Mike told me a few minutes ago,
he said, I don't know if the old man can do that tonight.
He did just fine. He did very well for a young
man. All right, Isaiah 41. I've been mulling this scripture
over my mind for a number of weeks and thinking on it and meditating
on it. And there's some precious promises
in these verses. Promises that are made to the
people of God who are in times of trial and trouble. I've been
thinking on these verses because so many of our number here and
friends elsewhere are going through very deep waters, troubled waters,
hard, hard times. And I thought It's always been
this way. It's hard for me to think back
over the years to a time that it wasn't this way. That our
friends and brethren are in difficult times. But these promises that
we're going to look at this evening are made by God to people, His
people, who are in times of trouble. If you look back in chapter 40,
verse 27, here's the people that these promises are made to. He
says, Why sayest thou, O Jacob, And speakest thou Israel, my
way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from
my God. You think that you're in this
trial and the Lord doesn't know that you're in it? You think
that he doesn't care that you're in this trial? You think he doesn't
have the power to prevent it or deliver you from this trial?
Is that what you think? He says in verse 28, Hast thou
not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord and Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There
is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, even the best flesh, the strongest
flesh, shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and
not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." And then,
to those people who are in this trial, in chapter 41, he gives
us precious promises of comfort. And first, he begins to warn
idolaters. And he gives them a warning,
and if you'll skip over to verse 6 in chapter 41. And they helped
everyone his neighbor, and everyone said to his brother, Be of good
courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth
with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying, It's ready
for the soldering. And he fastened it with nails,
that it should not be moved. See, people who worship the idols,
they go through troubles of this life too, just like you do. And
they encourage one another when they go through troubles and
trials. Much the same way we do. And they encourage one another
by saying, well, make you another idol. Just make you another one.
And they, you know, make this idol and they nail it to the
wall, to the shelf so it won't fall off. Look over in Psalm
115. Here's what they're making right
here. Psalm 115. And then they use that idol to
encourage one another. It's Psalm 115, verse 4. Their
idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have
mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but
they smell not. They have hands, but they handle
not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they
through their throat. They're dead. And they put their
trust in this infinite idol that they've nailed to the wall and
expect that idol to show them the way of life. But the idol's
dead. You can't show them the way of
life. They got that idol nailed to the shelf and expect that
idol to protect them and lead them and guide them. But it can't
move. It's got feet, but it can't walk.
It's got hands, but it can't handle. It's powerless. And that's
a sad situation that they find themselves in when they're tossed
in the sea of life. But that's not the situation
God's people are in. Now that's the opposite side
of the coin from God's people, because look at verse 8 in Isaiah
41. But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Now
we are the servant, God's people, believers, are God's servants. We serve the living God. We're
not the servant of sin anymore, we're not the servant of self
or flesh, we're the servant of God. And there's a big reason
to be thankful that we're the servant of God. Because if you're
the servant of God, you're made so by the power of God. That
takes the power of God. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
1. If you're a servant of God, give
thanks. That took the power of God. 1
Thessalonians 1 verse 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. As you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake, and you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word and much affliction
with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that your example is to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith that God were to spread abroad. so
that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned
to God. Look at everything they did,
how their faith was spread abroad. They're God's servants. They
turned to God for miles to serve, to be a servant of the true and
living God. Well, how'd that happen? Because
our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but also in power. That took the power of God to
make you a servant of God. And I tell you, there's no higher
calling than to be a servant of God, not to serve this flesh
anymore, not to be a slave to sin, but a servant of the living
God. And we become servants of God
by the power of God. And because God chose you, see
what he says here? He says, Thou Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen. I chose you. This is God's election.
God chose a people. to redeem. He elected them, put
them in His Son. And all of us, everyone that
God chose, are described by the name Jacob. Every one of us is
just like Jacob. Just exactly like him. We're
sinful. We're unworthy. We're sneaky. Work every angle. I mean, before we'd ever ask
for mercy, we would work every single angle that we could find.
Just a con man. I bet you not many people in
the town where Jacob grew up liked him. He was sneaky. He
was just a con man. He was a mama's boy. He wasn't
a man's man. He wasn't somebody you respect.
But God chose Jacob anyway. That's who God chose was Jacob.
He passed others by, but he chose Jacob. And our calling and our
election is just like our brother Jacob. If God chose us, it is. First, God loved us. from the foundation of the world.
From the beginning, before we were ever born, just like Jacob.
Before Jacob was ever born, he said, Jacob have I loved, and
Esau have I hated. Loved him before the world was.
Second, we're like Jacob because God chose us in Christ from the
beginning. Before the world ever was, before
we were born, God chose Jacob. Romans chapter 9. Romans 9, verse 10, And not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand, is not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. He chose Jacob before
the world was. It's not of works, it's of God's
choosing. Third, our calling is like Jacob's. God revealed
the way of life to everyone that God's elected. He has revealed
Christ as the way of life, just like he did to Jacob at Bethel.
When Jacob had that dream and saw the ladder that touched the
earth and reached to heaven and angels going up and down it,
that's Christ, the way of life revealed to Jacob, just like
it was revealed to you. Christ is the way of life. But when God called Jacob, he
didn't leave Jacob alone. Jacob was a changed man. He walked
with a limp for the rest of his life, and he got a new name,
Israel, a prince with God. And he calls us Jacob here, but
he also calls us Israel. He says, you're Israel, my servant. We got a new name, spiritual
Israel. We have a new name because we
got a new nature. That new nature doesn't match
Jacob anymore. A new nature. Israel, prince
with God. And fifth, we're like Jacob in
this way. I guarantee you this, God will keep you all the way
to the end, just like he did Jacob. You're going to cross
a lot of stormy seas. You're going to go through these
trials that we're talking about here, but you're going to come
out safe. I guarantee it, because God's
going to see to it. He'll keep you safe to the end.
So you're Jacob, whom I've chosen. And then he says, you're the
seed of Abraham, my friend. Well, you know the seed of Abraham.
He's talking about the spiritual seed of Abraham. Well, how do
you know that you're the seed of Abraham? Well, you do the
works of Abraham. You believe God. That's the children
of Abraham are people who believe God like Abraham believed God.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
And you're like Abraham, a friend of God. What more could we ever want
than to be called the friend of God? You talk about having
friends in high places. This is a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. And these are the people that
these promises are made to. These promises aren't made to
everybody in the whole wide world. They're made to those who are
God's servants. Those whom God has chosen. Those
who are the seed of Abraham. These are the people that these
promises are made to. He goes on in verse 9. He says,
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." Now let me ask you
a question. Why are you here tonight? Why
did you bother coming out in the middle of the week to come
here tonight? I suspect many of you will say, because I need
to be fed. I have a desire to worship the
Lord. I believe the gospel. I want to hear it. Well, then
why is that? Why do you believe the gospel?
Why do you want to worship the Lord? Because God called you. That's why. Because God called
you first. The evidence of God's calling
is you believe the gospel. The evidence of God's calling
is you want to worship Him. If God Almighty has called you,
you will worship Him. That's your desire to worship
Him. And he's called you. Now, he didn't call many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. He called
Jacob's. That's who he called. Just Jacob.
And when the Lord calls you, he makes you his servant. He
says, you're my servant. You're my people. You're my friends. And he says, I will not cast
thee away. Won't do it. I will not cast
you away. I know. that you're in time of
trial. I know you're filled with sorrow
and uncertainty, but he will never cast you away. Never. Look at 2 Corinthians
4. 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 8. We're troubled. on every side. I'm not saying
that this is just, you know, a smooth sailing. We're troubled
on every side. Trouble, trial, tribulation,
yet not distressed. We're perplexed, confused, don't
know why things are happening this way, but we're not in despair.
Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. You're going through these trials,
but you're not cast away because of God's promise. He will never
cast off those he foreknew. Those He called will never cast
them out. These are His children. And every
child of God is dear to Him. Every single one of them. And
that ought to encourage us. Let's find some comfort to endure
these trials patiently and to not be afraid of our enemies.
