Sermon #108[i]                                          Series: Isaiah

 

Title:       "Fear Not, Thou Worm Jacob"

Text:       Isaiah 41:10-20

Subject:  Encouragements for Faith, or Fears Removed

Date:       Sunday Evening - March 8, 1992

Introduction:

 

I have read for my text Isaiah 41:10-20; but I take the words of God in verse 14 for the title of my message- “Fear Not, Thou Worm Jacob.”  This is God’s message to his believing people in this world.  Though we are often troubled and tried, persecuted and perplexed, tempted and trampled upon in this world, our God says to you and me, “Fear Not, Thou Worm Jacob.”

 

The purpose and object of God in these verses is to silence the fears of his people and encourage us to confidently trust him in the teethe of trouble and adversity.

 

Proposition:

 

It is contrary to the mind of God for his people to be a timid, fearful, anxious people; and to suppress our fears he assures us of his constant presence, power, and provision.

 

Three times God says to us, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” (v. 14).  It appears to me that God wants us to stop being fearful!

 

·        Thou your enemies are many and mighty, “fear not.”  God is greater than your enemies.

·        Though your afflictions are painful and protracted, “fear not.”  The Lord will deliver you.

·        Though your path of duty is demanding and dangerous “fear not.”  Your God will uphold you and help you.

·        Though the fulfilment of God’s promises cannot be seen, “fear not.” Not one promise of God shall fall to the ground.

 

Divisions:

 

1.     We are all weak and helpless worms before God.

2.     But there is hope for worms.

3.     We are the worms, we are worms of God’s choice.

4.     Though we are but worms, we have no cause for fear.

5.     It is God’s great pleasure and great glory to use worms for the accomplishment of his purposes.

 

I.  We are all weak and helpless worms before God.

 

What can be more loathsome than a worm?  The word worm here means “maggot.”   No one wants to touch a maggot.  The thought of those vile, disgusting, dirty, disease-ridden, disease-spreading creatures makes our skin crawl.  Yet, this is the word God used to describe us!  And it is an accurate description!

 

The humanist, the nationalist, and the self-righteous religionist considers this a great insult.  He says, “I am not a worm.  I am a man.  And I am somebody!”  We love to sing that great hymn written by Isaac Watts over 300 years ago…

 

“Alas! And did my Savior bleed,

And did my sovereign die?

Would He devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I?”

 

But if you look in most modern hymnals, published by the various denominations, you will find that the hymn has been changed to read, “For sinners such as I.”  The word “worm” is just too offensive to human pride!  But worms we are nonetheless.

 

a.      A worm is a dirty, despicable thing.

b.     A worm is a weak and helpless creature, incapable of defending itself.

c.     A worm belongs to and is at home in the muck and mire of the earth.

d.     A worm being easily trampled upon and crushed to death, is always exposed to danger.

e.      A worm is of no value or concern.

 

Who ever wept over stopping on a worm?  Who ever missed a worm that has been killed?  Who ever even took notice of a worm?

 

When God declares that man is a worm, he means for us to understand that we are all by nature…

·        Wretched!

·        Weak!

·        Worthless!

 

Note:  Take your place as a worm.

 

1.     It will help you to get along with one another.  Who ever heard of fighting worms?

2.     You cannot claim the promise of this text unless you meet the character of the one to whom the promise is made.

 

II.  But there is hope for worms.

 

God’s people recognize that they are indeed worms.  Men and women who, by the grace of God, have been made to know themselves know that they are wretched, weak, worthless worms.  For us to be called worms, maggots, is to insult these lefty creatures who never sinned against God and compliment us!  Yet, vile, base, and disgusting as we are, we take our proper place in the dunghill before God as worms, knowing that there is hope for worms.

 

A.  The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God when he was made to be sin for us and hung upon the cross as our Substitute, became a worm, so that he might lift worms from the dung heap of fallen humanity and transform us into the sons of God.  (Ps. 22:6).

 

1.     He was abased, that we might be exalted.

2.     He was cursed, that we might be blessed.

3.     He was made to be sin, a despicable thing, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him-delightful to God!

4.     He was crushed to death under the penalty of sin, that we might be raised to life and freed from sin.

 

B.  And the worm does have a mouth by which he is able to bore his way into the strongest tree and penetrate to its ver heart, finding both good and safety.

 

These worms, whom God calls “Jacob,” his own elect, with the mouth of prayer and supplication, crying unto God, are able to penetrate the very heart of Almighty God, finding in him both food and safety for their souls.  (Lk. 11: 5-13; Heb. 4:16).

 

 

Do not refuse to take this name, “worm.”  Being a worm identifies you with the Son of God in his most glorious character as the sinner’s Substitute.  There is hope for worms!  As a worm you can cry out to God to pity you and have mercy upon you.

 

·        Christ came to save worms!

·        Christ died for worms!

·        Christ has mercy on worms!

Not the righteous, not the righteous,

Worms, only worms, Jesus came to call!

 

Note:  Are you a worm?  Worms are not proud creatures.  No matter where they are found, no matter how they are used, they are just worms!  We have nothing to be proud of!  I Cor. 4:7.

