Sometimes a comma can go a long
way. Pause for effect. It's a good
way to teach secularly is ask, pause, call. If I ask a question,
I pause and I call on somebody to answer that question. Everyone's
engaged. That's a tactic in that work
school. We ain't doing that today. If I ask any questions, you don't
have to answer them. They're rhetorical. I might pause a little
bit, but I ain't going to call on nobody. My pastor got up one
time and he said, this is the last message I'm going to preach. I think it got everybody's attention.
He told me, I guess it reminded me of it. This is for children. I got a message for children
this morning. God's children. However old they are, 8 or 80,
this is for them. Our Lord wrote through Moses
here in Genesis 15 verse 1. It's a short text, one paragraph. One verse. After these things,
Genesis 15, 1. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram,
I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. After these things. After these things. After what
things? In the next hour, we're going to be looking at Jehovah
Jireh. Here in Genesis 22, and the Lord begins there after these
things. What happened? The Jews often write of the ten
great trials of Abraham. Well, right here he just experienced
five. He got called out of his home. He said, leave your mommy
and daddy's house. You can go where I send you. They went up
to Haran and journeyed there, sojourned there for five years
in sin and disbelief. That was his sojourning there.
Then he went to a land uninhabited. He's down in Canaan. dwelling
in tents and went down to Egypt, that great trial there with the
king after his wife. Comes back, Lot's device. Lot wants to retain what he has
in this world. Don't give it up. We got it.
We'll just separate. And Lot's kidnapped and he has
to go get him. What great trials. We're halfway through, haven't
we? But after these things, Abraham had just rescued Lot. That's
immediately what happened. From those four kings that had
conquered five. And for love's sake, because
of love, Abram pursued with 318 men, chased four kings and their
armies for one man. For one brother. One of his own. And he recovered him, and he
recovered all the people, and he recovered all the goods, and
Abram had won a great victory. A great victory. And he was heading
home. There were a lot of doormen on.
Talking about how wonderful it was to be back together. And
he's met by the priest of the Most High God, Melchizedek. And
when he came to Abram, He came unto Abram. That's how that happened.
Well, I come to Jesus. You might have come to some person
named Jesus. You didn't come to Almighty God unless He came
to you first. That's how it works. That's how it's done. And that
great high priest, the high priest of the most high God brought
bread and wine. Somebody brings you something
other than the person and work of Christ Jesus, they're a false
prophet. There's no light in them. He brought the body and
the blood of Christ and King Melchizedek. offered blessings
to Abram, being a prophet. He told him what God had done
for him. And he blessed him and blessed the Lord, being a high
priest, interceding between Abram and the God. And Abram was blessed by the
Word, he was blessed by the deed, and he was blessed by the presence
of the prophet, priest, and king. Christ met with him. That's what
happened. Then this earthly king, right
after that, he just won a great battle. Christ reminded you what
he just did for you and he interceded for you and showed you his body
and his blood. Immediately after, an earthly
king made him an offer. He didn't declare what was done.
He didn't praise God. He said, here's what I'm going
to do. He talked about how good he was. There's some giving going
on and I see some wine and bread flying around. I'm going to do
something nice. Look how good I am. Wicked King. It says in verse
21 of chapter 14, Genesis 14, 21. And the king of Sodom said
unto Abram, give me the persons. and take the goods to thyself."
What wickedness. The church, God's church in every
generation and especially in our day because this is the one
we're living in. I can learn from the church's happenings
of the past and I can hopefully lay a foundation as the Lord
enables me for the church coming in the future when I'm dead and
gone but I'm only alive right now. What about you? You going
to be alive in 200 years? Was you alive 200 years ago?
That's where it meets us. We ought to always be careful,
not to be concerned about the goods, about the things, about
the possessions, and the real estate, and the clothes, and
the attendants, and the people. We ought to be worried about
the souls of men and women. That's what Satan wants. He'll give
you everything underneath the sun. He gives. He'll take souls. That's what he wants. He wants
to divide the Lord's people from him. Take their attention from
Christ by any means necessary. Is he going to demote you? I
ain't never seen anybody leave gospel for property. I've seen
them get promoted and leave. I've seen them get a better job
and leave. Bigger house and leave. That's what this king was doing.
And that Abram having his pure mind stirred up. Just come from
worship with the Lord, hadn't he? He responds in true faith. The Lord gives him faith to respond.
He believed God, what he just told him, and he is trusting
his heavenly king. He didn't care about this earthly king.
And he responds to this earthly king. Verse 22, And Abram said
unto the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the
Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatch. And that
I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should say,
I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young
men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me,
Aner, Eshkol, Mamre, let them take their portion." He said,
those around him, those that happened to be here, that scaffolding
that built up around the Lord's church, if they feel like taking
it, let them take it. But as for me and my house, We're
going to serve the Lord. Do you see a picture of the Lord
speaking here on behalf of his household? That's why it's so
misquoted out of ignorant men that claim to be theologians.
They study a God they never met. You can't study somebody you
don't know. They just don't know nothing about unless he reveals
himself. They say, well, that's for me in my house. What about
you? What about you in your house? God's still speaking in Joshua
24. That quote hadn't ended yet.
That's the Lord speaking. And he says, if it seem evil
to you to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you'll serve. whether
the gods your father served that were on the other side of the
flood, on the other side of Jordan, Euphrates, or the gods of the
Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we
will serve the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Christ
speaks on behalf of his people and speaks to those enemies we
have. He says, you want to serve that
false god or that false god? That's your business. But for
me and those I'm one with, we're serving the true and living God.
Abram said this as a picture of Christ. He said, you can take
the money, take whatever you want, but as for me and mine,
we're serving the Lord. I don't care about nothing else.
I don't care about nothing else. After these things, after suffering
this great trial, being brought through that trial by the Lord,
seeing Christ figuratively and physically, being brought in
remembrance of Him and looking at Him. being so bold to stand
for the glory of God in the face of a wicked king, a powerful
and noble earthly man, as the world would see it. After these
things, Abram was afraid. He got scared. He was fearful
of what he just did. He was afraid. He went from hero
to zero. He gave away all his worldly
riches and he offended a lowercase king. And he got scared. He went
from strong in the faith to cowering in a corner. The text doesn't
say that. How can I know that? We'll see
in a minute. It's so. That's what happened.
You ever stood up and just defended the gospel and you didn't care?
Take my house, take my life, I don't care. I'm standing for
the truth. Don't get proud. Don't think, oh, look at my faith,
because two seconds later you might be scrambling. You'll be
brought back down low if you think you did it. That's what
happened here to great Abraham. In such a time of weakness, in
such a time of unbelief, a lack of trust in God, in a time of
looking and considering a wicked king and not our great high king,
a time right after seeing the Lord and defending the Gospel,
after these things, after these things, it says in Genesis 15-1,
after these things, the Word of the Lord came unto Abram in
a vision. comma, say, speaking to him. How precious is that? The word
of the Lord came unto Abram. And he said in a vision, he saw
a word. Don't you hear a word? Well,
you hear a word and you see this one. Who's the word of the Lord?
Not what, who? Who? In the beginning was the
word. The word was with God and the
word was God, wasn't it? The word of the Lord came to him.
Christ comes to him and speaks to his child. That's so with
every child that's His. Throughout time, throughout eternity,
He comes to them, those that know His saving grace and mercy.
They know something of that, He speaks to them. He speaks
to them. The Word of the Lord came to
me. The Word of the Lord spoke to me. It was through His prophet,
but He came to me. It was through means He used,
a man preaching the gospel, and He spoke effectually to my heart.
What's that mean? He got the job done. Through
the foolishness of preaching, a man got up and told me what
God says right here, and I believed God. I'm thankful for that man,
but I believed God. He spoke to us. That's what that
woman at the well did. She said, come see a man. Come see a man. And they came, didn't they? They
weren't saved yet, but they came. And they said, boy, we came here.
