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HENRY T. MAHAN TAPE MINISTRY

Isaiah 41:10 • tv110b

A television broadcast sermon delivered

Sunday January 3^rd, 1980

By

Henry T. Mahan

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Transcribed, edited and published

March 2^nd, 2016  

Henry T. Mahan Tape Library

Zebulon Baptist Church

6088 Zebulon Highway

Pikeville, KY 41501

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Isaiah 41:10

“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.”

I think it would be worth your while today if you would find a Bible and open it to the book of Isaiah chapter 41.  I’m going to be speaking to you in a few moments on the subject:  “FEAR NOT.”

Now, there’s not anyone listening to this program who does not deal with the emotion of fear.  Fear is something that every one of us knows something about.  Even a little baby; one of the first expressions that you see on his face is the fear of falling or the fear of loud noises.  And even the oldest person listening to me knows something about fear. 

And I’m going to speak about fear.  Our Lord says in Isaiah 41:10:  “Fear thou not for I am with thee.”  Now, as I say, I think it will be very profitable for you if you will find the Scripture because, if there’s nothing in the sermon itself to meet your need.  If there’s nothing in the sermon to help you, there’s plenty in the text; there’s plenty in the Word of God. 

And I do pray that the Holy Spirit will spread for us today a good feast and many of you will feast on it and will be blessed by it.  In all of it God shall be glorified and His eternal purpose shall be accomplished. 

Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah writes and he says:  “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.”  What a promise!  “Fear thou not; I am with thee.”

Now, upon reading this Scripture the first question that comes to my mind is this; to whom are these gracious words spoken?  That’s important.  To whom are these gracious words spoken and to whom are these promises addressed?

We must not be caught reading somebody else’s mail.  We must not be caught claiming somebody else’s promises; promises which are not ours.  And so, we’ve got to find out to whom God is speaking when he says:  “Fear thou not for I am with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God:  I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, and yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Now, the preceding verses and the verses that follow, our text, will tell us to whom the Lord speaks.  Now, if you will, look back at verse 8 and He identifies these people to whom he is speaking, to whom these promises are addressed.

He says in verse 8, “Thou whom I have chosen.”  These promises are addressed to those whom the Lord hath chosen.  So then, if we find anything here for us, if I find anything here for me, it will not be on the ground of my merit or my deserving, but on the ground of God’s sovereign grace to me.

He says, “I have chosen thee.”  Look at verse 9, “I have chosen thee.”  Christ said to his disciples one day, “You didn’t choose me; I chose you.  I ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit.”

We love Him, yes we do.  We can say with Peter:  “Lord, you know all things; you know I love thee.”  But, “we love him because he first loved us.” 

First of all:  these promises, according to verse 8, are addressed to those whom the Lord hath chosen.  He said:  “I have chosen thee”

 Second: Then verse 9 tells us that the people to whom these promises are addressed are to those whom God has called.  He said in verse 9:  “I’ve called thee.”  And Paul, writing about this call says:  “Whom the Lord foreknew, (or whom he foreordained), he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son.  In whom he predestinated he called.”

Now, we are not talking here about the general call which all men hear.  Amos talked about the call of judgment, the call of providence, the call of the law, the call of tribulation, even the call of the law, and even the call of the Gospel.

This is a sweet, effectual, call of God’s Spirit that gets results.  He said:  “I called thee.”  Paul said, “It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace.”

Believers are referred to in the New Testament as “the called of God, the called of Christ Jesus.” Those whom God hath called, and those whom the Spirit hath called.

So, we know this; these promises are addressed to those whom God hath chosen, and those whom God hath called.

Thirdly:  Look at verse 9 again; and then He identifies these people to whom He’s speaking as, “thou art my servant.”  The promises are to those who are servants of God.

One of the apostle Paul’s favorite, favorite terms, was this; “I’m a bond slave or a servant of Jesus Christ.”  That’s what he called himself.  That was one of his favorite names for himself.

He didn’t talk about “I’m a great religious leader, I’m a great missionary, I’m a great evangelist and I’m a great apostle.”  He says:  “I am the servant of Jesus Christ.” 

Nearly every letter (New Testament epistle, Paul wrote of the 13 or 14) he wrote and he said,  “Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ.”  That word “servant” is bond slave.  Do you know where that word comes from?  It comes from the book of Exodus chapter 21.

If a Hebrew slave, if a Hebrew was taken into slavery, he could only serve so many years; it was six years I believe.  And on the seventh year the master had to let him go free.  His time was served and he had to be free.

Now, Moses wrote in Exodus 21; if this particular slave loves his master and loves his master’s home and does not want to go free, he can say to his master; “the only freedom I want is to serve you; I desire to remain your servant and your slave.”

So, he says that the master is to take him down to the priest and down to the temple or down to the tabernacle and bore his ear with an awl.  From that moment on he’s a bond slave. 

Do you know what a bond slave is?  It’s a willing slave.  It’s not a man who is a servant against his will; it’s a willing, loving, bond slave.  And that’s what Paul called himself, he said:  “I’m the servant (a bond slave, a willing, loving servant) of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

And that’s the person to whom this promise is made and given, those whom God hath chosen, those whom God hath called by His spirit, and those who know that they are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourthly:  If you will look at verse 14; now, I want you to see this if you will.  Look at it, he says and he calls us something else that’s not very flattering and not very complimentary, he says:  “Fear not thy worm Jacob;” that’s what the Lord says.  He says, “We are chosen, we are called, we are servants.”  But He says and He also addresses us as (but now a lot of folks will get offended by this word) “worms.”

Some folks don’t mind the other terms, the chosen of God, the elect, the elite, the called of God, and even the servants of God, “but a worm?”  Isaac Watts put it this way:

“Alas and did my Saviour bleed

And did my sovereign die

Would he devote that sacred head?

For such a worm as I.

At the cross, at the cross

Where I first saw the light

And the burden of my heart rolled away

It was there by faith

I received my sight

And now I am happy.”

But I’m still called a “worm.” 

And I’ll tell you; when you see His fullness, you will see your emptiness.  You don’t see your real emptiness until you see God’s fullness.  And when you see God’s holiness you will see your sinfulness.

When you see God’s glory you will see your unworthiness and you will take the term, “thy worm Jacob.”  God uses that quite often, “thy worm Jacob.”  The Hebrew meaning of that word is not very nice.  Do you know what the Hebrew meaning is?  Look it up in your concordance; it’s maggot.  That’s what it says:  “Thy worm Jacob.”

That’s the folks to whom He’s speaking here, His chosen, His called, His servants, and unworthy sinners whom God hath loved, and whom God hath cleansed in the blood of His son, in whom God hath lifted by His sovereign power, in whom God hath made new and regenerated by His Holy Spirit. To whom God hath granted repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and put our sins away by the sacrifice of His dear son.  Yes, it’s a blessed old Gospel.  But men, “to whom much is forgiven; they will love much.” 

And they know what it is to be a worm.  Paul said:  “I’m not one wit behind the chief apostle but I’m nothing, nothing.”  God chooses the nothings to “bring to naught the things that are.”  And God chooses the weak to “bring to naught the things that are strong.”  And God uses the base and the despised “to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.”  

I will tell you, if God’s been pleased to whittle you down and like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus to unhorse you and put your face in the dust, the dust of repentance, and the dust of grief over sin, and bring you to look up and see the light of life which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in Him; you will call yourself a worm.

And then He says in verse 9:  “I’ve chosen you and I will not cast you away.”  Those people to whom this promise is written, “fear not for I am with thee, be not dismayed; I’m thy God,” are those whom He hath chosen, those whom He hath called, those who are His servants, those who are worms and know it, and those who continue faithful to the end, “I will not cast you away.”

These promises are made to those who continue in the faith, not those who claim faith or profess faith or brag about faith, but those who will not depart from the faith, and whom God will not let depart. 

These are very real promises and I want to give them to you again and look at them carefully.  Open your Bible again to Isaiah 41:10.  These promises deal with a very natural problem, a problem that as I said at the beginning at the program that everybody knows something about, fear!

It comes in different flavors.  It comes in different ways.  Some have a fear of flying, and a fear of death, and a fear of sickness, and a fear of surgery, and a fear of not having enough to eat, and the fear of not being able to pay your bills, and the fear of darkness, and a fear of old age.

There are all kinds of fears.  You see, man didn’t know fear until he fell.  Fear was never known by Adam until he fell.  And now, fear is known by every son of Adam, even from little children, to those of old age.  Everybody knows something about fear.

And so, you can be acquainted with this message today about fear.   Fear came into the heart when sin came into the heart.  There were three things that Adam didn’t know anything about until he fell.

First of all: Adam didn’t know shame!

The Scripture says, “The man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed.”   After Adam sinned against God, he said:  “I was naked.”  He was ashamed.  He tried to cover himself with fig leaves.  He tried to hide.

Secondly:  Then he didn’t know anything about shame before he fell and then he didn’t know anything about guilt before he fell.

He had nothing to feel guilty about.  But after he sinned against God he ran and hid.  He said,  “I was naked and hid myself.”  Well, why did you do that Adam?  “I was afraid.”

Adam didn’t know anything about fear until he fell.  And no son of Adam knew anything about fear, wouldn’t have known anything about fear, if it hadn’t been for sin. 

But fear continues even in the heart of a believer.  Now wait a minute and listen!  Some of God’s choicest servants have known what it is to be afraid.  David, he feared Saul and fled from his face.  David feared Achish the wicked king and made out like he was mad and insane.

Elijah who fought with the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and won a great victory by God’s power and grace was afraid of Jezebel. 

Peter?  Peter the great preacher of Pentecost turned the calendar back just a few hours and you will find him sitting around a fire trembling, afraid of the testimony of a little girl.  And she said,  “Well, this man is one of the apostles.”  He said, “I don’t know Jesus Christ.”

That’s fear.  And fear continues in the hearts of believers because sin continues in us.  Let’s face it; let’s tell the truth.  If we could attain to perfect faith and perfect love we would have no fear.  And that’s not possible.  I know it’s not possible. 

There’s no perfect faith on this earth.  There’s no perfect love.  But perfect love would cast out all fear.  Perfect faith would cast out all fear.  You wouldn’t be afraid.  The stronger your faith the less you will fear and the less your faith the greater your fear.

We wouldn’t be afraid of tomorrow or next year.  We wouldn’t be afraid of war.  We wouldn’t be afraid of death.  We wouldn’t be afraid of sickness if we believed God.  “All things are possible to them that believe.”

And the reason that fear continues even in the hearts of believers is because sin continues.  We have such little faith and such a poor excuse for love and so little confidence in our God and that’s the reason.

Perfect love would cast out fear.  Once we are stripped of this house of clay we will fear no more.  The Lord said, “Wherein did you fear, oh ye of little faith?” 

The disciples said, “Lord, don’t you care if we drown?”  The boat was being tossed around about on the water and they came back and woke the Master, and said, “Don’t you care if we drown.” What did He say, “O ye of little faith.” 

Strong faith would have never awakened them.  Strong faith would have never feared.  But the reason we have fear, every believer, is because we have sin.

And then, fear has plenty of food on which to live.  Every time I look within and see my imperfection it increases my fear.  Every time I look without, at poverty; I don’t want to be poverty stricken do you?

I don’t want our nation plunged into a depression; do you, not another one like the one we came through in the 20’s and 30’s?  I knew something about that; I lived then.  I look at sickness and old age; how many of you want to grow old, feeble, and infirmed?  Will you fear it?

Fear looks at death, fear looks at judgment, fear looks at eternity, and fear looks at others who have fallen away.  And oh how it troubles our soul.  The best of men are men at best and the strongest man without divine help is a weak man; so fear is something that everybody knows a little bit about.

Well, what does our Lord say, what does He command us?  He says to those whom He hath chosen, to those whom He hath called, to those who are truly His servants, to those who know that they are worms lifted from the dunghill and made to be princes; to sit on the throne, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, to those who are kept by His power and kept by His grace through faith, those He will not let go, those He will not cast away, He says:  “Don’t be afraid.  Fear thou not.”

Our Lord doesn’t say, “Fear not so much,” He says, “Fear not.”  He doesn’t say, “Fear not so often.” He says, “fear not.” 

And David picked up this strain when he said:  “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (and that’s not just talking about the day before he died.  That’s talking about this whole life).  This whole earth is “a shadow of death.”

But you know what I learned one time?  Shadows can’t hurt you.  The shadow of a gun never killed anybody.  The shadow of a knife never shed blood.  The shadow of a rope never hanged a man.  That’s right!

“Yea though I walk through the valley of shadows of death, I will fear no evil, because thou art with me.”

We are not to fear Satan.  We are not to fear men.  “Fear not what men can do.”  We are not to fear condemnation and we are not to fear the law.  We are not to fear death and we are not to fear judgment.

Here are the reasons why we are not to fear any of these things and I want you to take hold of this now; this is the key to this whole Scripture:  “Fear thou not I am with thee.  Be not dismayed, I am thy God:

“I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, and I will not cast thee out.”  Five times you have the word (thou, t-h-o-u, or some form of it, thee or thou), five times; count them there in Isaiah 41:10. 

Five times you have the word “thou” or some form of it.  And each time that our God uses that personal pronoun thou, thee, or thy; He uses the personal pronoun I, speaking of Himself. 

Every time you are mentioned, you who are called and chosen servants of God; every time you are mentioned God is mentioned.  You are never alone! 

Where there is you, there is God.  Where there is your weakness, there’s His strength.  Where there’s your sin, there’s His holiness.  Where there’s your failure, there’s His grace. 

So, that’s the reason I’m not to fear.  That’s the reason I’m not to fear because where I am, He is.  Watch these five times:

First of all:  He says:  “Fear thou not, I am with thee!”

Most fear is caused by being alone; that’s right, most fear is caused by being alone.  And the reason we are not to fear is that we are never alone.  What’s the song we use to sing?

“No, never alone

He promised never to leave me

Never to leave me alone.

I’ve seen the lightening flashing

I’ve heard the thunder roar

I’ve seen sin’s breakers dashing

And trying to conquer my soul.”

He says, “I’ll never leave you; I’ll never forsake you.  Lo, I’m with you always, even to the end of the earth.”  So he says, “Fear not, I am with thee.” 

Where are you this morning?  Christ is there.  What are you facing?  You don’t face it alone.  Christ is there.  Where you are, He is and where your weakness is mentioned His strength is mentioned, where your sin is, His grace, “Fear thou not; I am with thee.”

How many times have you dads and mothers said that to a little child or maybe you are walking through a dark field or down a dark street or thunder is outside and lightening’s are flashing, the rains falling, and the storm is covering the house and the little child begins to cry.

You say, “Don’t be afraid, now Daddy’s here.”  That ought to make everything all right and most of the time it does.  And that’s what our Lord is saying, “Fear thou not; I’m with thee. What’s the next line, “be not dismayed; (don’t be depressed, do not despair) I’m your God.”

You don’t have to be afraid of poverty.  David said:  “I’m old, I’ve been young but I’ve never seen God’s seed begging bread.”  Why do you take thought for what you eat, drink, and wear when God feeds the sparrow and clothes the lily?

“Solomon in all his glory was never clothed like one of those lilies (and no sparrow has ever gone without food).  If God so clothed the grass which today is and tomorrow’s cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you?”

Don’t be depressed, don’t be despairing, and don’t be dismayed, “I’m your God.”  Do you fear trials, temptations, and tribulations?  He says:  “Don’t be afraid; “I’m your God.”  We are not resting in human strength; we are resting in divine mercy, “I’m your God.”

Now notice the next thing:  He said, “I’ll strengthen thee, (the weak one).  “I’m your strength.”  I have to preach; I’m called to preach.  Necessity is upon me, I must preach the gospel.

Well, what poor preaching it is; I realize that but God said, “I’ll strengthen you.  My grace is sufficient for thee.”  I’ll anoint your words.  I’ll make the message a blessing.  It doesn’t depend on you.  If it did we would all fail.

Then, I’ll tell you this, I must bury my dear loved ones and you must bury yours.  And you say,  “I don’t know whether I can bear it.”  You can’t but by His grace you can.  He says:  “My grace is sufficient.”  “I’ll strengthen you, I’ll strengthen you.”

“I’ve got to go to the cemetery and bury my loved one.  I don’t know whether I can take it preacher;” no you can’t; I promise you that, you can’t, not by yourself.  But He said:  “I’ll strengthen you, you who are weak, I’ll strengthen you.”

You must face serious illness or surgery.  You say:  “I’ll falter.”  He said,  “I’ll strengthen you.”  I must face old age; I’m weak, I’m tired, and I can’t bear to be feeble.  “I’ll strengthen you.” 

I must die.  How will I fair in that day of death?  Will I have dying grace?  “I’ll strengthen you.”  Do you see that promise?  Those blessed, chosen, called, servants of the living God, those sinners lifted by his grace; “I will strengthen thee.”

Watch the next line, “I’ll help thee, I’ll help thee.”  David doesn’t face the giant alone for the giant would dash him to pieces in his own power.  God says; “I’ll help you.”

Moses does not go to Egypt alone.  What folly, what foolishness to think that one man could face Pharaoh’s might.  God said:  “I’ll help you.”  Joshua does not go to Jericho alone.  God says,  “I’ll help you.”

One day there was a preacher who had his library downstairs and he wanted to move it upstairs and he had a 3 year old son.  The little boy kept aggravating his father:  “I want to carry some books; I want to carry some books.”

Finally the father gave into him and said, “all right; get a book and take it up.”  So he picked up the biggest, heaviest volume there, and he started up the stairs and he stumbled and fell and he started again and he stumbled and fell.  The book was just too heavy.  Finally he just sat down and cried.

His daddy walked over to him.  He was sitting there with that great big book upon his knee, sitting on the bottom stair, the bottom tread, and the dad went up and put his arms under the boy, book, and all, and picked him up and carried him and the burden upstairs and they laughed all the way up.

That’s what our Lord does; He carries me and the burden.  God’s not my “co-pilot;” He’s the pilot.  He’s not in business with me; He is the Master and the Lord.  He says:  “I’ll help you, I’ll help you.”

Last of all; I want you to listen to this, and He says:  “I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 

Now, I don’t; but I know a few believers who fear of departing from the faith.  I know a few believers (there’s no perfect faith, I know that, that at least entertain thoughts, that may never say it), but they entertain thoughts of denying the Lord, of someday falling away.

I’ll tell you this; “If one sheep of Christ could fall away; I would fall a thousand times a day.”  A songwriter put it this way:

“Oh Lord, with such a heart as mine

Unless you hold me fast

I feel, I must, I shall decline

And perish at the last.”

But the Lord says:  “I will uphold thee, (thee the weak one) I will uphold thee.”  “We are kept by the power of God, (not apart from faith, not in spite of faith, not without faith), but through faith.”  But the keeping is not done by us; it’s done by God.  “I will uphold thee, (but now wait a minute) with the right hand of my righteousness.” 

That’s Christ, that’s Christ because Christ is on God’s right hand.  Where is Jesus Christ?  Well, He’s not on the cross; that work is complete.  He’s not in the tomb as the scapegoat; He’s risen to justify. 

He’s not on Mount Olivet; He’s at the right hand of the majesty on high.  He’s seated, enthroned, and He makes intercession for us.  And He is our righteousness and God is saying:  “I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness,” in Christ!

“Oh nearer, so nearer to God

Nearer I cannot be

For in the person of his Son

I’m as near as He.”

“I’ll uphold him with the right hand of my righteousness!”