Mike Davenport's sermon, 'Facing the Future with Fear or Faith,' is based on Isaiah 41:1-20. The sermon discusses God's sovereignty and His promises to His people amidst their fears and uncertainties. It contrasts the reactions of the nations with the faith of God's chosen people, emphasizing that while nations rely on their strength, Israel should trust in God's protection, help, and victory. The speaker highlights the role of Cyrus as an instrument of God's righteousness and addresses the congregation's fears by encouraging them to rely on God's promises of protection, help, and provision. The sermon reminds believers of their covenant relationship with God and assures them of His providence and grace, encouraging them to look to the future with faith rather than fear.

This morning we're reading from Isaiah chapter 41 verses 1 through 20. For judgment? Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to his feet? Who gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings?

Who gave them as the dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow? Who pursued them and passed safely by the way that he had not gone with his feet? Who has performed and done it? Called the generations from the beginning. I, the Lord, am the first.

And with the last, I am he. The coastlands saw it and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid. They drew near and came. Everyone helped his neighbor and said to his brother, Be of good courage.

So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil, saying, it is ready for soldering. Then he fastened it with pegs that it might not totter. But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, You are my servant.

I have chosen you and have not cast you away. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced. They shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them. Those who contended with you, those who were against you shall be as nothing, as a non-existent thing.

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you. Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel, I will help you says the Lord and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. Behold I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth. You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small and make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.

You shall rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel. The poor and needy seek water, but there is none. Their tongues fail for thirst. I the Lord will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open rivers and desolate heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree, I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, our God, Lord, I thank you for your kindness to us.

Lord, I thank you for working in the midst of your people. Lord, I do thank you that you are our help. I thank you, O God, that you have had mercy on many, saving us, Lord, and delivering us from our sins and from the wrath that we deserve. Lord, I do pray that you would pour out your spirit and that you would you would save indeed even more even more of those who are here that will hear your word but do not know you at this time. Lord we do pray that you would build up your church that you purify us.

Lord we pray that you would equip us and strengthen us for the ministry to those around us. Oh God we do pray that you would be with your word today, that you would cause it to be proclaimed in truth. Lord we do pray that you would help us to pay careful attention, to be diligent in our hearing and Lord, we pray that you would help us to behold you, our God. We thank you, oh Lord. Amen.

The Apostle Paul tells the Colossians that they are to speak to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And I must say that that last song that we sung, that I stopped on that last verse and just listened to you, God's people, sing about those times when the springs of comfort seem to fail and hope declines. Yet to find that trust in the Lord God, to know that his mercy seat is open still, and that's where we say we will find ourselves, to find that sweet retreat there at the mercy seat. So this morning we find ourselves here in Isaiah 41 Facing the Future with Fear or with Faith. The book of Isaiah was written to a people who would soon find themselves in captivity in the land of Babylon just as God had declared back in Isaiah 39 6 & 7.

God knew what the state of their heart would be when he spoke that penetrating question. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God?" They were not questioning whether he was the God of creation or not. They were questioning whether he was the God of Providence. Their circumstances seemed to be shouting the reality that their current condition, there as captives in Babylon, was hidden from Jehovah and their just claim was overlooked. Sadly, their short-sightedness is all too common in the lives of God's people.

David in Psalm 37.1 says, do not fret because of evildoers nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. As Dana read this morning, the words of Asaph from his own experience there in Psalm 73. Truly, God is good to Israel to such as are pure in heart.

You see, he knew that doctrine. God is good to Israel. But he says, but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm, so he thought. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence, for all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children.

When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me. The providence of our God cannot always be interpreted rightly by the means of human fault and reason. How unsearchable are His judgments and his ways past finding out So how do we process the providence of God? How do we understand our present circumstances And how are we to face the future? Asaph reveals midway through Psalm 73 what helped him.

He struggled with processing his own sufferings in light of the seeming prosperity of the wicked. Until, he says, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. My brother, my sister, We are in the right place this morning. We are in the sanctuary of our God. May we know the sweet assurance and comfort that are ours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So here, 41.1, we have the summons of Jehovah. The summons of Jehovah. Keep silence before me, O coastlands, and let the people renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us come near together for judgment." In the opening verse of this chapter, God summons the coastlands to come together for judgment.

His case versus their case. He first calls them to keep silence before him as he states his case. When God desires to be heard, he will make sure that he is heard. The message of God cannot be stifled when he desires to make his voice heard. He challenges the nations here to renew their own strength.

Now as we saw in the previous chapter, those who wait on Jehovah will receive strength from heaven. But those who will not wait upon Him are left to their own strength. All the strength that man can muster, even in the apex of youth, will fail. Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall having girded themselves with whatever strength they can muster, they are told by the God of all creation to come near, and after hearing Him, to state their case. It is a summons to come before Him and to decide upon the point of issue between them.

And the outcome is certain. The grass withers. The flower fades because the breath of the Lord blows upon it. If you are here this morning and contending with God seeking to break his bonds and pieces and cast off the cords of his sovereignty. Hear the words of the psalmist in Psalm 2, God shall speak in his wrath.

You will hear as you stand in silence. Do not be deceived. All self-reliance and false confidence end in disaster. You cannot contend with the Lord and prevail. As Isaiah says in 45 verse 9, woe to him who strives with his Maker.

And so we see God summons the nations. Then in verses 2 through 4 we see the sovereignty of Jehovah. The sovereignty of Jehovah. Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to his feet?

Who gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword as driven stubble to his bow? Who pursued them and passed safely by the way that he had not gone with his feet? Who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning, I the LORD am the first and with the last I am he? In these verses, the sovereign God of heaven and earth makes known what He intends to do.

He is not only the God of creation, he is the God of providence. As we saw in chapter 40, the emphasis here is not on what is being done, but on who is doing it. Who raised? Who called? Who gave?

Who performed? Who has done it? Remember the purpose of Isaiah. The purpose of Isaiah stated back in chapter 40, say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. So having summoned the nations to draw near in silence, the sovereign Lord states His case by revealing His purpose.

So in these verses, Isaiah introduces us to one from the east, one from the east, one whom he will reveal in greater detail a few chapters from now. Hold your place here if you would and turn a couple chapters over to chapter 44 in verse 28. Chapter 44 in verse 28. Who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built, and to the temple your foundation shall be laid. Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors so that the gates will not be shut." So here in this chapter he is talking about Cyrus and he reveals Cyrus and his name way before the time and he says that he does that for the sake of his people, if you were to read on in chapter 45.

And so I believe Isaiah is here introducing this one from the east, this one from Persia, who is being called by God, called to the very feet of God as a servant to do all of God's pleasure. That is the reason we see the word righteousness in our text. Cyrus is intended to be an instrument of God's righteousness. He is not calling one who is righteous himself. He is calling one from the east to his feet to become his servant to perform God's righteousness.

Cyrus will declare the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the laying of the foundation of the temple. God declares, He shall build my city and let my exiles go free. We read on that Cyrus would pursue but not be pursued. He would conquer and subdue the nations by sword and by bow, even the very coastlands that God has summoned. This is the word of our God from chapter 46, 9 through 11.

For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure calling a bird of prey from the east the man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it.

I will also do it." And we see here in chapter 41 the very wording is given in the past tense revealing the certainty of God's purpose. In verse 4 he says that he has performed it and done it. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He has ordained the end from the beginning, and this includes Judah's captivity. This includes Cyrus's captivity.

This includes Cyrus's victories, all ordained, every act of the hand of man. What appears Random to man is in fact the unfolding of the providence of the all-wise God Nothing Comes upon us by chance Let us have eyes to see the hand of God in all things. Let us see his wisdom and grace in all things that come upon us, even by the hand of evil men." Matthew Henry, in commenting on the historical account of Cyrus found at the end of second Chronicles states the following. God had promised the restoring of the captives and the rebuilding of Jerusalem at the end of 70 years. And that time to favor Zion, that set time came at last.

Though God's church be cast down, it is not cast off. Though his people be corrected, they are not abandoned. Though thrown into the furnace, they are not lost there, nor left there any longer than till the dross be separated. Though God contend long, He will not contend always." This is the sovereign hand of our Jehovah. But in verses 5 through 7 we see the response of the nations.

The response of the nations. The coastlands saw it and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid. They drew near and came. Everyone helped his neighbor and said to his brother, be of good courage.

So the craftsman encouraged the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering. Then he fastened it with pegs that it might not totter. Having drawn near to hear the sovereign Lord's status case, the nations are given opportunity to respond to this sovereign purpose of Jehovah. And their response is given in these verses and it reveals their failure to learn.

The nation's reactions to God's purpose through the conquering Cyrus is one of fear, one of dread. And this fear resulted in a meaningless solidarity in the midst of adversity. Being destitute of the strength from heaven, they sought to renew their own strength by helping one another and encouraging one another to be of good courage though fear gripped their own heart And what did that solidarity do? Together they gave themselves more strenuously to their manufacturing of a propped-up image that they hoped would spare them from this bird of prey from the east. Oh, there is encouragement and inspiration at every turn, But it is encouragement and inspiration mixed with gripping fear.

As they hammer harder, as they form more quickly their gods, can they process their gods in time? How will they stand before the armies of Persia? How will they face the future that looms before them? Without God. Without God they are left to themselves, to each other, blades of grass, thinking they can stand against the oven of God's wrath and they turn to their gods which are not.

How is it with you this morning? Are you waiting on God or contending with Him? As you sit here this morning, what is the source of your strength? How are you responding to the providence of God as you face the future before you. Do you do so with fear or with faith?

It is the response of the heathen to fear. Fear is born out of a realization of inability, out of a recognition that all the strength they can muster is not enough. My brother and sister, you who claim the sovereign Lord as your Father? Are you filled with fear as you face your future? Then hear the words of your Father.

He speaks comfort And that comfort is found in beholding your God. And so we see here in this passage now a contrast, a contrast set before us. In verses 8 through 9 we see here the reminder of a covenant, the reminder of a covenant. But you Israel are my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the descendants of Abraham my friend you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest regions and said to you, you are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away." So note here the contrast of the Lord's people with the coastlands.

Note here the comfort given to God's people. The very first word of verse 8 is this conjunction, but, which draws our attention to a vast contrast. But, into a vast contrast, but, but you, but you, you he says, you are Israel, Prince with God, my servant. The very name by which he calls them Israel denotes his covenantal promise. God chose Jacob.

God gave Jacob a new name, a name that reflected God's covenant. He also here describes these ones as the descendants of Abraham my friend What beautiful and reassuring language? God is saying Why do you say oh Jacob and speak oh Israel? This this is who you are you are a prince before me you are my servant you were the one I have chosen you are the offspring of Abraham my friend with whom I entered into a covenant. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel?

This is who you are. And this is what God has done. He has taken his people from the very ends of the earth. He has called out his church from the farthest regions and declared them his servant. He in his sovereignty has chosen them and will not cast them away.

Their way is not hidden. Their claim has not been passed over. This is who they are. What comforting faults for us who are his people. You, my brother and my sister, are his by his choice, by his initiation.

You have been made the friend of God. There is now this confiding relationship. Listen to what God says in Genesis 18, 17, and 18. And The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? How about Psalm 25 14? Psalm 25 14. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show them his covenant." How about the words of Christ? John 15 through 16, I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." This is our relationship with God through Christ.

A confiding relationship. He calls us his friends. God in this passage opens up his counsel to his friends. He is here telling them what's going to happen. He reveals to his people that he has heard their cry in the land of the Chaldeans, and he will govern Cyrus for the good of his church, for the very gathering of his people.

And if that is all God gave his people, it would be enough. But God showers his people with more. He gives the imperative, fear not, three times in this passage, but every imperative is backed by his promises. So let's proceed to look at the promises that he goes on to tell them. Verses 10 through 12, the promise of protection.

The promise of protection. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced. They shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish you shall seek them and not find them those who contend with you those who war against you shall be as nothing as a non-existent thing So this is his promise of protection. Fear not, for I will protect. His people are the very apple of his eye.

And so he says he will strengthen, that he is with them, that he will help them and uphold them with his righteous right hand." Now the term right hand in the Bible signifies strength, might, power. God's people do suffer at the hands of sinners. There is much striving against the church, but there will always be a remnant in the earth. God is with His people. The jealousy of Jehovah for His people brings not only protection for them, but God will also go on the offensive.

He promises that all who strive with his people, that contend with them, that war against them shall be ashamed and disgraced. They shall become as nothing and perish. Dear friend of God, do not fear. God will protect you. The grass may flourish today, but the breath of God will blow upon it in his time.

Here today, but gone tomorrow. You will seek them, he says, but will not find them. Remember what he said back in chapter 40 Scarcely shall they be sown scarcely shall they be planted Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth but God will blow upon them and they will be as if they never existed. The promise of protection Then in verse 13 we have the promise of help. The promise of help.

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not, I will help you. Fear not. Fear not. God will help you. We saw in verse 10 that His right hand protects.

But here in verse 13, we see that He holds the right hand of His people. Here we see that God is holding our right hand, that hand of strength. We are not left to our own strength. The coastlands were told to renew their strength, to make ready their right arm. But God's people are told to wait on Him, to not rely on the arm of the flesh.

We are to know and experience the help of our God. He promises help. Dear friend of God, do not fear. God will help you. Say like the psalmist in Psalm 121, 1 and 2, I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth, the promise of help. But we also have the promise of victory, the promise of victory, verses 14 through 16. Fear not, you worm, Jacob, you men of Israel. I will help you, says the Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth.

You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small and make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them. The wind shall carry them away and the whirlwind shall scatter them. You shall rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel. Fear not, fear not, God will give victory to the worm.

In Job 25 4 through 6 we read, how then can man be righteous before God Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man Who is a maggot and a son of man who is a worm. What a comfort that the Lord told Judah what they were. It's a comfort that he told them what they were. It is a great comfort for us to be confronted with the truth about ourselves.

Jacob was feeble. Jacob was low. But for the third time God says, fear not. Having declared Judah to be but a worm, God then declares Himself the Lord to be their Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel. And it is only in Christ Jesus that these two names of God can meet.

Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. He who is holy could not redeem man apart from the work of Jesus Christ. Marvel, my dear brothers and sisters, that the Holy One of Israel is the Redeemer of worms such as us. Set your gaze also upon Christ and His acceptable sacrifice. It is an expression, get this, it is an expression of God's holiness to forgive the sin of those who are in Christ Jesus.

That holiness which ought to strike us with terror. That same holiness is the ground of our assurance that he will perform his word, that he will keep covenant with his people, that he will not turn away the covenant of his peace from them, that he will not revoke his word, that he will perform his promises. He will give them deliverance. He will render recompense to their adversaries. He will give them victory over all their enemies.

He is the Holy One of Israel and he is their Redeemer. And notice what he says, behold I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth. You shall thresh the mountains and Beat them small and make the hills like chaff. Oh the picture that Isaiah sets before us worms threshing mountains and beating them small. You young children, you young children, can you imagine that picture?

Worms, worms beating down a mountain until it is small. But that's what God says here. This victory comes by means of the gospel. The church is here portrayed as prevailing and triumphing over all her enemies. If the church seems feeble, her God is not.

The gospel will advance until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord. And ultimately Christ will come for his bride and we shall reign with him. He will cause his people to triumph. His kingdom becomes a mountain that fills the earth. That mountain of the kingdoms that seems so large will be threshed down.

In what way? So that the rock not carved by man's hands that demolishes that image of the nations, that rock becomes the mountain and the mountains that seem to exist around they will be beaten small by the worm by God's power. God's power. It is this church, this church on earth with an unseen Christ in heaven that shall bring about these things. Isaiah here tells us that we shall yet rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

And before we leave this point let us once again turn our gaze upon our precious Savior. This Holy One of Israel became a man. He became the surest of all servants, the truest Israelite. In the Messianic Psalm, Psalm 22, these are the words of our Savior in verse 6, verse 6, but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. He became a worm for our sakes.

And as a worm, He did not fear, but looked to His Father for help. This was his prayer there in that same Psalm 22 verse 19, but you O Lord do not be far from me all my strength hasten to help me And he declares in that song that he answered me. But this one who says I am a worm and no man, he is now declared to be the Son of God with power. Is this your God? Is this your Redeemer?

Then fear not, you worm. Your victory is sure. Lead on, O King eternal, we follow not with fears, For gladness breaks like morning where e'er thy face appears, thy cross is lifted over us. We journey in its light. The crown awaits the conquest.

Lead on, O God of might. Then we have in verse 17 the promise of response to prayer, the promise of response to prayer. The poor and needy seek water, but there is none. Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them.

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Fear not. God hears your cry. He hears your cry. The people of God are here shown in desperate straits.

The poor and needy seek water but there is none. Though their tongues fail because of thirst, this does not keep their tongues from crying out to their Father in the midst of their need." He says he hears them. He hears them. And there is no situation unworthy of prayer to the Lord. No situation unworthy of prayer to our Father, to our Redeemer, to our Friend.

The sovereign God knows the state of His people, and He promises here that He will hear them and will not forsake them. And God magnifies his grace by bringing us into situations that force us to look to him. We have to cry out to him where our strength fails and we grow weary we grow faint and we fall it is then that he draws near and gives power to the weak and increases the strength of those who have no might but to those who wait on him. Those who don't go on simply seeking for that which they do not have but cry out to their God. He says fear not I will hear I will hear I will be with you.

I will not forsake you. Then verses 18 through 19, we have the promise of provision, the promise of provision. Having heard their cry, this cry of those without water, he says, I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree.

I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together. Fear not, God will provide. He is Jehovah Jireh. He hears the voice of those who cry out to Him and He will provide. No matter what we ask, we cannot tax His understanding or power.

Here we see the provision of God for those who thirst. He provides rivers and fountains, pools and springs of water. There is no situation where the Lord may not answer exceedingly above all that we could ask and all that we could think. And this provision of our God shown here goes beyond the needs of Old Testament Israel. He did not simply give them a cup of water.

He provided these springs, these rivers, these pools of water. We see God here planting trees of all species in the places once considered wilderness and desert. This is a glorious picture of the gospel. God goes beyond this mere provision of his remnant in Old Testament Israel. The ascension of the Messiah issues into the sending of the Spirit and Christ says of the spirit I will calls from my people a gushing forth of rivers of water rivers of living water and This he spoke of concerning the spirit And so we see where these waters flow God plants souls from every nation kindred and tried.

And he plants in places that were spiritual wilderness and deserts. And we have seen this already in Isaiah was it not in the deserts and the wilderness that God put a highway, a highway of holiness that he causes his people to walk as he brings them to Mount Zion. And is this provision merely for us? Is it merely for the good of His people that He does all of these things? No.

No. It is for the magnification of grace. And that's what we see in verse 20 as he closes out this portion. He says that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it. This is the magnification of grace, the magnification of God's grace.

The Lord makes His glory undeniably conspicuous. It is His hand that will do this, and all the earth will see and know God's glory will be evident in the fulfillment of his promises, in reviving his church on earth and forever in the world to come, to the praise of His glorious grace. So several applications. Why do you say, my brother, and speak, my sister, saying, My way is hidden from the Lord and My just claim has been passed over? God says, do not fear.

The God of all creation, as we saw in chapter 40, the God of all creation who holds the waters in the hollow of his hand, who measures the heavens with a span, the one before whom the nations are as a drop in the bucket, the one before whom the nations are as dust on the scale, who calls out the host of heaven by name and not one is missing. This God of creation is the God of all providence. He is working all things for the good of his church, the good of his people, and for the glory of his name in all of the earth. So whatever circumstances you find yourself in today, Whatever lies before you in the near future and beyond, do not fear as those who do not know God. Look to the future with faith in him who has ordained all things." The hymn writer Will says, God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.

He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep In unfathomable minds of never failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, Fresh courage take, the clouds ye so much dread, Are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. Secondly, you children, you children, hear the Word of God again from Job chapter 25, 4 through 6. How then Can man be righteous before God?

Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is a maggot and a son of man who is a worm. You children, God's Word is brutally honest with us. Last week we saw that even young people, even men in their strength will fail. Now in this chapter God declares you a maggot, a worm.

That is not a pretty picture is it children? That's not a pretty picture. Do you see yourself this way? You must. I tell you with all sincere love, you must see yourself this way.

You must see that you are not righteous. You are not pure. You must look to Jesus Christ who became a worm that young boys and girls like you could be made righteous. Look to Christ. Put your hope in him.

Flee from the idolatry of your heart and cling only to Him. And finally, how do you see the church? When you look at the church, how do you see her? Do you see her as weak and feeble? Her God is strong.

Do you see her with spots and wrinkles? She is being purified by her husband. Do you see her trotting down by the world? She is more than conqueror through him that loved her. How do you see the church?

How do you look at her? Psalm 48, and I will close with the reading of this chapter, Psalm 48. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. God is in her palaces.

He is known as her refuge. For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by together, they saw it, and so they marveled. They were troubled, they hastened away. Fear took hold of them there, and pain as of a woman in birth pangs, as when you break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish it forever.

We have thought, O God, on your loving kindness in the midst of your temple. According to your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be glad because of your judgments Walk about Zion and go all around her count her towers Markwell her Borks consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following.

For this, this is God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. Amen. Oh Father, we thank you for your precious word. Your precious word, O God, that shows that though the clouds may hide your will for us, though at times it may seem to hide your smile, yet O God, you are ordaining all things.

You are ruling over all things. Our way is not hidden from you. Our just claim is not passed over. But you, O God, hear us. You see us.

You have covenanted with us, and you the covenant maker are the covenant keeper. You have claimed to be our friend, our Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel. We thank you for these precious promises that are ours in Christ. We thank you for him who became a worm that he might redeem a lost and dying generation. Oh Father, give us grace, give our children grace to trust in him who now reigns on high at your right hand.

Help us to behold our God that we may not fear. In His name we pray, Amen.