Because look what He says here in our text in verse 10. Fear thou not. That's the title of the message,
Fear Thou Not. I looked this up yesterday, we're
told in Scripture to fear not or fear ye not 85 times. 85 times, fear not, fear not,
fear not, fear not. Sounds to me like we've got a
problem with fear. We've got a lot of things we're
afraid of. I mean, a lot of things we're
afraid of, Dad. We're afraid of the unknown. We're afraid
of judgment. We know from Scripture, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Yet there is some trepidation about the judgment. We're afraid
of our enemies. We're afraid of getting old and
feeble. When I was a boy, I had a paper route. And I was afraid
of dogs. I mean petrified. I had two dogs
on that route that were mean, that tried to kill me every single
time I went by. I lived in constant fear of dogs.
Fear, fear, fear. Just live with fear. Well, you
know how it is we came to be afraid? Look at Genesis 3. Here is how we came to be afraid. Adam's sin. Genesis 3, verse 9. And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice
in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid
myself. Now, Adam, you never wore clothes. You've always been naked. Why
are you afraid now? He said. He fell in fear over
Canaan, and we've lived with it ever since. Fear comes because
of sin. All of our fear is a result of
a sin nature. But in God's Word, He gives us
the remedy for our fear. And that remedy is our God. Who He is, what He's done, what
He's already done for us, and what He's promised to do. Who
He is. That's our remedy for fear. He says, fear thou not. Well, why not? Looks to me like
I've got a lot of things to be afraid of. Fear thou not. What
does He say? Fear thou not. For I am with
thee. I am with thee. Not I will be
with thee. When the waters start getting
rough, I am with thee. He's always with His people.
I'm with thee. You know, one thing I hear people
talk about the most that they're afraid of, especially as we age,
is afraid of being alone. No child of God is ever alone
because I am with thee. That's so. Now, this just isn't
this a whole lot more in the presence of God that's everywhere. We know God is omnipresent. God's
everywhere. You will never go anywhere that
God's not already there. He's everywhere at the same time.
I can only be in one place at one time. Here I am. I'm not
at home. I'm not out on the road. I'm
not at work. I'm here. God's everywhere. He's everywhere at
the same time. But this is a whole lot more
than that. This is the Lord being with you in a special way, a
way of grace. To be with you to supply your
needs. To be with you to comfort your
heart. To be with you to strengthen you. With you to encourage you. With you to protect you. And
you know that judgment we're afraid of? He's already gone. He's already gone there. And
He'll stand for you at judgment and say, not guilty. He's not
guilty. I'm with you. And you know, we
ought not look at the things that might happen and be afraid. Yeah, we do that. Well, you know,
this might happen. We spend all this time worrying
about what might happen. When what we ought to be doing
is looking at the one who certainly is with you. Don't think about
what might happen. Think of the things that are
certain. I am with you. That will calm our fears if He's
with us. Don't look at all the things that are against you that
make you afraid. Look at the One who's with you.
Look at the One who's for you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be with us, what's their
fear? I'll be with you. He goes on. He says, Be not dismayed, for
I am thy God. That word dismayed means broken
in spirit. Our spirit is broken because
we're so afraid. Everything that I fear never
goes away. It's just relentless around me. Why shouldn't I fear and eventually
just become dismayed, broken in spirit? For I am thy God. That's why. For I am thy God.
Now, the amount of comfort that you draw from that statement
depends entirely on how big your God is. Now, who is He? He's God, God Almighty. Now, is God on the throne or
isn't He? It's one or the other. Is He on the throne or not? Well,
if He's on the throne, what do we have to fear? Does God have
the power to perform His will or doesn't He? Which is, is He
going to perform His will or not? Well, if He's going to perform
His will, then what do we have to fear? Does God have the wisdom
to do what's right? Is He going to make a mistake?
Am I going through this trial because He made a mistake? Or
did He do what's right? Well, if He's got wisdom, what
have I got to fear? Is His grace sufficient? Is it
or isn't it? Is His grace sufficient? I'm
telling you the truth, Mike, His grace is sufficient. We don't
have any reason to fear. His grace is sufficient. Then
we won't dismay, for I am thy God. And he goes on, he says,
I will strengthen thee. I'll strengthen thee. Frequently, we're afraid. We're
afraid of the trial that we're about to go through. We're afraid
of a trial that we know at some point we'll face in our life.
