As it may please Almighty God
to bless us together this morning, let us turn to the book of Psalms
and Psalm 84 and we'll read verse 11. Psalm 84 and reading verse
11. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will
he withhold from them that walk uprightly. It is a wonderful blessing for
us today that we can gather together to worship even not physically
but at least through the means of the internet and to have the
privilege of being able to do this freely. And may it prove
to be a time of blessing for our souls. And I think that we
can, of course, do it every week and indeed in the week. It's
a wonderful favor. Whereas, of course, we go back
to Old Testament times and there was this annual gathering of
Israel together. And what a wonderful time of
fellowship and what a wonderful time it was of blessing and how
the church got to look forward to such an occasion as this and
it's good to read as we do in the second verse of this psalm
my soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the lord my
Of course the Lord my heart and my flesh cries out for the living
God. Well that was of course true
in the day in which David wrote this statement. It's been true
for the Church of God down through the ages and it is still true
today to the Church of God and in reality it's a test of our
religion. It's a test of the reality of
our religion as to whether we are able to enter in to such
a statement even as we've gathered together today to say my soul
longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the lord my heart
and my flesh crieth out for the living god quite clearly on that
occasion and may it be in our occasion today There is a great
desire and a great longing to have a meeting with God. That's the great essence really,
as we come together on the Lord's Day and at other times, to meet
with our God. The time when the Lord graciously
condescends to come and to gather with us in a time when the Spirit
of God is known and realized in our midst and in our own soul
because that has to be very clear about this of course real religion
is personal we're privileged to gather together but real religion
is personal it's between our soul and God and that's why this
psalmist in his same psalm in the fifth verse he says blessed
is the man and of course that applies to women as well blessed
is the man and women whose strength is in thee in whose heart are
the ways of them, to know the blessed work of God in our souls. Now this 11th verse is a very
wonderful verse really because it encourages us to realize the
greatness of God, for the Lord God is a sun and shield, And
then just to briefly describe this next clause, the Lord will
give grace and glory. It's a gift from God to give
grace. As I expect most of you know,
it really means the unmerited favor of God. And these two statements
go together. They are not separated. And so
it is true, the Lord will give grace and glory. And so if the
Lord does bless us with his grace, if he has blessed us with his
grace, we can be assured, and that's a wonderful favour, we
can be assured that we will then come to that time when we shall
be blessed with glory. We shall be blessed with being
taken to the Lord when we leave this earth and to enjoy that
scene of glory forever and ever. So the Lord will give. He gives
grace and glory. He doesn't give one without the
other. He doesn't give glory without
grace. He doesn't give grace without
glory. So it's good for us to recognize
the truth of that. And may that be a comfort to
us, because sometimes, of course, we are tempted by the devil who
tells us, well, we should never get safe home to glory. Well,
we can tell the devil he's a liar. He always has been from the beginning.
He always will be. He always will try and tempt
us. the task there's no hope for us but if we have been the
recipients and we have received the grace of God as that wonderful
gift from him then we know that we shall be those who will at
last receive the wonderful blessing of glory and so may such a word
rivet itself in our hearts today and in the days ahead, indeed
throughout the rest of our lives, may we be able to confront the
devil when he comes and tempts us to say, well of course there's
no hope for you. The good thing is that he will
not be able to deny if you and I have received the unmerited
favour of God, and if we have then the glory of God the wonder
of it in heaven at last will be ours. And although he may
endeavor to tell us this is not possible, we can tell him the
word of God is truth because Jesus tells us thy word is truth.
We know it's true and therefore he will not be able to overturn
a great truth like this that we have in the word of God. Well, let's just go back to the
beginning of this verse then. For the Lord God is a sun and
shield. Again, it's a positive statement. We should always recognize the
wonder and the blessing that we have of God's truth directing
us to such a statement as this. The Lord God, none else, Jehovah,
the great God is a sun shield now we know of course naturally
what the Sun does the Sun of course gives light it gives warmth
it has healing properties and we should be very thankful for
that and of course the light of the Sun is very powerful and
we're thankful if we do see the Sun shining and to understand
something of the power of it. And so the Lord God is a son. The Lord is a son. And of course,
he is in actual fact brighter than the sun. And you may ask
me how I know that. Well, I know it very clearly
because of what the apostle Paul tells us when he reiterates his
experience on the Damascus road, when the Lord met with him. And
he told us, the Lord appeared to him in that light which was
brighter than the midday sun. That light from heaven shone
right into his heart. And therefore, what a blessing
for us to know the power of God as he shines his light brighter
than the midday sun. And of course, what does that
light do? Well, it shines into our heart.
And what does it show us? Well, it shows us, doesn't it?
It shows us our sin. And it shows us all our sins. We cannot hide our sins from
the powerful, penetrating light of Almighty God. Never think
that sins are just forgotten or hidden or taken away. They
are, of course, when God forgives us and when God does indeed take
away our sin. But his light shines into our
heart in that greatness and power to show unto us our sins. And perhaps it brings back to
our remembrance of things that we did perhaps years ago in our
life, things perhaps that we may have almost forgotten. but
the Lord when he shines into our heart as this sun and of
course as that sun he is then the son of righteousness it's
a righteous shining and what a mercy and blessing it is when
that sun does shine into our heart and doesn't leave us then
in a situation where we think everything is all right and we're
all right and there's no problem with our life We've lived a good
life. Many people today, they look
and they don't see that light shining into their hearts and
they make the assumption they lived a good life and therefore
it'll be all right with them when they come to die. But of
course it won't be unless they are cleansed with a precious
blood of Christ. So what a mercy for us today
if the Lord and his sovereign will and purpose and goodness
shines into our heart to reveal to us our sins and if that is
so that will cause us to cry unto God for mercy cry unto God
for mercy because we will know that unless our sin is forgiven
unless our sin is pardoned unless our sin is removed there will
be no hope of enjoying the glorious favour of glory with God and
unless the Lord does this we will be eternally lost so we
should be thankful today if God in his mercy and in his sovereign
grace it is the grace of God to reveal to us our sin and not
to be left in our own condition but that we may know the power
of God shining into our hearts and causing us to seek unto him
in the time when he may be found. Well, it's a wonderful blessing
then to know that Lord is dealing with us in love to our soul and
the Lord is to us that great and glorious son because if he
is and he's shown to us our sins then We're not left in that condition
because this light then also has healing power with it. It heals us, delivers us, as
it also shows to us the glory of the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it shows to us the wonderful
mercy that the Lord Jesus Christ brings to us through his death,
that sin atoning death upon the cross at Calvary on that wonderful
day of the crucifixion when the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life
as that sacrifice to atone for our sin. Then it is, you see,
we enter into the truth, the sun shines, the light shines
in this way the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. Have mercy when the sun shines
then like that into our soul. And what a good thing, you know,
it is when we see the sunshine, which we do often, not every
day, but most days the sun rises and we see the sun to be reminded
that it is the light that God sends naturally and it is the
light that God sends spiritually through the Son of Righteousness,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so may it be perhaps even
today that this sun arises and shines into our heart and we
know the healing power of the Son of Righteousness, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And of course Naturally, the
sun, it gives to us warmth, doesn't it? We know what it is to feel
the warmth of the sun, how pleasing it is, how pleasant it is to
know the warmth of the sun and how wonderful it is to know the
warmth of the love of God to our souls, to know his mercy,
to know that he came in the sinful world to redeem us from all our
sins. What a blessing that is, what
warmth it brings, how it cheers us on our way, how it brings
joy and rejoicing into our souls to realise the blessed Saviour,
the glorious Son of God, in this wonderful evidence as the Son
of Righteousness does warm our heart. Our heart perhaps may
have been cold, may have been hard, it may have been rebellious,
but you see when the Lord shines, when the Son of God shines into
our heart, the blessing of this warmth does us good and it encourages
us and it draws us to the Saviour in love because we've been warmed
by his love toward us. The love of Christ is rich and
free. Well, the Lord is a son. Not only is he, of course, a
son, but he is a shield. He is a defense. A shield is used, of course,
to defend people. And what a good thing it is when
The Lord Jesus Christ is our defense against all the onslaughts
of Satan. It's part of the whole armor
of God. The shield of defense, what a
mercy then when the Lord is our shield. Because what it really
means is when the devil comes and tempts us, the devil comes
and tells us There's no hope for us. In actual fact, we're
beyond any hope. We've just sinned too greatly.
