INTRO: 1. We are living in very vulnerable times.
a. For the first time in our history we have a branch of government designed to expect the worst, think out the unthinkable, look for enemies walking down our streets… Homeland security.
b. But if our only security is found in what our government provides we are in desperate need for more.
c. I’ve got another ‘Home-Land Security’ that I’ve come to rely upon…that Kingdom of Heaven Jesus talked about.
d. This kingdom’s authority isn’t limited to the sweet by and by, but it’s at work now in the middle of the mess we call life.
2. Through the prophet Isaiah God sent a word for His people.
a. A people living in a time of radical political upheaval and change.
b. They had been blessed in times past, but now they where seeing that an enemy where rising from places they had never seen before… Assyrians.
c. Isaiah prophesied that they would see their world change around them and they would also experience devastation in their own personal lives as they would become captives and taken off to Babylon (modern day Iraq).
3. Although thousands of years separate us from that time, we are not so very far from an identical situation.
a. Facing enemies we’ve never seen before… can’t figure out why they hate us so.
b. Facing political changes as nations and allies seem to shift almost daily.
c. Facing possible personal devastation as our personal lives may be impacted by this changing world.
4. Although thousands of years separate our times and their's... God’s word is eternal.
a. The same promises God made to that generation… He makes for every generation that follows Him.
5. Why should I listen to God?
a. Because He’s the only one who’s already been where we’re about to go.
6. Isaiah is crying out to us that no matter what we face or experience in our times… “He’ll be holding His Own.”
a. It is my desire this morning to bring to you the simple yet unchanging principles of God’s Word to more than meet the challenges of our times.
b. We can live confidently in challenging times.
c. We can live in peace as the world rages in war.
I. WHY GOD HOLDS US.
a. We are commanded twice in this passage to not fear.
b. This was not a plea to drop merely unfounded worry, but to drop the fear of the ‘terror’ we are in reality facing.
c. The devil wants you to fear that he can destroy you at will.
d. God wants His people to realize that He has every reason to hold tight to us.
e. In these fearful and troubling times you might want to write this down and use it in your prayer time with God.
f. It's not because of your ability, but because of your identity.
ILL. Deep within a forest a little turtle began to climb a tree. After hours of effort he reached the top, jumped into the air waving his front legs and crashed to the ground. After recovering, he slowly climbed the tree again, jumped, and fell to the ground. The turtle tried again and again while a couple of birds sitting on a branch watched and laughed at his sad efforts. Finally, the female bird turned to her mate. "That turtle is an idiot to think he can fly!" she chirped, "I think it's time we tell him he's adopted."
g. That’s not the case with us… we’ve been born-again and this time as overcomers.
h. May I remind you who you are in Him and why he holds you so tightly.
A. Because He has redeemed us.
1. For the people in Isaiah’s day it means that God had bought them back from the tyranny of Egypt.
2. But for us it means so much more…we have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.
3. We would never think to pay more than the true value of a thing in our dealings.
4. Calvary revealed your full value to heaven.
5. He’s invested much in you, He’s not going to sit back and watch the enemy destroy you.
6. Because of what He proved at Calvary, I’m not going under.
B. Because He has personally chosen us.
1. He tells us in verse 1 “I have called thee by thy name.”
2. You didn’t just choose Him, He has chosen you.
3. It is a personal choosing, he called you by name.
4. ILL. Just like Zacchaeus, we didn’t know him, nor had we ever seen Him, but he calls us by name and chooses to go to our house.
C. Because He claims us
1. Not just chosen, but claimed.
2. He declares to his people… “thou art mine.”
3. To touch you, the enemy has to go through God.
4. Jesus said before you can rob a house you have to first bind the strong man…nobody can bind the one in whose I am His property.
D. Because He is Our God
1. He is as much our property as we are His.
2. He has given himself to us.
3. In verse 3 he declares… “For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior…”
4. It’s time to declare to the situation before us that He is our God.
ILL. In the book Healing the Masculine Soul, Gordon Dalbey says that when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, he uses a Greek word, paraclete, that was an ancient warrior's term. "Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs," says Dalbey, "so when the enemy attacked, they could draw together back-to-back, covering each other's blind side. One's battle partner was the paraclete." Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being.
e. Because We are His treasure.
1. He says you are “precious in my sight”
2. Because He has created us for His Glory
3. We are His public representatives to the world.
4. He wants to make you a trophy of his power and grace.
II. WHEN GOD HOLDS US.
a. “When thou” means we will have trouble.
b. It’s important that we take note that in each of these experiences it is not a matter of facing them as much as passing “through” them.
c. God doesn’t just want to deliver you from them, but give you victory over them.
d. God through the prophet Isaiah outlines what I feel are the different levels of difficulty and trauma in our lives.