We're afraid of the trial that we're in. And we think I can't
do this. We face sickness. Death. We face loss. Uncertain future. And we think, I can't do this. And it scares us to death. Well,
you're right. You can't do it. Absolutely right. You can't. But the promise of
our God is, I will strengthen thee. When the Lord sends the
trial, He is the one that sends the trial. When He sends the
trial, He sends the grace and the strength to bear the trial. And then He says, I will help
thee. Fear not, for I will help thee. Now, this isn't the kind
of helper that would just come up and do the things we can't
do. You know, you do everything you can do and they'll help you
do the rest. Our helper does everything for us. Absolutely
everything. Look at Hebrews 13. This is our
helper, Hebrews 13. Verse five, let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. I'm with thee. So that we may
boldly say, the Lord is my helper. Now, what do we say if the Lord's
my helper? I will not fear what man shall do unto me. If the
Lord's my helper, I won't fear anything if he's my helper. And
this word help also means someone who comforts and supports. That's our Savior. One who comforts
and supports. And if God's our help, there's
nothing to fear. If He's our help. Then He says,
He goes on, He says, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness. Now that could mean the all-powerful
right hand of God who will uphold us. And certainly that's true.
But this right hand of His righteousness that He's talking about here
is a person. It's not an arm. It's a person.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The right hand of God's righteousness. And He's the one who upholds
us. Now, remember, fear comes from
sin. That's the only reason we have
fear at all, is because there's sin in us. If there were no sin,
there'd be no fear. And we're full of sin. That's
why we have fear, because we're full of sin. But Christ, the
right hand of God's righteousness, came to put that sin away. And I'm telling you, that sin's
gone. There's no more reason to fear because sin is gone. Now that sin still remains in
us. I'm not saying that the sin in
us is gone. It's gone from God's sight. But
there's still sin that remains in us. That's why there's still
fear. But there's coming a day when the presence of that sin
will be gone forever and there'll be no more fear. No more fear
at all. And it'll happen. We'll enjoy
that with a certainty. We will enjoy that because of
the work of Christ, our substitute, the right hand of God's righteousness.
And I promise you, if Christ is the one who's holding you
up, you will never fall. Never. You will never fail because
He will never fail. He's God's servant, mine elect.
He shall not fail. And if He's holding you, you
won't fail either. Now, are you alone? God says. I am with thee. Are you broken
in spirit? I am thy God. Do you not have
anyone to help you? I will help thee. Are you sinking? Just sinking under the waves
of your sin, of your fear of this world? Are you sinking like
Peter was sinking? I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. What about all my enemies? I've
got a lot of enemies. What about all them? Both within
and without I have enemies. What about them? Look at verse
11. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee, they shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing. They that strive with thee shall
perish. Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, even
them that contended with thee. They that war against thee shall
be as nothing and as a thing of naught. All of your enemies
are going to end up ashamed, utterly destroyed. You'll look
for them. And you won't be able to find
them. You'll think, where did those fellows go? They were attacking
me all the time. They're gone. And you know why? Because if the Lord's your God,
your enemies are His enemies. They're your enemies because
they hate Him. That's why they're your enemies. And He will destroy
every enemy. You know that. The battle's not
yours, but God's. Those idols that these fellows
nail to the wall will help them. But your God will. He'll help
you and He'll put an end to His enemies. And while the battle's
raging, we will not fear. Look at verse 13. For I, the
Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear
not, I will help thee. Now this hand holding that the
prophet's talking about, this is a A close, intimate way to
hold someone's hand, like a parent holds the hand of a child. The
way we hold it, lovingly and protectively holding their hand,
their little hand in our hand. You know, children are never
afraid if they're holding their daddy's hand. Just not afraid. If you're holding daddy's hand,
everything's okay because my daddy's bigger than the whole
world. That's what we think, you know, when we're little.
