Our subject is consolation in
times of fear. Consolation in times of fear.
This subject is appropriate for my heart this morning and for
my family and for other families at this particular time. And
after this past Friday's visit to the oncologist, Our wife,
June, is scheduled for two types of chemotherapy taken together,
one in the peel form, one intravenously. It's a three week cycle and they
want to do eight of them, 24 weeks of it, about six months. And if successful, we were told
there would be 45% chance that she is cured. Well, I never told
the doctor. that my hope is not in chance. My hope is in Christ. And what
He does in this matter and every other matter will be right. But
that does not change the fact that there are concerns in my
heart, June's heart, our family's heart, and in your hearts as
our church family. And this is true concerning all
these other needs, request a prayer this morning. I just feel I need
to speak about this today. Consolation in times of fear. Isaiah 41. In the previous chapter,
chapter 40, it's a pivotal point in this book of Isaiah. The first
39 chapters are written before the captivity in Babylon. 70
years' captivity. And before that captivity, in
the first 39 chapters, with many warnings and much pleading with
Judah concerning their sins and rebellions against the Lord. But in the 40th chapter, at the
end of that captivity, chapter 40 begins with these words, Comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry to her that her warfare is accomplished, and that her
iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Now, in a discouraged, beaten
down condition, the Word of God through His prophet, after the
captivity, makes an immediate leap of 700 years forward to
the days of John the Baptist. You see, John the Baptist is
that voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So the very first words after
this captivity are these, Christ is coming. Christ is coming. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
And what a blessed message that is. Regardless of the type of
captivity you've been in or how long you've been there, or how
beat down you are, looking to Christ is the answer. He is the
answer. Every time. Every time. Now I
want to read three verses here in the 41st chapter. Isaiah 41,
verses 8 to 10. But thou, Israel, art my servant. Jacob, whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham, my friend, thou whom I have taken from the ends
of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and
said unto thee, thou art my servant. I have chosen thee and not cast
thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. The instruction in verse 10 is
fear thou not. Notice it's not don't fear much. But it's fear thou not, not at
all. But fear is a very real part
of our lives. There is no generation. There
is no age group that is exempt. All people have fears of many
kinds. One blessed thought is this,
before the fall, before sin entered the Garden of Eden, there was
no fear. No fear. Just try and imagine
a world without fear. We can't even imagine that, can
we? But in redemption, Christ has
removed some things. He's removed our shame. He's
removed our guilt. He would also remove our fears,
even in this life. Some people try to deal with
fear by denying it, denying on the surface that such fears exist. But denial is not the answer. It is only as the Spirit of God
quickens the Word of God in the heart of a child of God that
fears are dispelled. And in these verses we read,
verses 8 to 10 here in Isaiah 41, there is a threefold consolation
in these verses found in three two-word phrases. First, the
phrase, I have, which occurs three times. I am, which occurs
two times. and I will, which occurs three
times. And when you study the statements
of these verses, there is no greater consolation in times
of fear than to hear our God say repeatedly, I have, I am,
and I will. So first, let's look at the I
haves. of these verses, verses 8 and
9. The I have's of God's purpose,
we could call it. Now, he said here in verse 8,
but thou Israel art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen. The seed of Abraham, my friend. Now he's not talking to that
unbelieving rebellious Old Testament nation, but rather Jacob whom
I have chosen. Sinners who are God's elect. And verse 14, Jacob, thou worm
have I chosen. And it said here in verse eight,
the seed of Abraham, my friend. Not the seed of Abraham after
the flesh, but those possessing the faith of Abraham. The faith
of Abraham, my friend. Galatians 3, 7, Paul said, Know
ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. There was a crowd of those Old
Testament nation of Israel in the Lord's
day. And they said to him, you know,
we're Abraham seed. Don't talk to us about being
bondage. He said, no, if you was Abraham seed, you'd believe
in me. He believed in me. You're not Abraham seed. They
that are of faith. These are the children of Abraham. And so he says here, I have chosen. I have chosen. You as mine now. The religious
world around us today is so adamant and so defensive of the human
will to declare and contend that it's us who chose God. And yet
the Bible is very clear and open that it is He who chose us. You see, putting the ball in
our court leaves Satan all the ammunition he needs to cloud
your mind and heart with doubt as to question where you are
even God's child. What the devil will say to you
is that your so-called interest in Christ is of your making,
but it's not enough. It's not what it ought to be.
So you're not genuine. You hadn't really believed enough.
You hadn't really trusted enough. But when we go back to God's
word and read about the blessed truth of election, that God chose
us, that we love him because he first loved us. That is most
assuring to our believing hearts this morning. And that is why
Satan hates it. And he hates it. The Lord said,
I have chosen. Then I have taken from the ends
of the earth. I have taken from the ends of
the earth. Certainly God's elect are called
from the ends of the earth, from every kindred nation and tongue.
But there is a personal application here in this phrase, the ends
of the earth. It means the far regions. into which sin has taken you
as an individual, to the very ends of the earth, so to speak.
He has chosen us and He has called us from that helplessness and
that hopelessness that was ours by nature in Adam. I have chosen
thee, then I have affectionately called I have taken thee from
the ends of the earth. I came after you in all your
sin and shame and corruption and brought you to myself. Then
in the last statement of verse 9, we see the immutability of
God. In spite of us, the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. Look what he says. I have chosen
thee. and will not cast thee away."
Have we not all given Him plenty of reason to cast us away? Oh,
yes, we have. Oh, yes, we have. But God's commitment
to His children is not based on our conduct. It's based on
His character. He is immutable. His irreversible
choice and calling We'll continue and we'll conquer and we'll consummate
with every single one of His children conformed to the very
image of His Son. God is not a quitter, that's
all I'm saying. God is not a quitter. What He has done will never be
undone. What He is doing will never be
canceled. He will never abort a mission.
He will never disown one of his own. So I take consolation today
in that. I can fear not in that I have
in my heart a firm conviction that God has never messed up. He has never acted in ignorance
of anything or anyone involved. He's never regretted anything
he's done. But he who decreed the end from
the beginning is still on plan A. He don't have a plan B. Talking about my God who does
everything right, who does everything right. Now in verse 10, secondly,
let's look at the I am's. The I am's. The I am of his presence. He said, fear thou not for I
am with thee. And then there's the I am of
his person. He said, be not dismayed for
I am thy God. Two I am's. Now these two I am's,
they cover within and without. And he's saying, fear not within,
in your heart, for I am with you. I'm there. And then he says,
be not dismayed without looking at all that's going on around
you on the outside, for I am thy God. We have his presence. I am with you. And I think we
don't meditate on that. We don't thank God enough for
that, that he's never left us and never will leave us. I am
with you. Like the disciples at sea, the
fierceness of the storm causes us to forget that he's on board. He's on board our ship, but he's
sleeping. And obviously, He doesn't even
care that we're perishing. You know that story. But they
had forgotten one thing. They had forgotten His words
before they started. Before they ever left the shore.
He had said, let us, together, let us pass over unto the other
side. There was no mention of a storm.
But there was a storm. There was no mention of perishing,
but the disciples thought there were perishing. What there was
mention of was the other side. Jesus said, we're going to the
other side. Now what all's involved between
here and the other side is another story. It's a shocking story. It's a disturbing story. Sometimes
disappointing. Fearful, but hey, the good news
is Jesus said, we're going to the other side. The other side. That's where we're headed. And
we will reach the shore. He is with us. I am with thee. Then he says here, be not dismayed
at the world and all the troubles and all that's going on around
you. For I am thy God. I am thy God. Now, by the way,
this is the same I am that sent Moses back down to Egypt to confront
Pharaoh and to say, let my people go. The Lord did that. He got that
multitude out of Egypt. Yet we wonder if he's got any
energy left. Wonder if he has just a little
power left to help me in my little world. Well, he does. He does. He says, I am thy God. I am thy
God. Now, at the end of the Babylonian
captivity, the setting of this text, God is saying this in contrast
to the false gods and the idle gods of Babylon. which have no
power, which nothing but dumb idols. In contrast to that, he
says to his people, I am thy God. I am thy God. And that's what he would say
to us this morning. It is hard for us not to look
at how big the devil is in this hour. I don't want a show of
hands, but how many of you have been thinking about how big the
devil is? Yeah, that's where our fear comes from. But you see, when we're thinking
about how big the devil is, we've stopped thinking about how big
our God is. And that's what we ought to be
thinking about. I am thy God. I am thy God. And he's not telling
us to deny our trouble. or to ignore our trouble. Only
a fool does that. But he reminds us that we're
not in it alone. I am with thee. And he reminds
us that we have a big God. He says, I am thy God. Oh, don't be blown away by the
seeming impossible odds. Be not dismayed. Be not surprised. Be not carried away or disillusioned
by that. I am thy God. I am. Then in verse 10, we have three
I wills. Three I wills. We had the three
I haves. I have chosen thee. Call thee. Will not cast thee away. Two
I ams. I am with thee. I am thy God.
