Good evening, everyone. Tim,
glad you made it. Let's open tonight's service
with number 272 from the hardback teminal. 272, the solid rock.
And let's all stand together. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. ? On Christ the solid
rock I stand ? All other ground is sinking sand ? All other ground
is sinking sand Please be seated. Good evening. I was thinking
as we were singing that hymn how oftentimes A hymn will only
have the gospel maybe in one stanza. There's gospel in all
four stanzas of that hymn. Lord has blessed that hymn to
his church over the years. Let's take our Bibles and open
them together to Psalm 87. Psalm 87. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the foundation of his church. He's the rock on which the church
is built, the cornerstone. Psalm 87 verse one, his foundation
is found in the holy mountains. The holy mountains is a reference
to the assembles, the assemblies of God's people. This is a, This
is a little mountain here, a holy mountain. The foundation is found
here. Where two or three are gathered
together, there I am in the midst of them. The Lord loveth the
gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious
things are spoken of thee, O city of God. I will make mention of
Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and
Tyre and Ethiopia. This man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said,
this and that man was born in her. This is the place, this
is the place where the Lord births his children through the preaching
of the gospel. And the highest himself shall
establish her. The Lord shall count when he
rideth up the people that this man was born there. He knows
the names of each one of his elect. As well, the singers as
the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs are
in thee. Our hope this morning and this
evening is the Lord will open one of those springs and cause
the water of life to flow in our hearts. Let's pray together. Our glorious and merciful Heavenly
Father. What great hope you've given
us. In knowing that when we come into thy holy presence pleading.
The shed blood and the righteousness of thy dear son. But not only
have full acceptance. We have the fullness of your
love. And the promises. Fulfillment of your promises.
Lord, how we. We hope that you would send your
spirit in power and that you would cause us to once again
establish our feet firmly on the rock of ages, that foundation
that's found in Zion. Lord, what hope we have in knowing
that, that you've been pleased to pour out your blessings in
the city of God. and that this is the place where
you open up the fountain of life and cause that river to flow
freely into our hearts. Lord, we're in need of that.
We have no hope outside of that. Lord, we come into thy presence
as sinners, having been in this world. Lord, we pray tonight
that you would cause us to to see and to believe that in Christ
we are not of this world. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together again. Hymn
number two from your gospel hymn spiral hymn book number two. Yeah. Lord, we come before Thee now,
At Thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain, Shall
we seek Thee, Lord, in vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. in thine own appointed way. Now we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. We open your Bibles with me to
Genesis. Chapter 15. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. When God blesses, how do we know
he's blessed? How do we know? Sometimes. The things that men. See as blessings
from God. are not blessings at all. I was
talking with someone recently and they were giving me their
testimony and they said that they had accepted Jesus as a
child and become a Christian early in life but as they got
older they backslid and got away from the church and then they
found themselves in very difficult financial problems. And he went back to church and
rededicated his life. And within just a few months,
all of his financial problems were turned around. In the last
15 years, he's had financial prosperity. That was exactly what he told
me. And he's a faithful member of a freewill works gospel church,
believing with all of his heart that the financial blessings
that he's enjoyed for the last 20 years are a result of him
rededicating his life and that God has blessed him. It's the delusion that God has
sent. That which he sees as a blessing
is not a blessing at all. As a matter of fact, it's a curse.
It's keeping him from questioning his own salvation. The Lord tells us in Genesis
chapter 15 what the real blessing is. What the real blessing is. What a blessing it is to hear
a believer say, I thank God for my cancer. It's been a blessing. Or to hear someone say, Rather
than like this person I was talking to, you know, I've had some financial
problems and it's been such a blessing that God has caused me to see
that my hope is not in the things of this world. What does it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? I'm so
thankful. What a blessing. You see, sometimes
blessings are hard times. Now that doesn't mean that when
we experience illness, that we don't cry out to God for some
deliverance from that. Or if we have a financial problem,
that we ask the Lord to help us. Whatever our problems are,
we go before the Lord. But in all of those things, we
have to say, Lord, if it be thy will, if it be thy will. And then the Lord tells us that
if we ask according to his will, whatsoever we ask according to
his will, he will give us. If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask it of God. The Lord gives wisdom and we
know that Christ, God has made the Lord Jesus Christ to be our
wisdom, our righteousness. But let him ask in faith. Let
him ask looking and trusting in Christ for all the fulfillment
of that. Nothing wavering. I'm not going
to be like the sea, the waves of the sea, tossed to and fro.
Let not that man think that he should receive anything of the
Lord. And I know if you're like me, you feel like I'm a wavering
sea all the time, tossed to and fro. It's not what he's talking
about. The two natures that we vacillate between in our walk
of faith is not what the Lord is talking about when he's talking
about asking faith. Nothing wavering. like the waves
of the sea tossed to and fro. That's having a grace works salvation. It's I'm going to trust Christ
and then I'm going to do my part because God's not going to bless
me unless I do my part. That's not faith. Faith is trusting
Christ alone for his reward and for his blessing. So when we
ask according to his will, we know that we have whatsoever
we ask of him. We don't always know when we ask for healing
or when we ask for some temporal deliverance. It's like the hymn
writer wrote, the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will
be the flower. What is the flower? What is the
fullness of that bud? There's a sense in which believers
are waiting all their lives in this world. This walk of faith,
this life of faith is a life of waiting for that flower to
blossom and for the fullness of the reward to be experienced. You have your Bibles open to
Genesis chapter 15 verse one. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying, fear not Abram. I am thy shield and thine exceeding
great reward. There's the blessing. There's
the blessing. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the blessing. And if He's pleased to make Himself
known to us and give us faith to rest our hope in Him, then
we can be content in whatever state we're in. That's what Paul
said. Paul said, I've learned to be content. Content with what? Content with Christ in whatever
state I'm in. He's my reward. And though I
look through a glass darkly now, one day, One day when that which
is perfect shall appear and that which is in part shall fade away
and we shall see him as he is and be made like him. That's
the believer's hope, waiting and watching for the fullness
of the reward, the fullness of the blessing and the blessing
that we have now. The blessing that we have now
is for him to give faith and peace and rest and hope and love
and comfort to the heart, regardless of our circumstances. I am thy shield, thy protector,
and I am thine exceeding great reward. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
four. I quoted just a little bit of this a moment ago. Philippians
chapter four, I want you to see this. I know you're familiar
with it. We'll begin in verse nine. Paul's
hope. And every believer's hope is
to be found in him. To be found in him. Laura and
I were talking about this the other day, and I asked her, I
said, you remember when your mother was expecting, you were pregnant
with your brothers? And she said, yeah. I said, well,
your brothers, who you know now, were completely dependent upon
your mother. They were in her. Everything she ate, they ate.
Their life was, though they were separate, a separate person,
their life was completely dependent upon her life. And that's the
way we are in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, if you
will, is pregnant with this church. And his people are in him. And
everything that we need, we receive from him. And so Paul says, oh,
to be found in him. not having my own righteousness
which is of the law. You know, we're talking about
rewards now. We're talking about the blessing
of God and the reward of Christ. And I can remember in religion
thinking that heaven was going to have a variety of rewards
depending upon your faithfulness here. That destroys the gospel. It destroys the gospel. It says
that God's going to, you know, some people are going to have
a bigger mansion and some people are going to have, no, how can
you get any better than Christ? How can you get any better than
Him? What other reward? You see, we're going to be so
delighted in and so rejoicing and so full of worship and so
that we're not going to recognize, nothing else is going to matter.
And that's gonna be the truth for every believer. Heaven's
not, it's not a degree of rewards based on your righteousness here,
your faithfulness here. Christ is our reward. And he's
gonna say to every one of them, enter into that kingdom, which
has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Good and faithful servant. All of God's people are gonna,
are going to hear him say that. Paul said it, to be found in
him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection, the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable
unto his death. We die daily. That old man rears
his ugly head and The new man acknowledges before God that
that man is dead. He's reckoned yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. We
died in Christ and that's what he's saying. in faith be conformed unto his
death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend,
that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus." I've not yet
attained it. Impressing, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do. forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as
be perfect, be thus minded, and if anything, ye be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal this unto you. One thing I do, pressing towards
the prize. the price, the reward. Abraham, I am thy shield. I am thy shield, and I am thine
exceeding great reward. I'm your blessing. I'm your blessing. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
13. This is such a blessing, brethren,
to be reminded of this, because we get so caught up in You know,
trying to measure the blessings of God by the things that we
can see. Talk to people that are in false
religion and they'll say things like, well, you know, I used
to do this and I used to do that. And then I got saved and now
I don't do anything. God took all those things away
from me. And the hope of their salvation is in what they, is
the changed life that they see. And does God change our hearts
and our lives? Yes. Yes. Truth is you shouldn't
have been doing those things before, you know, but, but, uh,
You can't look at your changed life as the evidence of your
salvation. Look at what the Hebrews chapter
13, beginning at verse five. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For
he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Be content
with such things as you have. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. We're to be content with Christ, aren't we? So that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. What did God say to Abraham?
