Isaiah 41, verse 10. 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. Behold, all they that are incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and 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. For I, the Lord thy
God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I
will help thee. 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. 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 seek water, and there is none, and their tongue
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 will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the shitter 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. They that
see and know and consider and understand together that the
hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath
created it. I tried to preach to you Sunday
morning on the words of our Savior, I am a worm and no man. Tonight I want to talk to you
about another worm. We've read these verses in Isaiah
41, 10 through 20. I want to take for our text verse
14. These words that fell from the
lips of God our Savior. These words of promise from our
God. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob. This is God's word to his people
in this world. The word worm here. is the same
word that was used by our Savior to describe himself. Has he identified
himself with us in his deepest agony when he bare our sins upon
the tree? Let us make it our business ever
to identify ourselves with him in that agony. Though we are
often troubled and frightened, persecuted and perplexed, tempted,
even trampled upon by this world. Our God says to you and to me
in all circumstances, fear not thou worm, Jacob. The purpose
and object of our Savior in this blessed word is to silence our
fears and to encourage our confident trust in him that we may walk
before him continually in confident faith. It is contrary to the
mind of God for his people to be timid, fearful, and anxious. He here suppresses our fears,
assuring us of his constant presence and his constant, constant provision
for us. Three times, verses 10, 13, and
14, the Lord God says to us worms whom he names Jacob, fear not. Though your enemies are many
and mighty, fear not, for God is greater than your enemies.
Though your afflictions are painful and sometimes protracted, fear
not, the Lord will deliver you. Though your path of duty may
be demanding and sometimes even dangerous, Fear not, your God
will uphold you and help you. And though the fulfillment of
God's promises cannot be seen before they come, he says, fear
not, not one promise from our God shall ever fail. I want to
give you my message in five simple, pointed statements tonight. Here's
the first one. We are all weak, helpless, worthless
worms before God. What can be more loathsome than
a worm? As I told you Sunday morning,
the word worm here refers not to just any worm. It really refers
to a maggot. No one wants to touch a maggot.
The thought of those vile, disgusting, disease-ridden, disease-spreading
creatures makes our skin crawl. And yet this is the word by which
our God describes his people, and it is an accurate description. The humanist, the naturalist,
the religious self-righteous fellow considers such language
a great insult. Several years ago when Jesse
Jackson made his bid for the presidency, he went around the
country telling folks, I am somebody. Repeat after me, I am somebody. You are nobody and nothing. You and me, just worms. Isaac Watts, more than 300 years
ago, wrote a hymn we'd like to sing. Alas, and did my savior
bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? But if you were to pick up modern
hymn books from almost any denomination, and read what's him, you'd find
the word has been changed. That last word in that verse
has been changed to read, for sinners such as I, or even for
such a one as I. because men refuse to acknowledge
what they are. Men refuse to see themselves
as worms before God. The thought of being described
as such is offensive to man's pride, but we are worms nonetheless. The worm is a dirty, despicable
thing. A worm is a weak, helpless creature,
utterly incapable of defending itself from anything. A worm
belongs to and is most at home in the muck and mire of the earth. A worm can be easily tackled
upon and crushed to death. It's always exposed to danger.
A worm, in short, is of value and concern and importance to
no one. And as we live in this world,
you and I are of concern and value and importance to no one
as God's people in this world except God, our Savior, who loved
us and gave himself for us. Whoever wept when they stepped
on a worm or gave it a second thought, whoever missed the worm
that was stepped on, When God declares that man is a worm,
he means for us to understand that we are all by nature, in
and of ourselves, wretched, weak, worthless creatures. And I urge
you ever to take your place before God as just that, a worm. It will help you to get along
with one another. Worms, I've seen a good many around. I've
seen them, Brother Larry has one of those things, he's kicking
the ground, shock the ground, the worms crawl to the ground. Even
then, I've never seen worms fighting each other. Never saw a worm
fight another worm. They are always, always anything
but antagonistic. Our Savior, when he hung on the
tree as our substitute, cried, I am a worm and no man. Shall we, for whom he suffered
and died, esteem ourselves more highly than he esteemed himself? Yet, God forgive us, and I'm
talking to Don more than anybody else, we act more like snakes
than worms. You strike a snake, he'll raise
his angry head and hiss at you and strike back. How quick we
are to strike back. how quick we are to strike in
defense of ourselves. Strike a worm, what does he do? Absolutely nothing. The worm
is such a creature that it has no inclination or even any ability
to defend itself or to attack another. It's totally, totally,
totally dependent upon its creator. The worm's only defense is to
retreat and take refuge. God, give me such a spirit. It is the spirit of Christ. Let
us, when attacked, retreat to and take refuge in Him. He alone is our rock. He alone
is our salvation. He alone is our defense. What
are you saying, Brother Don? Should we never defend ourselves?