Now we heard Him. We believed you to come. We liked
you. You're fine. We appreciate that.
You're a good member of society. But now I've heard Him. Now my
eyes have seen Him. That's what He does to His people.
We don't audibly hear the Lord speak from His lips. If somebody
tells you that, there's a lot of falsehoods. There's people
that think they're apostles, and they write open epistles and
letters to people, and God spoke to them and nobody told them,
and God didn't use the name He promised He was going to use,
and somehow they mystically know Him. That apostolic era is over. That doesn't happen anymore.
God said so. And he's going to use this means to do it. But
he doesn't audibly speak from his lips, but we hear him in
his word. As he reveals himself to it, we read it. See, right
there he is. We see him. And through the lips of the jawbone
of an ass, through an earthen vessel, a clay pot, and impainted,
and englossed, and baked in the oven. Just ugly. That's how we
hear him. And he says, my sheep hear my
voice. And I know them and they follow
me. God's sheep hear His voice. They hear it in the preaching
of the truth and in this word. And He knows us and we know Him.
A child of God, if you've had the truth revealed to you, you'll
hear the truth and you'll say, that's it. And you'll hear a
lie and say, that ain't right. You might not be able to give
a big dissertation on it and explain it, but you'll say something
ain't right there. I ain't gonna listen to it. And you can't listen
to it. You won't be able to do it. If God works in you, you
can't sit underneath the life. I love that woman. You ain't
gonna badmouth her around me for long without getting wrath.
I'll come after you. What about my Lord? He loved
me. First, I love Him now. You ain't gonna talk bad about
Him. Not from me, I'll tell you to hush. And if you won't hush,
I'll leave. That's just so. We hear Him, we know Him, we
follow Him. We have a true desire and a true, pure motive for the
first time to follow Him and His Word. We used to, we wanted
to obey this Word so we'd get something out of it. There's
some comedian recently, he's been made real famous, and he
has a joke saying he gave a bum five dollars. And he said, you
know, I didn't give it to him, I gave that for me. I wanted
God to see me doing something good. And I thought, he told
the truth. I didn't laugh at all. Now if you talk about observational
comedy, that's what that was. You saw the truth and told it.
For the first time we have a pure motive to follow his word. Because
he says in John 10 3, to him, to Christ the porter, that one
that controls the sheep gate, the father, he openeth and the
sheep hear Christ's voice and he calls his own by name and
leadeth them out. Isn't that something? There's
a general call that goes out. 500 and some people have listened
to our last featured message on Servant Audio. We go on YouTube
and people have been listening. I've been getting contact more
and more recently. General calls going out, but
there's an effectual call. And the Lord comes to you by
name and it's one-on-one. One-on-one. Might be a husband
and wife sitting next to each other, but he'll talk to that
one individually and talk to that one individually. It's one-on-one and he speaks
to them. Calls us by name. Not, hey you. He speaks to us
by name. That's our favorite word, you
know that? My favorite word in the whole English language is
Kevin. Yours is your name. That's what's so, isn't it? That's
how He speaks to us. And He leads us out. When the Lord speaks
to our heart, we hear Him in His creation now, don't we? We
see Him. You go outside seeing birds chirping. He provides for
those birds. I have California quail run off
of my yard. I ain't fed a one of them. Snakes
ain't got them. Coyotes ain't got them. They're
still living. He provides for them. This marvelous creation
that declares His glory. We see it in Providence. That
takes time. That's reflection. Providence
ain't come to pass yet. Providence is what's already
happened. Look how the Lord has directed absolutely everything. I couldn't have planned it any
better. I thought everything else ought to go this way, and it
didn't. I got disappointed. And then ten years later, I look
back and say, ooh, look at that. Wasn't that perfect? And then
salvation. He saves His people. He comes to His people. He comes
to them, reveals Christ in them, and then the Spirit proclaims
it to us, doesn't He? The Father purposed it, the Son
purchased it, and the Spirit proclaims it in the hearts of
His people. That's what He's done. That's His working. And
we know He's with us. A child of God knows who He is. They know what He's done for
us in some part, and we know He's with us. Ezekiel 34.30 says,
Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them.