Abraham, fear not. Fear not. Don't fear what man
should do to you. Don't fear the fear God, fear
God. What is it to fear God? Well,
you know, it's to fear the thought of standing in his holy presence
without the Lord Jesus Christ as your full advocate and sin
bearer and substitute and righteousness before him. The thought of me
having to answer for anything in my life in the presence of
a holy God, that that's, that's fearful thought. And the second
thing is that when believers are tempted to sin, and they
do sin, and they lose their sense of God's presence and peace and
power in their lives, they're gripped with fear, and that fear
drives them back to Christ and brings them in a spirit of sorrow
to the Lord. And thirdly, you want to see
the worst example of the lack of fear of God in the world.
It's not the guy that's doing all sorts of shameful things.
Well, this is shameful, what I'm about to tell you. But it's
not the thing that the world would consider to be shameful.
The best, the most clear example of a lack of fear of God is what
men call religious worship. No fear of God before their eyes.
They practice all sorts of foolishness and entertainment and amusements,
and they call it worship. And they have no fear of God.
The believer, when he comes together for worship, he doesn't want
anything in the flesh involved in his worship, does he? He's
come here to meet with God. This is a very sobering thing
to the child of God. The unbeliever, they've got all
their ceremonies and traditions, and they think that
they're impressing God with them. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. We come into his presence in a spirit of fear.
Lord, if you don't meet with us, if you don't speak to us,
if you don't make yourself known to us, what we're doing here
will be worse than Bain. It'll be in the flesh. Lord,
I fear worshiping you that way. Fear not, fear not what man can
do to you. For the Lord said I will never
leave you nor forsake you. One more passage of Scripture
term with me to First Timothy. First Timothy Chapter 6. The Lord's talking to us about
the perverse debates that men in religion have over scripture. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. They compete with one another to see who can outdo
the other in a debate over the things of God. And so the Lord's
warning us not to engage in that. Verse 5, he says, the perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness. What did my friend say that I
talked to? The financial gain that I've enjoyed for the last
20 years is evidence of my godliness. Presuming upon God that gain
is godliness. And in religion, men do the same
thing. They presume that because they've got a big following or
a big church or, you know, a big budget that that gain is evidence
of their godliness when actually it's just the opposite. It's
just the opposite. You see, you can't judge godliness.
You can't judge gain. You can't judge blessings. You
can't judge reward by the things that you see. Christ is our reward. I am thy shield, Abram. I am
thine exceeding great reward. And then men think, well, because
I've gained this knowledge or I've gained some advantage over
my peers in religion, that's what Paul thought. He had gained
advantage over all his peers. And he presumed that those things
which were gained to him, Whereas his godliness and then
he went on to say that which I thought was game was really
to my loss. It was really to my loss. It kept me from knowing
Christ. I was looking to those things
as the evidence of my godliness. You see godliness can only be
seen through the eyes of faith. It can only be seen as we set
our affections on things above where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. The perverse disputing of men
who have corrupt minds, they don't understand anything spiritual.
They presume that gain is godliness. Brethren, sometimes loss is godliness.
Sometimes pain is godliness. You know what a blessing it is
to have a brother say to you, God took everything I had away
from me. Left me with nothing. The best thing ever happened
to me. From such withdraw yourself. I've already talked to this person
about coming and hearing the gospel. on several occasions
that I was talking to the other day about his 20 years of prosperity. So I didn't, I didn't try to,
he wasn't asking any questions. I didn't engage in conversation.
He gave me his testimony. I just thought, well, sorry,
sorry you feel that way. From such withdrawal yourself,
but godliness. And what is godliness? To be
found in him. not having your own righteousness.
This is godliness. Godliness is to be in Christ.
Godliness is to have Christ as your reward. Godliness with contentment. Contentment is great gain. I'm content with the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ being all my righteousness. I'm content
with the sufferings that he made on Calvary's cross to be everything
that God requires for the putting away of my sin. I don't need
anything else. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. Great gain. This is our reward.
