Turn back to Isaiah chapter 41
if you will please. Isaiah 41, I'd like to read verse
8, 9, and 10. Verses 8, 9, and 10 of Isaiah
chapter 41. 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 call 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. Now our text this morning primarily
is verse 10. Verse 10, let me read it to you
one more time. 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. Now the subject this morning
is overcoming fear. Overcoming fear. Now if there
is nothing in this sermon this morning for you, then surely
there is something in the text. If there doesn't seem to be any
meat in the sermon or if it doesn't seem to be helpful to you, Just
remember the text. Will you do that? Because I'm
sure that there is sufficient in this text alone without any
comment being made whatsoever to satisfy the souls of God's
people and to give them some contentment and some rest in
the things of God. Now, beloved, we're looking to
the Spirit of God this morning to set a table for us in the
wilderness. And how often has God been pleased
to do that? To set a table for us. When it
looked like everything was going to be dry and barren, there was
nothing going to be on the table, no feast, nothing to enrich. and to encourage and to bless
and to strengthen us. And the Spirit of God's been
pleased, as the Lord did for the children of Israel over those
40 years in the wilderness, set a table for them and blessed
them and provided for them. And so I hope, and we're looking
to the Spirit of God for that this morning, that the Lord would
set a table for all of us and that we'd be able to partake
of this scripture this morning. Now let me begin by asking a
question. Here and that question is this
to whom are these words spoken in verse 10 now beloved It's
very important that we know to whom these words are spoken Because
a great honor comes to anyone who is thus addressed by God. A great honor, let me say it
again, comes to anyone who is thus addressed by God. It shows that God cares for their
person. It shows that God loves them.
It shows that God is interested in communion and fellowship,
intimate communion and fellowship with these very people. Fear
thou not. for God to say to a man or to
a woman, to a boy or a girl, 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. It's a great honor for God to
say that to any man. Now, beloved, we don't want to
open somebody else's mail here this morning. Now, we have no
more right to take a promise to ourself out of the Word of
God that does not belong to us, then we have to steal another
man's money. If the Word of God is not written
to us, if this scripture is not speaking to us, if it's not meant
to be our food, and if it's not meant for us to feast upon, then
it's not right that we take it unto ourselves. And so the question
The question this morning is to whom are these words addressed? To whom are they spoken? Now
these words were spoken in God's name by His prophet and I believe
that they were spoken because the scripture is very plain in
telling us that they're spoken to God's chosen people. We read here in verses 8 Nine,
but listen to verse eight primarily right now, but thou Israel art
my servant Jacob whom I have chosen Now these words were spoken
to God's people But thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have
chosen now thou art my servant I have chosen thee So beloved,
if we're able to receive this text this morning, it's not because
we're on some footing of merit. It's not because we are something
in the flesh that other men are not. It's not because that we
have a superior nature from other men. It is because and upon the
ground of pure and sovereign grace. God has chosen you, and
if it be this morning, if it be this morning that you're able
to partake of this, and you're able to say, it's for me, it's
for me, it belongs to me, this text is for me, then beloved,
it's because of pure grace, because of God's sovereign electing grace
that you're able to say that. It'll not be ours because we
have chosen Christ. but it'll be ours because He
has chosen us. Now our Heavenly Father has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings, we're told in Ephesians 1 and
4, according as He has chosen us in Christ Jesus from the foundation
or before the foundation of the world. The eternal choice is
the wellhead, if you please, from which all the springs of
God's mercy flows. Don't forget that. It's the eternal
choice of God that puts you in a place of blessing. You in a
place where you can receive something from the hand of God. It's God's
eternal choice. that puts you in a place where
you can call yourself God's child, God's son, where you can say
what God says belongs to me because I'm in Christ and I belong to
Him. Now then, happy are you, dear
soul, this morning if grace has inscribed your name in God's
eternal book, if God has inscribed your name before the foundation
of the world in His book, And if he has said to you, thou art
mine, thou art mine, and if you've been able to say to him, you
belong to me, O God, thou art my God, then, beloved, blessed
be your soul, happy be your soul this morning because of God's
choice of you. But since, dear friends, you
and I cannot read the secret role of God's electing love,
you and I do not know, whose names are in God's book, whose
names have been inscribed there from all eternity. Now listen
to me then, this morning we are helped to judge whether this
text belongs to us or by the description here that's given. There's another description that's
