This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you back. We're in
week five, day four of our look through the book of Isaiah. After a few days of
looking at Isaiah 40, that great chapter, we turn to another great chapter,
Isaiah chapter 41.

And in Isaiah 41, we see him talking about four words, in essence, that give the
strength of God's comfort in every circumstance of life. Those four words are,
God is in control. God is in control.

God is in control of everything. In this 41st chapter, Isaiah talks about three
broad areas of your life that you need to remind yourself that God is in control
of every day of your life. It helps you to walk through with a sense of God's
comfort, God's strength in daily life.

Three areas, number one, God is in control of history. At the beginning of
Isaiah 41, the nations are called to this trial. And it's a trial in which the
question is, who controls history?

And the verdict is, nations may act, but it is God who gives them the power to
act. And it's God who takes it away. So verses one to two, "Be silent before me,
you islands.

"Let the nations renew their strength. "Let them come forward and speak. "Let us
meet together at the place of judgment.

"Who has stirred up one from the east, "calling him in righteousness to his
service? "He hands nations over to him "and he subdues kings before him. "He
turns them to dust with his sword, "to windblown chaff with his bow.

" So he's saying here, because God is in control of history, we don't need to be
afraid, God is in control. The nations are not in control, God is in control.
When you watch the nightly news, when you read news on the internet, it sounds
like the nations are in control and you should be in total panic over what's
going on in this world right now.

Well, as in Isaiah's day, the nations are at war, the nations are in turmoil
because the nations are not trusting in God. But God says, they're not the ones
in control. I'm going to take them out of power when I want to.

The faith view of history is that instead of looking at the circumstances that
are around us in this world, even the circumstances that are in the nations,
instead of looking at the circumstances, you look at God's choice. 'Cause that's
what's going to last, that's what's more powerful. The circumstances are not going to
last, God's choice is going to last.

Now what's God's choice? He talks about it beginning in verse eight. "But as for
you, Israel, my servant, "Jacob, my chosen one, "descendant from Abraham, my
friend, "I have called you back from the ends of the earth, "saying, you are my
servant.

"For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. "Don't be afraid, for I am
with you. "Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.

"I will strengthen you and help you. "I will hold you up with my victorious
right hand. "I have chosen you.

" What was true for Israel is true for all who are in Christ. We are chosen by
God in Jesus Christ. God's choice is more powerful than any circumstance.

So when the national news, when the world news, when the personal news looks
overwhelming, remember, God has chosen you because God's choice of you will last
eternally longer than anything you read in the news today, anything you have
happen in your life today. God is in control. He's in control of his choice and
he has chosen you.

Now he reminds us a couple of times in these verses that you live out this truth
of God's choice by being God's servant. God has chosen you for a purpose, not
just to lay back and say, "Wow, I'm chosen by God, isn't that great? " No, he's
chosen you to make a difference in this world.

And God's choice of you settles your heart in ways that nothing else can. Let me
just look at those verses again. "I have chosen you and so I will not throw you
away.

"Don't be afraid, I am with you. "Don't be discouraged, I am your God. "I will
strengthen you, I will help you.

"I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. " That all grows out of God's
choice. So God is in control of history.

Second thing that God's in control of in this chapter, God is in control of your
ultimate victory. He's got it. He's got it settled.

You're not in control of your ultimate victory, he is. And he's going to bring it
about, beginning in verse 11 through verse 14. "See all your angry enemies lie
there, "confused and humiliated.

"Anyone who opposes you will die and come to nothing. "You will look in vain
"for those who tried to conquer you. "Those who attack you will come to nothing.

"For I hold you by your right hand. "I, the Lord your God. "And I say to you,
don't be afraid.

"I am here to help you. "Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob, "don't be afraid
people of Israel, for I will help you. "I am the Lord your Redeemer.

"I am the Holy One of Israel. " He's saying it again and again. "I'm in control,
I've got this.

"I'm the Lord, I'm the Redeemer. "I'm the Holy One of Israel. " The enemies in
your life might seem so powerful right now, just as the enemies in the life of
Israel seem powerful as Isaiah was sharing these words with them.

They may be personal enemies in your life, people that are attacking you. They
may be spiritual enemies in your life. The attacks of Satan in your soul, the
attacks of Satan through temptation or discouragement or inadequacy in your
life.

In the end, these verses remind us of what the New Testament tells us again and
again. In the end, God will give you victory over all those enemies. And so the
faith responds to this truth that God is in control of our ultimate victory is
don't be afraid, God will help you.

God has chosen you and God will help you. Those are simple truths, but those are
powerful truths for recognizing that God is in control. I want you to notice
something in verse 14.

As we talk about victory over our enemies, notice he says to Israel, Jacob was
one of the names for Israel here, though you, Jacob, are a lowly worm. What's he
talking about here? He's talking about how we might feel about ourselves
sometimes.

Though you feel like nothing, God is still in control. And the same thing is
true of you and I. Though you feel like nothing, God is still in control of your
ultimate victory.

It doesn't matter how you feel. You might feel as lowly as a worm. Your victory
is not based on how you feel about yourself.

It's based on the truth that God is in control. Third thing in this chapter that
God is in control of, God is in control of meeting your daily needs. Verses 17
to 20.

The poor and the needy search for water, but there is none. Their tongues are
parched with thirst, but I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel,
will not forsake them.

I will make rivers flow on barren heights and springs within the valleys. I will
turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs. I will
put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together so that
the people may see and know, may consider and understand that the hand of the
Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. God is in
control of meeting your daily needs. And that means that even a seeming lack of
resources is no problem to God.

He says it again and again in these verses. He gives rivers on high plateaus. He
gives fountains in the valleys.

He gives desert with pools of water. He plants trees even in the barren desert.
So the personal faith response to this is to recognize what he's told us in
these verses.

God will not abandon you. He will never forsake them. He will not abandon me.

I'm very aware in this world that we seem to have a lack of resources sometimes.
And some people in this world have a huge lack of resources. He's reminding us
here that there's more to our life in this world.

That even when we don't seem to have what we need in this world, God's going to
give us more than we need in eternity and somehow bless us in ways that we don't
even know or understand. But the truth is, many times, God wants to meet our
needs even in this world. There are many times in your life when it seems like
you have a lack of resources and God wants to supply what you need and more than
you need so that you can give to those who are around you.

He doesn't always wait till we get to heaven to supply those needs. He often
does this while we're on this world, in this planet. Now, let me just ask you a
simple personal question about this.

He talks about planting a tree in a barren desert. Where do you need to ask God
to plant a tree in a barren desert? In some relationship in your life?

In some sense of adequacy about yourself and how God wants to use you in
ministry? In some specific practical need financially? In some emotional need in
your life?

In some spiritual need for growth in your life? What is it that right now looks
barren to you? God says, "I want to meet your need even there.

" Where do you need to ask God to meet your need by planting a tree in that
barren desert? This chapter's reminded us that God is in control. God chooses
me.

God will help me. God will never abandon me. Let's pray together.

My father, we thank you. We thank you that you're in control. And as a God who's
in control, you've decided to choose us.

And that's more important than anything else in all of history 'cause it's going to
last forever. You've decided to help us each day of our lives, to strengthen us.
And you decided to never abandon us.

We hold on to those truths right now, your promises right now. And Lord, if
there is some tree we need to plant in a barren desert, help us to see it, to
know it right now, and to trust you with it. Instead of trusting ourselves to
plant that tree, we trust you with it right now.

We trust you with it in Jesus' name. Amen. Tomorrow we're going to look together at
the first of Isaiah's servant songs.