This is the blessing. For we brought nothing into this
world and it is certain that we should take nothing out of
it. You were born naked, you're gonna die naked. We're not gonna
take anything with us. Having food and raiment, let
us therewith be content. Oh Lord, make me to be content. I've learned in that whatever
state I am in, to be, content, whether it be want or
plenty. God, give us the faith to see
Christ as all of our reward. I'll go back with me to our texts.
I wanted you to see a couple more things in this, in this
passage, Christ is the reward. First Corinthians chapter 13,
towards the end of that chapter, you remember Paul said, when
I was a child, if I was a child, I acted as a child, but when
I became a man, I put away childish things. And then he uses that
as an example of his experience here in this flesh. He said,
I'm just a child right now. And I look through a glass dimly,
but one day, one day when that which is perfect has come, you
know, I've heard men take that passage of scripture and use
it to, um, to say that the canon of scripture is that which is
perfect. And now that which is perfect has come. That's not
the, and they'll, and they'll go through all sorts of Greek
gymnastics in order to come to that conclusion. But anybody,
a child, a child can read this passage of scripture and understand.
Turn with me. First Corinthians chapter 13. You don't have to
have a Greek degree to understand this passage of scripture if
you just read it for what it says. It's very simple. It says
exactly what it means. Verse 9, for we know in part,
we prophesy in part. That's our experience right now. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when
I became a man, I put away childish things. For now, we see through
a glass darkly, or dimly, or with some distortion. The glass
here is a mirror. And it's not the kind of mirror
that we have that has a perfect, you know, it's a piece of polished
metal. And the reflection is imperfect. And he said, we're looking through
a glass darkly now, dimly, distortions, but then face to face. Now I
know in part, but then shall I know, even as I am also known.
When are we going to face to face? When we see Christ in all
of his glory and we're made like him. You see the believers entire
life is waiting for the fullness of their reward. Lord, I've seen enough of you
to know that I want to see all of you. I want to see all of
you. You are my reward. You are my
blessing. Now and in eternity. For now abideth faith, hope,
and charity. And the greatest of these is
charity or love. Why is the greatest love? Because
when we see him face to face, we're not gonna need faith anymore.
Not gonna need faith. Our faith is gonna be turned
into sight. And we're not gonna need hope
anymore. Hope is gonna be turned into our experience. You don't
hope for something that you see. You hope for that which is not
seen. But love, that's all that's gonna be in glory. love for Christ,
his love for us. Oh, we have no idea how glorious
that's going to be, but we've tasted enough of the heavenly
gift now to want the fullness of his glory. I am thine exceeding
great reward. That's what the Lord said to
Abraham. Go back with me to our text in Genesis chapter 15. After
these things, what things? Well, if you read chapter 14,
you find that there was a battle between two groups of kings and
Abraham joined in with one of the groups against the other
and one of the groups of kings took Lot and his family from
Sodom as captive and Abraham took his men and went and delivered
Lot from those who took him and It's a picture. Abraham's a picture
of Christ going to battle and bringing his people out of bondage.
And then what happens to Abraham in chapter 14? In the, in the
celebration of the victory of delivering lot from the Kings,
Melchizedek shows up. The king of peace and the priest
of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate glory
reveals himself to Abraham. And Abraham pays tithes to him
and Melchizedek blesses Abraham. And the scripture tells us that
the Lord Jesus Christ is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
without father, without mother, without descent. Melchizedek
was Christ. And so the battle's been won. The people of God has been delivered.
Christ has, has revealed himself in Melchizedek. Tithes have been
paid. Blessings have been received.
