ISAIAH 41
3 Outlines
ISAIAH 41:8-13
THINGS TO REMEMBER
Isaiah gives us three important reminders here:
This passage was written to the nation
REMEMBER YOU ARE SPECIAL - Vss. 8-9
Sometimes it is hard for us to think of ourselves as
special when we are having problems. But
it is helpful and healthy to remember that God considers us to be special.
Vs. 8 –
Paul, James, and Peter considered themselves servants
of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:15-16 - For
so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men: [16] As free, and not using your
liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God.
Again, if you know Jesus as Savior, you are a disciple
of Jesus Christ. Luke 9:23
If you are a disciple of God the Son, you are a
servant of God.
Why is it significant in times of trouble to remember
that you are God’s servant? God takes
care of His own! Romans 8:28
God is not like some irresponsible employees who don’t
care about those who work for them. God
takes a special interest in each and every one of His servants. He does that because every servant of God is
also a Child of God. 1 John 3:1, Romans 8:16-17
Not only are we servants of God according to verse 8,
but we are also chosen by God. If you
know Jesus Christ as Savior you are one of God’s chosen. Jesus called believers “the elect”. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your
Savior, trust Him for forgiveness of sin and eternal life and be one of the
elect.
If you are elect you are certainly special! Ephesians
1:3-6
And as chosen of God I need not fear the future. John
10:27-31
And there’s more. Not only are we special because we
are God’s servants and because we are God’s chosen, but we are special because
we are of the seed of Abraham.
Abraham was God’s friend. Because we are of Abraham’s seed, are also
the friends of God.
You may be thinking, “I’m not Abraham’s seed, his
descendent, because I’m not Jewish.”
Abraham was the “Father of faith.”
Those who have faith in Christ are of the seed of
Abraham. We are Abraham’s spiritual descendents.
Galatians 3:7-9
Abraham was a friend of God. As His seed, we are the friends of God! But there’s more. Jesus called His disciples
His friends. John 15:13-15
You might know what it is like to have a good friend
who sticks by you no matter what. Proverbs 17:17, 18:24
Jesus is your friend. God is your friend if you know
Jesus Christ as your Savior. You have no
better friend than Jesus!
Vs. 9 – This verse reminds me that we as a group
of Christians are special. God has
called us from all lands, all colors and all races to be His children!
And He promise not to cast us
away. Hebrews 13:5-6
REMEMBER YOU ARE STRENGTHENED - Vs. 10
God says “fear thou not, for I am with thee”
You are not going anywhere without God today! Psalm
139:7-10
Not only are you not going anywhere without God today,
but we need not be dismayed or panic because He is your God! Psalm 48:14
Notice the three promises we have in this verse.
·
“I WILL STRENGTHEN THEE”
God promises to give you strength for every situation.
And remember He is the God that does the impossible.
Philippians 4:13, Luke 1:37
·
“I WILL HELP THEE”
Are you facing a financial crisis? God says, “I will
help you.”
Are you facing a family crisis? God says, “I will help
you.”
Are you facing a work crisis? God says, “I will help
you.”
Are you facing a health crisis? God says, “I will help you.”
How is it that sometimes it seems
that God is not helping us?
Sometimes we are not asking for help. He wants us to
ask.
Sometimes we ask for the wrong reasons. James 4:2-3
Sometimes we ask for help and for the right reasons
but we lack faith. James 1:5-8
·
“I WILL UPHOLD THEE WITH THE RIGHT HAND OF MY
RIGHTEOUSNESS”
What did you do for your children when they learned to
walk? You held them up!
Let me tell you my friend, in this life with all it’s problems and challenges, I’m still learning to walk!
I intend to let God hold me up!
Let’s not be like some children who squirm to get out
of a parents helpful grasp.
Let’s willingly put up those hands, saying, “Father,
please hold me up!”
REMEMBER YOU ARE
I’ll admit that the message of these verses is similar
to the message of verse 10. But I take these verses as telling us “the victory
is ours.”
Vs. 11 – Who is the greatest enemy you have?
Your biggest enemy is Satan and all his demons!
What is Satan trying to do to you?
He is trying to deceive you.
He is trying to devour you.
He is trying to destroy you.
He is trying to discourage you. 1 Peter 5:8, 2
Corinthians 11:14-15
But Satan is a defeated foe! Revelation 20:10
Even now you are not obligated to serve Satan.
The victory is found in the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ! Romans 6:10-14
Vs. 12 – And there will be a day when you
enemies will all disappear.
Vs. 13 – In the meantime, we have nothing to
fear. God will help us, if we let Him,
and give us victory through every situation.
I want to conclude with two great victory
passages: Romans 8:35-39 - Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. [37] Nay, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him that loved us. [38] For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, [39] Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jude 1:24-25 - Now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, [25] To
the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
now and ever. Amen.
So, this very encouraging passage in Isaiah challenges
us to remember 3 things:
REMEMBER YOU ARE SPECIAL - Vss. 8-9
REMEMBER YOU ARE STRENGTHENED - Vs. 10
REMEMBER YOU ARE
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Isaiah 41:10
FEAR NOT!
Human beings are
generally fearful. Often, we who are
Christians are as
bad or worse than the unsaved when it comes to fear. We fear
failure,
the future, criticism, people, witnessing, and a host of other
things.
This great verse in
Isaiah reminds us to "Fear Not!" There are 2 "I
Am's" and 3 "I will's" in this passage.
THE "I AM'S"
OF COMPANIONSHIP
I am with thee.
I am thy God.
THE "I WILL'S"
OF COMPASSION
I will strengthen thee.
I will help
thee.
I will uphold
thee.
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Isaiah 41:10
ABOUT OUR GOD
At one time or another,
most of us have been gripped with fear.
We have been afraid that
things which happened in the past can hurt is in the present.
We have been afraid of
what people think.
We have been afraid of
what people would do.
We have been afraid of
the future.
We have been afraid of
circumstances.
We have been afraid of
ourselves.
We have been afraid of
any number of things.
One of the forms fear takes
is that of worry. When we are afraid of
something, we worry over it. As we
continually worry, we make life miserable for ourselves, and for those who have
to listen to us worry!
The ironic thing about
our fears is God doesn't want us to fear, as long as we fear Him!
Luke 12:4-5 - "And
I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear:
Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say
unto you, fear him"
We fear God when we
trust Christ as our Savior from sin (Isaiah 53:5-6, Romans 5:1).
When we fear God, we
need not fear anything or anybody.
God is originally
speaking to Israel here, but I believe that this verse is applicable to all
born again Christians.
Notice please that God
tells us not to fear. This is a command. When we fear things God tells us not
to fear, we are disobeying God!
What I like about the
passage before us this morning is that this verse tells us why we shouldn't
fear. And these reasons are centered on God!
In telling us not to fear, Isaiah is telling us something about
God. In fact there are five things which
we learn about our God here which should help keep us from living in fear and
worry. In this passage we learn:
OUR GOD IS PRESENT -
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee:"
OUR GOD IS PERSONAL -
"be not dismayed; for I am thy God:"
OUR GOD IS POWERFUL -
"I will strengthen thee;"
OUR GOD IS PRACTICAL -
"yea, I will help thee;"
OUR GOD IS PERMANENT -
"yea, I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness.