Let's pray.
Father, how wonderful it is to know you
as a shepherd and to be a part,
Lord, of your flock, knowing that you are
watching over, knowing that you are providing, knowing,
Lord, the security of having you as the
good shepherd.
How wonderful it is, Lord, to know you
as our guide, as you lead us in
the path of righteousness for your name's sake.
How wonderful, Lord, to know you as a
host, as you prepare the table before us,
as you anoint our heads with oil, as
you fill our cup until it overflows.
How wonderful it is, Lord, to know that
when our path brings us into the valley
of the shadow of death, you'll be with
us to lead us beyond the shadows into
the glorious light of our Father's house, where
we shall live forever.
Lord, we thank you that you are our
God and that we can put our hope
and confidence and trust in you today.
Minister, Lord, through your word to our needy
hearts, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
As we are journeying through the Bible, our
journey has brought us this week to Isaiah
chapters 41 through 43.
Tonight, Pastor Skip will be teaching on these
chapters, great chapters.
In fact, this was one of those weeks
that hard to sort of zero in on
the text for Sunday morning.
There are so many good texts in these
chapters, and so we encourage you to read
them over.
Join with us tonight as we gather again
for the study of the word and going
through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
This morning, we'd like to draw your attention
to the 41st chapter and verse 10 of
Isaiah, where the Lord declares, Fear thou not,
for I am with thee.
Be not dismayed, for I am thy God,
and I will strengthen thee, and I will
help thee.
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness.
And again in verse 13, For I, the
Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help
thee.
We're living in a frightening world.
Kay is often saying, But honey, that's dangerous.
I said, Honey, living is dangerous.
Danger if you drive your car out on
the highways.
Danger of drunk drivers.
Danger of crazy drivers.
Danger of people who have road rage.
And should you do something that would displease
them inadvertently or advertently, they're going to try
to cut you off.
If they have a gun, they'll shoot you.
It's a crazy, fearful world in which we
live.
But if you stay home, we are reading
more and more about home invasion robberies.
So it's dangerous to live at home.
It's dangerous to stay in your house.
One of the major crimes today, of course,
is that of the theft of identity and
people running up great charges to your different
accounts.
Just this past week, here at the church,
when we received our bank statement, there were
some weird checks that we had been charged
with.
Checks that said Calvary Chapel.
They look like they could be Calvary Chapel
checks.
They did have our old bank account number
at the bottom.
But yet they were totally phony checks.
Someone had just made up these, printed up
these checks and then cashed them.
And our account was being charged.
Of course, when we called the bank's attention
to that, they quickly took the charges off.
But it is a fearful, frightening world in
which we live.
We are being warned constantly of possible terrorist
activity.
We don't know where they're going to strike.
We don't know how they're going to strike.
We don't know when.
But there is that constant fear now of
terrorist strikes against us here in the United
States.
And in the midst of all of this,
God says, fear not.
Fear can be a very innervating thing.
Some people fear because they're afraid to go
out, but they're also afraid to stay in.
They're afraid to buy, but they're also afraid
to sell.
They have a fear of crowds, and yet
they have a fear of being alone.
And because of these fears, they become paralyzed.
They find that they can do nothing.
Because of the fear of making a wrong
move, they don't make any move.
Fear also is tormenting.
The Bible talks about how that fear has
torment.
And many thousands of people today are tormented
by their fears.
Maybe you know someone who is tormented by
fear.
And you know the uselessness of trying to
tell them that there is really nothing to
worry about.
Their fear is all in their imagination.
When our one son was a small boy,
he came running into the bedroom at night,
all frightened.
He thought that he had heard some noise
or whatever.
And we assured him that everything was all
right.
That was just his imagination go back to
bed.
He said, but my imaginations are scaring me.
And that is so true of so many
people.
Their imaginations are scaring them, and they live
in fear.
But God commands us fear not.
And then he gives us the reason why
we shouldn't fear.
He said, for I am with you.
The consciousness of God's presence dispels fears.
When I am aware of and realize that
God is with me in those situations that
might cause me to fear, the consciousness of
his presence dispels the fears.
And that's exactly what he said.
Fear not, for I am with thee.
When I was a small boy, and my
parents would sometimes go out, they would hire
a teenage babysitter.
And oftentimes my sister would imagine that she
heard noises outside.
Someone was outside of our house.
And she would get us all scared with
her imaginations.
But we would talk in loud voices if
we thought someone was outside.
And we'd say, it's sure good to have
Joe Louis staying with us tonight.
We thought that name would scare off anybody,
you know.
But if the presence of Joe Louis might
scare people off, how much more?
We would feel strong.
We would feel, you know, they'll be scared.
But to know that God is with us.
Oh, how it dispels the fears.
Fear not, for I am with thee.
One of the greatest fears that people have
is the fear of death.
Actually, the Bible speaks of people who all
of their lifetime were subject unto bondage because
of the fear of death.
But as we read in the Psalm this
morning, David said, yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for thou art with
me.
Even in the valley of the shadow of
death, we need not fear evil because the
Lord will come and take us by the
hand and lead us through the valley.
Notice he didn't say, yea, though I walk
in the valley or into the valley, but
through the valley of the shadow of death.
And the Lord will come, take us by
the hand and lead us through the valley
unto our Father's house where we shall live
forever.
If you've done your reading this week, you've
read Isaiah 53 also, and perhaps you remember
there in verse two, Isaiah said, when you
pass, or the Lord said through Isaiah, when
you pass through the waters, I will be
with you.
And through the rivers, they will not overflow
you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall
not be burned.
Neither shall the flame kindle upon you.
A wonderful promise of God.
I wonder if the three Hebrew children, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were thinking of this promise
in Isaiah when years later they were living
in Babylon as captives and Nebuchadnezzar had built
that great image, set it up in the
plains of Dura, an image that defied the
word of God.
Because according to the word of God, there
was a great image.
It had a head of gold, but a
chest of silver.
And he was told that that image represented
the nations that would rule the world.
And that Babylon, the head of gold would
one day fall to the Medo-Persian empire,
which would fall to the Roman empire, which
would fall to the Grecian empire.
And he was defying that interpretation of the
dream, declaring that Babylon would stand forever.
And thus the statue of all gold, Babylon
will stand forever.
And he ordered that at the sound of
the music, that everyone was to bow to
that image, to that concept that Babylon will
stand forever.
But the three Hebrew children would not bow
to a image or an idol.
And so it was reported to King Nebuchadnezzar
that when the music sounded and the people
bowed, these three Jewish boys refused to bow.
So Nebuchadnezzar called them in, saying, how is
it that I hear that you did not
bow at the sound of the music?
I'll give you one more opportunity.
I'll have the music sound again.
And if you refuse to bow, I will
have you thrown into the burning fiery furnace.
They said, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't even hesitate to
answer you on this issue.
For the God that we serve is able
to deliver us out of your burning fiery
furnace.
And even if he doesn't deliver us, we
still won't bow.
Nebuchadnezzar became so enraged, he ordered the furnace
heated seven times hotter than it had ever
been heated before, that they should be bound
with ropes and cast into the burning fiery
furnace.
We know the story.
The fire was so hot, those that cast
them in were killed as a result of
the intense heat.
But then Nebuchadnezzar looked into that burning fiery
furnace and he saw the three boys walking
around in the fire.
And he said, how many did we throw
in there?
And they said, three.
And he said, how is it that I
see four?
And the fourth one looks like the Son
of God.
The promise, when you pass through the fire,
it will not harm thee.
They were trusting in that promise of God.
Nebuchadnezzar cried, come on out!
And they came out.
Only thing that was burned were the ropes
by which they were bound.
Not even a hair was singed as God
kept his promise to these three Hebrew boys.
When you pass through the fire, you will
not be burned.
Neither will the flame kindle on you.
Another of God's remedies for fears is the
consciousness of God's complete love for you.
If you only knew how totally, completely God
loves you, you would realize that there is
no need for fear because he's watching over
you and nothing can come into your life
except he has allowed it.
And if he has allowed it, then he
has a good purpose for allowing it.
We read in 1 John 4, 18.
There is no fear in love, but perfect
love cast out all fear because fear has
torment.
And he that fears is not made perfect
in love.
Because God loves me so completely, watches over
my life, nothing is allowed that could destroy
me.
There are things that are hard to bear.
There are things that I don't understand.
There are things that would terrify me if
I didn't know that God loved me supremely.
And because he's allowed this to happen, he's
got a good purpose for allowing it.
At the moment, I may question the experience.
I may say to myself, what possible good
can come out of this tragedy?
But I know that all things work together
for good to those who love God and
are called according to his purpose.
My problem is that I have a tendency
of judging the story before I have finished
the last chapter.
I don't know how it's going to turn
out.
And at this particular moment, it looks like
it's going to crash.
And there doesn't seem to be any possible
way of escape.
And if I'm looking then at just the
situation, I'm prone to panic.
But if I will look beyond it and
see God has allowed it.
This isn't just some happenstance.
God has allowed this to happen.
And because he's allowed it, there is a
good purpose that he is working out in
it and through it.
And when I get to the final chapter,
I know that the last sentence of the
final chapter is, and they lived happily ever
after.
It's going to turn out okay because God
loves me supremely.
Another problem, of course, is that as God
is working in your life and in my
life, God always has eternity in view.
I live my life with the present in
view.
I'm interested in my present welfare, in my
present comfort, in my present joys.
Where God is interested in my eternal comfort,
my eternal joy.
And if a little discomfort now will assure
me of the plan of God in my
life, he's working out in me some issue
that needs to be worked out of teaching
me to trust and teaching me to have
confidence in him.
If he has to use temporal pain to
accomplish an eternal value, he's not opposed to
that.
And oftentimes God lets us go through these
experiences that are painful to us now, but
they are working for our eternal welfare and
good.
When fearful threats come your way, remember that
God loves you and he's watching over you,
and that he loves you so much that
he gave his only begotten son to redeem
you from your sin so you could spend
eternity with him.
And if God spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how
much more shall he then not freely give
us all things?
God's promise to those that were fearful were,
I will strengthen you.
Don't be dismayed.
Don't be dismayed at the circumstances in your
life.
Oftentimes I'm confused.
I don't know which way to turn.
I'm overwhelmed by the circumstances.
Try as I might, I can't see any
way out.
I'm dismayed.
Again, I need to remember he's my God.
He said, be not dismayed.
I am your God.
When David was taken captive by the Philistines
there in Gath, David prayed, be merciful unto
me, O God, for man would swallow me
up.
His daily fighting oppresses me.
My enemies would daily swallow me up, for
there are many that fight against me, O
thou most high.
When I am afraid, I will trust in
you.
I will praise the word of God.
I will put my trust in him, and
I will not fear what flesh might do
to me.
When dismayed, when fearful, it's good to follow
David's example.
Just put your trust in God.
God's promise, if you will do that, I
will strengthen you.
Paul said, when I am weak, then am
I strong, for his strength is made perfect
in my weakness.
Don't measure the job with your strength.
Measure it with his strength.
I'm not able, but he is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask
or think.
God then promises, I will help you.
In Psalm 46, David said, God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble.
In Psalm 121, David said, I will lift
up mine eyes into the hills.
And then he asked the question, from whence
cometh my help?
My help comes from the Lord, who made
the heavens and the earth.
He will not allow my foot to be
moved.
He that keeps me will not slumber.
What David is saying is that God will
not let you fall.
He promised, I will hold you up with
the right hand of my righteousness.
Sometimes I think I'm going to fall.
Sometimes I think I can't handle this.
But it is at those times that God
holds me up with the right hand of
his righteousness.
Now, these chapters that we've been reading here
in Isaiah, beginning with chapter 40, are chapters
that tell us about God, the greatness of
God, the power of God, the wisdom of
God, the vastness of God.
There are chapters that really extol the God
that we serve and worship.
That is why they are important chapters to
read and to really meditate on, because these
chapters teach you the greatness of the God
that you have chosen to serve.
The God, as Isaiah tells us in chapter
40, who holds the waters in the palm
of his hand.
Think of all the oceans and the seas
held in the palm of the God that
we serve.
He stretched out the heavens like a curtain,
looking at the vast universe and realizing that
God just stretched it out like a curtain.
Now he promises to you that he will
uphold you.
Don't be dismayed.
God said, I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will uphold you by my right hand.
Sometimes when we have exhausted our own resources,
when our strength has failed, ere the job
is half done, when we think that we
can't go another step, God steps in.
He upholds us with his right hand, and
we discover that underneath are the everlasting arms.
We can be assured the Lord will not
let you fall.
He will hold you up.
So trust in him.
Lean upon him.
He is with you, and he loves you
more than you will ever know.
And thus, you have no cause or no
reason to fear what might befall you in
the future, because God is with us always.
Let's pray.
Father, how thankful we are for your presence
with us.
Help us, Lord, to become conscious of your
presence with us.
At the time, Lord, when we are prone
to faint or prone to fear, help us,
Lord, to just realize you're there.
You're with us.
You surround us.
And you've promised, Lord, that you would help
us and that you would sustain us.
Help us, Lord, to, again, understand just how
much you do love us, that we might
comprehend the length, the breadth, the depth, the
height of your love for us, and to
know the love of Christ Jesus, which even
passes our ability to understand, so that our
hearts are comforted in the knowledge of your
presence and of your love, and the fears
are dispelled.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.