given other than being God's chosen. being God's chosen. For those who are, the Bible
here says, they're called as well as chosen. They're called. Now in the 9th verse, listen
to this. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and
call thee from the chief men thereof I have called thee the
Lord says God's chosen people of old were set apart For himself
and they were called out from all the rest of the world God
Irresistibly by his grace. He called them out and called
them unto himself Abraham was called from the earth a Caldes
He was brought out of the idolatry in which he found himself in
his father's house and he was delivered, he was set apart by
God. Now they are a people called
out by the special grace of God with a gracious call which they've
not been able to resist. Abraham, you know, Abraham did
not resist the call of God. And any of God's elect, those
who God has irresistibly called, I mean, they just simply submit
themselves and they come to the Lord. And then they have declared
themselves to be on the Lord's side. They're walking with God,
they're in Christ, and they're on the Lord's side. Now if you're
called, depend upon it, you are chosen. If God has called you,
if you heard His voice in the Word, if the Word of God has
spoken to your heart, and if you've been moved to come to
Jesus Christ, depend upon it, that happened because God had
chosen you in old eternity. Now I do not mean if you're called
in the common sense with what they call the universal call
of the gospel, for in that sense many are called but just few
are chosen. But I mean if you're effectually
called, I mean if you're personally called, called of the Holy Ghost,
called as Mary was when Jesus said to her, Mary, Mary, and
she answered unto him because that gracious voice, she knew
that voice. And the sheep, they know the
voice of the shepherd. And she heard that gracious voice
and it thrilled her soul. And she responded and said, Master,
She knew who it was. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
that had called. Have you been so called that
you've forsaken all for Jesus Christ? Or are you willing to
do so? Have you been so called that
Jesus Christ, His claims, that they mean something in your life?
and that you feel an indebtedness to follow Him and to obey Him
and to walk with Him. Are you separated? Have you been
set apart for Jesus Christ? I mean, does Christ and His claims
on you, do they mean everything in your life? Now, if it be so,
then the riches and every comfortable sentence and every word in this
text here this morning, it belongs to you. If you've been chosen
of God, called of God, then this text of scripture, it's yours. It belongs to you. And you've
been greatly honored of God that he would thus speak this morning
to your poor, poor soul. Now in the eighth verse, these
people are also described as a servant. You can notice that
but now Israel are my servant. You're my servant now the people
of God Pardon are the bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
belong to him. They're God's servant Are you
God's servant now a servant does not do his own will Now, you
know your own self. And of course we I know we're
speaking of of terms that are old and maybe are outdated, maybe
as far as you feel. But nevertheless, my friend,
a servant was not at liberty. A slave was not at liberty to
do their own thing. They couldn't do the thinking.
They had to respond to one thing. That was the will of the master.
And they must submit to the will of the master. They must do his
bidding. And if they do not do His bidding,
then of course things become very uncomfortable in just a
little while. And so, beloved, have you submitted
your will to God's will? Have you bowed your knee in humble
submission and surrender to the will of God? Are you God's servant?
You say, well I'm one of God's chosen, and I believe I'm called. But are you a servant of God?
Are you serving the Lord? Are you no longer governed by
a proud spirit which says, who is the Lord that I should obey
Him? Are you still governed by that
rebellious spirit that every time God crosses your path with
something that you don't like, you say, well I won't have any
part of that. I'll not do that. I'll never
do that. I'll never bow my knee to that. I won't tolerate this. No, my
friend, a child of God, one who is a servant of God, one who's
been called of God, and one who's been humbled by the thought of
God's sovereign election, is one who is submissive unto God. They're submissive and they want
to do the will of Him. That is their father. They want
to do God's will. You know Jesus came into the
world, and the Bible says He came into the world not to do
His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. And that's
the attitude of every child of God. We want to do God's will. Now then, do you desire to know
God's will? Do you want to know God's mind?
A servant, a slave, would want to know God's will. He would
want to know God's mind. He would want to mind the Lord,
and obey the Lord, and to do the Lord's will. Do you count
it your highest honor to be called a servant of Jesus Christ? Now I've talked with some who
said, I'll never be anybody's servant. I'm not going to serve
nobody. My friend, every child of God
is brought to the place where they are willing to become servants
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obey Him. And the decisions they
make in this life are made on the basis of it's for Christ's
sake. I do this for Christ's sake.