And after these things, you see, all those things have been done
for us. Christ delivered his people when he bowed his head
on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. And all the blessings
of God were made sure. in the finished work of Christ. We have a priest who's seated
at the right hand of God who makes intercession for us, our
Melchizedek. And after these things, after
these things, Lord, that's where I'm at right now. I'm in that
place of being after those things that took place in chapter 14. After those things, The word
of the Lord came. The word of the Lord came. That's what we need. That's what
we pray for. Every time we come together,
Lord, cause your word to be quick. And that word doesn't mean sudden,
it means alive. Cause your word to be quick and
powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder
the marrow from the bones and the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. Lord, make your word to be a
living word to me and reveal Christ to me. Cause me to see
that the Lord Jesus Christ is my exceeding great reward. That's what I need. The Word
of the Lord has to come, doesn't it? Now, the Living Word came,
and He finished His work. And our prayer right now is that
He will use His Word, His written Word, to reveal Himself in our
hearts, and that the Word of the Lord will come. Lord, cause
Your Word to come. How do I know if the word of
the Lord has come? Well, listen to what Paul said
in first Thessalonians chapter one, verse five, for our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy ghost and in much assurance. There it is. How do I know if
the word of the Lord has come to my heart? I am absolutely
sure. I'm absolutely sure. I'm certain. I doubt a lot of things. And
if I'm sure about anything, I'm sure that this is the inerrant,
infallible, inspired Word of God. The Word of the Lord came
to you not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance. If I'm sure of anything, more
sure than I'm standing before you right now, I am sure that
Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, the sovereign
savior of sinners. I'm just sure of that. I know
he is. I'm sure of it. the word of the lord comes with
much assurance and the more you hear it and the more you the
more you believe it you become more and more sure don't you
how can you be so sure because god's taught me if god teaches
you something you you just know it's true we believe in that what the apostles
what peter said we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. A lot of things we don't know,
but when the word of God comes with power and with the Holy
Ghost and much assurance, then it comes just like it came to
Abraham. Abraham lived 2,000 years before the coming of Christ.
The word of the Lord hasn't changed. It still comes, comes in power, We are sure that if we have any
hope of salvation whatsoever, that the Lord Jesus Christ is
gonna have to be all of our righteousness and all of our justification
before God. We're sure of that. We're sure
that if we add anything to what Christ has done, we'll go to
hell for it. And if we take anything away
from what he's done, we'll go to hell for it. We're just sure.
We're sure that Christ is all. All. Are you sure of that? If
you can say amen, you know, I am certain of that. I don't pretend
to understand the fullness of it, but I believe it. I believe
it. God has made me sure because
the word of the Lord has come in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance. I'm sure. I'm sure that I'm a
sinner. I'm sure that I have no righteousness
whatsoever before God in and of myself. I'm just certain of
that. If God, I'm sure that if God
judges me based on the best thing I've ever done in my whole life,
I'm going to hell for it. I'm sure of that. I'm just sure
of it. Why? Because the word of the
Lord has come to me in exactly the same way it came to Abraham
with much power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance. I am sure that the Lord Jesus
Christ was successful in what He came to do. I am sure that
He is the Christ, the Anointed One, that He bore all the sins
of all of God's people of every generation, and he satisfied
the demands of God's justice and put them away by the sacrifice
of himself once and for all." I'm sure of that. I'm certain. You say, well, I don't know that. Well, ask God to send his word
to you. The word of the Lord came after
these things. After these things were accomplished,
after Melchizedek, after the battle of the kings, after the
deliverance of Lot, the word of the Lord came. That's what
we need, isn't it? We need for God to send his word.
I am sure that God the Father is
completely pleased and satisfied with his son. And that the only
way that he's going to be pleased and satisfied with me is if I
am found in him. I'm sure of that. See, how can you be so sure?
Because God said so. And then he gave me faith to
believe what he said. And that's all faith is. Faith
is believing God. Oh, we have an anchor for our
soul that is both sure and steadfast. I am sure that everything that
happens in Providence in time is purposed by God for my good
and for his glory. I'm sure of that. You know that
all things work together for good for them that love God.
And those are the called according to his purpose. Our God is sovereign.
He's controlling everything. We're just sure of that, aren't
we? And what comfort? What hope? How do I know if the
word of the Lord has come to me like it came to Abraham? Because
I'm sure, I'm sure that what God says is true. Notice, after these things the
word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision. Now that word vision
means to see. That's what it means. Now I don't
doubt that he had a, that God gave some of these Old Testament
prophets and patriarchs visions. But their vision is no more sure
than the vision that he gives us when he opens the eyes of
our understanding and causes us to see Christ in his word.
