Fear Not, I Am God (Isaiah 41)

"So do not fear, 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" (Isa 41:10). "'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, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,' declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" (Isa 41:13-14).

In 40:12-31 Isaiah reasoned that the greatness of Yahweh as Creator guarantees that the huge and worldwide promises of 40:1-11 will be fulfilled. This great God cannot fail to keep his promises and guard his people. In 41:1-20, Isaiah offers a second guarantee: Yahweh is also the world ruler (41:1-7), and in this capacity he is also the guardian of his own people (41:8-20).

In ch. 41-46, Isaiah seems to repeat key themes in varying ways. Then ch. 47 draws the conclusions of what has been said as regards Babylon, and ch. 48 is a call to trust and belief. The hymnic portions in 42:10-13 and 44:23 are regarded as structural indicators that bring a previous unit to a close and introduce a new one. The structure may then be 41:1-42:9; 42:10-44:22; and 44:23-47:15.

No Reason to Fear (Isaiah 41)

"Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you," declares the Lord, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel" (Isa 41:10, 13, 14, NASB).

Fear. If we are able to not fear about anything regarding our life and future, life would be such a happy, joyful and peaceful endeavor. But alas, fear arises in our hearts, often seemingly out of nowhere. We fear everything from vague uncertainties to an increasingly likelihood of a Trump presidency!

How God Helps His People (Isaiah 41)

Isaiah 41:1-29; 14

"'Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,' declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" (Isa 41:14, NIV).

The fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC tested Israel's faith more profoundly than any other single event in the entire OT. Isaiah knew that it would happen (Isa 39:5-7). He never regarded this as calling God's sovereignty into question. Babylon, like Assyria before her, had a part to play in the drama of history, but it was the Lord, not they, who wrote the script.

In Isaiah 41, God presents himself as the helper of his people. What can we learn about how God helps his people Israel?

Face and Fight Fright with Faith, not Fear or Flight (Psalm 11)

Psalm 11:1-7; 7

"For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face" (Ps 11:7, NIV).

Psalm 11 expresses the confidence that the faithful have, even in a time of severe crisis. Two different "voices" were speaking to David ("flee in fear" or "fight with faith") in a context of personal or national crisis. David made up his mind to trust only in the Lord. The psalm is adaptable to a variety of desperate situations, showing how to face them in faith.

1. Flee in Fear (1-3).
2. Fight with Faith (4-7).

Fearless Before Many Adversaries (Psalm 3)

Psalm 3:1-8; 6

"I am not afraid of the thousands of people who have taken their stand against me on every side" (Ps 3:6, HCSB).

• Do you feel confident when the odds are stacked against you?
• Do you live with no fear or anxiety in your heart when you are uncertain about your future?
• Can you sleep peacefully when there are troubles all about you?

Outline of Psalm 3

1	1-2	Despondency: What he knows	Complaint: Many enemies	Predicament
2	3-4	Dependency: What he does	Confession: God is my shield	Prayer
3	5-8	Deliverance: What he experiences	Consolation: Sleep & confidence	Peace

Fearing a Human Being

It is perhaps natural to fear a powerful man. For instance, it might be natural to fear your boss, since he or she has the authority to fire you.

As a Christian, it might also be natural to fear a Christian leader who is in a position of authority. Some might think that the Christian leader is closer to heaven than you. Thus, you might seek your leader's approval and blessing by regarding it as being similar or equivalent to the approval and blessing of God.

But Prov 29:25 states explicitly that fearing a man, any man, even a good man, or a Christian leader, is not wise. "Fearing people is a dangerous trap" (Prov 29:25, NLT). "The fear of man is a snare" (Prov 29:25, HCSB). "The fear of man brings a snare" (Prov 29:25, NASB).

5) The Power (Mark 4:35-41)

Chap 1: The Dance (Trinity) (Mark 1:9-11): Are others dancing around you?
Chap 2: The Gospel and The Call (Mark 1:14-20): Is your teaching good news or good advice?
Chap 3: The Healing (Mark 2:1-5): Are your sins are mainly against God or people?
Chap 4: The Rest (Mark 2:23-3:6): Are you resting in your desperate efforts for significance?

Quotes: Is God safe? "Of course he's not safe. Who said anything abut being safe? But he's good. He's the King." (55) C.S.Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

"God is God, and since he is God, he is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere else but in his will, and that will is necessarily infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to." (54) Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor

"(Jesus) lets things happen that I don't understand. But if Jesus is God, then he's got to be great enough to have some reasons to let you go through things you can't understand." (54)

"If the disciples had really known that Jesus loved them, if they had really understood that he is both powerful and loving, they would not have been scared. Their premise, that if Jesus loved them he wouldn't let bad things happen to them, was wrong." (54)

"If (Jesus is) Lord of the storm, then no matter what shape the world is in--or your life is in--you will find Jesus provides all the healing, all the rest, all the power you could possibly want." (52)

Intro: The account of Jesus Calms the Storm (Mark 4:35-41) reveals the power of Jesus, which is the almighty power of God.

The Sea of Galilee sits 700 feet below sea level, and just 30 miles to the north is Mount Hermon, 9,200 feet high. The cold air from the mountains continually clashes with warm air coming up from the Sea of Galilee, creating impressive thunderstorms and squalls. Jesus' disciples, as professional fishermen, were used to them. But this was some storm, as they cried out in fear to Jesus, who was sleeping, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38) In response, Jesus woke up, and 2 amazing things happened:

1. Jesus simply uttered, "Quiet! Be still!" (Mark 4:39)
2. The storm obeyed like a compliant child.

Is This Story a Fabrication, or an Eyewitness Account?

Skeptics doubt the miracles of Jesus, such as this one, for clearly no one would ever be able to calm a raging storm, simply by saying, "Quiet! Be still!" unless ... he is God Himself. In ancient times, made up stories or legends do not include unnecessary detail. According to Richard Bauckham, a biblical scholar, those who regard the gospel accounts as fiction have trouble explaining why Mark, if he made up this story, would include details that do not shore up his "lie" that Jesus indeed calmed this raging storm, details such as "other boats" being around (Mark 8:36) when Jesus set out across the Sea of Galilee, or that Jesus was "in the stern, sleeping on a cushion" (Mark 8:38). A support for this not being a fictitious account was that these "irrelevant details" were included simply because the eyewitnesses remember them.

Does Jesus have power, or is Jesus power itself?

With a simple command from Jesus, "the wind died down and it was completely calm" (Mark 4:39). It seems redundant here, but Mark recorded 2 things happening simultaneously: the wind stopped, AND the sea became completely calm. Usually, when the wind stops, the waves still may rage for hours. But with Jesus' word, both the wind and the waves stopped immediately.

Fear During the Storm, Terror when the Storm was Quieted

Before Jesus calms the storm, they were afraid--but after Jesus calms the storm, they were terrified (Mark 4:38-41). Why? It is obvious that they were scared during the storm, right? Yet, Jesus asked them, "Why are you so afraid?" (Mark 4:40) Duh! They were afraid of drowning. They were afraid Jesus who loved them would allow such things to happen to them.

"Why are you so afraid?" To Jesus, their premise was wrong. They should have known better. Jesus was basically saying, "I do allow people I love to go through storms. You had no reason to panic in fear."

Then why were they afraid even after the storm ended and there was no more danger of drowning? Mark writes, "They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'” (Mark 4:41) Why were they more terrified in the calm than they were in the storm? Because Jesus was as unmanageable as the storm itself. We will never live in fear if we fully trust in God who is good, and who knows best, even when he allows us to live through a raging storm.

How do I Have Faith in a Storm? (A Parallel Storm Account in Jonah)

[You (I) need to go to Jesus for faith. If you do, you'll find that Jesus has been seeking you all along. Jesus is the author of faith, the provider of faith, and the object of faith.]

Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm. Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep. In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, "We're going to die." In both cases, there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed. In both stories, the sailors then became even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.

2 almost identical stories--with just 1 difference. In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailor, in effect: "If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live" (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him out, which doesn't happen in Mark's story. Or does it?

Jesus said elsewhere, "Now something greater than Jonah is here" (Matt 12:41; Luke 11:32). Jesus is referring to himself: "I'm the true Jonah." What does Jesus mean by this?

How Jesus Calms Our Ultimate Storm

As the true Jonah, Jesus meant this: Someday I'm going to calm all storms, still all waves. I'm going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, kill death. How? When Jesus was on the cross, he was thrown--willingly, like Jonah--into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate waves, the waves of sin and death. Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us--the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn't calmed--not until it swept him away. And someday, he will return and still all storms for eternity. If Jesus willingly faced the ultimate storm for us, will he abandon us in the much smaller storms we experience now? (Rom 8:32) Here is Justin Taylor's blog on "Jonah and Jesus" from King's Cross.

Question: Do you know that Jesus was cast into the ultimate storm, the storm you and I should be cast into, so that we will be delivered from the storm of God's eternal justice?

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Fear Not, For I Am Your God (Isaiah 41)

God Rules History (Isa 41:1-7)

God challenged the nations that refused to wait on him (Isa 40:31) to come before God (Isa 41:1). Cyrus the Great, leader of the rising Persian Empire, would soon conquer Babylon (Isa 44:24-45:7) and the nations in his way (Isa 41:2,3), thus revealing that God alone orders human history (Isa 41:4). But instead of turning to God, the nations turned to their created idols (Isa 41:5-7).

Fear Not (Isa 41:8-20)

Because of their sins, God's people stumbled in fear. So, God repeatedly said, "Fear not" (Isa 41:10,13,14). Their only basis to not fear is God's promise: "I am your God who has chosen and called you (Isa 41:8,9), and who is with you to strengthen you, help you and redeem you" (Isa 41:10,13,14). No one can defeat them (Isa 41:11,12,15,16). God himself will refresh them (Isa 41:17-20).

Stupid Idols (Isa 41:21-29)

Since idols are man-made, they are nothing and less than nothing (Isa 41:24), and nothing but a delusion (Isa 41:29). Yet man in his folly depends on his idols. God's challenge (Isa 41:1,21) is this: "How can you be so stupid to think that your idols can save you?"

Practical Application: Fear rules when we look around or look within. Faith grows when we look up at Him who rules history.

Simple Principle: "Fear not, for I am your God" (Isa 41:10).

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