 

III.  Sons of Jacob we are.  That makes us worms.  But we are the worms of God’s choice.

 

God says, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.”  He speaks as though he were talking to one man.  But he is addressing all his people.  God calls us “Jacob.”

 

A.   Jacob was a man wretched, weak, and worthless in himself.

B.    Jacob was a man chosen, called and blessed by God.

C.   Jacob was a man to whom God had bound and obligated himself by a covenant.

 

Gladly I own, I am a worm,

Weak, wretched, and worthless,

If God might take me as His own,

And tell me I am His!

 

IV.  Though we are but worms, we have no cause for fear.

 

Notice in verse 14 that all three persons in the triune Godhead have allowed themselves to help this wretched, weak, worthless worm, Jacob.

 

·        “I will help thee, saith the Lord-“ Jehovah.  That is God our Father speaking.

·        “I will help thee, saith…thy Redeemer” That is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, our Redeemer, speaking.

·        “I will help thee, saith…The Holy One of Israel”- That is God the Holy Spirit speaking.

 

 

“If God be for us, who can be against us?”  In our text the Lord God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit makes eleven promises by which he would both remove our fears and encourage us to trust him.

 

A.  Are you alone?  God says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee,” not only within reach, but with you!

 

B.  Are you dismayed, by the power of your enemies on the greatness of your trial?  The Lord says, “Be not dismayed; for I am thy God,” I am for you.  (Rom. 8: 28-39)

 

C.  Are you weak?  Your God says, “I will strengthen thee.”

 

D.  Are you destitute?  God says, three times, “I will help thee.”

 

E.  Are you about to fall, or already fallen?  The Lord says, “I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

 

F.  Are your enemies a terror to you?   Your God says that he will confound them, bring them to nothing and slay them everyone.  (vv. 11-12).

 

G.  Are you fearful of failure?  The Lord your God says, “I will hold thy right hand.” (v. 13).  That means:

 

·        I will walk hand in hand with you as your Father and your friend.

·        I will guide you and lead you in your way.  Pro. 3:5-6.

·        I will hold you up when you are weak, warning and trembling.

·        I will pick you up when you fall.

·        God will silence your fears as you walk with him, “saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”  He will say to you, to your heart, by his Spirit, “Fear not,” and make you hear his assuring promise, “I will help thee.”

o       In trial

o       In temptation

o       In the Path of Duty

o       In Service to Him

 

H.  Are you now made to weep?  “Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord.”  He will make you triumphant at last.

 

I.  Are you now abased?  “Thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel”  (v. 16).  Glory awaits you.  You will yet glory in the Lord!

 

·        In your Interest in Him!   

·        In your Relation to Him!

·        In what He Has Done for You!

 

J.  Do the heavens appear to be as brass to you?  God says, “I the Lord will hear them” (v. 17).

 

K.  Does it sometimes seem that God has forsaken you?  He has not.   He says, “I the God of Israel will not forsake them” (v. 17).

 

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Has laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can ye say, than to you He hath said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

 

Mark these promises and realize that, though you are a worm, you have a mighty and a great God, and you have no reason to fear anything or anyone, ever!

 

V.  It is God’s great glory and pleasure to use insignificant worms like us for the accomplishment of his purposes- (vv. 15-19).

 

These verses describe God’s servant as a man who has gone to war; but nothing is in jeopardy.

 

·        Total Victory is Assured (vv. 15-16).

·        Every Provision is made for your refreshment, comfort, and success (vv. 17-19).

 

The Lord God delights in taking weak worms as instruments in his hands and magnifying in them his holy, omnipotent power.  (I Cor. 1:26-29).

 

What power a worm has when God is with him!

·        Samson slew thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Jud. 15:15-17).

·        David killed Goliath with a rock and a slingshot (I Sam. 16).

·        Peter was the instrument by which God saved 3,000 men on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

 

Illus: Reuben Askew, who used to be the governor of Florida, knowing his utter inability for such a great work, said “I bowed before God and asked him to help me.”  When someone asked him- “How is it that you are so bold to speak for Christ in the legislature and political meetings?”  he responded, “I was a Christian before I was elected governor.  I shall be a Christian after I cease to be governor.  I see no reason to change in between.”

 

There is nothing you and I cannot do, though we are mere worms, if the Lord God is with us (Phil. 4:13).

 

·        No work is too great.

·        No trial is too hard

·        No enemy is too powerful.  } FOR THE LORD OUR GOD!

·        No obstacle is too big.

·        No burden is too heavy.

 

 

Application:

 

The reason why God is pleased to use such worms as we are for the accomplishment of his purposes is that in this way, everybody will know that God did it.   No flesh shall glory in his presence (v. 20).

 

Illus:  The Cherokee Indian in Oklahoma- “How is it you say God saved you?” - The worm in the circle of fire.



[i] Danville (Isaiah Notes 108) Tuesday (03/08/92)

Lantana Grace Church, Crossville, TN (Saturday PM 06/21/03)