I don't feel like He's with me. I know He's with me. How can
I know He's with me? He says He is. Well, how can I trust
that? I believe Him. I take Him at
His word. What does that speak to you?
When we know He's with us, we know He's accomplished everything.
What does that tell you? What does that tell Abram? What
do you and I hear and what vision do we see when we know that the
Almighty God has come to us, that He speaks to us, and He
leads us to look to Him once again? Either that first time
or again. What does that say to us? Genesis
15, verse 1. After these things, remember
what bad shape Abram's in. All that good things that just
happened, he's forgot every lick of it. After these things, the
worthy Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, Fear not, Abram. Fear not. Sheep are skittish
creatures. They're jumpy, especially when
they're not in a herd. And they move together like birds.
They all swarm around. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our great peacemaker. We're skittish. We're frightful.
He's the great peacemaker. He comes speaking peace to our
hearts. He says, fear not, over and over
throughout this Word. He speaks, fear not. Fear not. who was used to be a picture
of works, of man putting his hand to God's will, had Ishmael. And she was scared to death for
him, and she called out to God for him. And God spoke to Hagar
and said, Hagar, fear not. Now I'll tell you something about
Hagar. You think Hagar had a reason
to fear? God said, fear not, Hagar. Daniel, the Lord came
and spoke to Daniel and said, Daniel, fear not. What about
Mary? She's with child. She's going
to have this holy one of Israel. The angel comes to her and says,
Mary, fear not. Fear not. Our Lord talked to Peter. Fear
not. Tells each one of us, doesn't
it? By name. Fear not. That's what he speaks.
When did fear first enter this world? When sin did. That's when it came in. It says
in Genesis 3.9, the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto
him, where art thou? And he said, I heard the voice.
I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid. That's the
first time anybody's ever scared. I heard your voice and I was
afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. I knew I was before
a holy God and I had no covering. I had no robe of righteousness
to be in your presence. Many times, the fears of God's
people aren't known to others. I can't know what to pray for
my brethren if I don't know what I need to pray for. You don't
want to go babbling about everything, too. If I got a hangnail yesterday,
you really don't need to hear about that, do you? There's big
things. I can't know to pray for somebody
if I don't know something's going on with them. That's all right,
though. God knows. The Lord knows. Before
we mention to them or to somebody else, or our brethren, or to
the Lord, He already knows. He already knows. Our Lord considers
the frame of those that He approaches. Those that He comes to. That
He draws near to. And He considers our troubles
and our fears. Can you imagine that? You talk
two-edged sword. God looks on the heart. Everybody all quiver. You can
fake me. You can trick me. And for decades,
you ain't gonna trick Him. Here's the comfort. That's frightening.
Here's the comfort. God looks on the heart. Well,
if I ain't told nobody my woes, He knows, doesn't He? He knows
my troubles. He knows my sufferings. He knew
Abram was afraid before Abram ever said he was afraid. When Abram was afraid, he probably
didn't know what he was afraid of. The Lord already knew, didn't
He? David wrote that. Psalm 31. He said, I will be
glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble.
You've considered my trouble, and thou hast known my soul in
adversity, and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
Thou hast set my feet in a large room. Lord, you looked on me,
and you didn't turn me loose to the enemy. You've set my feet
in a large room. You gave me liberty. You've set
me free. You've been in a tiny room, can't
move around much. What about a big room? You can
walk around, go where you want. We understand that, don't we?
