Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.
Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Jesus said, Now if there's anything the last two Sundays that I was able to preach, if there's anything that you are, I hope that you are able to see, the theme for those couple of weeks is that God is a God that gives you chances. And aren't you thankful that He doesn't cast you away? And He's talking obviously here in Isaiah about God's chosen people, the Jewish people. And sometimes people wonder, why were the Jewish people chosen? We say they were the chosen people.
Why is that? And simply this, that Jesus had to be born in the lineage of somewhere. And God chose the Jewish people because that's the chosen people because it was from there that Jesus would come through that line. And also God used the Jewish people oftentimes as an illustration of Christians. In other words, oftentimes He would give illustration in the Old Testament of His dealings with His chosen people.
We often think of going through the wilderness, through the Red Sea, all that they went through. It's often a picture of how we treat God the way they treated God in the Old Testament. But we're talking here, He says, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Look at verse 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. And all God's people ought to say, Amen, to those verses.
Why are we dealing with these verses today, Brother Haughtry? I was, when I was in evangelism traveling and preaching, I was preaching, my dad's preaching at a church in Georgia this morning. They called, the pastor called me actually this week and talked me, getting ahold of dad, wanted dad to come down for the Sunday. The pastor of this church used to be in my dad's youth group when my dad was a youth pastor years ago.
In Lakeland, Florida. And my dad's, I was preaching at this particular church in Georgia where dad's at today. I held a number of revival meetings there. And I was preaching there one year and a man came up to me after the service and I had preached something along the lines of encouraging that, you know, God helps you and strengthens you, whatever the case might be. And he came up to me after the service and I don't know the gentleman's name.
I don't remember his name, but it brought to my remembrance when dad was going down there this week. I remember that man came to me and he was kind of had tears in his eyes at the back of that church. And he said, preacher, I want to thank you for what you preach tonight. He says, you don't know what I'm going through in my life. He said, but I came to church tonight in desperate need of something to hold on to. And I remember that phrase. He said, I came needing something to hold on to. And it just might be that this morning that you need something. To hold on to. Now I could say a lot of things, but if they came from me, you probably couldn't hold on to them very securely because I'm human and I'll let you down. But I have found that there are some promises that God has given us in his word and what God has promised you can hold on to. And over the next couple of weeks, I want to speak on the promises of God.
Because it just might be in your stage, in your life, whatever you're going through right now, you need something that you can take to the bank. You need something more than rhetoric as we hear politicians use often. We hear rhetoric that use that word so much. And what does rhetoric mean?
It means absolutely nothing is what it means. But you don't need rhetoric. We don't really sometimes need stories.
And we really as often sometimes as they drive home a point, we don't need a bunch of illustrations. We need something. We need something that cuts right down to the meat of the matter.
And we need something to hold on to. And so this morning I want to begin dealing with the promises of God. And I can think of no better place to start than in Isaiah chapter 41 verses 9 and 10.
If you have a piece of paper and a pen, you might want to write some of these things down. It's a bit informative this morning, but I want to be an encouragement to you. I've tried to the past three or four times that I've preached.
But I want to be an encouragement to you. And I feel that today is the direction God would have us to go in. Look at verse 10, if you will.
We find first God says, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Now as you look at verse 10, I see five areas that God gave promises to. Five promises that God made. And when He made them to these people, remember in the New Testament Jesus had come, it was made clear that what God has promised to the Jew, He has also promised to the Gentile. So what He's promised them, He's promised us. This is a promise from God.
I notice first in that first phrase there's five things and I'll give you the promises, but first I want to give you the reason those promises were needed. We see first He says, Fear thou not, fear thou not. That means first that there was fear involved in their lives. Second He says this, Be not dismayed.
That means that there was confusion in their lives. Now the last three promises He makes when He gives these promises, He insinuates what the need was. He said this, He said, I will strengthen thee. That means that there was weakness there.
He said, I will help thee. That means there was desperation there. And then He said, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, which means there was weariness there. There's a difference between being weak and being weary. There have been times I've been weak, but I wasn't weary. But there's been times I had strength, but I was weary. It wasn't that I was tired.
It wasn't that I've just been worked so hard. It was the fact that I've just been discouraged. And I'm going to tell you something, discouragement takes your strength immediately in your life. So I want to look at these five things and it might be that maybe right here this morning in your life there is fear or there might be confusion or there might be weakness or there might be desperation or there might be fear.
There might even be weariness right now. I've seen it seems in God's house and with God's people right now I was very burdened while we were on vacation. God woke me up one night and I just couldn't sleep. And I was just very burdened about our church, about so many that I see that aren't faithful and aren't here and aren't, you know just haven't plugged in or maybe they did.
And now it's hit and miss. And folks it's more than just we want to tell you to be at church. It's the fact that when you're a pastor you love these people whether they know it or not. And you see how desperately they need church and they need God's house and they need the things that you're offering to them but you can't make them come. And you're burdened for them.
And it just might be that maybe you're weary and you say, you know what I want to want to and I want to have the desire and I want to be motivated but I'm just not. Well this morning God gives five promises. Number one this morning I want you to see this that the answer to fear is the companionship of God. Notice what he says. He says fear thou not.
Why? For I am with thee. First promise he gives is this.
I am with you. Now you say preacher I don't understand. Let me read you some verses and then I'll say a little bit more. Psalm 56 3 and 4 says this what time I am afraid I will trust in thee. He says word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. That means my flesh what I can do to myself or what some other individual might be trying to do to me.
It doesn't matter. Because God is with me I will trust him and I will put my trust in him and I am not going to live in fear of what some individual might do to me or what even my own flesh could do to me because I know God is with me. Exodus 33 14 and he said my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. Dear friend when you're scared of something in your life or fearing something and oftentimes we hear these terms. Are you living in fear? How do I apply that to my life preacher?
I don't know. Maybe you have a doctor's appointment coming up. There's been some issues in your life and you are absolutely scared to death of what might turn out. Maybe there's a situation in your life that you're waiting for something to happen and you're scared of how it might turn out. Maybe in your own marriage you've got an issue right now and you fear how this thing is going to play out or you feel maybe you have children and you see them going a different direction or maybe you have a child that's wayward and as you pray that God would bring them back sometimes it might almost there might be fear that I don't know what might happen or what God might have to do or the direction that they've taken what that might cause in their life. I don't know what you might be fearing but I know this there's things I fear. There's things that come into my life sometimes that if I was honest it's not like I'm in a corner trembling it's just as I go through life day by day there's just this ever presence there that I'm a little bit anxious about what might happen. And I'm here to say that when you fear certain things in your life there is the only answer for that is for you to realize that God is with you.
All the time wherever you go he's there. God said don't fear because I'm with you. You know I believe that the Bible teaches greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. And God has given you a promise this morning. You can walk out of this building and you might not ever remember the illustrations of the stories but there's one thing you ought to remember that in God's word he said I am with you. You ought to hold on to that this morning. I don't care what you're fearing or what you're facing or what you're getting ready to go through. I don't know what it might be. Or what might happen by the time you get home.
I don't know. But I do know this that God is with you whatever you go through he will not leave. Listen to me there are times in our life where we're not with him. But there's never a time in our life where he's not with us. There might be times we don't go his direction. And we don't do what we ought to do but he never leaves us nor forsakes us the Bible says.
Number three I am thy God. Number two I believe this the answer to confusion is the recognition of God's sovereignty. Be not dismayed. What does that word dismayed mean? That word dismayed means bewildered. And that means confusion. Why did this happen?
Why am I going through such and such? And why did this go on this way? And why did that person do this?
And why did this of all times in my life if I've heard this and if I've said this to myself. You know to be honest with you in the past year and a half two years I think you know really right when I take over a church for the first time in my life. God you've got to give us a special needs child.
We've got to be in the hospital four months. Really right when the first year of past year you've got to take my mom the biggest prayer warrior on my behalf that I had. I mean God really right now really and often times you and I we've become bewildered. It's not that we don't think God's in control.
It's the fact that we think why now and why did this happen? And all that I've done and I've taken these steps why did this still happen? I've seen people go through things and they would say but Brother Daniel I've supported the church. I've given to others.
I've given to people. I've been over backwards to be good. And then why would God let this happen to me? Listen to me dear friend whatever you might be bewildered about or whatever you might be confused about there is one thing that is the answer to that. You'll never make sense of it in your mind. You'll never be able to justify it.
Run the numbers and for it to make sense to you. Nothing will ever make sense to you about half the things that will happen in your life. The one thing you've got to hold onto is this. He is my God. He's in control.
That's it. God is sovereign. He's God not me. When God said I am thy God what he's saying is you're not your own God.
I'm your God. I'm in control. See often times you and I get so mad about things in our life that we really have no control over. And what ought comfort us is the fact that we know very personally the person, look at me, that is in control. That ought to comfort you.
I don't understand. I don't know why this has happened and it's brought a whole bunch of stuff into my life that I don't like or agree with or understand. But there ought to be a comfort to you to know that God is my God. I have given my life to him if you've trusted him.
You've trusted Christ as your savior. You've given your life to him. You've given control to him. And if he's God, let him be God. Preacher, what do I do when I'm confused? Let me tell you what you do when you're confused. You recognize and remember the fact that God is sovereign. He's in control. If you are able and willing to give yourself to him in salvation, then just give yourself to him in this circumstance. Say God, you are in control.
You have what? Chosen thee. God is letting them know I'm the one that's sovereign. I'm the one that chose you. You didn't choose yourself. You didn't chose me.
I chose you. Listen folks, God created us. God's the one giving us breath every second of the day if you're alive. God is God. And that ought to comfort you.
You might be confused about things, but you don't have to be confused about who's in control. Bless God the folks at the motel in Hawaii were more responsive. Hey, Sunday morning, we were sitting outside looking at the beautiful sunset listening. I got up at five in the morning to watch the service and we didn't have live streaming. Ben is officially fired. I got up on vacation.
I had no problems with the live streaming, but the audio was there. So bless God. My wife will bear witness to the fact we blared the audio and brother Joe was literally preaching to folks in Hawaii. I bet you wish you were preaching to folks in Hawaii, don't you? Look at me, folks. There's one thing you ought to know. God's in control.
He's sovereign. I don't know why it happened to you. I don't know why you're going through what you're going through. I don't know any of that. I don't know why I'm going through what I'm going through.
I don't know why anybody you're going through. I just know this. God's in control. We don't have to be confused about that.
That's a comfort. All God's people said. Promise number three. We're almost done.
We're almost halfway. Promise number three. He said this, I will strengthen thee. Now he would not say I will strengthen thee unless they needed strength. So what was going on with him is they were weary. They were tired. They were weak. They didn't have any strength. I mean, literally it wasn't the fact that they were just tired of serving God. It was the fact that they were tired.
How many of you have ever been there? It's not that you're tired of serving God and it's not that you're tired of God and you're not tired of church. You're just tired. Anybody want to say, that's me today.
I'm here. But I am worn out. God said this. He gave him a promise. And this is a promise you and I can hold onto. I will, he said, strengthen you.
You know what the Bible says? The joy of the Lord is our what? Strength. Our strength comes from him.
Look at me. Our strength does not come from a motivational tape series. Now that can give us some good wisdom or some help. But your strength as a Christian does not come from a book or a CD or a radio program. Your strength comes from God.
And that's the only place it can come from. You see, you and I, I think, oftentimes stay tired and we stay weak because we're trying every other resource to gain our strength besides the one that can actually give us the strength. And you say, well, what do I do when that comes? The answer to weakness is strength from God. Let me read you a verse. 1 Chronicles chapter 16 says this, continually, you've got to go to him for it.
You can't just say, well, I need strength from God. And then you don't read, but we don't read our Bible. We don't pray. We don't spend time with God. We don't seek him or go to him.
We just say, Hey, I'm tired. God needs to do something. No, you and I approach him. We go to him for it.
And he gives it. His strength, the Bible said, is made perfect in our what? Weakness. Psalm 73 26, my flesh and my heart felleth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Some of you might say, preacher, I have a habit.
I have something in my life. It could be temper. It could be anger. It could be drugs. It could be alcohol.
It could be a lot of things. And you say, preacher, I have tried and I've tried to overcome this and I just, I'm weak. I'm weak.
Well, look at me, dear friend, let me tell you where you go. That's God. That strength has to come from him.
That has to come from him. And dear friend, I'm going to tell you, you'll never be able to face something. You'll never overcome anything on your own.
You might for a while. You might for a season, but you'll never fully overcome anything until you get your strength from God. Oftentimes people will come to a pastor for help.
I'm sure brother Joe over 50 years plus of pastoring. Now I'm sure he's faced this and they want strength from you. And the only thing really I can do as a pastor is to show you where the strength is.
Where the strength comes from. There's not something magical I'm going to say that's going to say, all right, I'll get over this addiction. All right, I'll quit losing my temper.
All right, well, I'll quit, you know, looking at this or get on the computer looking at that. There's nothing I can say that would do anything more than maybe motivate you for a day or two. But he gives you strength and is willing to give you the strength to overcome it every day of your life.
You got to go to him, but you got to go to him. Third promise, I will strengthen thee. Fourth promise I notice is this. He says this, I will help thee. What's the difference? Preacher, I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, blah, blah, blah. It all means the same thing.
No, it doesn't. What does it mean, I will help thee? It means this, you're desperate. If you look in the story in the chapters before Isaiah, you find that these were very desperate people. They had gotten to this point and God noticed that and he's giving them the promise. He's giving them the comfort of knowing this, you know what, I know you've done wrong and I know that maybe you've messed up, but I chose you. I have not cast you out. And because I haven't cast you out, let me tell you what kind of God I'm going to be to you.
And he starts giving them these promises. And it might be that maybe you've let God down and I know I've let God down and all God's children have let him down at one time or another. But what's wonderful to know is that he hasn't cast us out because he chose us. He created us.
He saved us by the grace of God. If you've been saved. And so he says, I'm going to show you what kind of God I'm going to be to you. Even though you haven't been a very good person to me, I'm going to be a great God to you.
And I'm going to give you some promises. And he says this, I will help thee. First thing I notice is this, these people didn't deserve his help. And neither do you and I.
Can we get off our high horse a little bit? We don't deserve God's help. You say, well I'm going to tell you something, I deserve for God to help me.
No you don't. You and I don't deserve anything we have in our life that God's given us. You say, well I just don't believe you ought to belittle yourself. Let me tell you something, dear friend, the Bible says the best we have to offer is filthy rags in the eyes of Christ. We're sinners. We're dirty rotten sinners. You say, well it's not my fault. Well you're kind of right because we were born with a sinful nature.
But all of us have a will and a choice. We don't deserve God's help. And for God to say, I will help thee, I've got to be grateful from that right off the start. I'm getting help from somebody that I don't deserve it from. I think if all of us were honest, maybe the way we behave to our parents at times in our life, if I let myself, I could come up with a number of things that I could say, you know, I don't deserve for my dad.
And of course my mom's home to be with the Lord now. I didn't deserve their help. I did enough, I mean they did everything for me growing up and then I just did things to them that just should be inexcusable. And I don't deserve their help, but they kept helping me. You know what? You and I, we don't deserve God's help, but he's promised it.
Wow. He didn't promise, he didn't say I will help thee if you're good. He didn't say I will help thee if you behave. He did not say I will help thee as long as you deserve it. God made a promise. I will help thee. You ought to be grateful for what's not written there. Aren't you glad it stopped right there?
No conditions, I will help you. By the way, and God's saying that God knows this, we have to have his help. We don't deserve it, but we can't exist without it. God knows we have to have his help. Or we have nothing.
What a God. He knows that we're nothing without him. We could do nothing without him.
We're up a creek without a paddle without him. But he still says I'll help you anyway. I'll give it to you. That means this number four, the answer to desperation is God's promise to help. Let me read you some verses and I won't be long with this, but I want you to hear this. Isaiah chapter 41 and beginning in verse 17, same chapter we're in. I just want to read this.
I want to read this to you. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Listen what God said he would do when they were in need. I will open rivers, verse 18, I will open rivers and high places. Rivers don't exist in high places, folks.
Do you know that? Rivers exist in low places. He says I will open rivers and high places and fountains in the midst of valleys. Not a normal place for a fountain. And I will make the wilderness, or like the desert, a pool of water.
Not a place for a pool. Don't often see that in the wilderness. And the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar. The cheddar tree and the myrtle and the oil tree. All these trees, I'm not going to take the time, but all four had different purposes. I might preach on this next week because it's really good. Some of you guys like to dig in your Bible, you look up these trees in this passage and this is what God said. One causes shade, one causes nourishment.
Anyway, I'm not even going to get into it. It's exciting what God said I'll do. He says if I have to, I'll put rivers up in the high places. I'll put fountains in the valley. I'll make pools of water in the wilderness. God says whatever I have to, I'll put fountains in the valley.
I'll put fountains in the valley. Last this morning, He said this, I will uphold thee. I find fifth that the answer to weariness is the righteousness of God.
Preacher, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. The answer to weariness ought to be a nap. The answer to weariness ought to be vacation.
Let me tell you something. My wife and I just had a wonderful vacation. I mean, I just couldn't tell you how wonderful it was just to spend time together. I mean, we had perfect weather.
God was so good to us. And the flight home was absolutely miserable. I could stay all day to tell you everything we went through on that flight home. We were more tired when we got home. We were on vacation, more tired than you left on vacation. We're not.
I mean, we were rested, but you know what I'm saying. Let me tell you something. There's a lot of things that you might say, well, I'm weary and I'm this. The only answer to your weariness as a Christian is the righteousness of God. You say that doesn't make sense. Let me read you a passage of Scripture, Romans chapter 3.
We're almost done this morning. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But thank God for that. If it was all based on the law, we'd be in trouble. But now the righteousness of God without the law was manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
Listen to this. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. That means that if you're Jew, Greek, if you're black, white, doesn't matter, we're all the same in God's eyes. And His righteousness, by putting faith in Him through His righteousness, it has given us a way of escape, the Bible says. We now have a hope for glory to exist and live with Him forever in heaven. This has all been done because of the righteousness of God.
Look at me, dear friend. Would it have mattered if Jesus died on the cross if He wasn't pure? There's a lot of people that died on crosses in those days. None of them saved me. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.
