****isaiah 40:10-11

There’s a word from the lord coming from the book of Isaiah

Isaiah chapter 40 verses 10-11

And you should find these words as printed

Isaiah 40:10–11 (NRSV)

10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

That’s enough, I want to talk for the next fleeting moments with the help of the holy spirit

I want to talk about

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Growing up, they use to sing a song that says

What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what a peace is mine Leaning on the everlasting arms

Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way Leaning on the everlasting arms O how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms

Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms

What have I to dread, what have I to fear Leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near Leaning on the everlasting arms

I'm leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms

Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms

I'm leaning on the everlasting arms

Isaiah in our text share with us, how we are lean on the everlasting arms

Isaiah proclaimed the coming of the Lord. The Lord sets us free, shelters us, and sustains us. We need to trust in the Lord Jesus, we need to lean on His everlasting arms, and we need to live for Him.

This text gives some reasons we should lean on God’s everlasting arms.

We are to lean on His everlasting arms because:

I. They are powerful arms. (vs. 10)

(A.) His powerful arms rule us. (vs. 10a)

“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him.”

Isaiah is comforting God’s people that are in exile. Their 70 years of bondage is about to come to an end. Isaiah gives the people a good word of encouragement. God is coming and when He comes He will rule. The people of God had been in bondage, with no freedom and no hope. Isaiah predicts that the Lord shall come with a strong hand.

Strong (chazaq) means “strong, mighty, heavy, severe, firm, or hard.”

God’s strong hand would be used to defeat and destroy the enemies of God’s people. This is a great promise about God’s awesome power. God is pictured as a mighty warrior. He has a strong, mighty, and delivering hand. We can lean on His everlasting arms because they will never grow weak and never be overcome.

Matthew Henry wrote, “His strong hand shall subdue His people to Himself, and shall restrain and conquer His and their enemies.”

Thank God for His hand of mercy, but we should never forget to thank God for His hand of might. With His strong hand He has unbound us and set us free. With His strong hand He has given us liberty.

Isaiah says that God’s arm shall rule for Him.

Rule means to rule, to reign, or to have dominion.

One way or the other God will rule us. His people had been in exile for almost 70 years to learn the lesson of disobedience and the consequences of their sins.

Isaiah 41:10 declares, “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.”

A Good Word: When God has rule over us we have nothing to fret.

We can lean on God’s everlasting arms to protect us. We can learn from God’s everlasting arms to correct us. His powerful arms rule us. Verse 10 also teaches:

(B.) His powerful arms reward us. (vs. 10b)

“Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.”

We should lean on His everlasting arms because they are powerful. They are either powerful for us or powerful against us.

Behold means to come and see. He calls their attention to the fact that God will reward those who belong to Him.

Revelation 22:12 says, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” God’s reward is with Him. His blessings are with Him.

A woman had lost her purse in a shopping mall. After she had unsuccessfully searched for it she thought she would never see her purse again.

The next day, a young boy road up to her house on a bicycle carrying her purse. After she had received her purse and looked through it, she said, “That’s funny, before I lost my bag, there was a twenty dollar bill in it. Now I find two fives and ten one dollar bills.”

The honest little boy said, “That’s right, the last time I found a lady’s purse, she didn’t have any change for a reward.”

Thank God that He’s not like that. He has His reward and it is with Him.

John A. Martin wrote, “He not only rules in power, but He also brings His reward with Him.” This pictures the Sovereign power of God accomplishing the Sovereign plans of God.

Isaiah said He is coming with a strong hand to redeem and release, to rule and to reward. It is a good thing to lean on the everlasting arms of Jesus. His arms never falter or fail; never weary or weaken; never buckle or brake; never slumber or sleep!

Isaiah says that His reward is with Him and His work is before Him. Work or labor. It refers to what God has purposed to do.

God’s work is always before Him, Jesus came for a purpose and had a great work to do. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” He completed the Father’s work that He had to do.