The Lord gave us liberty because He looked on us. Abram was struggling
and the Lord knew it. And before Abram cried out, God
answered him. The voice really hit home to
me yesterday. I got to think about this. Before he cried out,
He answered him. And we know in Isaiah 65, it
says, And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will
answer. And while they are yet speaking,
O Lord, I'll hear them. He's already heard what I ain't
said yet. Think of the wisdom of that. Well, he knows all things. Now, that's the definition. That's
technical. Omniscient, omnipresent. That's
something we can try to chew by ourselves, try to eat that
elephant. That's the definition. Think of the compassion and love
that's in that. He hears us before we say it.
While we're yet speaking, he hears us. He answers before we
call. What does that leave us to do?
That stops our petitioning and makes us give thanks. Isn't that
right? Before we even pray for it, the
Lord speaks peace in our heart, tells us to fear not, and addresses
all of our concerns immediately. We thank Him. Thank Him. Oh,
it's relief, isn't it? What compassionate love of a
holy God we have. How thoughtful that is. I don't
want to ask. I was talking to a dear child of God the other
day, and I said, I'd rather you pray for me than me pray for
myself. Paul says that often, doesn't he? He never says, I
was praying to God that he'd do this for me. Paul says, you
pray for us, that labor and the word. Pray for us. Remember us.
Pray for us. If I prayed for me, I'll ask
amiss. That's what James said. You ask and you receive not because
you ask amiss that you may consume it on your own lusts. I'll pray
for what I want. You'll pray for what I need.
You'll pray for what you want. Well, I want this trial over
and I want this. And take it to the Lord. Good. Lean on Him. Call out to Him. He'll teach
you in it. I pray that you need Christ. Lord, every time somebody
says, pray for me, I'm in a trial. I say, I pray that God will show
you Christ at the end of that trial. Keep that trial until
it's accomplished its intended purpose. And for His children,
that's to see Christ exalted. That's the purpose of it. Paul
told us that. He said, "...Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Oh, how thankful
we are for that. What was Abram afraid of? He
was scared. The Lord came to him and said,
fear not. Wow, he was fearful, wasn't he? A puny king of Sodom
was going to be trouble to him. He just offended a king. He's
afraid of him. He needed protection. After that
great victory, he was afraid of a small opposition. Abram
needed protection. Them 318 with him, boy, they
must have been good. They don't need nothing. No,
he needed protection. That sounds silly to us, doesn't it? He was mighty. What does he need?
He's fine. He can handle it. He's a big
boy. He can take care of himself. That sounds so silly to us. You
look at the tenderness and long-suffering of Christ to a sinful sinner
full of fear. He doesn't say to him, that's
a dumb way of looking at it, Abram. Knock it off. Man up.
Does he? He says, After these things the
word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield. There's a colon there. He addresses
what he's fearing. Abram didn't have a shield. He
can't handle it by on his own. He needs the Lord to protect
him. And the Lord comes and says, fear not, I'm your shield. I'm
your shield. And answered prayer before it
was prayed. I'm your shield. I'm your protection. The word
translated is buckler. Buckler. I'm your buckler. A buckler's a small shield. There's
two definitions of a buckler. First one's a small shield, one
of the little tiny ones. That means it can be used for defensive
real quick. It's light, it's handy, it's
easy to carry. It's defensive and it's offensive too. You can
strike with it. Useful in any situation. Light burden. Easy
to carry, isn't it? And a buckler's also literally
translated crocodile hide. You ever seen a big ole alligator? Big ole crocodile? Rough looking,
ain't they? They look like dinosaurs. A buckler's
a crocodile hide. It's durable. A durable covering. An eternal covering. That's what
it is. What do believers need shielded
from? Do you need a shield? Can you swing it on you? You
got a good handle on this? Or do you need a buckler? Do
you need a covering? We need a shield from the penalty of
the law. I cannot stand a just sentence from that law I broke.