Never. Should we never seek to protect
ourselves from those who would assault and attack us? Never.
Never. But what do we do? Just give
up? No. Give yourself to Christ. Lean wholly on Him. He will take
care of His own. You can't claim the promises
given in this chapter unless you can meet the character of
the one to whom the promises are made. And every promise in
this chapter, as we'll see in just a moment, is a promise given
to worms. Now here's the second statement.
Not only are we all weak, worthless worms, but secondly, I want you
to see that there is hope for worms. We recognize, because
we've been taught by the grace of God, and we acknowledge because
we've been taught by the grace of God, that we are weak, Worthless,
wretched worms. For us to be called worms, even
maggots, is to exalt and compliment ourselves and insult those lofty
creatures that never sinned against God. And yet, vile, base, and
disgusting as we are, taking our proper place in the dunghill
before God as worms, We are taught here that there is hope for worms.
The Lord Jesus Christ, when he was made sin for us, hung himself
upon the cursed tree and made himself a worm so that he might
lift worms from the dung heap of fallen humanity and make us
sit forever among the sons of God. He cried, I am a worm and
no man, abasing himself. that he might exalt us, bringing
himself under the curse of God that we might be brought forever
in the blessedness of life. He was made sin, a despicable
thing, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,
that we might be made that which pleases and delights God. Oh, what grace! What mercy! Our Redeemer was crushed to death
under the penalty of sin, rightly so, for He was made sin for us,
that we might be raised to life and freed from sin, rightly so,
because He put away our sins. Worms though we are, worms have
mouths, a mouth by which they are able, I am told, to bore
their way into the strongest tree. and find food and safety. These worms whom God calls Jacob,
his own elect, he has given a mouth. He gives them a mouth of prayer
and supplication with which we are permitted and encouraged
to penetrate the very heart of God, seeking mercy and grace
to help in every time of need. Our Lord gives us an illustration,
encouraging us to such prayer, such confident prayer in Luke
chapter 11. He says, if a man, his son asked him for bread,
is there a father who would give him a stone? If he asked for
an egg, would he offer him a scorpion? And then our Savior says, If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Oh, God teach me. ever to turn as naturally and
as easily to you for mercy and grace to help in every time of
need as any son would turn to the most loving and caring father
upon this earth. Teach me so to trust him. Don't
refuse to take this name. Word. This name identifies us
with the Son of God in his most glorious character as our substitute. Christ came to save worms. He died for worms. He has mercy on worms. Are you a worm? Oh, indeed I
am, brother Don. Worms aren't proud creatures.
No matter where they're found, no matter how they're used, they're
just worms. Let us ever be mindful. It is
God and God alone who makes us to differ from another. We have
nothing in which to glory except God and His grace. Nothing in
which to glory except Christ and His blood. Nothing in which
to glory except that which God has given us and made us by His
grace. Now, here's the third thing.
We are chosen words. The worms of God's choice. God
says, fear not thou worm Jacob. And then he speaks of this and
says ye men of Israel. He speaks of his chosen as one
person and yet he's speaking to the whole body of his elect
because we are indeed one in Christ. He addresses all his
people calling us Jacob. He speaks so often. of his people
under this name, Jacob. Remember when God the Savior
met Jacob and wrestled him to the ground and caused him, squeezing
out this confession from him, what's your name? Causing Jacob
to say, my name is Jacob. As soon as he did, the Lord said,
I've given you another name. Your name's Israel. Prince with
God. And yet the Lord continually
refers to us as Jacob, reminding us what we are in and of ourselves. Jacob, wretched man, weak and
worthless. Fear not, ye worms, Jacob. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. This man, Jacob,
was a man chosen, called, and blessed of God just as we are,
and he was a man to whom God bound himself by a covenant,
a man to whom God obligated himself in mercy. Can it be? Has God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit bound himself to you? Has God Almighty obligated himself
to you? Indeed He has. He said, I will
not turn away from them to do them good. And that which God
has sworn, God will perform. Let me show you a fourth thing.
