FBC Morning Light – May 24, 2022

Fear, Threats, and the Call to Hallow the Lord

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. How are you doing today? Have you read the news lately, if you read the newspaper or some kind of news feed in your email, or watched the news, cable news, or whatever?

Have you done much of that? I try to do as little as possible, but at the same time, you want to be informed of what's going on in this world. And when you are, you're hearing a lot of things that could strike some fear in your heart, don't you?

I mean, how much did you pay last time you filled up for gas? What about the prices that you're seeing at the grocery store, if you can find what you're looking for in the grocery store? We're told to expect food shortages and the supply chain problem is only going to get worse, and we can expect to be out of things that we would normally be able to find in our shopping experience and so forth.

Have you looked at the stock market? What's going on with the stock market these days? And not to mention the violence. I mean, even when you think about church, you used to think of church as being quite the sanctuary, a place of safety and relative security, and you wouldn't have to worry about it.

You'd go to church and expect a place of peace and tranquility. But if you're a church, if you attend a church that preaches the Bible as ours does, and would preach against some of the social corruption that's going on in our world, the violence to the unborn and so forth, your church can be a target, and we're seeing that.

The pro-abortionists that can't stand the thought of the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, and therefore the possibility of human life being saved, they can't stand the thought of that, and they're ready and willing to attack churches that would support a pro-life position.

There's all kinds of things going on in our world, in our culture, that can incite fear. How do we handle that? In our Scripture reading today, in Isaiah chapter 8, the Lord gives some good counsel to his prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah had prophesied to his people, his own people, and said that God's judgment is coming. That in itself would be enough to incite fear in the part of the prophet, because he's living there with God's people as well.

But to make matters worse, the people who heard that message, they didn't appreciate it very much, and they considered him to be a conspirator with the enemy, and trying to demoralize God's people, the people of Israel, by his prophecy.

He was therefore an enemy of the state. There was enough that Isaiah had to deal with that could have incited fear. But the Lord says at the end of verse 12 of chapter 8, Isaiah 8, he says, don't be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

Don't let your heart be filled with anxiety. Don't be afraid. He said instead, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary. Instead of living in a constant state of fear over what's going on in our world, and the possibility of discomfort, and even persecution, and so forth, instead of living in fear of all that, what we are to do is we are to hallow the Lord of hosts.

Christ as Lord in the Heart

It's interesting that the apostle Peter in 1 Peter chapter 3, he appeals to this same text in Isaiah chapter 8. We've been studying 1 Peter in our Sunday morning services, and we've been learning that this whole letter revolves around the subject of believers' suffering.

In chapter 3, verse 13 of 1 Peter, Peter says, who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? It's a rhetorical question that expects the answer, no one will harm you if you're a follower of that which is good.

But then he goes on to say, but even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. Why does he say that? Because Jesus said so, blessed are those who persecute you for righteousness sake, for example.

There is a possibility, and maybe even a very great possibility, that even though you're trying to follow after that which is good, you're going to suffer for it. Should you therefore be afraid? He says no.

He says, do not be afraid of the threats, nor be troubled. He's quoting Isaiah chapter 8, and he continues to quote Isaiah 8 in the next verse when he says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be always ready to give an answer, a defense, to everyone who asks your reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and with fear.

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. What does that mean, to sanctify the Lord God in your hearts? Or as the prophet Isaiah has in our translation, the Lord of hosts, him shall you hallow. What does that mean?

I think what that means is that we set apart in our hearts the control center of our being, the Lord, set him apart, Christ as Lord, is literally what that verse says. Set apart in your hearts Christ as Lord.

Here's the point. When I'm cowering in fear, living in terror of what people or situations in this world can do to me, those things are controlling my life. They are the Lord of my life instead of Christ.

So Peter's exhorting us, and God exhorts Isaiah, no, set God apart as Lord of your life. Set him apart in your heart. He is the sovereign one who needs to rule and reign in the control center of your life.

Waiting on the Lord and Holding to His Promises

When you do that, then you have reason for hope. Back in Isaiah 8, in verse 17, the Lord goes on to say that he, the Lord, will be a sanctuary to you. He says in verse 14, you will be a sanctuary, and the prophet therefore concludes in verse 17, I will wait on the Lord, and I will hope in him.

That's the effect of setting apart the Lord, hallowing God as Lord in your heart. The result is you will wait on him to deal with the affairs of this world that are causing so much fear and crisis in your heart.

I will wait upon him, and I will hope in him. I will hope in him to fulfill the promises that he has made to me. God has made promises to Isaiah. He said, I will be a sanctuary. I will be as a sanctuary to you.

The Lord has made great promises to his people as well. I would encourage you to go back to 1 Peter chapter 1 and look at verses 3 and following at some of the great promises that God has given to us that we need to lay hold on and hold firmly to, even when we're going through times that could incite fear.

Set apart the Lord in your heart as the sovereign one, ruling over the control center of your life. That way, you won't be living in fear and terror. Father, I pray today that you would help us to do just that.

Help us in these days of so much potential threat and fear, not to be filled with that fear, not to be filled with terror, but instead to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. This we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen. Have a good rest of your Tuesday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.