the fiery dart to the devil. Somebody that thinks they can
go to task, take the devil to task and go to war with him is
already defeated. They're puffed up in pride thinking
they can do it. He's already won. He done lost. It ain't possible. His fiery
darts, I can't quench. I need protection because I can't
even run away from him. I can't fight him and I can't
run from him. I need cover from all sides. I need shielded from
my own wicked thoughts and my own wicked actions. I need protection. I thought of those walls of the
City of Refuge. My pastor preached a message
from that Thursday. That City of Refuge was for those
that committed manslaughter. Run to the City of Refuge and
then go into the City of Refuge and trust that shield of a wall
that's around it. And those high priests that was in there. But
that was also for the Avenger of Blood. The Lord protects us. Those that, well, you killed
my family, buddy. I'm going to get you. The Lord
said, to keep them from sinning, I'll give that one that killed
them a city to run to. I'll prevent their sin. How merciful that
is. And that was the city of refuge.
We're protected in there. And that's personal. Abram was
called by name and he said, I am thy shield. Thy shield. I'm your city of refuge. I'm
your covering. I'm your buckler. He doesn't
say anything about the king of Sodom, does he? I'm everybody's
buckler. I'm everybody's shield. We give
that general call, come on. Because I don't know who's his.
I don't know whose names he's going to call. So I call everybody.
Come to him. But he said, spoke peace into
Abram's heart and he said, I'm thy shield. Does he spoke that
to you? We know he's the shield. Is he your shield? Don't be afraid. It is I. I'm
your shield." Just as that ark was a shield to Noah and all
those inside against all that water and all those waves and
all those winds, Christ is a shield to all inside of Him. He's our
shield. Abram was also afraid of something
else. This king is going to come get me. I need a shield because
God addressed it. He said, Don't be afraid. I'm
your shield. And He'd just given away all the spoils of war. He
kept the people, but he didn't have anything for them. He's
got to provide for those people. He has to provide for those of
his own house. He's not a heathen. He's not
an infidel. He's got to take care of these
people. That's his job. He's got to get to it, and I
ain't got nothing to start with. I'm broke. What am I going to
do? There's no reward from this battle. 15.1 says, After these things the
word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. The word of the Lord, Christ
our King, speak comfort and peace in the hearts of His children
and tells them of our security in Him. I'm thy shield. Shield singular, isn't it? That's
the only shield we can have. And you're either shielded or
you're not. Do you get that? You're either safe or you ain't
safe. You're either alive or you're
dead. He said, I'm your shield. But you could be in that city
of refuge and be broke, couldn't you? I'm in that city now. What do I do now? How am I going
to eat? Ain't no eggs and poultry. Pasta's
all gone. What are we going to do? You
can be fully covered, have life secured, and not have much to
live on, can't you? We still worry. We're safe. We
still worry. Abram's protected, but what can his reward have
to do with us? Our Lord speaks to him and says,
an exceeding great reward. He doesn't just say, I'm a shield
and a reward. He says, I'm thy shield and an exceeding great
reward. A reward that does not get used
up. but grows. Can you imagine that? You receive
a great reward. You call in a hotline or whatever.
You get money. That's going to go away. Unless
you toil at it and try to best at people and argue for silly
things, can't you? That's going to diminish. That's going to
go away. Whoever gave it to you, they diminished. He is our exceeding great reward. He increases in us. Paul said,
"...the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and
joint heirs with Christ." First time we hear Him, there's no
condemnation. Do what? I'm a sinner. I offended a holy God. And the
only thing that's going to pay for that sin is blood. And mine
don't count, so it's going to take eternity. I'm going to be
an everlasting damnation. But I have a substitute. Huh?
I like that. That's a reward. You hear that?
That's laying right there. And that grows. And it gets more
exceeding. And it gets more great. Over
and over and over every time we tell it. Every time we hear
it. Don't we? And then we're heirs
of God. You're a child of God. Now you
start learning about that shield. And that shield gets prettier
every day. Don't we? I need it more every day. And
He's my reward. And I'm joint heirs with Him.
Get your head around that one. We don't get parsoned off. We're
joint heirs. That doesn't work this way in
our mortal minds and this life we live in. We don't understand
that. We keep putting it in words. Worldly, if someone has a child
and family members die, if they've got children, there may be an
inheritance. There may be something left over.
It divides up between them. Lord Jesus Christ is the one
that died to give us our inheritance, but He is the inheritance. He's
the one that made it happen. He died to give us our inheritance,
and he is the inheritance. He is our great reward. I have
four children. If I die, they'll get a hodgepodge
of cheap tools. Whatever's left over ain't broke
yet. Whatever hasn't diminished. And maybe some life insurance,
but it's going to be split four ways, isn't it? Their inheritance,
if any, will be divided amongst them. They'll each get a portion.
God's sons and daughters, we all have the same inheritance.
And it is not diminished. If he only had two children,
one wouldn't get half and the other one would get the other
half. I know how that works. Every child gets the full portion.
Those that number more than the sands of the sea, as Abram will
see next week, walks out, looks up at the stars, you can't count
them, billions. They all get the exact same thing. And He's
not diminished. Each one fully has Christ as
a reward. People say, I want crowns in
heaven and I want a reward in heaven. If it ain't Christ, you
got nothing. He's the reward. That's deep. How can He not diminish? How
could I have Him totally as mine? He's all mine and He's all yours.
And He's all yours. And every member of His body
throughout time, He's all theirs. And we're all one. Boy, what
deep things that is. Paul said, it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things are God. The deep
things. People say, ooh, what am I inheriting?
What's my reward? The Spirit's revealed it to you,
hasn't he? He said, that's a secret thing. It's Christ. It's a person. That's where our reward is. He
said, I go to prepare a place for you. It's not a pay-by-the-hour
motel. Do you know that? What is it?
I don't know, but it's nice. He made it, and it's him. That's
where he dwells. That's what's important, isn't
it? We're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. That's exceedingly
great. Is it exceedingly great to you?
You think that's something? God who at sundry times and divers
manners spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets,
that's what we're seeing here, hath in these last days spoken
to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. He's the great heir, and we're
joint heirs with him. He is heir by right, and we being joined
to him through the Father's electing grace before time began, we're
heirs with him. We're heirs with him. A dear
friend of mine put it this way. He said it in passing. Boy, it's
right. You think that lady over in England, she's the sovereign
of the nation. You want to have something moderately
successful? Copy an aspect of God. And men take that and pollute
it, but it'll be moderately successful. That lady over there is the Queen
of England. And her head wears the crown.
Doesn't it? Well, what about her finger?
Does her finger wear the crown? Well, yeah, that's part of it.
Connected to the head, isn't it? Joint heirs. That's something, the deep things.
He's joined us to Himself. Paul said also there in Romans
8, 17, If children, then heirs. If heirs of God, then joint heirs
of Christ. If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also glorify
together. Glorified with Him. What a thought. For Abram and every child of
God, every sinner made one with Christ. He speaks in that great
time of fear and worry and doubt. If we're looking at ourselves,
we're enemies of God. Do you know that? Do you think you're going to
brush yourself up, clean yourself up, present yourself before God,
you're His enemy? Because you said, I can do it myself. And
while we were yet enemies, while we hated Him, He comes to us
and speaks. After these things, the word of the Lord came unto
Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and
thy exceeding great reward. He said, I am your God and you
are my people. I'm everything you need and I'm
always with you. Isn't that something? What a
gracious, glorious God we have. Come from one so fearful, one
so unable to save us and to tell us about Him. That makes you
praise Him, don't it? I believe Him. I do. I believe
what His Word says and I pray often, Lord help my unbelief.
I believe Help my unbelief. Increase my faith. Make me look
to Him more. Believe on Him more. I pray that
for you. You see Him more every day. Trust
Him more every day. See Him as your shield. What
reward are you going to get? Him. That's all I want. I keep
the people. You keep the stuff. You'll get
them stuff too. We'll see that next hour.