I don't like this. I don't want to do this. My flesh
rebels against this. But for Christ's sake, I will
do this. I'll stay where I belong for
Christ's sake. I'll do what I ought to do. I'll
do it for His sake. I wouldn't do it for anybody
else's sake. I would not put myself to the
expense For anybody's sake, but for Christ's sake, I'll do this. Now, beloved, that's a child
of God. That's a servant of Christ. And a servant of Christ can claim
this text for himself. It is for him that we live. It
is for his glory. His glory is our highest aim. We want to glorify the Lord with
our lives. We want him to be honored. Well,
next there's another word in the verse that I want you to
see. He says, I have chosen thee, and then he also said, he said,
I have not cast thee away. That's in the last part of verse
9. I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Now, as we think
upon that just a little bit, and some of us have been in the
way of the Lord a number of years. Many years we've been in the
ways of the Lord. Now some of you have just been
in the way of the Lord a few years. But nevertheless, surely
my brother, my sister this morning, are we not aware of the fact
that as we have, whether we've been in the way a long time or
whether we've been in the way just a short time, Are we not
aware of the fact that judged by the strictness of God's holy
law that we deserve to have been cast away and yet being under
grace we have been preserved by the Lord's salvation even
unto this good hour? Is there anyone here this morning
that does not feel that the Lord surely should have just cast
them away? That He should never have taken
the time that He's taken to take up your cause, take up your soul's
cause, and to deal with your problems, deal with your situation,
save you, and to sanctify you, set you apart unto Himself, and
deliver you over and over and over again as He has as his people. Now listen friend, I believe
that it's a mercy this morning that we're here in this place.
That any of us have been spared, have not been cast away, but
have been spared to come here this morning and in the humble
way that we can, in the poor way that we can, to honor and
glorify and magnify the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Still
though faint, we are pursuing Is that not right? We are pursuing. We ought to have been cast away,
but God has spared us and we are pursuing. We're on the way. We're trying to press on in the
way that God would have us to go. We're bound to confess. My
feet had almost gone, my steps had welled, I slipped. But praise
be to God, we're still in the way, and we have not been cast
away as yet, and never shall be. Because it's pleased the
Lord to make you His people, and He will not forsake you. He will not forsake His people.
In a word now, to sum up what we've been saying here, is that
this text, and I wanted to spend a little time with this because
it's so important that I know that these words are spoken to
me. I've got to know this. Are these words spoken to me?
And that's why I've been spending this time, because I think you
need to know whether or not God's saying this to you or not. I
need something for my soul. I've got to have a word from
the Lord, and this I've got to know. Did God say it to me? Well, to sum up what I've been
saying, The text belongs to God's chosen who are by His very being
separated from the world, who are distinguished by their practical
service of God, and who continue in that service and by God's
grace will continue in it even until the end. That's what I've
been saying. Now that's exactly the point
that I've been making. And so if you say, well I fit
in there, Preacher. I fit in there. I belong to those
that have been chosen of God, set apart by God. I belong to
those that have been distinguished by the hand of God so as that
I'm God's servant and I'm going to continue by the grace of God
as I have continued and I'm going to continue until I die in the
way of the Lord. Well, then my friend, let us
get to the text then itself because it's for you. And it's for me,
if we can say that's true of us. Now we have here, first of
all, in this text here this morning, a very natural disease. And that's fear and dismay. That's a very natural, common
affliction among the people of God. Fear and dismay. And then second, we have a command
against that fear here. Fear thou not, be not dismayed. And then thirdly, we have here
God's promise to help us to overcome this fear and this dismay. And that promise is given in
three or four ways here, which we'll try to cover in a brief
fashion. First of all, then, a very common
disease, and that is fear and dismay. Now, you say, Preacher,
I don't know whether I have that disease or not. Let me just say
this to you, that if you don't have it, you just listen to what
I'm saying because probably if you haven't had it yet, you probably
will have it before you get out of this world and go off yonder
to be with the Lord. You're probably going to be afflicted
with some fear and some dismay. Now the fear is to be under apprehension
of danger. Whether that be danger that you
esteem to be near or think it's far off. Fear is the apprehension
of danger. Now fear is a very distracting,
it's a very disturbing, it's a very confounding passion. Fear, being afraid of what's
coming, of what's going to happen. To be afraid makes one just creep
along. very hesitantly and timidly in
this world. You just can't hardly get your
chin off of your chest. You're just afraid all the time
of the calamities that could befall you and things that could
happen to you and you're just a fearful person. That's the
disease that I'm talking about. And dismay is to be broken so
as to be disabled. It's to have a mind that is daunted
and broken and fainthearted, it denotes that consternation
of the mind, which is the reverse of the mind under the influence
of joy and hope and confidence. It's just the opposite of that,
when you have no confidence, when you have no hope. You're
hopeless and you feel helpless and hopeless and you don't have
any joy which is the strength of God's people and you're just
the opposite of all of that. And you're just so helpless and
so downcast and you're just in a state of dismay. You just simply
don't know what to do from one hour to the next. Well, you say,
well, you mean some of God's people are, they have this disease? They do. They do indeed. And there's times whenever one
of us are afflicted to some degree, to some degree or the other in
this situation. Now this disease is common. It
plagues people that it ought not to plague. Now God's people
ought not to be fearful and they ought not to be dismayed, but
nevertheless they are. Now Adam, And let me say this,
that it came into our hearts. How did fear and dismay get into
the human race? Well, it came into our hearts
by sin, and with sin. When man fell in the Garden of
Eden, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, Adam was not
afraid of God before. had fallen, you remember that
Adam went and hid himself. And God said, Adam, where art
thou? And so he looked up at him and
found Adam. And it was because that Adam
had broken God's command that he was then fearful. fearful
of looking into the face of God and fearful of God. Now it is
sin and the consciousness of sin that makes cowards out of
men and women in this world. It's sin that does it. If we
had not broken God's law in the flesh, that fear would never
have come into our spirit to dwell there. If it had not been
for sin and rebellion. Sin is the mother of the fear
which hath torment. Sin is the mother of it. Now
brethren, fear continues in us because sin continues in us. Our own nature, lust still strives
for the mastery in every one of us. And since by reason of
weakness sin sometimes prevails, fear also prevails and we are
often cast down because of this fear and this dismay. Now, I
want you to take note of this, that fear coming in by sin and
being sustained by sin, it readily finds food upon which it may
live in our life. Let a believer now just look
within just for a moment and he sees much reason to fear. Oh yes, Just let a believer look
within. Let him just take a look inside.
Let him look at his heart. Our hearts are so full of sin,
so full of deceit, and so prone to wonder, and so prone to go
after the things of the world and the things of flesh. Listen,
we often say to ourselves, I shall never, when we look within, You
say, and as you sum up your situation, you say, I shall never hold on
my way. I shall never make it. Look at
all my besetting sins. I shall never persevere unto
the end. Grace is there, it is true, the
grace of God is in my soul, but fear is blind to the better nature
that is within us and looks only on that body of death. and therefore
we're cast down and discouraged. Now brethren, we must never,
listen to me this morning, we must never look within at the
old nature without remembering that that old nature has been
crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ. You just simply cannot
look within and dwell there and be happy. It's going to confuse
you and you're going to be troubled and you're going to be vexed
in your heart and you're going to be fearful if you just look
a little while up on your old heart. Because I suppose that
if any man among us here this morning could see his own heart
as it really is, he'd be driven mad. He'd be driven mad. You'd
just go mad this morning. We'd have to take you off to
the hospital. We'd have to commit you if you
saw your own heart as it really is this morning. Now, if you
did not know how that God had dealt with the old man, how that
God had dealt with your sin, how God had taken care of it
all, you'd surely have to be taken off. We'd have to call
the ambulance this morning and take you out of here because
you couldn't stand it. Now you may think I'm exaggerating,
and that's because you don't know much about sin. We've been
told by others that this generation can't even spell the word sin,
much less know what it is. But we don't know much about
it, the heinousness of it, and how that sin is the rape of God
Himself. We don't know much about how
awful sin is. But my friend, if we just knew,
if we just knew a little bit about it, it would drive us to
Christ. And it would drive us to study
out everything the Scripture teaches about the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf and what He did when He condemned
sin in the flesh and when He nailed our own nature to the
cross in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why God gave up on flesh is because it isn't worth looking at and
there's nothing in it. It's like a garbage can and you
can go through it and you'll not find any good thing in it.
Paul said, in my flesh, he said, there dwelleth no good thing
and there isn't. So don't look within without
at the very same time looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and
to what he's done on our behalf. Now then, Faith looks at all
the ruin of the fall, and she believes that the blood of Christ
will get the victory. Faith says, now, I know the truth
about myself. I know there's no good thing
in me. And I know when I look within, I don't see anything
pleasant. And I know that it's all a terrible picture, but I
believe that the blood of Christ will get the victory. Well, I
believe this, that where sin abounds, the grace of God does
much more abound. I believe that. That's what you
gotta do. You gotta believe that. Now look to Christ then. If He
does not hold us up, we'll make shipwreck after all. If Jesus
Christ didn't hold up the strongest one here, He'll make shipwreck. And He must also hold up the
weakest one here. And He will. He'll hold the weakest
and the strongest. The bridge that Christ has built
from a thrice holy God all the way to our souls. That bridge
will carry our weight and we'll be supported by it. Now my friends,
listen to me this morning. If when we look within If fear
there, if it finds food to feed on, it also finds food when it
looks without. You just think a little bit about
what's going on outside your life. Poverty, sickness, distress of various kinds that's
going on in your life, recollection of the past, dread of the future,
everything, everything that could possibly bother a person. You've
been bothered with it. Some of us have been bothered
with a whole lot of things this morning before we ever got to
church. Just bothered by this thing or that thing or something
else. Always there's something outside of us that's going on
that could just simply make you afraid to hardly take a step.
Fear and dismay. Now even those who have faith
in God, they grow weak enough at times to be just simply taken
under by this fear and this dismay. Now, we're dismayed about common
circumstances and we ought to be indifferent to them. But we're
dismayed by them and we're fearful of these common ordinary circumstances. Where am I going to get this?
Where am I going to get that? How am I going to handle this
problem? How am I going to handle that problem? What's going to
happen tomorrow? What am I going to be able to
do with all of these things that are piling up upon me? What will
I do? Now, beloved, we ought to be
indifferent to those things. Take no thought for your life,
Jesus said. Take no thought for your life, what you're going
to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear. Take no thought
for those things. They heathen, they're all concerned about that.
But you ought not to be. Seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all of these things will be added
unto you. Take no thought for your life. Now then, there are certain people
And I say desponding people because there are some people who are
by nature just afflicted with a disposition to be despondent.
Melancholy people. They are always down. And they
can find reason for fear where no fear is. Do you know that?
They really can. There are certain people who
can invent trouble. And they can invent it in their
minds. They just invent it. I mean, listen, if God has not
sent them a trial, they make one for themselves. They just
get busy and say, well, I can't live without a crisis. I've got
to have a crisis. And so they get busy and they
just make them a trial. They make them some trouble.
And it's like the old preacher said, you ought not trouble trouble
until trouble troubles you. Leave it alone as long as you
can. And stay away from it and don't get around it. If you don't
have to mess with it and meddle with it, then don't meddle with
it. They know this or that. It's bound to happen. Now it
hadn't happened yet, but it's bound to happen. I'm bound to
end up in a poor house. I'm bound, this is bound to happen.
I'm bound to get sick and I'm bound to have it. I have this
terrible disease of cancer. I'm going to have this or that.
I mean my life, I'll come to a bad end. I'm sure that I will.
You ever met anybody that way? Just sure of it. Never has happened
yet, but they're sure it's going to happen. My friend, that is
sin. Now listen to me. Even the strongest
of God's servants, I say, are sometimes caught up with this
fearful sin and with this dismay. David. You know, he killed, he
was strong. David was strong, he killed Goliath,
he killed Goliath. But there was a time when he
was in battle, the Bible says that he waxed faint. I mean,
he just, he really got, he got to a place where he just didn't
know how it was gonna come out. And you remember old Elijah,
the prophet of God? He was under the juniper tree
one time, he was greatly discouraged and cast down, and he cried,
or I think the Hebrew is he whined, really, unto the Lord, and he
said, it's enough, O Lord, take away my life, for I'm not better
than my father's. And here's a prophet of God that
God mightily blessed and publicly used. And yet there were times
when he was fainthearted. The best of men are men at the
best, we're told, and the strongest man of faith is weak if God's
hand is withdrawn from him. If God takes his hand from a
man, he's just gonna be like everybody else. He's just gonna
be weak as water. God is the strength of our hearts. Don't ever forget, my friend,
the way you are going, the way God's people are treading, the
pilgrimage they're on, God is the strength of their hearts.
And you cannot make it on your own. Now the second thing, that's
the disease. That's the disease, the very
common disease that we have. The second thing is God's command
against fear and dismay. Fear thou not, he said, be not
dismayed. Don't be fearful and don't be
dismayed. Now the precept here is absolutely
unqualified. We are not to fear at all. Did you get that? We're not to
fear at all. He does not say you can fear so much, but not
beyond that. No, beloved, he gives unlimited
exhortation. He says, fear not. Just don't
fear. Now he does not say do not fear
so often, my brother, but he says fear not. It's an exhortation
without any time to it and therefore it applies to all time. He said
fear not. He said don't be afraid. He said
don't be afraid. Now fear not. Fear not at all.
Be not dismayed. He does not say be not utterly
dismayed because there's no qualifying adverb here. It means be not
dismayed at all. Don't ever be dismayed. Don't
let this thing come on you suddenly and just shake you off the foundation. Just tear you up to the roots.
Don't let it happen. It should not happen. Because
I'm thy God. Now then, what? Pardon me. Why is fear and dismay forbidden?
Number one, because it's sinful. That's the reason. It is sinful
because it almost always is the result of unbelief and fear,
my brother, sister, cuts the throat of faith. It does. It'll just simply cut the throat
of faith. Have you ever thought what a
great sin unbelief is? What a great sin it is. No, we
talk about it, we confess it a little bit, but we never consider
how huge a sin this unbelief is, this fear. We tell God to
the face, we do not believe you. We just simply don't. That's
what fear and unbelief says to God. It says, I just don't believe
you. You said fear not, but I'm going
to be afraid anyway. I must be afraid. I've got to
be. I mean, I wouldn't be who I am unless I'm full of fear.
I've got to be afraid. Well, God says, you just don't
believe me. I cannot believe you, Lord. Every truthful man
feels that he has a right to be believed. And if you want
to insult another man, if you want to insult somebody, you
just come up to him and say, I don't believe a thing you say.
I don't believe nothing you say. Your word isn't worth anything
to me. Now, beloved, that's an insult. But listen to me now. How about
God? Sin of sins, this is. We stand
in the face of God and say, Lord, we just can't believe you. Now,
if God's not true, then he's not God. Remember that. If he's not true, he's not God.
And if he's not fit to be believed, neither is he fit to be worshiped. How can you worship a God you
can't believe? He said, don't fear. And you
say, well, I'm going to be afraid anyway. And you're saying, God,
you're a liar. I don't believe that this is
right. I think you've got to be fearful. Now, it also, listen,
I'm telling you that it's sin to fear God, and also, or to
fear the things and circumstances of this life. Reverence of God,
of course, is very much taught in the Word of God. Being fearful
of God in the sense that you walk with God, obey God, and
that you are mindful of the power of God and mindful of God's strength
and that you stand in majesty before Him. That's right and
proper. But to fear in this world which
is caused by sin is what the scripture is talking about and
forbidding. And also doubts and fears breed sin. It breeds it. It was said of Jeroboam in the
Old Testament that he sinned and made Israel to sin. And so
does unbelief and fear. So does unbelief and fear. Now
listen, the man who believes God will fight temptation. He'll fight it. He'll fight it
in life, he'll fight it in business, he'll fight it at home, he'll
fight it abroad. And the devil says, the devil
says, and he's always talking to us, whether you know it or
not, Satan's got some things to say, and he's heard. He's
heard in the soul, and there are times when he's saying something
to you. And the devil says, well, I'll give you the world. I'll
give you the world. Well, a child of God ought to
say we already have, the world in Christ. You can read it in
1st Corinthians 3 and 21 and 22 where it says that we have
the world that God has given it to us. Let me just read that
scripture. I can't get over that verse. It says, for all things
are yours. That's the last phrase in verse
21 of 1st Corinthians 3. And then verse 22, whether Paul
or Apollos or Cephas or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come, all are yours. And you're Christ,
and Christ is God's. And so don't let the devil tell
you what he'll give you. Why, he says, well, I'll give
you the world. Well, listen, we have it already in the Lord
Jesus, and as much of it as is good for me, I will always have. Can you believe that? He said,
Preacher, I don't know whether I can believe that or not. I'd
like to make a little more money. Well, you might like to make
a little bit more money, but the truth of it is that as much
as the world as you need, God will give it to you as you walk
and wait before him. Now, he says, I'll make you great.