Though we are worms, we have no reason to fear, ever. Look
at verse 14. Here all three persons in the
triune Godhead have avowed themselves helpers to this weak, wretched,
worthless worm, Jacob. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
Jehovah, that is God our Father speaking. I will help thee, saith
thy Redeemer, that is God the Son, the Second Person of the
Trinity, our Blessed Substitute speaking. I will help thee, saith
the Holy One of Israel, that is God the Holy Spirit speaking. Now, hold your Bibles open here
and follow with me. I want you to see what God promises.
If God be for us, Paul said, who can be against us? And here
he declares to us eleven blessed promises. Eleven promises to
Jacob, us worthless, weak, helpless worms. In verse ten he speaks,
Are you alone? God says, Fear not, for I am
with thee. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice. Let your
moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. He doesn't
merely say, I am within reach, but I'm with you. Though I may
hide myself from your view, I am with you. Though it may appear
that I have utterly forsaken you, I am with you. Though I
may appear to have forsaken you in a small moment, I am with
you, always with you. Are you dismayed by the power
of your enemies, by the greatness of your trials, by the weakness
that you know yourself to have, by your own sinfulness and corruption? The Lord God says again in verse
10, Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Legend that never changes. I am thy God. He who alone is the I am declares,
I am thy God. Your personal property, I have
made myself such. In all the fullness of my being,
in all the character of my nature, in all the blessedness that I
have, I am thy God. No wonder Paul said, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that dies. Who shall separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Nothing and nobody. Look at the text again. He said,
but pastor, I'm weak. I'm glad you know that. I'm glad
you know that. I pray that God will teach you
to know it more fully with every passing day. Blessed is that
man, blessed is that woman to whom God reveals his weakness. For our Savior declares, my grace
is sufficient for thee. And we may well glory in our
weakness, in our infirmities, for when we're weak, then are
we strong, because our God says, I will strengthen thee. How far can you carry that? Just
as far as you need to. When can I claim this? Anytime you need to. When can
I know this promise is mine? Just as often as you need His
strength. He says, I will strengthen thee.
Are you destitute? Verses 10, 13 and 14, the Lord
God says three times, I will help thee. Brother Don, I've
fallen. I feel so So terribly in danger
because I know I'm about to fall. This is God's word for you, you
worms. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. I give unto you eternal life. And you shall never perish, no
man can pluck you out of my hand. And my Father who is greater
than I, our Savior said, no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. I have so many enemies that terrify
me. God declares in verses 11 and
12, look at this. He declares that he will confound
our enemies, all of them. He will bring them to nothing.
all of them. He will slay them, every one
of them. Verse 11. Behold, all they that
were incensed against thee shall be ashamed. Every one of them. Everyone that raised his temper
toward you. Everyone that would have destroyed
you. That includes spiritual enemies
and physical enemies. They shall be ashamed and confounded. You'll never be confounded. They
shall be. They shall be as nothing. And 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. One night last week I finished
preaching, and there was a fellow who was a little upset. And he wanted to argue and make
some accusations. Not unusual. That happens occasionally. And when I realized he wasn't
asking questions to be instructed, but rather just wanted to be
heard, I said to him, I've said all I'm going to say, and I'll
meet you at the bar of God. Meet you at the bar of God. How
can you be so haughty? Is that not exactly what Paul
wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he told those folks that made
all kinds of accusations, he said, it's a small thing to me
that I be judged of you, condemned by you. It's insignificant. I
don't even judge myself. I'm His servant. And everything
will be brought to light in the proper time. But pastor, I'm
so afraid of failure. I can't put my hand to the work
because I know I can't do it. God says in verse 13, I will
hold thy right hand. Now let me tell you what that
means. I will walk hand in hand with you as your father and your
friend. I remember when my daughter and
then my granddaughter and then my grandson, I remember when
we'd walk together and they wouldn't let go of my hand. They're scared
to death to let go, just hang on tight, especially in circumstances
they weren't familiar with. And I can recall as though it
happened this morning when they began to get too strong and a
little too proud and a little too confident in themselves to
need to hold Pop's hand. But I, to this day, hadn't happened
with faith in a long time. But on the grace of will, let
something startle them, and they'll run, grab my hand. God teach
me to live constantly in the awareness of my helplessness,
ever holding your hand. But even when I would let go
of his hand, he declares, I will hold thy right hand. I will guide you and lead you
in your way. Turn to Proverbs chapter 3. Hold
your hands here in Isaiah 41. Turn to Proverbs chapter 3. Forty years ago or more, post
41 anyway, Shelby and I were reading together one night. Came
to this passage. I said to her, this is how we
ought to live all the days of our lives. Verse 5, Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. That's what it is to trust Him.
You can't lean on Him and lean to your own understanding. In
all thy ways acknowledge Him. Acknowledge this is God's work,
this is God's path, this is God's doing. Acknowledge Him. And he
shall direct thy paths. The Lord says, I will hold you
by your right hand. I'll hold you up when you're
weak and trembling. I'll pick you up when you fall.
I will silence your fears as I walk with you, saying unto
you, fear not, I will help thee. I will say to your heart, by
my Spirit fear not, and I will cause you to hear my assuring
promise. I will help you. In every trial,
in every temptation, in every heartache, in every path of duty,
in every service, in every way into which I direct your feet,
I will help you. Back here in Isaiah 41 again.
Look at verse 16. is breaking, made to weep. The
Lord God says, Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord. Hang on. He will cause you to triumph
even over your greatest sorrows. But you've been brought low,
abased, humbled, so that you feel like you just, you can't
possibly lift your head. You've been so ashamed. Thou
shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. Glory awaits you tomorrow. Glory, not in yourself, but in
your interest in Christ. Not in yourself, but in your
relation and union with Him. Not in yourself, but in all that
He has done, is doing, and shall do for you. Look at verse 17. How often we pray, try to pray,
and the heavens seem to be as brass. I don't know whether that's
your experience or not. more often than not. Yet, the
Lord God says, I will hear them. He said concerning the children
of Israel in Egypt, He said, I have heard their groans. I have heard their groans and
He surely hears ours. Sometimes we are in the position
our Savior was in, as He hung on the cross bearing our sin
and cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And we
feel utterly forsaken of Him. Indeed, David spoke those words
himself as one who felt utterly forsaken of God. We dare not
say it. Somehow we can't bring ourselves
to be that honest with God, but that's exactly how we often feel,
even then. He declares, ìI, the God of Israel,
will not forsake them.î How firm a foundation, you saints of the
Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more
can He say than to you He has said, to you who for refuge to
Jesus have fled? Mark the promises and realize
this, though we are worms, we have a mighty and great God,
and we have no reason to fear anything or anyone ever. No reason to be afraid of any
foe, of any disease, of any pain, of any trial, of any darkness,
of any heartache, no reason to fear! He says, Fear not thou
worm, Jacob, ye men of Israel, for I am thy God. Now one last thing. Hear this
and rejoice. Hear this and expect great things
from God. It is God's great glory and great
pleasure to use insignificant worms like you and me for the
accomplishment of his purpose in this world. These next verses
describe God's people as an army sent out to war, but an army
sent out to war in which there is nothing in jeopardy. Look
at verses 15 and 16. He tells us that our victory
over every foe is absolutely certain. 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. Whatever difficulty stands before
you, you shall see it laid low. Thou shalt them, and the wind
shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them,
and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One
of Israel. Well, what about provision for
the way? God has made provision, every
provision already made for all our need and all our comfort.
Look at verse 17. When the poor and needy seek
water, And there is none, none to be found within, and none
to be found anywhere around. their tongue faileth for thirst,
I, the Lord, will hear them." Hear what? Hear their thirst.
