Fear Not! • Isaiah 43:1-7
1. Power is a funny thing; people want it, but
once they get it, they worry about losing it
2. So they keep using it to make sure
it's still there
3. Such was the case with Nebudchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon
4. He was the most powerful man on earth in his
day - but he was insecure and want to make sure everyone else knew he
was the most powerful man
5. So he came up with a plan to affirm his power
-
a. he had a huge statue made and
covered it with gold
b. it was 90 feet tall by 9 feet
wide
c. he set it up in a prominent
place there in the capital
d. and then sent out orders to
all of the regional governors and provincial officials to come to the
dedication
e. he commanded that whenever
the musicians played their instruments, everyone within earshot was to stop
what they were doing and bow down in worship toward the image
f. anyone who refused to
worship would be roasted alive
6. On the dedication day, when everyone had
arrived and was standing round the statue -
7. Nebudchadnezzar gave a nod to the chief
musician, and the band started to play
8. Far and wide the people bowed to show their
loyalty to the august and mighty Nebudchadnezzar
9. All that is but three young Jewish
men; Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
10. When everyone else fell down, they remained
standing
11. Now, it seems they were out of the sight of
Nebudchadnezzar
12. But it wasn't long before a couple of the
king's advisors informed him that they had refused to bow
13. Nebudchadnezzar was infuriated and
demanded the boys be brought before him and answer for their outrageous
behavior
14. In they came, and the king asked them if they
had indeed defied him or had just misunderstood the command
15. They explained that they understood the command
well enough, but would not bow to Nebudchadnezzar's idol
a. he warned them what would
happen to them if they refused again
b. but they told him there was
no need to give them another chance - the outcome would be the same - they
would not bow, not now, not ever
c. their actions, they
explained, were not an act of defiance and rebellion against
Nebudchadnezzar but an act of obedience to God, who sits higher than the
king of Babylon
d. besides, they said,
Nebudchadnezzar could go ahead and throw them into the fire, but they believed
their God would protect them
16. This only incensed Nebudchadnezzar more, so he
ordered that the furnace be stoked even hotter
a. extra fuel was added , the
billows were pumped
b. and as they dragged the bound
captives toward the door of the furnace,
c. the heat was so great, the
guards that took them were killed
17. But Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were
unharmed
a. from a distance,
Nebudchadnezzar looked in and saw them walking around free
b. their arms were no longer bound
- the ropes had burned away
c. far from being burnt to a
crisp - they seemed to be enjoying themselves with a 4th figure who
had appeared with them
18. Nebudchadnezzar told them to come out - and
when they did; there was no evidence of the flame
a. not a hair had been singed
b. there wasn't even the smell
of smoke on their clothing!
1. Where did Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, or
as we know them by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed-Nego,
get the courage and faith to take this stand?
2. What did they know that others didn’t?
3. How could they stand with such apparent confidence
before Nebudchadnezzar and say that their God could protect them from the fiery
furnace?
4. They got it from the verses we will be
looking at this morning . . .
1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created
you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have
redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
1. Isaiah prophesied these words roughly 150
years before the days of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed-Nego
2. But they were well aware of them and didn't
dismiss them now as mere poetic niceties
3. As they stood there before Nebudchadnezzar,
not far from the oven, they realized they had an opportunity to see God literally
fulfill His promise
4. They took Him at His word - and proved it to
be solid
1. Chances are, living where and when we do,
none of us will have to face the prospect of martyrdom as these three Jewish
young men did
2. Yet we will all do battle with the same thing
they did battle with that day - fear
3. Fear challenges every one of us at some level
or another
4. But this promise from Isaiah, while potent
and effective for the people of God in every age, is especially helpful for our
time
5. You see, Jesus said that as His return drew
closer, the troubles that would descend on earth would be so great, fear would
become epidemic; it would literally paralyze people
6. In Luke 21:25 & 26 He said,
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken.
7. It's no secret that our world is in grave
trouble
a. Jesus well describes our time
- "distress of nations with perplexity"
b. this pictures whole countries
faced with problems so intense that there seems no way out
c. the best minds go to work to
come up with solutions, but they arrive at none
d. they are lost and throw up
their hands in resignation
e. and the result is that the
rest of the world loses hope
8. Today there are a host of doomsday-sayers who
are forecasting imminent ruin
a. just a few years ago, REM
identified this trend with the chorus of a song - "It's the end of the
world as we know it."
b. there are the radical
environmentalists who are calling man a cancer on earth, that soon we will have
used up all the natural resources and polluted the earth beyond survivability
c. there are the dismal economic
forecasts of a coming world financial market crash
d. there are the political
pundits and theorists who say that unless we go to a one-world system our world
will be torn apart by regional conflicts like Kosovo and Timor
e. on a more local level we see
the slow decline in general public civility and manners
1) there is a growing disregard for the law
2) it seems its rare to be treated politely in public any more
3) you have to be careful about honking your horn because you might get
shot
4) you can't take it for granted that at a 4 way stop people will go in
order
5) driving defensively has moved from being a good idea to being an
absolute requirement!
6) and you have to think twice about letting your young child ride his
or her tricycle in front of the house because some pervert may be on the prowl
7) we have to fingerprint and screen the workers in our children's
ministry!
8) and on and on the list of things that cause fear goes . . .
1. Isaiah prophesied these words to comfort the
exiles and those who would make the return to rebuild Israel
2. Though the challenge was daunting, and the
obstacles fearsome, God said, "Fear Not!"
3. Because so much had happened to them, they
might be tempted to think that God had forgotten them, that He had cast them
off
4. So God reminds them that He never forgets His
promises; He never, ever breaks His covenants
5. The problem with fear is that when we fear,
we take our eyes off God and we put them on our circumstances
6. We allow trouble to eclipse our vision
of God
a. compared to the Sun, my thumb
is a very little thing
b. but because my thumb is
closer to me, it can actually block out the Sun from my sight
c. trouble so often seems nearer
to us than God
d. and if we fix out attention
on the trouble, we lose sight of God
e. when we do that, fear comes
7. So God gives us the cure for fear - keep your
eyes on Him
8. Look at what He says . . .
1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created
you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for
I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.
9. Before He tells them not to fear, He reminds
them who He is
10. He is the Creator who knows His creation
a. think of how well a sculptor knows
the statue - they are intimately familiar with every curve, every line, every
little crevice
b. think of how well the painter
knows the painting
1) every color; the pigments used to make them
2) the amount of time spent on each section of the canvas
3) the size brush used and what colors were built up one on top of the
other to get just the right effect
c. such is the creator's
knowledge of what he or she creates
d. how infinitely more intimate
is God's knowledge of His creation - of us?
11. Not only did God create each individual
person who comprised the Jewish people, He formed them into a nation
a. it was His hand that had
carved them out as a special people
b. the Exodus gave them birth
and their entire history had been the long story of His forming them into an instrument
He would use to accomplish His purposes
12. He was also their Redeemer!
a. this is a rich and precious
word that carries two important pictures in the OT
1) God redeemed them from slavery in Egypt
2) and He lifted them from being slaves, to being His wife
b. over and over in the OT we
see this two-fold sense of redemption
c. God lifted Israel from being
a downtrodden and powerless slave and elevated her to the rank and position of
His bride
d. all of that is conveyed in
the idea of redemption
13. Finally, God said that He had called them by
their name - literally, He had given them their name!
a. in the ancient world of the
middle east, a person would show their authority over someone or something by
naming it
b. here God says that He had
given Israel their name
1) He had done that when He changed Jacob's name to Israel
2) that act of changing his name revealed a new day when Jacob would no
longer be ruled by his own wits - but instead would be ruled by God
3) and so it was for all his descendants
14. Because God is their creator, the One
who formed them, their Redeemer and the One Who gave them their name - here's
the command: Fear Not!
a. fear doesn't fit in the life
of the person whose God is their Creator, Former, Redeemer and Owner
b. fear is incompatible with
faith in that kind of God
15. How far should this "Fear Not!"
attitude go?
a. surely there is a limit to
this kind of faith
b. I mean, aren’t there some
things we should be afraid of?
16. Look at v. 2 . . .
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
17. If our eyes are fixed on God, there is no room
for fear of anything but Him!
18. The fear of God will drive out the fear of any
and everything else!
1. This is what happened to Peter
a. he and the disciples were in
a boat, crossing the Lake of Galilee
b. Jesus had told them to go on
ahead and He would catch up with them
c. but half-way across the lake,
a fierce storm rose up and they were in fear of losing their lives
d. then they saw someone coming
to them, walking on the water
e. when Peter realized it was
Jesus, he quickly lost his preoccupation with the storm and began to be in
wonder and awe at the spectacle of the Lord overcoming the law of gravity and
the rules that govern physical matter
f. in that moment, seeing the
Lord in His glory and power, his faith was ignited in a new way, and far from
trying to hide, he asked if he could join Jesus on the water
g. fear repels, but faith draws
h. so Jesus invited him and
Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water
i. we don’t know how long he
stayed up - but as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was surfing without a
board
j. it was only when he took his
eyes off Jesus and began too look at the foaming waves around him that
he sank
2. For Peter, as for us, the critical issue was
keeping his eyes on the Lord and not his circumstances
1. I don’t know what storm has blown into your
life
a. I don't know what deep waters
you are in
b. or what fiery trial you've
been thrust in to
c. but this I do know - when you
boil it down, it's either a choice of fear, or faith
2. Either we will go through life looking around
at the circumstances of our lives
3. Or we will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus
4. Either we will be consumed by fear, or filled
with faith
5. As the world around us descends ever more
into a state of fear and perplexity
a. as things go from bad to
worse
b. those who live by faith in
Christ will become ever more obvious as time goes by
c. the line that marks the
distinction between fear and faith will only become more bold
6. We are not a people of circumstance - We are
the people of God
7. He created us and knows us!
8. He formed us - He carved us out of all others
and made us His own.
9. He redeemed us by setting us free from
slavery to sin and death and has engaged us to be His bride
10. He has given us a new name and made us His own
people!
11. Don't let fear paralyze you and keep you from
entering in to all that God has for you