Sermon #111 Series: Isaiah
Title: Weak Believers Comforted
Text: Isaiah 41:10
Scripture Reading: Psalm 56:1-13
Subject: God's Comfort for His People
Date: Sunday Evening - April 5, 1992
Introduction:
God’s people in the world today, like the elect remnant of Judah, are surrounded by idolaters and idolatry. As Judah was carried away into Babylon, the land of idolatry, the church of God today lives in the very midst of spiritual Babylon. Power and authority, money and numbers, for the most part are on the side of Babylon and idolatry. You know that as well as I do. The religion of this world is as opposed to the church of God and the truth of God as Babylon was to the sons of Jacob. God’s faithful servants today, both preachers and people, are opposed in their ways, and mocked and ridiculed, if not persecuted, for their faith. Fidelity to God, to Christ, and to the gospel of his grace has always met with opposition in this world; and it still does.
Illus: Jerry Falwell’s statement to Max Hawkins- “If it is the last thing I do, I am determined to rid this world of Calvinism.”
We are all tempted, when outnumbered and openly ridiculed to give in to the pressures of the world.
My text tonight is addressed to us. This is God’s own word to his people- “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea; I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” The title of my message tonight is Weak Believers Comforted.
Proposition: Those who walk with God have no cause for fear.
Divisions:
I. What causes you fear, as you seek to follow Christ?
God’s people do have their fears, as thy seek to follow thee Master. David spake of the time he was afraid. Abraham feared Abimelech. Peter followed the Lord Jesus to judgment hall, but fell by reason of fear. When Paul met with opposition at Corinth, he began to be afraid. We all have and deal with fear at one time or another.
In our text, the people of God were afraid. Their enemies were many and powerful. They had no ability to withstand them. And their defeat appeared to be certain. Do you not often find yourself in such a condition?
A. Like the children of Israel, the believer’s enemies are many and powerful.
As Gideon no sooner made a league with Joshua than all the kings of Canaan formed a confederacy to destroy thee, as soon as a man or woman enters into covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, to obey and follow him, the whole world seems determined to destroy him. Our dearest relatives and friends often prove to be our greatest enemies. (Matt. 10:34-36).
Those who, when you were walking in the course of this world, never uttered a single word to warn you of wrath to come, as soon as they see you turned to Christ, express the deepest concern for your welfare and labor hard to keep you from following Christ.
Illus: School Teachers- Mrs. Coble!
Neighbors- Mr. Sturgess- Friends!
Illus: The Warfare (Rom. 7).
Note: Satan doesn’t care about you or me. It is not us he seeks to ruin, but our God!
B. Faced with these enemies, every child of God is painfully aware of his own inability to withstand them.
Hear the words of Christ. Learn them and remember them- “Without me, ye can do nothing!” Child of God, never allow yourself to become self-confident.
C. The consequences of defeat are dreadful.
Illus: Lot’s Wife - Judas - Demas
Illus: D. P. - Roy B. - J. B. - Craig M.
I cannot speak for anyone else. But these are things that cause me fear. These are fears I have struggled with for 25 years. And the longer I live the more fearful I am of…
II. What assurances does God give us in this text to remove our fears?
Anticipating the fears that we would encounter, the Lord God graciously supplied our needs with these five blessed promises.
A. “I am with thee”
We are left to the power of our enemies, without any friend to help, we might reasonably be filled with fear. But if we had ever one earthly companion to stand with us, we would take courage, especially if he was one who is able to help. Yet, the Lord God says to the trembling soul, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee. Shall we not take refuge in him and be comforted? (See Psalm 46: 1-3, 5-8, 10-11).
B. “I am thy God”
We are his people and he is our God!
A stranger might see a person injured, and pass by indifferently. But a husband cannot be indifferent to the pains of his wife. A father cannot be indifferent to the sufferings of his child. And our God is never indifferent to the troubles of his children upon the earth. (Zech. 2:8; II Chron. 16:9).
C. “I will strengthen thee.”
We are told that the Lord God will “put strength into his people” (Ps. 29:11). He will strengthen you with might in the inward man. What, or whom, shall they fear whose arms are made strong “by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” (Gen. 48:24).
NOTE: As you seek to honor your Lord and walk with him he will strengthen you.
· To Bear Your Troubles (II Cor. 12:5-9).
· To Endure Temptation (I Cor. 18:13).
· To Do His Will (I Thess. 5:24).
D. “Yea, I will help thee.”
“He helpeth our infirmities” (Rom. 8:26). That means, “when our burden is so heavy and cumbersome that we cannot with all our exertions support it, God promises that he will take hold of it at the opposite end, and bear it together with us”- (Charles Simeon). In other words, to imagine that any burden is too great for us to bear is to say that it is too great for God to bear! “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Of course not! And nothing is too hard for those to whom God promises, “I will help thee!”
E. “Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
What more can we want? The eternal God is our refuge. Beneath you are the everlasting arms. (Deut. 33:27-29; Isa. 51:12-13).
If God be for us, not all the powers of earth and hell combined can with any effect exert themselves against us!
Application:
1. Do I have any grounds upon which to claim these great promises of God?
Bro. Scott Richardson said, “You cannot claim the promise unless you meet the character of those to whom the promise is made.” So I want to know, to whom are these promises made. Look at verses 8 and 9. These promises are made by God to…
· “Israel, my servant” - Have you been brought under the rule of Christ? Are you his servant?
· “Jacob, whom I have chosen” - Are you a sinner saved by grace, chosen of God?
· “The seed of Abraham my friend”- Are you among the seed of Abraham, are you one of that great multitude of sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ?
· “Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth?” Have you been called of God, taken by his grace from among the people of the world.
· “I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” Are you one of those preserved ones, kept by the power of God.
If you meet the character of those to whom God speaks in this text, then the promises of the text are yours. And “all the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in him Amen!”
Let us not dishonor our God and Savior. Believe him! He is both able and willing to “save to the uttermost all who come to God by him.”
2. With such a God and Savior as we have in Christ Jesus, we have every reason to be comforted in the face of trouble, confident in the presence of our enemies, and assured of our safety in him - (Rom. 8:31-38). “What shall we then say to these things? 4 Bold Challenges of Faith.
· “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
· “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”
· “Who is he that condemneth?”
· “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
“Firm and unmoved are they That rest their souls in God;
Firm as the mount where David dwelt, On where the ark abode.
As mountains stood to guard The city’s sacred ground,
So God and His almighty love Embrace His saints around.
Nor shall the tyrant’s rage Too long oppress the saint;
The God of Israel will support His children lest they faint.”
-Isaac Watts-
Take the promises of God home with you and live in peace. “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.”