Now Jesus is at work today through His church. We are to be about His work. His agenda is to be the most important item in our lives. His will is to have precedence in our lives above our own lives, our desires, our families and our friends. His work is before Him and it is before us today! When we love Jesus we will serve Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

We are to lean on His everlasting arms because they are powerful arms. Isaiah also teaches us that we are to lean on His everlasting arms because:

II. They are providing arms. (vs. 11a)

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd;”

God is pictured as a powerful warrior that delivers the weak and a gentle shepherd that cares for the sheep.

Feed means to tend a flock, or to associate with. God will associate with those who trust in Him. Poor and wretched sinners can have close and intimate fellowship the Master.

As a shepherd, He leads us, and where He leads us, He sustains us.

Great Bible Truth: Where God guides God provides!

David said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.”

Philippians 4:19 states, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

A shepherd leads the sheep to the place to feast. A shepherd makes sure that the sheep are physically provided for. God is always providing for us. He has not one time let me down. This is all the more reason that we should lean on His everlasting arms.

They are powerful arms. They are providing arms.

But then Next, we see that we are to lean on the everlasting arms because

III. They are protecting arms. (vs. 11)

(A.) His arms will carry us. (vs. 11b)

“He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom,”

Isaiah says that God will gather His lambs with His arm.

Gather means to collect, gather, or assemble. Isaiah is proclaiming what Moses had said that God would do if His people returned to Him. Deuteronomy 30:1–3 states, “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.” God has promised He would gather and that has been and is being fulfilled in Jesus.

Jesus gathers wayward sinners and gives them eternal life. Jesus is the Shepherd that will carry us away from danger and carry us back to the fold.

A man’s golf ball came to rest on an anthill. He got his club out to advance the ball and he swung the club right under the ball. Dirt and ants flew everywhere. He reset, lined up, swung and went right under the ball again. Again, dirt and ants went everywhere. Down below one ant said to another, “Friend, if we are going to get out of this thing alive, we had better get on the ball!”

God protects us from dangers. John 10:11–14 states, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”

God gathers us together and carries us in His bosom.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “God’s arm is a mighty arm for winning the battle, but it is also a loving arm for carrying His weary lambs.”

Alan Redpath tells the story of a man that was traveling down the highway and saw a poor man standing at the side of the road carrying a large and heavy sack. He offered him a lift, and the man got in the car, but kept the sack on his shoulder.

The driver said, “Why don’t you put that sack down?”

The man replied, “Well, sir, I’m so grateful you are carrying me, I don’t think it is fair to ask you to carry my sack as well!” God will carry us and He will carry our sacks too!

Henry Moorhouse got a vivid picture one day of how God carries us. His little daughter, who was a paralytic, was sitting in her chair as he entered the house with a package in his hand for his wife. Going up to her and kissing her, he asked, “Where is your Mother?”

“Mother is upstairs.”

“I have a package for her.”

The little girl said, “Let me carry the package to Mother.”

Henry Moorhouse said, “Why, Minnie, dear, how can you carry the package? You cannot carry yourself.”

With a smile the little girl said, “Oh, no, Papa; but you give me the package, and I will carry the package, and you will carry me.”

Taking her up in his arms, he carried her upstairs—little Minnie and the package, too.

Isaiah said that God would carry them in His bosom.

We see that His arms will carry us; next we see:

(B.) His arms will care for us. (vs. 11c)

“And gently lead those who are with young.”

We are to lean on His everlasting arms because they are strong arms and because they are sensitive arms. The Lord will gently care for His children. He will protect us from harm and nothing will happen to us that would be contrary to His will.

God is a trustworthy shepherd that leads, guides, and directs His sheep. He cares for the young and the old. He cares for the babies and the mothers. He cares for the fathers and he cares for you.

Matthew Henry wrote, “He will gather them in when they wander, gather them up when they fall, gather them together when they are dispersed, and gather them home to Himself at last; and all this with His own arm, out of which none shall be able to pluck them.”

Thank God for His protection! I am saved today because of Jesus. I am eternally saved and cannot be lost because I’ve trusted in Jesus and I lean on the everlasting arms.

Are you leaning on the everlasting arms? Has there ever been a time when you’ve repented of your sins and asked Jesus Christ to save you? Are you willing to trust Jesus today? Are you trusting in your own strength, your own wisdom, your own goodness? You can fall back on the Everlasting Arms of Jesus! They will never let you down!