Now three I wills. And in these we see that God
surely knows all about us. He knows our weakness, and He
promises, I will strengthen thee. He knows our helplessness, and
He promises, I will help thee. He knows our feebleness and our
faintness, And he promises, I will uphold thee. He knows us. He
knows us. So much for our pretense to be
strong. We're not strong. So much for our religion that
don't need the Lord that bad. We do need him very bad. Very,
very bad. We know of the many times in
scripture and in our own lives that the Lord has delivered and
has healed and has calmed our fears by fixing things for us. But there's something much more
important than the Lord fixing things for us. And that is fixing us for things. Usually, it's not things that
need fixing. It's us. You remember when David's baby
was dying? His heart was torn. And he cried to the Lord to fix
the situation. But what the Lord fixed was David's
heart. His own heart needed fixing. And many times ours do. But I'm
glad to report this morning our God is the great heart fixer. And how blessed it is to have
the Lord fix our thinking and our hearts, give us comfort and
grace, And we're able to say, as David did in the Psalm, my
heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. Hard
as this is, bad as the outlook is, Lord, you can't do wrong. I'm trusting you. My heart is
fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I
will sing and give praise. We're pilgrims and strangers.
in this world. We forget that. We forget that. The book of Hebrews said in the
11th chapter, concerning that list of faithful ones from the
beginning, starting in that chapter with Abel, then Enoch, then Noah,
then Abraham, then Sarah, then you come on down there at about
the 13th verse in Hebrews 11, The Bible says these all died
in faith. They died in faith. Not having received the promises. What was the promise they were
looking for? What God would do about our sins. That's what. But they believed it. They embraced
it. were persuaded of it, the Bible
says, and died in faith. Died in faith. And they confessed that we're strangers and pilgrims
in this world. The Bible went on to say that
they looked for another country. One without sin. one in the presence
of the Lord." He said, had they been mindful of
this country, they might have had opportunity to return. But
no, they were not mindful of this. But they died in faith. Died in faith. The saints used
to sing that old song, this world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. But
what do we sing nowadays? Huh? This world is my home. And I want to get all I can,
and can all I get, and stay as long as I can, and be in charge
while I'm here. That's what we're saying nowadays.
But no, the song of the saint says, this
world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. Things change. I fear change. I fear change in this flesh.
And so do you. But our consolation is this in
these verses. Our God has said, I have. I have chosen you. I have called
you from the far ends of the earth. I have brought you out
of that darkness you were in. I have chosen you and I will
not cast you away ever. You're my project and I won't
quit. I have chosen you." And then
he said, I am. I am. I am with you. I'm not just looking
your way from afar. Our God does not see us this
morning as distant failures, but he said, I am with you. I
am with you. I'm not everybody's God, but
I am thy God. I'm your God. And then he said, here's my statement
of commitment to you. Here's my promise to you. You
don't really need any other word. You have my word on it. Here's
what God says to us. I will strengthen thee. in all thy troubles. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I
will uphold thee. Three I wills. God never says
I hope to, I'll try to, I wish I could if you'd let me. He says I will three times. I will strengthen thee. I will
help thee. I will uphold thee. By what authority? With the right hand of my righteousness. God is righteous. He does right. You remember Abraham asked him
concerning Sodom, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Yeah, he'll do right. He'll do
right. He did right in delivering his
child, Lot. And he did right in putting the
rest of the mess in hell. He'll do right. He's too good to do wrong. He's too wise to make a mistake.
So in this text, God does not say to us, fear not in your own
strength. That's impossible. And I catch
myself trying to do it. He does not say, Fear not in
what you see and feel. We can't handle that. No, it's
too dreadful. It's too painful. It's too fearful. But he says, fear thou not because
I have done some things because of who I am and because of what
I will do. I have chosen you, called you,
changing you and I won't quit on you. I will not cast you away. I am with thee. I am thy God. And I promise you this, our promises to each other may
fail and sometimes do. But God's promises to us won't
fail. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee, I will uphold
thee. I might promise you I'll do my
best, and my best not be good enough. But God promises to His children,
I'll give you my best, and His best is enough, and always will
be. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness." That's my life verse, Isaiah 41.10. Stand with me.