The devil said, you just do this and you'll feel good and I'll
make you great. Well, a child of God will say
back to the devil, he said, I don't want to be great. He'll say,
my greatness is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, my desire
is to make Christ great by exalting Him and by speaking of Him and
living so as to glorify Him. That's my desire. And that's
where my greatness lies. Now every blessing, you listen
to this, every blessing that sin can bring, grace brings ten
times as much of a greater blessing and so faith checkmates Satan
and temptation is thwarted and is put away. I tell you that
fear will breed, it will breed sin. It'll breed it. It'll breed
it in you and it'll breed it in others. Now then, we come
to fear because we're not to fear because Fear
weakens the child of God. It weakens us. Nothing can make
you so unhappy and so distrusting of God as fear. Fear will weaken
your influence. in this world. Now you think
about it a little bit. Your children around you, they
listen to what you say. They listen to what you and your
husband have to say to each other. And they listen to what you say
when you're on the telephone. And they see your attitude and
your condition. And fear, my brother, my sister,
weakens God's people and it makes them unhappy and it kills their
influence. unbelieving Christians. What's
that? Unbelieving Christians? My friend,
there is no such animal. Unbelieving Christians. Christians
believe God. They trust God. They wait upon
the Lord. And they believe God. Now listen,
faith only is gonna make you happy. If you don't trust God,
you're worthless in this world as a professing believer. You
gotta trust God. Either believe Him or don't believe
Him. Either trust Him or don't trust
Him. Stand where you stand. If God's
to be worshipped and if he's to be trusted, then see to it
if you're a professing believer that you're doing that. Now listen
to me, faith only will make you happy. Faith only will make you
resign Faith only will make you content in the will of God. Believe in God. That's where
the victory is, brother. It's not when your circumstances
change, it's when you believe God. Can I believe God? That
God's put me where I am. And that God's given me the family
that He's given me. That God's put me where I'm at
today. And in the circumstances that
I'm in. God put me here. Now only as
you believe God will you be happy, resigned, and content. That's
the only way you can be. Trust God. Trust God. Now then, for your own sake,
for your neighbor's sake, For the church's sake, for Christ's
sake, for God's sake, fear not, neither be dismayed. That's the
command that God has given. He said don't fear. He said be
not dismayed. Now the third thing is we gotta
hurry. That is the promise that God gives to prevent this fear
and this dismay. Now listen to me carefully. I'm
just gonna say this one time. Five times in this verse you
get some form of the pronoun vowel. And five times you get
the pronoun I. What does this mean? Well, this
is what it means to me. Whatever they may be of you,
there shall be as much of God. Whatever there is of you, there shall be as much of God. Now whatever there may be of
your weakness, there shall be as much of God's strength. Whatever there may be of your
sin, there shall be as much of God's mercy to meet it on. Now that's what that means. And
I think that's important for you to see that. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. For I am with thee. Are you afraid
of loneliness? I said here one time that loneliness
was, I thought, the ultimate poverty. And I believe it is. Are you afraid of loneliness?
Well, listen to me. Whatever be your circumstance,
whatever be your condition, Whether you have friends or don't have
friends. Whatever the reason be. That
you don't have people around you. Whatever be the reason.
Let me say to you this this morning. The Lord of Hosts is with his
people. And the Lord of Hosts is the
best company that you can have in this world. God is the best
company that a person can have. Now, the reason I say that is
because you know the word Emmanuel, you know what that means? It
means God with us. Christ, if he's in your heart,
God is with you. God is with you. And what was
it, John Wesley I think that said, the greatest of all blessings
is Emmanuel, God with us. That's the greatest blessing.
He said that, I believe, on his deathbed. And so whatever may
be your situation this morning, the Lord is with his people.
You're not alone. The Father is with you. The Son
of God is with you. The Holy Ghost is with you. Now
what does all that mean? Well, it means this. It means
that omnipotence will be with you to be your strength. That
omniscience will be with you to be your wisdom. That immutability,
these are the attributes of God, will be with you to be your helper.
