is and he looks around at all those people and he says, is there not a cause? Here this man defies the army of the living God and we just sit around and take it. Is there not a cause? And David charged into battle and he slew Goliath, took Goliath's sword from him and cut his head off. Turn with me to 1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel 21. Look at verse 10. 1 Samuel 21 verse 10. David arose and fled that day.

Why? Because he feared Saul. And he went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him, and dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid up these words in his heart, and he was sore afraid, sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.

So fearful, so fearful that he changed his behavior before then. He acted like he was a, David acted like he was a madman. Look at that. He feigned himself mad in their hands and he scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let a little spittle fall down his beard. And he said, Achish, to his servants, Lo, you see, this man is mad. Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need a madman that you brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this man come into my house?"

Fearful. Fearful. Even David. And we could just go through God's Word and find example after example. But we would find this to be true. The best of men. The best of them, or at best, still just men, aren't they? And as a result of that, we suffer from doubt. We suffer from fear. We suffer from trouble because of our sinful selves, because of our lack of faith.

The Lord spoke to His disciples. Remember that, when they were on that little ship out there on the water? And that tempest came. And the waves beat on that ship. And the Lord, the Lord who is sinless, He's asleep. Asleep on a pillow. And they woke Him up. And they asked, like we do, a foolish question. Carest thou not that we perish?

And he stood, and he rebuked the wind, and he rebuked the sea, and he said, peace, be still. And when he did that, what happened next? There was a great calm. And then he looked at his disciples and he said to them, imagine all the miracles they had seen, imagine all the great works they had seen our Lord do in person. They didn't just read about it, they saw it. And he looked at them and he said, why are you so fearful? How is it, how is it that you have No faith.

Well, third point, again, Isaiah 41.10. Here's a command. Here's a command concerning fear. Three words. Fear thou not. fear thou not." In Genesis 15, the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, fear not Abraham, don't be afraid, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

God spoke to Hagar out of heaven. Remember that? The bond woman had to be cast out, her son. She was crying. Our Lord said, what aileth thee, Hagar? Before she could say a word, he said this, fear not. Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. God spoke to Jacob. He said, fear not to go down into Egypt Fear not, for I will make thee a great nation. Most are familiar with that scene there at the Red Sea, the children of Israel. God's gonna deliver His people. He promised to deliver them. And here comes the army of Pharaoh. Army of Pharaoh on one side, the Red Sea on the other.

We find ourselves in that position, don't we? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Fear not. Fear not. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you this day. In Deuteronomy 20, Moses speaks to the children of Israel. And they're given some instruction. They're about ready to go into battle. And this is what they're told. God said, say unto them, hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not your heart faint. Fear not. Do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. What's the command?

Fear thou not. over and over in scripture. I don't know about you, but as a young boy, I can remember my parents having to repeat some things to me over and over and over again. We have to be reminded, don't we? We have to be told. Fear thou not. Well, look back at our text one more time. Isaiah 41, 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, 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.

Who is it that's not to fear? God's people, isn't it? What's the cause of fear? It's our sin. It's our lack of faith. Third, we see the command not to fear. Fear thou not. And fourth, Here we see a number of reasons why we should not fear. Let's look at a few of them with just what little time we have left here. First, he says this. He said, I am with thee. That phrase, I am with thee, it means together. It means union. We have a living, personal, vital, intimate union with Christ. The believer is one with Him.

So much one that we are made the very righteousness of God in Him. It's a mighty good reason not to fear, isn't it? Listen to this passage of Scripture. It says this, that as He is, as He is, how is He? He's exalted. He's seated in the heavens at the right hand of the majesty on high. As He is, so are we in this world. Paul writing to the Ephesians, he said, He hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Here's another reason in our text. He says, I'm God. I am thy God. God who rules and reigns. God who is sovereign in all things. God who orders and directs all things. In Psalm 118 verse 5, David said, I called upon the Lord in distress. And he heard me. And he set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can do unto me.

Do you still have Isaiah 41.10? He says, I'll strengthen thee. If God is the strength of His people, and He is, is there any need to be fearful of anyone or anything?

He says, I will Help thee. That means to surround and defend. A promise to help his people. You know, we could make promises. I could make promises to you, and you could make promises to me, and we'd never fulfill them. God's faithful to do what He promised. That which He promised, He'll bring it to pass. Let me just read to you from the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 4.16, it says, let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I will help thee.

And then we read again here in Isaiah 41.10, I will uphold thee. I will uphold thee. That word uphold, it means to seize. It means to lay hold of.

I can't help read that and not think of Peter when he walked on the water. to our Lord. Turn there to Matthew 14. Matthew 14. Verse 25, Matthew 14, verse 25. In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled.

They were troubled. They said, it's a spirit. And they cried out for fear. There it is again. They cried out for fear. But straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer. It's I. Don't be afraid. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if thou bid me, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. And the Lord said to him, come.

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. And when he saw the wind, boisterous, he was afraid. And he began to sink, and he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately, immediately, the Lord Jesus Christ stretched out his hand, and he caught him. And he said to him, O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased, and then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, and saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. He upheld Peter, didn't He? He seized Him. He laid hold of Him.

Well, quickly, back to Isaiah 41.10. I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness. Any question who that is? The right hand of his righteousness, his almighty power? Son of God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. That one seated at God's right hand. Jesus Christ, who is the very, he's the righteousness of his people.

And by his providence and by his grace, he protects and he preserves and he keeps his people. When trial and temptation are great, he'll preserve them. He'll preserve them to the end. with thee. Fear thou not, I am with thee. Union in Christ. Fear thou not, I am thy God. Fear thou not, I will strengthen thee. Fear thou not, I will help thee. Fear thou not, I will uphold thee. all of these things in Christ, in our Savior. Listen to that command just one more time. It's simple, isn't it? Fear thou not. Lord, enable us to do so. All right, Isaac, come lead us in a closing hymn.