There's just no fear. And they might get a little worried,
and you're just holding their hand, and they're a little, say,
it's all right, I've got you, it's okay. And they just come
right along. That's what our Heavenly Father
is telling us. In our fear, we ought not. Now, we ought not fear, but we
do. And He says, it's all right,
I've got you. I'm holding your hand, it's all
right, come on. That's the way He's telling us. Look at John
10. He's holding us in His hand. So we will not fear. John 10,
verse 28. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. We're
in his hand. There's no fear. No fear. But
maybe, you know, we have those enemies within, too. Maybe we
fear ourselves. We fear that we would leave Christ. We would leave Him. Just like
the disciples, when the Lord told them, one of you is going
to betray me, they all feared. They said, Lord, is it I? We
fear. Just like a child would wander
off in the mall and get lost. They would. You just open the
door and let them go. They're going to get lost. And
you're going to be frantically looking for them. So what do
we do? We hold their hand so they won't wander off and get
lost. And you're right, we would wander
off and get lost. But our Heavenly Father is holding
our hand so that we won't. He's holding our hands. It's
alright. See, He takes care of all of our fears without and
within. He takes care of all of our fears.
There's no need to fear when our Father is holding our hand.
Now, verse 14, he says, Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and ye
men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Now, he says, Fear
not thou worm, Jacob. And you know very well that word
worm is maggots. Now, that's pretty disgusting.
Maggots. Seems to me like we've got a
lot to fear. Because everybody everywhere
wants to exterminate maggots just as fast as they can. A maggot
is easily crushed and done away with. And maggots show our ugly,
rotten, sin nature that feeds on putrid flesh. That's what we are. And that's
where all this fear comes from, is this being a maggot. But God
tells sinful maggots, like you and me, Jacob, He says, Fear
not. Our Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, says, I will help thee. Now, how is He going to help
me? How is He going to help a maggot like me? Look at Psalm 22. This is the psalm of the cross.
All the old writers say that the Lord Jesus recited this psalm
as He hung on the cross. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? 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. But I am a worm and no man of
reproach of men and despised of the people. This is the Savior
speaking. I am a worm. Our Savior became
what we are so that we would have no reason to fear. He became
a worm. He called himself a maggot. He
called himself what I am. Our Helper went so far. He promised,
now I'm going to help you. He went so far to help us that
he became what we are. So we can become what he is.
See, our helper did everything for us. When he says, I will
help thee, it's done. I will help thee. I will do it.
Now, I read this last night, this is very, very interesting.
Talking, this is talking about a female scarlet worm, some sort
of a kind of a maggot, a female scarlet worm. When the female
of this scarlet maggot was ready to give birth to her young, she
would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself
so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again.
The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until
the larvae are hatched and able to enter into their own life
cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body
and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such
female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were
extracted. And that's such a clear picture
of Christ. He became a worm. He affixed
himself to Calvary's tree. Those Roman soldiers didn't affix
him to that tree. He affixed himself to that tree
and shed his blood and died so that we can live in him. Our
life comes from his death, from his death as a worm. as our substitute. Now, if our Savior went that
far to redeem you, you can bank on this. He will never cast you
out. Never. You think of the lengths
He went to redeem you. He's not casting you out. Not
a chance. And every reason that we have
to fear not is because of our God. It's never what we've done. It's never what we will do. It's
always what he's done. Over and over again here he says,
I will. I am with thee. I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will
help thee. I will hold thy hand. And look
at verse 15. I'm going to quit. We'll just
read these verses. But as we read, notice the I wills. What God's going to do here that
removes our fear. Behold, I will make thee a new
sharp threshing instrument, having teeth. 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. When the
poor and needy," boy, is that us? When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongues faileth for thirst,
I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. I will open rivers in high places
and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.
I'm going to give them the water of life. I will plant in the
wilderness the cedar and the shitted tree and the myrtle and
the oil tree. I will set in the desert the
fir tree and the pine and the box tree together that they may
see and know and consider and understand. Now we see this scripture. We know it's so. Let's consider
it and understand it and feed on it. Understand together what? That the hand of the Lord hath
done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. Fear
thou not.