That all the attributes of God will be with you. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. God says, I'm with you, don't
be afraid. No need to be. I'm with you. I'm with you. Now,
men are fearful, thinking that they might lose all they have
in this world. You know, you've heard the expression,
here today, gone tomorrow, that's true. That's desperately true. And a whole lot of people in
the last 10, 12 years in America found that out. That's true.
Here today, gone tomorrow. And it may just be true, you
know, as far as our situation. But now, the Lord said, don't
be dismayed. He said, don't be dismayed, for
I am thy God. Now, Jonah's gourd was withered. But Jonah's God was not with
her. No, no, no. Now, your goods may
go, but your God will never go. Your God will never go. God is
not dead, whoever else is. You say, so-and-so's dying. So-and-so's
gonna die. Well, God's not dead. Make no
difference who else dies. God will never die. God is with
you. And God will be with you. Now,
another fear is that men have here. It rises from a sense of
personal weakness. Now then, how will I ever do
all that's given to me to do? How am I gonna ever be able to
live with what I gotta live with? How am I gonna be able to do
all that I must do? We've all felt that at times.
I don't know how I'm gonna be able to stand up under all this
pressure and all this stress and deal with all the problems.
I don't know how I'm gonna be able to do that. Well, the Lord
said right here in this text, listen to it, he says, I will
strengthen thee. He said, I will strengthen thee.
I'm going to give you some strength. The strength to life, listen,
the strength to live for God in this world is not in your
arm and in your back. No, it isn't. No, it isn't. God
said, I will strengthen you. Beloved, it would be all over
if the strength had to come, if it had to originate with me.
It'd be all over with. And I think about preaching here.
If it was left to me, what poor preaching it would be if it was
left to me. You don't know the half of it. If God don't give a man, it's
got to come from him. It's got to all come from Him.
Now, He can make you strong enough to endure anything. How did you
get through your last trouble? How'd you get through it? Now
you said, I don't know how I ever get through this. Well, how'd
you get through your last trouble? How'd you get through it? Well, you
got through it. And you was able to stand because God enabled
you to. And you may think, well, I'll never be able to get through
what's coming. But you'll be able to get through it. God will
enable you to get through it. God will give you the strength
to get through it. Just go on, day by day, believing God and
asking God for the fulfillment of this verse of scripture. And
God will give you the strength to go through it. And you'll
be able to get through it. my friend and so don't be afraid
now that's the way that we overcome fear is by believing what God
said right here he said I will strengthen thee yea I will help
thee now then as we think just a little further here this this
verse yea I will help thee or this part of the verse you think
God's help will fail do you think it'll ever quit do you think
you'll ever get up some morning and say well God's found out
about me now about how I am, and so he won't help me anymore. My friend, that's not the way
it is. God knew all about you before he ever took up your case.
He knew what you was. He knew everything about you.
Before he ever said, I'll help thee, he knew. He knew. And so God's help will not fail.
His sucker will always be there. God will sucker his people. He'll
help his people. I need help, you say. I need
help. I just need somebody around me.
I need somebody to lean on. I just need somebody to help
me a little bit. God said, listen to him. He said,
I will help thee. I'll help you. I'm right here.
I'll help you. I'll help you. Say, I just, if
I could just, you know, just had somebody just to carry something
a little while for me and carry me around a little bit and help
me. Kind of reminds me of that little boy that the preacher
had. And he moved into a house, an
old house, but it had a real long stairway going up. And the
preacher had all of his books and everything and he brought
them into the front room and he had a little boy about the size of
Garth I guess. Just, you know, wanted to really
help. He really did. He wanted to help
get something upstairs and carry the books upstairs. So his dad
gave him a book. He didn't like that. He wanted
a bigger one. So he got a hold of the biggest book his dad had
in his library and started up the steps with it. He got two
or three steps and that's all he got. He sat down and started
to cry because he just could not carry that book up the stairs. And so his daddy came and picked
him and the book up and carried them both upstairs. Now that's a crude illustration,
but that's exactly what God does with these people. God will just
pick you and everything else up and carry you along. He'll
do it. He'll do it. He'll deliver his people. He
said, I will help thee. I'll help you. I'll deliver you.
Now, the last word of the text is this, and it's a blessed word.
He says, I will uphold thee. Get it, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Now beloved many, a child of
God is afflicted in this world with a fear that he will one
day, that he will one day bring dishonor and shame upon the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ.