Our Scripture reading for this evening's sermon is taken from Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41. And we'll be looking at verses 1-20 together. It's found on page 702 in the Pew Bible in front of you. Before we read God's Word, let's ask Him to bless it for us. Our dear Father in Heaven, we do give thanks for Your Word and for the Spirit to open our eyes to see it and understand it and pray, Lord, that Your Word would not fall without its intended purpose this evening. We pray that these words would be heard, that they would be understood, and our faith, hope, and love would be strengthened so that we can go forth in the week ahead encouraged and inspired to be Your people in whatever vocation that You have set before us. No matter what trouble we may face, knowing that You are our God and that You are with us. We ask these things for Jesus' sake. Amen. Isaiah 41, beginning with verse 1. Be silent before me, you islands. Let the nations renew their strength. Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment. Who has stirred up one from the east and called him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves unscathed by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, with the first of them and with the last, I am He. The islands have seen it in fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward. Each helps the other and says to his brother, Be strong. The craftsman encourages the goldsmith and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding, it is good. He nails down the idol so it will not topple. But you, O Israel, my servant Jacob whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, you are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish, though you search for your enemies. you will not find them. Those who rage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear. I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. See, I will make you into a threshing sledge new and sharp with many teeth. You will thrush the mountains and crush them and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them. The wind will pick them up and the gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel. The poor and needy search for water, but there is none. Their tongues are parched with thirst, but I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress to gather so that My people may see and know, may consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. May the Lord bless the reading and preaching of His Holy Word. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, do not be afraid. The Lord is with you. That's the message of Isaiah 41. And when Israel first heard these words, they were a troubled people. They had refused God's call to repentance. They had chosen instead to live a life of sin rather than in the righteousness of God and His judgment had come upon them. The northern tribes of Israel were destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. And about 100 years later, the Babylonians came and dismantled Judah. Those who survived were forced into exile into a foreign land among a foreign people surrounded by false religion. They were weary with battle and plagued with questions that seemed no one could answer. They lived in fear of those around them and in fear of God's judgment. It's in the midst of that trouble that the Lord comes to His people and He says, Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will uphold you. I will strengthen you. I am near and I am committed to you. Israel needed this comfort then, friends. And we need it today, don't we? For as citizens of heaven, we too find ourselves in a foreign land surrounded by false religion, weary of this battle against sin and facing so many difficult questions. At times, we too are afraid that maybe God's judgment will fall upon us. And yet, Isaiah 41, carefully understood, comes to us too with comforting words that can strengthen our faith, encourage our hope, and enable our lives of love just as it was intended to do for Israel so long ago. And that's why we consider it this evening. Confident that God's Word is for us. Confident that God wants to speak to us in the midst of our troubled lives just as He did and has for His people of every generation. Notice that this word of comfort begins with the announcement of God's power. The announcement of God's power as Judge of the nations, as King of kings, and as Lord of all. We read in verse 1 of our text, Listen to me in silence, O coastlands. Let the peoples renew their strength. Let them approach me, then let them speak. Let us together draw near for judgment. The picture is rather astounding. A universal supreme court of sorts where God Almighty is the one who calls the court to order and assembles the peoples of the nations before Him and says, speak to me, make your case. It's a terrific and terrible picture before the Almighty God, Judge of the nations. If in the civil courts, judicial acts are binding, how much more this universal Supreme Court and its acts and the work of the sovereign God, Creator of heaven and earth. And then the picture changes in verse 2, moving away from the courtroom to the battlefield as God reveals His power as King of kings. Who stirred up from the east whom victory meets at every step? The question's worded awkwardly to us. We could restate it. who is the one to raise up such a great power? It goes on to say, that one, he gives up nations before him so that he tramples kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. He pursues them and passes on safely. Who has performed these things? Is the question. It is I, the Lord. And as we work to understand this passage, we come to see that there are many different ways of interpreting what God is trying to say in this passage. In other words, as we consider whom God is talking about raising up, a number of different solutions have been suggested. For example, we could think about God's raising up of Abraham in Genesis 14 as He went forth to fight the kings of that period and trounced them in battle. Or we might think of God's work through Joshua as He secured the promised lands. Or more immediate to Isaiah's prophecy, we could think about how God raised up Assyria and the Babylonians and then also looking forward to His work of raising up the great king of Persia, Cyrus. But Isaiah doesn't specifically tell us who he's talking about at this point in his prophecy. Rather, leaving it open, suggesting that no matter who the power, whether it be one of God's own righteous servants such as Abraham or Joshua, or whether it be the kings of pagan nations, God Almighty is King of kings. And He rules over them as Lord of lords. He gives and the Lord takes away. He builds up and He takes down. This announcement of power we see in the courtroom and on the battlefield and then we see it spanning throughout all of history. As God shows Himself to be Lord of all, of all history, of all peoples, places, and times. Our God rules over it all. And that's why we confess in the Heidelberg Catechism No. 27 that the almighty, everywhere, present power of God is such that with His hand of providence, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures. And He governs them. so that all things come to us not by chance, but by His fatherly hand. Abraham Kuyper, in a wonderful brief little devotional called The Practice of Godliness, applied that confession and this biblical truth a little bit further when he says, whatever threat or danger or destruction may come upon us, We must accept it as coming from God, directed toward us and inflicted upon us by Him. There cannot be any exception, not even the smallest. Why? Because if God's power is not an almighty power, if He is not Judge of the nations and King of kings and Lord of all, the Lord of all, then we cannot have assurance that His promises will be fulfilled. But since He is Lord of all, down to even the details of His creation, we can have confidence. the families of Abraham were decimated. The kingdom of David was destroyed and all of its glories trampled underfoot or people were scattered and life was filled for them and for us with untold troubles. The good news of God's loving assurance is desperately needed, isn't it? The good news that God will fulfill His promise. And we hear it this evening. First, with the announcement of almighty power. And second, with assurance that God's promises will be fulfilled. We see this in verses 18-16. In this section, in this assurance of God's promise, the focus is on His promise to Abraham. God's promise to bless Abraham and his families and through them the whole world. Verse 8, But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend. You see the line. The line of God's covenant faithfulness to His promises. His promise to Abraham, His friend. Isaac and Jacob whom He has chosen. Israel His servant. And the trajectory goes well beyond that family line, doesn't it? For as we go on to verse 9, it says, You whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from the farthest corners, saying, You are My servant. Do you see the far-reaching implications of this good news? In Isaiah 41, moving through the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the political boundaries of Israel unto the whole world, saying that God has called you too, beloved, to be His own. The blessing crosses time and space from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan through Europe, the Americas, and today through East Asia and around the world. Our God is showing Himself to be faithful to the people of old and the people of today and all of those whom He calls to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, verse 10 is not simply for Israel of old, it's for us today. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. This assurance of God's love to fulfill His promises to us reaches a crescendo here. Beginning with the words, Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. and listen to it ring on. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. The understanding is that the same righteous power of God that created all things and that rules all of world history, that same righteous power is committed to strengthen His people to help us and to uphold us. Preserving us no matter what trouble we may face. And that's only further underscored as we move on to see how God is committed to bless His people. The necessarily implication is that He will destroy our enemies. As we consider the Scriptures, with very few exceptions, we find that when God builds up His people and blesses them, He defeats their enemies. Think of Abraham referred to a few minutes ago in Genesis 14 along with Joshua and David. And we might think, well, what about Moses and the Israelites with Egypt? And surely Egypt did enjoy a measure of God's blessing along with His people until God's plan had come to a point where they too were defeated and decimated by the Almighty God as He came to bring blessing and joy to His people. Verses 11-16 describe this. Saying, Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame. Or the NIV, all who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and they will perish. And then verse 14 reminds us that though God's people, though you and I are so weak, that's the point of describing Jacob as a worm there. Though we are little and though we are weak, our God is strong and will empower the victory. Do not fear, for I Myself will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. This reference to the Redeemer in Isaiah is the first in the book. The first of 13 times. And each of them is directly connected to the Lord. The Redeemer is God Himself. And yet, it would be over 600 years before Israel and the world would know the full significance of these words. God would not merely empower Jacob, His servant. He would become servant Himself. God would not only come to the aid of the suffering and the downcast, He would become that suffering servant and outcast Himself. Paul explains in Galatians 4 that we were once enslaved to the elementary principles of this world, but when the fullness of time had finally come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Isn't that a profound and most glorious truth that God didn't merely offer His aid from heaven to bring redemption to His people, but He actually came down from heaven. The King of kings became a servant. The Judge of all the world Himself took on the place of those condemned to keep His promise and to redeem His people and to bring their enemies under their feet. And it's so important that we see this redemption was not intended to be a redemption from the Assyrians or the Babylonians or even the Romans. But as Kuyper explains in that same helpful devotional, Jesus Christ came to redeem His people from the guilt of sin, the power of Satan, and ultimately, finally, the corruption of this world. So that in Christ, we can be assured of God's promise that our enemies will be defeated and that the fullness of His blessing is ours because we are His Son and heirs of His kingdom and all the glory that is His has been given to us. The blessing has come. No tribulation, no distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword can ever separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, with this understanding of Isaiah, we see how God's blessing moves beyond the bloodlines of family and through the political boundaries of nations unto all the world, even to you and I today, and through the work of our evangelistic outreach and missions unto those unreached peoples of the world today and tomorrow. This announcement of God's power, this assurance of His promise, anticipates the coming of His peace. I hope you resonate with that. We can rejoice in the power of God. We can rejoice in the fullness of His promise through Jesus Christ. And yet, we continue to groan, don't we? We continue to be faced with troubles and difficulties in this life, whether it be the frustrations of Satan or the temptations of sin or the various frailties of our flesh. And we might cry out then with those in verse 17, the poor and needy who seek water and there is none and their tongue is parched with thirst. God answers them. God answers the cry of His people whether it be those who are persecuted for their faith in the Middle East, or whether it be those of us here today who are burdened with other cares of this world, God answers the need of His people with the promise and peace of a new creation. The new heavens and the new earth. Verse 18 says that I will make rivers flow on barren heights. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs so that My people will see and know that they may consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. As citizens of heaven, we still anticipate that peace. We still are facing the difficulty of sin, the raging work of Satan, the frailty of our flesh, and the brothers and sisters around the world, the persecution of civil authorities, the pain and difficulty of poverty, and unchecked sickness. We long yet for this day to come, but we are assured that it will come. For this vision isn't simply a view of old Israel through Isaiah, but it's picked up again through the voice of Revelation 21 when it says, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be His people. And God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things has passed away. Our God has spoken it. And it is so. We can be assured by His almighty power. We can be confident of His promises all while anticipating that fullness of peace that He still has planned for us sometime tomorrow. Some time ago, my grandma was diagnosed with bone cancer. And this woman of profound faith suffered a great deal. An elder half her age came to visit her and read to her Isaiah 41. Grandpa and grandma memorized Isaiah 41 because they found great comfort in God's Word. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Grandma died, and not long afterwards, Grandpa alone found himself in his driveway, fell to his knees, and he couldn't stand up. A stroke had come upon him, and his mind went to the Lord. He had it here, you know. Do not be afraid. I am with you. Do not be afraid, my son, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And you see, the Word of God is passed on from generation unto generation, isn't it? And I bring it to you because it's been upon my mind and within my heart and within our home for the last few weeks. Finding great comfort in the good news of our Almighty God who's brought fulfillment to His promises in Jesus Christ all with an anticipation of a glory and inheritance that is yet to be ours. And so we can go forth in this world. We can go into the week ahead. Whatever trouble may come upon us, beloved, whether it be sickness or poverty or any other pain, we can go forth and live without fear because the cross of Christ is behind us. The power of the Holy Spirit is working within us and the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven lies before us. Who can stand against us? Let's pray. Dear Father, what a joy it is to hear the good news of Your Word. We're so unworthy of Your kindness. So overwhelmed by Your love and Your grace. And Lord, so weak yet to believe the fullness of what You reveal to us. We believe, O Lord, but help our unbelief. Grant us greater strength in the face of doubts, trials, and temptations. Grant us greater diligence and discipline and the various vocations You've given us to do so that as we face the trials of this life, we would not be overwhelmed. And Lord, though we face a fiery battle here in the United States, a spiritual battle that's so unseen and so often forgotten. There are great tragedies every day. And though we face a great battle here, we do not forget our brothers and sisters around the world who continue, even though citizens of heaven, to suffer within the context of this earth with poverty, unchecked sickness, disease, and on top of that, so often the oppressive work of their civil servants. So we cry out with them, dear God. And at times we cry out, how long? And we do so rejoicing, for you have doubt so bountifully with us. We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.