Fear thou not for I am with you

Sermon notes from Sunday 3 January 2016

Isaiah 41 verses 1 - 13

"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."

How can God say "fear not"?  Because he has everything in control!  Children do not fear anything because they know their father will provide for them.  That is the confidence we need in our God.  God is in control.  Isaiah was speaking primarily to God`s own people, the Jewish people but it can be taken as a promise by every child of God.  Fear is a tremendous emotion and can do many things positively or negatively.  Fear can hold us back.  God might take us to places we know nothing about today but there is one thing for sure - God is in control and he tells us not to fear.

First of it is given first and foremost in a time of crisis.  Fear attacks us in a time of crisis, in a time when we are up against it, when there is no other place to go.  Fear attacked Moses and the people of Israel as they looked back and saw the Egyptians following after them out of Egypt.  They had nowhere to turn because the Red Sea was in front of them.  They were afraid when they realised the enemy was following them.  When we get saved that is not the end of the story.  It is lovely to go back to the place where we got saved.  Think of the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaeus.  They had seen Jesus on the cross of Calvary, known that after the third day his body was not in the grave.  They were making their way to Emmaeus and their hearts were heavy and their heads were down.  Jesus drew alongside and went with them.  I am sure those disciples could have taken you back to that point in the road.  Can you go back to the place where Jesus saved you?  Where you heard you needed to be saved and you accepted Jesus as Saviour?  Maybe you haven`t done that yet.  The battle doesn`t end there.  The enemy doesn`t say "fare ye well".  He will always be with us continually in our lives.  The liberal scholars say this book of Isaiah was not just written by him.  They agree that he may have wrriten the first chapters but from chapter 40 they didn`t believe he was the author.  Isaiah wrote about the people going into captivity but then he changed his message to telling of how Cyrus would bring the people back to Israel.  The scholars believe this had to be written by someone who lived through that particular period of time.  They referred to this writer as "the great unknown".  Isaiah was writing to the people of Israel who had been carried into captivity and told them the message from God was "fear not."  They were not to fear even though they had sinned and rebelled, when things seemed so dark.  God was in control.  The shepherds sitting on the hillside watching their flocks one night suddenly saw the sky lighting up and a host of angels were seen praising God.  They questioned this sight, it was a crisis for the shepherds but they heard the word from God "fear not." (Luke 2 verse 10)  Joseph had just taken his bride to be and finds out she was pregnant, an awful crisis in his life.  The angel came to him and said "fear not ... for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 1 verse 20)  God had it all mapped out.  Maybe God is saying to you today "fear not."  Our ways are not God`s ways.  In 1 Kings 17 we read of the mighty prophet Elijah who had just gone in to the wicked king Ahab and told him there would be no rain for 40 days.  He was hidden by God by the brook Cherith.  Then the scene changes to a widow woman who was bringing up her son in poverty.  She had nothing in her cupboards except one handful of meal and a cruise of oil.  This was a tremendous crisis in her life.  She made a vow one morning that she would go out, gather a few sticks, light a fire and bake the last cake to feed herself and her son.  Then she was going to die.  The next thing she knows is Elijah comes to her house asking to be fed.  She explains her situation to him and he asks her to do one thing first - feed him first and God would look after her.  Imagine her looking at this man of God asking her to give him first.  She does as she was told and for 3 1/2 years the barrel of meal never wasted nor the cruise of oil never ran out.  Maybe there is some crisis God is taking you right into the middle of and asking you to depend on him totally.

"Fear thou not" is a God given command.  Remember in the book of Daniel - "they that know their God shall do great exploits." (Daniel 11 verse 32)  God didn`t chose a people to be timid and afraid but a people who would give all and go forth.  That is why Paul said in Ephesians 6 "take unto you the full armour of God."  You are a soldier today.  Even though all hope had gone yet they are told not to be afraid.  They had no nation of their own, no home of their own.  Spiritually speaking everything was gone.  These people had turned against God.  In Number 13 when the spies were sent out into the land of promise they were told this was the land God would give to them.  He wanted them to go in and take their enemy.  What did the people do instead?  They said it would be impossible to take it.  They had to take a step of faith to prove God.  Is there a fear in your heart today, a doubt in your heart?  Will God reach down and take it away?  No not a bit of it.  He is saying to you "prove me".  God tells us to fear not for he is control.  Caleb, one of the spies sent into the land told the people "fear not, if God has given us this land he will take us into it."  God gives the command to follow.  Is there unbelief today?  We are to trust and follow him and not to fear.  1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

"Fear thou not" comes to this people as a comfort.  It was a word of assurance, a word of help in this situation.  God was coming to them with a promise.  He knows all about your situation and offers this word as a comfort to you.  When the children of Israel were down in Egypt God heard every lash of the task masters whip on them, saw every tear as they went to bed at night, every aching muscle as they got up in the morning.  He told Moses "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows." (Exodus 3 verse 7)  Paul said "let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what man will do unto me." (Hebrews 13 verses 5 and 6)  In 2 Timothy 4 verse 15 Paul referred to Alexander "he did me much evil".  In other words don`t get too close to him.  "For he hath greatly withstood our words"  He opposed the work of God in their lives.

"Fear thou not" is the Christian`s crown.  A calm and peaceful character stemming from a deep rooted faith in the providence of God.  It drives away every fear.  Paul said "I am content".  When you think of him in the prison cell he was content.  When I am rich I am content.  When I am poor I am content.  He had something worth living for.  Christians in times of trouble and distress seem to experience calm and peace - why - because they have the peace of God in their souls.  Isaiah 12 verse 2 "God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid."  Don`t wait until you are afraid and then trust, trust and don`t be afraid.  Whatever this year holds God is holding it in control and that is the most important thing.  If you have fear today leave it with the Lord who says "fear not."

Sermon notes from Sunday 10 January 2016

This was a promise given by God to his people in Isaiah’s day but it is as real to you and I today as the promise given by Paul to the Philippians “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  We do not need to fear what the future holds because God knows all about the days ahead.  Remember when Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees.  Hebrews 11 verse 8 says “By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”  He heard the word of God to his heart and he obeyed it.  Abraham was listening for the voice of God.  He didn’t ask any questions but simply went out not knowing where he was going or what would happen.  We need to learn to obey God’s voice in this year.

The opening words of our motto verse state “fear thou not.”  How could anybody not fear?  How can you not fear today whenever you don’t know where you are going or what will happen?  By simply having faith and trust in the God of heaven.  God knows all about us.  We don’t have to fear because of this great promise “for I am with thee.”  That the God of heaven should say to us – do not be afraid – why – because I the Lord am with you.  He will be with us as we enter into a new year and we will be in the centre of God’s plan.  God’s promises cannot fail.  Remember Jacob as he left his father’s house.  He had deceived his brother and stolen the blessing from him.  He realised he couldn’t stay there.  He made his way to Haran to seek a wife from his uncle.  Night fell and Jacob gathered stones around him and made one for his pillow.  On that night he did a lot of reflecting and quickly fell asleep under the canopy of heaven.  He had a dream of a ladder that reached from earth to the door of heaven.  He saw the angels ascending and descending on the ladder.  God met with him that night.  He woke up the next morning and said God was in this place and I knew it not.  Wouldn’t it be terrible to miss God’s promises?  Wouldn’t it be terrible to miss God’s nearness?  To miss his word to our hearts.  God came to Jacob on that particular night and promised him a land and children of his own.  “I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” was God’s promise that night.  On the strength of that promise Jacob went on his way.  Thank God we can stand on God’s promises.  We looked last week at the widow woman who had a son but nothing left in her cupboards to eat.  She went out and gathered some sticks to make the last meal for them both.  Elijah came to her house that day and asked her to make him a meal.  The first words he spoke to the widow woman were “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.” (1 Kings 17 verse 13)  She had measured out the flour and oil to make enough for her and her son but the man of God wanted her to make a cake for him first.  “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah.”  The woman had to prove God’s word first of all.  God asks the first of everything we have.  We have to step out first of all, pray to God first.  God asks the very first of our lives today.  In Genesis 46 Joseph’s brothers had been down in Egypt because there was food in that place and now they returned home.  Now they were taking their father to Egypt.  “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night and said Jacob, Jacob.  And he said, Here am I. And he said I am God, the God of thy father, fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.  I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will surely bring thee up again and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.”  Jacob must have been afraid to go down to Egypt.  His grandfather Isaac had been told not to go down to Egypt but here he was being told to not be afraid to go to Egypt.  God gave him a promise but it would only be proved when he was down in Egypt.  Genesis 47 verse 29 “And the time drew nigh that Israel must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee in Egypt: But I will lie with my fathers and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said I will do as thou hast said, And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.”  Joseph promised to do as his father asked.  God’s promise was fulfilled, not the way we would have imagined at first but none the less it was fulfilled.  There has been many a promise God has made to save a family but the one person to whom the promise was given never seen its reality.  However the promise has been fulfilled in later years.  Abraham stepped out not knowing where he was going but he went out.  The devil would love to see churches closing down but what a promise we have from God to always be with us.

The presence that is promised too.  “for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee”  we can know his divine presence too.  When Jesus was leaving this world he gathered his disciples around him, he knew their fears and doubts but he told them “I will not leave you comfortless”. (John 14 verse 18)  He promised them to send another comforter – the Holy Spirit himself.  He would be with them for ever.  The Holy Spirit abides with us for ever.  What a wonderful presence that is.  We have God’s promise with us day and daily.  We walk by faith not by sight.  God doesn’t open up everything immediately but simply says “put your hand in mine and you will see it opening up slowly.”  He asked Abraham to “walk thou before me and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17 verse 1).  Remember the 2 men walking on the road to Emmaus.  God drew alongside them.  He was the only one who could give them comfort, no other man could do it.  As he accompanied them he opened up the word of God.  His presence went with them.  When they reached their destination they constrained him to stay and eat with them.  They coveted his presence more than anything else.  What a wonderful thing to covet God’s presence.  The 2 disciples later said “did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24 verse 32)  What a blessing to have God’s promise and presence with us.  In Acts 27 when Paul and his companions where in the middle of a shipwreck Paul told them “For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, Saying Fear not, Paul.” (verse 23)  Do you know God today?  Do you know Christ as Saviour and Lord?  Was there a day when you stood before him, acknowledged you were a sinner in his sight, when you asked him to lead and direct your paths from that day on?  Even when Daniel was in the lions den he had a peace that no-one else had.  His king couldn’t sleep because of the decree he had made against the child of God.  Can you imagine him running the next morning to the den wondering if Daniel was alright.  Daniel told him that God had sent his angel to guard him all night.  He had a peace that passeth all understanding.   If the Lord is not your Saviour you will never know that peace.  There will come a time when you will need the Saviour at your side.  Trust him, depend on him to be there in the times of shipwreck and times of the den of lions.  Are you saved today?  Have you trusted Christ?  Are you depending on him in this new year?  We have his promise and presence today.

Sermon notes from Sunday 17 January 2016
1 Kings 19 verses 1 - 18

"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." Isaiah 41 verse 10

What a wonderful reassurance that I am not alone - "fear thou not for I am with thee."  Fear not in a crisis because it is God`s command.  It is also a great comfort.  It is the Christian`s crown.  There is also the promise and presence of God with us "I am with thee."

His provision.  Not looking to man today but rather to the God of heaven, the one who spoke and everything around us came into existence.  He promises today to provide for us - "I will strengthen thee."  That is provision.  Whatever you are asked to do, whatever trial, tribution, burder I will provide for you.  I am there to help you, strengthen you.  Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 said "there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who wil not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it."  Just when you thought the world was crashing down around you.  That must have been the way Elijah felt as sat in the desert, in the barrenness.  He feels the presence of God, hears the voice of God.  No matter where we are today God will provvide all things.  "I can do all things through Christ that strengtheth me."  Paul realised that God of heaven would provide for him to deal with the situation.  God will not lay on us that which he does not provide strength for the task.  When he felt alone he testified to Timothy "when all men forsook me I looked for a friend and found none the Lord stood with me." (2 Timothy 4 verses 16 and 17)  There was something about that presence.  Imagine that.  God`s presence in a situation cannot fail.  "that by me the preaching might be fully known." There is no trial God cannot provide for the apostle.  Paul had many trials but realised God was able to match any circumstances.  It must have been like that for Elijah in that place.  What caused this lapse in this mighty prophet`s life?  What caused his heart to be attacked by fear?  Verse 3 "and when he saw that."  That fear is very important.  He had come under the threat of Jezebel, one of the most wicked queens every lived.  She hated Elijah with a venom.  He had stood on the hill of Carmel, had put to death 400 of Jezebel`s prophets.  She told him if he was not dead by this time tomorrow there would be something wrong.  Elijah got his eyes off God and onto the circumstances around him.  On an evil woman with a tongue that threatened his life.  When he saw his circumstances he got his eyes off God and began to run out to the wilderness to the place of barrenness and dryness.  In chapter 17 verse 1 Elijah was standing in front of the king Ahab.  Think of this man just as God comes to him I have a task for you.  Elijah asks him what the Lord wants him to do.  Want to go in before Ahab and tell him there would be no rain in Israel for 3 1/2 years.  When he was told that fear never entered his mind, he knew God had sent him and there was no fear in his heart.  His mind was focused on God alone.  God then tells him to go to the brook Cherith.  Where are our eyes today?  Are they on God today or not?  Something you don`t want to face perhaps.  Get your eyes on God.  As he looked down on the brook and said "if God said to me not to fear I will not fear."  He knew God said it and he would do it.  The brook began to dry up after 3 years.  He knew his life was in God`s hands.  He was moving him on.  He doesn`t live in past blessings.  Let`s keep looking to God of heaven for this new year and blessings he will bestow on us.  He comes to Zarephath, finds a little house and sees a woman coming out.  There is no fear in his heart because his heart was on the word of the Lord.  In chapter 19 he hears all the threats of this woman Jezebel, everything she said gripped his heart.  He got his eyes off God and onto circumstances.  If we enter into 2016 with our eyes on circumstances we are going to go down under.  It is not easy to keep our eyes on Jesus when you have got problems, threats and difficulties.  Take them to the Lord in prayer.  When you are in that situation I will provide for you.  When we get our eyes on the threats we get our eyes off God.  Never get your eyes off the Lord and put them onto circumstances.  We are no match in our own strength.  God will provide for us.

His protection.  When you are in that situation I wil protect you.  God will protect his children.  You and I can face any situation because we know his protection.  Just like the apostle Paul when all his friends deserted him the Lord stood by him.  Not as a bystander was there for his help - 2 Timothy 4 verse 17.  God delivered him.  That is what God provides for us.  Psalm 46 "God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble."  Daniel proved that himself when he was cast into the lions den.  As he lay there with the lions all around him something strange happened.  The lions never even looked at him.  God sent his angels and stopped the mouth of the lions.  David knew all about it.  He watched the sheep at night, seen the bear coming to take the lamb but God helped him.  I do not come in my strength, I come in the strength of the Lord God of Israel.  "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty." (Psalm 91 verse 1)  He gives provision and protection.  Remember Hezekiah when the city of Jerusalem was under seige.  He takes the letter from his enemies and laid it out before the God of heaven.  God told him that there shall not be an arrow that will fly into this city - 2 Kings 19 verse 32.  185,000 of the enemy army lay dead the next morning.  Do you know that protection?  Do you know the promise of God to your heart?  "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise case out." (John 6 verse 37)  Have you ever brought that burden of sin, that keeps you awake at night, brings thoughts of eternity without God to him?  Have you ever taken him as Saviour and Lord?  Do you know his presence?  Do you know his provision?  Do you know his power today?

His power.  That is at our disposal.  "I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."  At the distribution of the land throughout the lands of Israel think of the tribe Asher and the promise given to them as about to enter the land.  Deuteronomy 33 verse 25 "as thy days so shall thy strength be."  Do not look for provision for tomorrow.  Matthew 6 verse 34 "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."  Trouble for today is heaven enough.  The problems you have today are difficult enough without anything added to them.  The pressures that may never ever come to pass.  God will provide.  He will give us the power.  Is there something that you need power for?  The disciples depended on the Lord - "go ye into all the world ... but tarry in Jerusalm to be filled with the Holy Spirit."  The provision, the protection and the power is available, wrapped up in this verse.  Paul "what shall we say to these things if God be for us who can be against us." (Romans 8 verse 31)