A. Through the Waters.
1. Sometimes we get into what we would call “deep water.”
2. It never gets too deep for God.
3. Times when you can’t touch bottom…life is out of our control.
4. When life overwhelms you with more than you can handle.
5. When there’s no firm footing… no sense of security.
6. Many scholars believe that this passage may have been alluding to the children of Israel at the Red Sea.
7. They where in deep water and their options where closed…but because of whose they where God turned the Red Sea into a highway of deliverance.
8. Are you looking for a way out…try looking for a way “through.”
B. Through the Rivers.
1. The image here is that of a raging river, overflowing it’s banks, at flood stage.
2. We’ve all found ourselves caught up in the chaos and dangers of raging situations
3. Adds crushing pressure to life.
ILL. Witnessed on television how raging rivers at flood stage can take homes and cars and carry them away like they where made of cardboard.
4. Times that quickly carries us where we don’t want to be…radical change we’re thrown in the midst of.
5. Where life has a way of becoming a whirlpool of crises.
6. New problems, new pressures… even new opportunities can add pressure.
7. When life gets confusing, God has given me a promise.
8. Devil wants you to drown in fear and hopelessness.
9. God wants you to swim in faith…rest instead of struggle.
ILL. Maybe God was referring to the children of Israel when they had come to the Jordan at flood stage and God had instructed them to go forward… some picture a smooth flowing river but that was far from the case… the priest had to take a step of faith trusting that God wouldn’t allow the river to sweep them away.
C. Through the Fire.
1. Walking through the fire represents the severest form of trouble.
2. There is an awful danger to this walk…burned or even consumed.
3. How you come out of the fire will be determined by how you trusted God in the fire.
4. Many are scared for life because of the burns they endured (bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, trauma)
5. Many are consumed by the fire. (quitting, giving up)
6. But when we go through the fire with our God… it doesn’t scar us or destroy us, it does for us what it did for Job.
Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
7. Gold shines brighter and purer when it’s been through the fire.
ILL. Just ask the three hebrew children…that which kills others will bless you.
8. Through the deep, through the flooding, raging rivers, through the fire.
III. HOW GOD HOLDS US.
a. God wants to remind us that He is worthy of our trust even when things are chaotic.
b. It would be enough to know why he holds us and when he holds us…but God wants us to realize ‘how’ he holds us as well.
A. HE WILL HOLD US PERSONALLY
1. He promises to be the very one that holds us.
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.”
2. Not watching from a distance… with you
3. He will not merely be assigning an angel, preacher or prophet…He himself will be holding you.
ILL. I’ve learned that when Joel is in need of comfort he doesn’t want Daddy, he wants Momma…she has the touch that can calm his little soul… God has the touch!
4. Regardless of what we go through, we will never go it alone. (Feel his arms)
Ps. 46:1 …God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
5. People will leave you, your family will leave you, jobs will leave you, your health will leave you…but God will never leave you.
Ps. 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
6. We have this naturally fear that we will be abandoned… God said no need to fear.
B. HE WILL UPHOLD US
1. He promises that He will undergird us
“and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.”
2. One of our greatest fears is that we will face some situation that we can’t emotionally, physically or spiritually handle.
3. I have bad news, if you live long enough… you will face many things that you can’t handle.
4. Unless we learned to adequately fall on Him we will never be able to survive.
5. He’s bigger than the storm you’re facing… just sand on the rock that is “higher than I.”
C. HE WILL FIRE-PROOF US.
"when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
1. There’s no promise that in fire we will feel no heat, nor is it promised that we won’t be changed by the fire.
2. But we have a two-fold promise…not kindle upon us and we will not be burned.
3. What’s the significance of the flame not kindling upon us?
4. Been in a situation where you are convinced that you may never see it come to an end?
5. You’re afraid the fire you’re walking through will attach itself to your life, starting a whole new fire… something can’t shake free of.
6. But God was promising if you’ll just trust me you’ll come out with no sign that you’ve ever been through the fire.
ILL. Just ask the three hebrew children… didn’t even smell like fire.
7. The other promise is that it would not burn us.
8. “Burned” you know means deep, lasting pain and in the worst cases disfiguring scars.
9. I’ve been through fires that I thought I would lose my mind, I thought I’d never get over what I’d been through, but because I trusted God… not even a scar.
10. Some of you this morning are still tending to scars from decades ago… time to let Jesus deal with that pain and give you victory.
11. There’s an old saying that says “Once burned twice shy.”
12. If we’re not careful those fire walks can leave us emotionally distant and afraid of risks.
D. HE WILL COMPLETE US
Vs. 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
1. Don’t worry about the outcome… if you trust God, you will overcome!
2. He is shaping you not for your fame and acclaim, but for His glory.
3. Through the deep, through the flood, through the fire… He will not fail to shape you and improve you.
CONCLUSION: What about you? This promise is exclusive… for His people.
Are you among the redeemed, the chosen, the people of God.
He will be holding His own. Are you among His own?
Maybe you are a part of His family…but your going through the deep, the flood, the fire…and you need the assurance of his hand in the midst of it all?