Hear their need. I, the God of Israel, will not
forsake them. I will open rivers in high places,
and fountains in the midst of valleys. I will make the wilderness
a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. When it
appears that your very soul is an empty, barren desert, God
says, I'll make water to spring up within you, giving you my
spirit, be in your very being a well of living water springing
up into everlasting life. I will plant in the wilderness.
the cedar and the shitter 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. They shall be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of our God. The Lord our God delights
in taking weak, worthless worms, things from which nothing can
be expected. things incapable of accomplishing
anything and using them in his hands as instruments for good. That keeps me going. That just
keeps me going. God Almighty is honored to use
things that could never honor Him for His honor. What power
a worm has when God is with him. I see a worm by the name of Samson. If ever there was a worthless,
weak worm in this world, that man Samson was such. Oh, but
he was a mighty man. That doesn't count for a thing
in spiritual things. He was, read his biography, given
to you in scriptures, plain and clear, worthless, weak, wretched. But one day he took the jawbone
of an ass and slew a thousand Philistines because God was with
him. There's a fellow by the name
of David, a little shepherd boy. His own daddy didn't think he
was worth even naming when the prophet came to anoint a king
in Israel, but he took a rock and a slingshot and slew the
giant who held his people in captivity. There was a fellow
by the name of Peter, Thickel Peter. Shifting Peter. Shamefully sinful Peter. One day stood before men with
boldness, oh with boldness that was unimaginable to that man
himself just a few hours earlier. He stood with boldness and declared
in the teeth of our Lord's crucifiers the glorious gospel of God's
free grace in the crucified risen Redeemer. And on one day, God
was pleased to bring 3,000 chosen redeemed sinners into His fold. No wonder Paul said, I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me. That doesn't
mean, Larry, you can do anything you set your mind to. That doesn't
mean that at all. In fact, if you just have enough
faith, you can do anything you want to. No. But you can do anything
God has you to do. Anything God puts in your hand
to do. Anything God lays in your lap, you can do it. No work is
too great for our God. No trial too hard for our Redeemer. No enemy too powerful for our
Lord. No obstacle too big for our God
and Savior. No burden too heavy for Him to
carry. The reason why God is pleased
to use such worms as we are for the accomplishment of His purposes
is just this, so that everybody will know that anything that's
done by those folks sitting on that hill outside Danville, Kentucky,
So that everybody will know anything worth anything that's accomplished
by you, Lindsay Campbell, or me, Don Fortner, or anyone else
here. We didn't have a thing on earth
to do with accomplishing it. But God did it. Look at verse
20. That. Here's the explanation.
That. They may see and know and consider
and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done
this. the Holy One of Israel hath created it. God, teach us. Make us ever mindful. Anything,
anything. O God, if ever you allow me,
O God, if ever you allow these, my brothers and sisters, to do
any good in your kingdom, teach us all together It's your doing
and not ours. The accomplishment of your hand,
not of our strength. The performance of your hand,
not of our labor. The doing of your good pleasure,
not of ours. Now I call on you, because of
what God has done for such worms as we are, give yourself, give
yourself relentlessly in wholehearted devotion to God our Savior who
saves such worms as we are. I've told you the story. Whether
it's true or not, I don't know. I read it. It's a good story.
You're familiar with the Cherokee Indians driven from their homeland,
a trail of tears. Thousands of them died as they
were driven by our President and the troops of the nation
out to Oklahoma. Missionaries came, preached the
gospel to them, and God's been pleased to save some. I had the
delight to visit our friends in a reservation in North Carolina. Some of them, the families came
from out there in Oklahoma. The Cherokee chief had been converted,
and he was constantly trying to Persuade others to believe
on Christ. Gave himself relentlessly to
trying to preach the gospel among his own people. And finally someone
asked him one night, what makes your Jesus so important to you? And he took some sticks out of
the fire, laid them out in a circle, lit his dried sticks and leaves. dug up a worm and put it right
in the middle of the fire. And that worm crawled here and
there and here and there. And finally, in utter frustration,
curled up right in the midst of that intense, deadly heat. And she picked him up, stuck
him back in the ground, and as he began to move again, covered
him with the earth and the moisture of that ground. And he said,
that's what my Jesus did for me. That's what He did for me. What then should I withhold from
Him? Amen.