No more sure. Matter of fact, the one time
Paul was caught up into heaven, he said, I don't know if I went
there in the flesh or not in the flesh. I don't know. I, I
can't experience. I can't, I can't relate to that
experience. I don't know whether it was real
or whether it was a vision. Lord, what would you have me
to do, Lord, that I might see? Give me a vision. Open my eyes. Cause your word to come in power
and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And what did God say? Fear not,
Abram. Abram's called the father of
the faithful. And, uh, we know that he's the,
he's the type of every believing child of God. It was Abram. Abram believed God and it was
accounted to him for righteousness. So it is with God's people, every
one of God's people. And God says, fear not. Don't
be afraid of your circumstances. Don't be afraid of what man can
do with you due to you. I've said I'll never leave you
nor forsake you and all your circumstances have been purposed
and ordained by me in order that you might receive the reward. The reward. The reward. The one and only reward for I
am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward. Now you know what
a shield is. And in Ephesians chapter 5 it speaks of the spiritual
armor and what is the shield? The shield of faith whereby you
are able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. So the shield
is faith. It's what, it's believing. Faith
is the evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things
not seen, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. That's the shield. I am your shield. And we just,
how many times we read in the scriptures, the faith of Christ
and he gives us his faith and it becomes our faith. And that's
our, that's our hope is our ability to rest in Christ. You remember,
uh, you remember Goliath nine and a half feet tall. Had a helmet of brass. Had a
coat of mail that weighed 150 pounds. Had brass covering his
thighs and his shins, his legs. He had a spear like a weaver's
beam that had an 18-pound spearhead, a brass spearhead on it. I mean,
this was a giant, and he was going up against little David.
You know what Goliath's problem was? After the scripture describes
all this armor that he has, Here's what it says, and one bearing
the shield went before him. Goliath didn't have his own shield. He had a shield carrier that
went before him. David just went around him. What is, what's the Lord saying
to me and you? You can't rely on somebody else's faith. You
gotta have your own faith. Lord, make me to believe. You've
got to have your own, otherwise you're gonna be like Goliath. I am thy shield. Turn with me
to Psalm 28. Psalm 28. Verse 7, the Lord is my strength
and my shield. You see, that's why we say Christ
is all. Your faith is not separate from Christ. Christ is your faith. And he is your shield. The Lord
is my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him and I
am help. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth,
and with my song will I praise him. Oh, that God will put a
song in our hearts, rejoicing that we have Christ as our shield
and Christ as our exceeding great reward, regardless of our circumstances. Whatever the Lord ordains is
right. Right towards the end of Revelation
chapter 22, verse 12, right at the end of all of scripture,
God says, behold, I come quickly. And my reward is with me. It's with me. I'm your exceeding
great reward. Well, we can't get rewarded any
better than that. There's no greater reward than
that. Christ is our reward. Matthew chapter 5 and 6 and 7,
the Lord talks about, don't be like the hypocrites who go in
the street corner and they pray that they may be heard of men.
They have their reward. And he goes on to speak of those
hypocrites who give their alms, their offerings so that other
men can see them. And God says they have their
reward. You lay up your treasures in heaven. That's where our reward is. Abram, after these things, the
word of the Lord came. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield. I'm your faith. I'm your faithfulness
before God. I'm your defender. And I am your
exceeding great reward. I am. I am the resurrection of
the life. I am the bread that came down
from heaven. I'm I'm the way, the truth and the life. You remember
when the when the soldiers came to rest the Lord in the Garden
of Gethsemane and and the Lord stood before him and said whom
seek it thou Jesus of Nazareth and he said I am. And those stalwart
Roman soldiers with all their. power and all their armor fell
to the ground. I am the self existent one, the,
the, the, the creator and sustainer of all of life. There's no greater
reward than him. I am by shield and die an exceeding
great reward. Your father, Abraham, the Lord
told the Pharisees, your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
And he saw it. He saw it. And he believed and
was glad. And they said, you're not yet
50 years old. What are you saying? He saw your
day? And the Lord said, before Abraham
was, I am. And they took up stones to cast
at him. I am. I'm exceeding great reward. What a reward, brethren. What
a reward. Lord's going to have some. Some
easy days and some hard days for each and every one of us
in this world. But he's always our reward now. In part. And forever in full. And there's
nothing better than that. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word to our hearts and cause us to be. Not only content, but
delighted in Christ as our reward for it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Tom number 12. Let's stand together. It's a
spiral handle, yes. We'll sing this a cappella. Upon my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father's hand controls the
world, and what he does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harms. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth
and power combine to make thee blessed. My God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace. With power and love that never
fail, Shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more, Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and
truth, and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most
minute circumstance is ordered by my God. Who promised that in all things
He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed.