Fear thou not; for I am with thee (Quality: Good)

[0:00] In complete dependence upon the Lord, I will seek your prayerful attention to the prophecy of Isaiah, the 41st chapter and the 10th verse.

[0:15] The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 41 and 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.

[0:44] We did say at the beginning of this morning that we may speak from the word as the Lord enables us.

[0:58] And at this we need that fresh help. But it is only the application of it which shall have a lasting effect upon the pathway and spiritual experience of the people of God.

[1:19] And that, my friends, is the Holy Spirit's work. We cannot and would not even encourage anyone to attempt to do the work of the Holy Spirit.

[1:32] But the word of the Lord, and thus saith the Lord in this verse, and may the Lord write it upon whose heart he will. Fear thou not, for I am with thee.

[1:43] We spoke of those pathways. We trust and believe in the exercise of this word, that there are those in this house of God, for whom the Lord will suit the word and suit the blessing of the word too.

[1:59] Whether it's in the present pathway or whether it is in the future pathway, that which is set before them, which is overwhelming, which is as a mountain before them.

[2:11] Well, the Lord write this upon your heart. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. You will notice in this tenth verse also that the Lord makes a statement and then grants the blessing that is needful in that statement.

[2:33] The first two statements are, fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. They are linked together.

[2:44] God put them together. And he puts them together in the walking out of them of the experience of the people of God. And as I believe we tried to say this morning, that when the Lord is with his people, there isn't any fear.

[3:01] There is no room for fear if the Lord's there. You have much cause to fear when the Lord is not in a matter. We tried to speak of the leadings of the Lord in his people's pathway.

[3:14] And those specific pathways, some in the word of God, others it may be, and the exercise of them in your hearts. But the Lord's promise is to be with his people, so there is no need to fear.

[3:30] And the Lord's presence will take away the fear. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. I want to just draw a little closer to the, I don't seem to get very much past this first part of the tenth verse.

[3:46] But I want to speak, just for a moment or two, on one or two other ways in which we are often left to fear. And then we come to the reading that we read together a moment ago.

[4:01] Well, first of all, to the Church of Christ. In the days in which we live, we see many discouragements in the Church of Christ, in the houses of prayer.

[4:14] Diminishing numbers. Few come to the solemn feasts. And so on. And the catalogue seems to grow longer, doesn't it? As we look at God's house, and as we look at the attendance to the Lord's house.

[4:29] And if there's not a going away totally from the house of God, there's a turning to lighter things. Things which please the flesh rather than trouble the spirit, or which it is easier to sit under.

[4:47] Do you remember the sad state in which this day is cast by the word of God? Because it tells us at the times when they shall say unto us, preach unto us smooth things.

[5:02] Now the Lord keep your house of God. And the Lord keep my house of God. From such that preach smooth things. And so there will be, perhaps, you will say, by reason of these things, a separation made.

[5:21] Well, if that's what the Lord is doing, separating the wheat from the chaff, may he continue to do so. But as we look at the houses of God, and the congregations of Zion, it brings us to dismay.

[5:36] And it brings us to fear. How long this house of God, not this one in particular, but some of the smaller congregations meet together, how long it shall continue.

[5:48] All the time, Ichabod's written over the door, my friends, you've got this promise to plead. All the time, that's not there.

[6:02] You can say, whoever isn't in the house of God, the Lord will be there. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. The Lord will have a people down to, time shall be no more.

[6:16] The Church of Christ is always been known as the remnant. It's a little flock, Jesus said. And if by numbers that means to be little in number, but, my friends, this is what's essential.

[6:33] Oh, it's hard work preaching to hard saints, I'll grant you that. One said, didn't he, that empty saints don't impress. But we can't impress empty saints, you know.

[6:46] But this is the blessing, this is the mercy, this is what you want to pray for. Especially as you see the twos and threes and so on, that gather together Sunday after Sunday, or weeknight as well, round the word of truth, is the Lord there.

[7:04] Now, that's what you want to watch. And that's what you want to pray for. The Lord may revive his Zion. The Lord may bring back the backsliders to the houses of prayer.

[7:19] May he do so if it is his holy will. But the important thing, and the exercise that should be in your soul, is this. Is the Lord there?

[7:29] Now, that's what you want to pray for. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Now, the Lord meets with his twos and threes.

[7:40] Our closing verse in the reading of the 18th of Matthew here this morning at the prayer meeting was the promise. That where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.

[7:56] And my friends, pray the Lord that he will be with you in your gathering in his house. And when you have it laid upon your hearts to pray for causes of truth that are in much lower numbers than you are here, pray the Lord that while the truth remains, the Lord will remain.

[8:19] Because, my friends, when the truth is taken away, the Lord will go away. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Fear thou not, for I am with thee.

[8:59] Now, I want to just be simple here, but I want to be also faithful. When we look to the supplying of the needs of the Church of Christ, in the raising up of men in the places of those who are taken home to glory, we look at someone who we feel is fitted for this position.

[9:27] And I want to be very tender here, my friends. The Lord raise up someone in this house of God to take the place of one that was taken home.

[9:39] But I'll tell you who he'll raise up. He'll raise up one who is unfitted. That's who he'll raise up. If you and I are, or have been in our time, concerned with providing employment for people, we look for the person who will fit the job that we offer, or the position we offer, because he's suitable.

[10:03] But God doesn't do that. In the Church of Christ, he raises up people who feel their unfitness. Now, this is the fitness that they'll come to.

[10:16] And the hymn writer puts it perhaps in another way. All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. And my friends, if the Lord raises up in Zion those who shall take the place of those who have gone home to glory, in their own feelings the souls will say to you that they are the most unfitted for the position and place in the Church.

[10:45] Now, the Apostle writing to the Church at Corinth confirms that statement of fact. that the people of God, the people whom the Lord uses in Zion and in the chapels, in the churches, he brings them to the place and office and spot which he will have them in, but they'll constantly have this, the sense of unfitness and the sense of insufficiency.

[11:19] The Apostle said, didn't he, in the second epistle to the Corinthians, as he looked at his pathway, he said, who is sufficient for these things? And the following chapter he said, but our sufficiency is of God.

[11:34] Now, thou the characters whom the Lord will raise up to serve the Church. Now, we have in the first chapter of the first epistle this word. And it is to, just to emphasise the point I'm making, oh, the needful, the needful blessing, my friends, to anyone who occupies an office in the Church of Christ is not in their abilities, it's not in their gifts.

[12:02] Sometimes the Lord puts gifts and graces together. I don't say he doesn't, but quite often, my friend, it's been proved by those in the office, in the places of office bearers in the Church of Christ, their insufficiency, their unsuitableness to the position.

[12:20] But the Lord said, and the Apostle is the speaker here, and he emphasises the people whom the Lord uses. For ye see your calling, brethren, held that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

[13:06] Now, whether you have a place in office in the Church of Christ or not, there is one very clear evidence of the Lord's choosing and calling of his people.

[13:20] They shall be in absolute dependency upon him, my friends, for wisdom, for grace, for everything, to see them through to the end. And they'll daily come to know their unfitness, they'll daily come to know their poverty, and they'll daily be found begging for the Lord to appear for them and help them.

[13:44] My friends, the Lord doesn't make up the difference. You know, that's something we might want to get straight. The Lord doesn't make up the difference between our wisdom and his.

[13:56] What he does is he takes away our wisdom. He brings us into poverty and supplies all our needs. The Apostle said to the Church at Philippi in the fourth chapter, Now, to anyone who is in the Church of Christ, in any office in the Church of Christ, this is the blessing, my friends, that they'll seek for.

[14:23] Not that they may have this grace and that grace, that they might be able to stand head and shoulders over the rest in wisdom. This is what they want, my friends, and this is what they'll pray for.

[14:36] Fear thou not, for I am with thee. And, my friends, if you have that in the Church of Christ, you have the greatest blessing. You may look at this attribute and that attribute, that benefit and that advantage, but, my friends, is the Lord with them?

[14:56] That's what we want to look for in the house of God. Those who work in the house of God depend upon the God of all grace, depend upon him for everything.

[15:08] David was blessed. We read, When the Lord promised him a son, who shall be raised up in his place to build the Lord's house.

[15:20] But David was brought to this. He said, Who am I? And what is my father's house? My friends, the sooner we come to them places, then the Lord's glory shall be first and foremost.

[15:32] Fear thou not. Or then these two lines go together. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Now, back to the reading in which we was beginning to speak about just now.

[15:45] The Lord raised up a Joshua. Now, Joshua was to take the place of Moses. He was to lead Israel through the Reds, through the Jordan, to Canaan, the Promised Land.

[16:02] But the Lord didn't pick Joshua for his wisdom. The Lord didn't pick Joshua for his understanding. But for the purposes of leading Israel to Canaan, Joshua was appointed by the Lord in the days of Moses.

[16:23] Ah, but now, what of Joshua? Now, the Lord said to Joshua, I think it's four times in that chapter, be strong and of a good courage. But more than that, he said, As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.

[16:39] My friends, whoever takes the place of the Lord's people and they're taking home to glory in the churches, that's the word, that's the exercise, that should be what we should look for.

[16:52] As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee. And that blessed verse, which some of us know very, very well in that chapter.

[17:05] Have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid, for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest.

[17:18] Now, that covers everything. And that covers it to the end. That's the most comprehensive blessing. It means this very simply, that the Lord is with his people down to the end of time.

[17:31] And in all the vicissitudes of life, all the trials within the church and outside the church, all the oppositions, all the hindrances, all Satan raises up against his people, wherever that place is and that spot is, this is the promise.

[17:48] I am with thee. But then we must come to the next part. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Now, there's plenty of things, my friends, in your life and mine, that we have to say we're dismayed about.

[18:05] And let me just bring one or two of those things before you. We may be dismayed, my friends, by the lack of fruit to the preaching of the gospel in the church of Christ.

[18:21] You know, we may be very dismayed. We may go with all encouragement of the Lord to preach the word. But then we watch over souls.

[18:33] And whether we preach or whether we're in offices deacon, there's a looking for the Lord to bless the word and bless it to the souls of the hearers and indeed grant that blessing of prosperity in the church.

[18:48] But I feel this is a comfort, the comfort of this word is be not dismayed. I am thy God. Now, what's the comfort? Well, because God's unchangeable, that's the comfort, my friends.

[19:04] He doesn't alter. Oh, we look, we alter. We are either hot or cold in spiritual things. Sometimes we're on the mountains.

[19:15] Sometimes we're in the valley. Sometimes in the dark. Sometimes in the light. Sometimes full of faith. Sometimes full of unbelief. So we could go on.

[19:26] But this is the mercy, my friends, this is the comfort to the distressed people of God. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. This wondrous word I am again.

[19:38] Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. Well, the hymn writer said, when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my strength and stay.

[19:53] Now, there's the comfort. There's the help. There's the support. I thought of dear Hannah as she went up to the temple of God to pray. She carried a burden in her heart.

[20:05] Her lips moved. No sound was heard. No sound was heard in the Lord's house. But she prayed in secret before her God. For maybe those here, those dear sisters in the church, that are carrying their heart great burdens.

[20:24] Their lips sometimes move, but there's no sound. The Lord hears the prayers of the dear sisters in the church of Christ.

[20:36] Misjudged was Hannah by Eli. But this dear woman was in dismay. She was in distress. She was in trouble.

[20:47] And she carried a burden. And the Lord knew what the burden was. And she had to say to Eli, judge not thy daughter as one of Belial.

[21:03] And Eli was to be able to tell her to go home. And the Lord would bless and answer her petitions. We'll read the word and so get it correct.

[21:17] But go in peace. And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition of which thou hast asked of him. And she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.

[21:32] So the woman went away and did eat. And her countenance was no more sad. And what does that mean? In spiritual things, my friends, she hadn't got the blessing, but she got the next best thing.

[21:45] The assurance of the blessing. It took the distress away. It took the dismay away. She went home with a who can tell. She went home with a hope in her heart that her prayers were answered.

[21:58] You remember in her silent prayers, she asked the Lord to remember her. And we read that when she went home, that she rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord had returned and came to their house to Rama.

[22:14] And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And the Lord granted her that request. Fear thou not, for I am with thee.

[22:27] Be not dismayed. What are those things then that are in your heart that you've prayed over a long time? One year we preached here from those words, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of all his troubles.

[22:48] And one of the things we said that occasion was this, it doesn't say how long the poor man cried, but the poor man and the poor women in the house of God have to pray sometimes and cry a long season.

[23:02] And they cry unto the Lord and they lay their matter before the Lord. And the length of time and the unanswered prayer and the fruitlessness, apparent fruitlessness of their petitions, it brings distress and trouble to the soul.

[23:18] Ah, my friends, pray on. Seek again. Ask for one more evidence that the Lord's blessing will be upon you. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.

[23:31] Now, that's a wondrous promise to God's people. And again, let me say this, and in repetition though it is, it shows his faithfulness.

[23:42] It shows his unchangeableness. It shows that he remaineth and will remain with his people in all their pathways.

[23:53] Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. And then we come to the I wills of the text.

[24:05] I wills, certainties, divine certainties, my friends, when God begins with an I will. Because there is nothing on the face of this earth, nor in hell itself, that will prevent the I wills coming to pass.

[24:23] And the Lord that does impossibilities will bring your I wills to pass. David said in the 37th Psalm, Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

[24:40] Your it, whatever that it is, it differs from mine, and mine from yours. But if the Lord has laid this exercise, and I come back again to the exercised soul in the house of God, that views the future as he views the present, and views the pathway which he is, or she is to walk, and to whom this promise the Lord will be pleased today, I hope to apply to, for their comfort and their support and their help, you'll come to this, I will strengthen thee.

[25:16] My friends, how suitable a word is that to God's people. As they look to the steps before them, as they look to the pathway which is before them, I will strengthen thee.

[25:30] And the Lord laid the exercise of baptism in my heart. I was drawn to this word in the 71st Psalm, I will go. What in?

[25:42] The strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of his righteousness and his only. My friends, if you're going to go, if you're going to fall into the will and purposes of God in submission to his leadings and teachings in your heart, you won't go in your strength, you'll go in his.

[26:06] You'll know what it is to be insufficient, you'll know what it is to be poor, and the Lord will give you that strength of the pathway. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.

[26:19] How the Lord provides everything for his people. He'll take away their support on everyone else and everything else.

[26:32] There's not room in the spiritual pathway for crutches, my friends. There's no room in the spiritual pathway for props. Thou lean on their God and thou lean on his word and thou plead what he has said and thou plead what he has done.

[26:55] Now, plead the promise as the Lord enables you by his grace, as you set out in this way which is before you, I will strengthen thee.

[27:07] The Psalmist David again in the 37th Psalm speaking of the pathway of God's spiritual family says this, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

[27:23] Ordered. Appointed. They won't fail, my friends. You may look at places and spots in the way.

[27:33] You may look at others. Look to Jesus. I will strengthen thee. I remember once going, I don't know if it was the second time I went to Hanover to preach.

[27:47] A house of God that I'd come away from to move away from rather. I went back there to preach the second time. Oh, I felt my insufficiency and we, they have there like you have here a ten o'clock prayer meeting and I turned in to listen and the chapter was read in the 64th of this, the 64th chapter of this book in this prophecy and the first verse says this, Oh, that thou wouldest render heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.

[28:35] Do you know something about them mountains? They seem to loom before you, they seem to shut out the light, the sun, and my friends, before every one of the people of God in their seasons and times and in God's appointments they're like mountains, aren't they?

[28:56] Things the Lord puts before his people to make the path look more impossible. The Lord deliver us, all of us, from going in the Lord to walking in our pathway in our own strength and he will do so and he'll put before us impossibilities, mountains, great mountains and mountains can't be moved, you know.

[29:24] I will strengthen thee and the Lord will strengthen his people for the pathway with his strength. I will go in the strength of the Lord God.

[29:35] I will make mention of his righteousness and his only and you'll be brought on your knees to beg for this. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.

[29:48] fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. Well, is there something then?

[30:00] Is there something in the pathway? My friends, it's a wonderful mercy if you and I walk our pathway in complete dependence.

[30:11] The Lord will have it so and the Lord will bring us to the place where we've no strength in ourselves. the sight of our own sin will bring us into weakness.

[30:23] The sight of our own failings will bring us down. Pour not on thyself too long lest it sink thee lower. Look to Jesus kind and strong.

[30:36] Pity join with power. Fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am.

[30:46] The Lord Jesus said to those there with him, I believe it was his disciples, wasn't it? Your time is always ready. My time is not yet.

[31:01] And my friends, you may try to get in front of the Lord. You may have lodged in your heart an exercise or a promise for yourself or someone else and you may get in front of the Lord.

[31:16] You may think now is the time, now is the accepted time and you may remind the Lord of the set time to favour Zion. If the Lord has shut you into an exercise or into a promise, he will maintain that by this I will strengthen thee.

[31:36] I will. There is an almighty power in his word. I said this morning we may remind ourselves of these promises or we may encourage the people of God with these promises but when God speaks them, when the Lord speaks them to the heart then there is power and authority with them.

[31:56] Be not dismayed for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee. Strengthen thee for the pathway. And what's the pathway going to need?

[32:08] You know when Israel was coming down to the end of their wilderness journey, Canaan was but across the river, what were they to need?

[32:24] Well the Lord said gave to Moses, the man of God, the blessings for the Israel of God, for the tribes of Israel.

[32:34] Israel. And he came to this last one, he came to Asher and he said let Asher be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren and let him dip his foot in oil.

[32:49] Thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy days so shall thy strength be. And let me say this, when the Lord gives you a promise like that, it's as thy days.

[33:04] You won't have surplus, he won't lay up strength in you for a time to come, the strength is laid up in him and he will draw from that strength.

[33:18] But my friends, it's as thy days. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, I am thy God, I will strengthen thee.

[33:31] You may look at tomorrow and you may have some tomorrows in your pathway and you will say with those of old, how shall I stand the trying day?

[33:43] My friends, if it was on your strength, you wouldn't. But the Lord's people don't rest on their strength, they are delivered from their strength. And it's a good thing they are delivered from it.

[33:55] And I'll tell you why in a moment it's a good thing. But in the day of battle, in the day of adversity, in the day of affliction, in the day of bereavement, in the day of need, whatever that may be, this is the promise and it's his word, it's a thus saith the Lord, I will strengthen thee.

[34:18] Now this is why you're brought off other strengths. This is why the Lord reduces his people and to wait for him as well as wait on him.

[34:29] My friends, this very simple answer I must give you, that he shall have the praise, that he shall have the glory, and that you don't get carried away with your abilities and your works.

[34:44] Oh, there's nothing more profitable, I believe, and though I painfully know it, there's nothing more profitably spiritually when the Lord takes away all our wisdom, all our strength, and we wait on him and we wait for him.

[35:00] And he brings every one of his family, my friends, to be independent Christians. When grace enters the heart, it brings you and I to depend on God for salvation, for grace, for everything.

[35:20] You know, you'll pardon me if you've heard this before, but when Saul was struck down on the Damascus road, that self-righteous, self-opinuated Pharisee, persecuting the church of Christ, he left Jerusalem to Damascus with high hopes of success, but the Lord put his hand on him and stopped him, and he made him there and then a servant of God.

[35:50] He became a servant, and what's the place of a servant? Well, it's this, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do. And the Lord said, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

[36:08] He was a servant of God. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee. Now, whatever your pathway is now, and whatever it seems to be in your view in the future, whatever the Lord has promised, appointed, exercised you, whatever that is, you have these gracious promises to remind him of.

[36:38] I will strengthen thee. Then he goes on to say, yea, I will help thee. does this not suit God's people?

[36:55] The psalm of need that we often read in times of distress, the 46th psalm, which begins like this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help.

[37:11] A present help. Do you need a present help, friends? have you been brought into the pathways where it's no good saying I need the Lord next week? It's now, Lord.

[37:23] Do you ever come to the place when you go in earnestness and in desperation and in total dependency? Lord, it's now I want your help.

[37:36] It's not tomorrow. It's not two weeks time. The promise is, yea, I will help thee. yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

[37:52] Now, again, going back to Canaan's, to the journey to Canaan of the children of Israel. The blessing of Moses to the tribes of Israel concluded with this, the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

[38:16] Oh, you've heard it said many a time, the everlasting arms are underneath. My friends, you've got to go down to find them. You've got to fall out of self, out of all sufficiency.

[38:31] You've got to fall, and you'll find you can't fall past the everlasting arms. fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.

[38:43] I will strengthen thee. And, my friends, it's a sufficient strength. You won't need to put your hand to anything that's God's work. You won't need, you'll not come short of all these wondrous provision that God has made for his people.

[39:01] When he speaks, and I will into your path, that's quite sufficient. you have, my friends, that wondrous promise that rests on the eternity of God, on the faithfulness of God, and he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself that these promises will come to pass in the experience of them, of his people.

[39:24] I will strengthen thee, Yah will help thee, Yah will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. But I want to come to this before we sit down.

[39:35] we've looked this day at this wondrous promise, this tenth verse, what the Lord has promised to be with his people and for them.

[39:46] What he will do for them, what he will accomplish in them and so on. But now, this is, need to be said also, respecting this promise, that we have before us then, those things, the I wills of God.

[40:05] But the part which you and I shall know, which we shall know in a very solemn way is this, that whatever the Lord has said here, and we've tried to go through it, and we seem to be just skimming the surface for the most part on these great promises, but this is how you will prove it.

[40:29] You've got to come here to need it, my friends. promise. That's what's in this text. I said to you this morning, the fear nots are not surplus to the words of God. They're not there just to give strength to one word in one chapter and one in another.

[40:48] The Lord's people come into this pathway to need all these promises, and whatever they will be, whatever that pathway will be, they will prove in all these words that we've looked at this day, a need of these words.

[41:03] You'll remind the Lord as the Lord dropped a promise in your heart sometime, in your experience, and you've been brought into those places when you've had to say, Lord, thou have said this, and he'll accomplish it in the working out of it in your pathway.

[41:19] Now, what these blessings are to his people, they will be brought to need. It's no good saying to somebody, the Lord has strengthened you if you're still resting on your own strength, but the Lord has strengthened you when he takes away your strength.

[41:36] And it's no good saying to the people of God, well, the Lord says, for I am with thee. My friends, there'll come a time when I'll need him with them. But this is a word which is, the Lord has laid in the scriptures of truth for the time when the people of God shall come into these places.

[41:56] Now, just one more word before we close. In the 43rd chapter, the first two verses of that chapter, great and precious things are said for the people of God.

[42:09] Now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.

[42:20] Now, the first verse concerns the redemption, salvation of the church of Christ. The first verse speaks of the spiritual blessings that flow to the church in Christ and through Christ.

[42:35] Now, the second verse now is the experience. Now, that's what we've got in the tenth verse. Those words of promise, those comforted assurances for the church of Christ both collectively and individually are for the walk and pathway of the church of Christ and they shall be brought into these places when they shall need them and are left on record in the word of God for that purpose.

[43:02] And so the Lord in the 43rd chapter says, when thou passest, not if, when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.

[43:17] When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. As I said, the first verse, as far as I feel it is to be, is the blessings of grace and mercy, redemption, atonement, salvation to the church of Christ.

[43:37] The calling, the redemption, and the possession is all in that first verse. But my friends, they don't stay under them places, do they? You and I, if we've been blessed with the pardon of sin, and we've been brought into that banquet in house, and the banner over is love, but we must know the other side, the spiritual experience, the walk and pathway of every one of his people.

[44:05] They'll know it, and they know this, and they have this promise to plead. Well, there are the promises that we've looked at today. There are great and vital, needful words of promise that came from the lips of God himself and his people in their pathways, but you'll know them when you're brought to be found in those pathways.

[44:29] Well, I pray the Lord will apply them if you're in them now, and I pray the Lord will keep them alive in your heart in the days before you, because I said in the beginning, so I'll say at the close, whether it's now or whether it's in the days ahead, you're coming to these places, and these promises are for your strength, for your comfort, and for your help.

[44:54] Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

[45:11] You know, when Job was brought into his deep pathway, he lost his ten children, he lost his property, he lost his health and strength, but he came to this, and this was the blessing he wanted, and this is what brought him low, amongst other things, but oh, how his heart went out to the Lord, oh, that I knew where I might find him.

[45:39] Now, there we have this word as a word of strength and to his people, because whatever your pathway shall be. This is the promise to plead.

[45:50] I am with thee, fear thou not, for I am with thee. Amen.