Our sins are too bad. Our sins are too evil. We've
sinned against light and knowledge to realize that the Lord is our
shield. And you may say, well, how is
that? The Lord is our shield because
we can tell the devil that Christ has died. Gay rather is risen
again and he's died to atone for our sins. And he's risen
from the dead, a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave. So what a mercy it is for us
today to realise this wonderful, great and glorious blessing that
the Lord indeed is a shield. What a mercy that is to know
that the Lord Jesus Christ is our shield. What a mercy if we
are able to understand the truth of that. Way back in the early
days of the history of the world, in the days of Genesis, the Lord
speaks to Abraham. Abraham was a great saint of
God, but Abraham was still a sinner who needed to be cleansed from
his sin like we do. And the Lord spoke to Abraham
in a very specific way. And we can read that in the 15th
chapter of Genesis and the very first word, verse. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision saying, fear not
Abraham, not Abraham rather, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. What a blessing that was to Abraham. What a blessing it is for us
today to realise that such a word is true for us as it was to Abraham
all those years ago. I am, says the Lord, I am thy
shield. He is our shield. You see, the devil cannot gainsay
that. He is the truth of God. I am
my shield. And we may therefore shelter
behind it. And to know that the Lord is
also our exceeding great reward. What a mercy it is to recognize
the truth and the mercy and the blessing of these truths for
our soul, and to thank God for it. Well, the Lord is very gracious
to his church, he's very gracious to us today, and we pray that
such words may be graciously and powerfully applied to our
hearts, that we may go on our way rejoicing today to know that
this God is a son and a shield to us, and that will be so if
we are partakers of the grace of God, the blessing of his grace,
to know that through his grace we are being made spiritually
alive, and to recognize that the Lord tells us It's a wonderful statement we
read in the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in the
eighth chapter, the ninth verse, where he says, for ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, and
he was, he was rich in glory, yet for your sakes, for the sakes
of the church of God, for your sake and my sake. He became poor
and as we look at his life, he became poor when he was born
in Bethlehem and put in a manger. Yes, there was nothing. He had
nothing. He was born into the very most
humble circumstance that anybody can be born into. And that's
why the Lord says, yet for your sakes, he became poor. It's very hard for us to appreciate
the greatness of this, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second
person in the Trinity, the co-equal Son of God with the Father and
with the Holy Ghost, the great God himself became poor. and the reason that ye, you and
me, through his poverty might be rich. And of course that is
rich because we receive the glorious gift of God of eternal life,
the wonderful blessing the Lord gives to all his church, the
gift of eternal life. And you see, being the recipients
of that gift, we are eternally rich. It's not a gift that is
removed. It is a gift that remains with
us eternally. This gift of eternal life. And may we be so, so thankful
for it. tells us very similar words when
he wrote to Timothy when he was addressing him as his son in
the faith and is that one who was called to preach the gospel
and he tells us in the first epistle to Timothy
the first chapter verses 14 and 15 and the grace of our Lord
was exceeding abundant exceeding abundance with faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus. This is the grace which is in
Christ Jesus. This is what is given to the
Church of God, faith to believe, faith to rejoice in this great
and blessed gift. He tells us this is a faithful
saying It's a true saying and worthy of all acceptation. We should accept the great and
glorious truth of God that Christ Jesus came into the world for
a great reason. And what was that reason? To
save sinners. And so if that son has shot into
our hearts to convince us of our sins, We can now look to
this great truth of the gospel, which is worthy of all acceptation,
worthy of your and my acceptance, that Christ Jesus, none less,
came into the world to save sinners. And the apostle Paul was well
convinced of his sin. And it's good when you and I
are well convinced of our sin. so that we stand with the Apostle
Paul when he makes this wonderful declaration of whom I am chief. The Apostle didn't consider himself
as a little sinner because the wonderful light of the gospel
has shone into his heart and you and I under the blessed condemnation
by the Spirit of God to show us our sin We're not considering
ourselves as little sinners. We understand what the apostle
said, of whom I am chief, because as the spirit of God enables
us to look into our heart, we will see all manner of evil,
wicked sins there. And we won't be able to point
the finger at anybody and say, well, that person is a worse
sinner than me. Because under the blessed conviction
of the Spirit of God, we will join the Apostle Paul with saying,
but Paul, in actual fact, I am the chief of sinners. And that
is the evidence of the grace of God. That is the wonderful
evidence the Lord has truly convicted us of our sin. And he's shot
into our hearts through the blessed shining of his Holy Spirit. that
conviction of sin so that we've come to realize that we before
God indeed stand as the chief of sinners and that's why this
truth is worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save me. What a blessing that is today
if by the Spirit of God there is that conviction of sin in
our life to direct us to the saving virtue of the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ and so now therefore we can come rejoicing
today and hide behind this wonderful shield The Lord Jesus Christ
has been provided for us as we're attacked by the Satan, who tells
us there's no hope for us. We're outside mercy. No, we're not. Because we're
shielded by the wonderful blood of the dear Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you see the Satan with all
his words and all his power cannot oversay this great and glorious
truth so today may we rejoice in it and be confident as the
apostle spoke when he addressed the philippians some wonderful
words in the philippians but this is a wonderful word in the
First chapter in the sixth verse, he says, being confident of this
very thing, it's a great thing to be confident of the word of
God. This is what he says, being confident
of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The Lord has
begun that work of grace in our souls. It won't be left. The Lord won't forget us. He
won't cast us aside because it's his work. May we therefore thank
God and have this humble confidence. The church of God are blessed
with the wonderful evidence of the work of God. And although
we have an evil heart of unbelief, May it be that the Lord can direct
us to these great truths of the gospel and enable us to have
that confidence in what God has done, in what Christ has done,
in his finished work, which cannot be overturned. You say, why can
it not be overturned? Because Christ rose again, a
conqueror from the dead. He conquered sin, he conquered
death, he conquered hell, he conquered the devil. My friends,
that's a great truth which cannot be overturned. And so therefore
today, may we rejoice in this great truth for the Lord God
is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace. Yes, he will. And he does. What a mercy it is to have been
a recipient of the grace of God. Because you see, that's why the
apostle was able to write those wonderful words in the Ephesians,
which is so apt and so worth repeating. I know I often refer
to them, but it's never sorry to refer to them because he directs
the Ephesians. They were no better than we are.
We're no better than they were. And he tells us, and you hath
he quickened, made spiritually alive, who were dead in trespasses
and in sins, where in time past you walked according to the course
of this world. Well, if you and I have been
convicted of our sin, we will know very rightly and truly that
that was true of us. And it may be true of you today.
You may be walking. in accordance with the course
of this world. That means you may be walking
in line with the worldly people. You may be walking with them. You may walk shoulder to shoulder
with them. But what a blessing it will be
if you come to a time where you're able to testify and say with
the apostle, in time past, I walked according to the course of this
world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit now worketh in the children of
disobedience, in whom also we all had our conversation in time
past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. By nature, there's nothing good
in us. Never think that because you
do this and you do that God's going to look upon you favorably. There's nothing good in and of
ourselves. The apostle tells us clearly
when he wrote to the church at Rome, in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. Don't look at yourself and think
there's something good You have to look to the Saviour for any
goodness. There is our hope. And that's why the apostle was
able to declare these great truths when he comes down and says,
but God, there are a number of but Gods in the word of God,
and we'll refer to another one soon. But here is a but God in
this fourth verse of the second chapter, but God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love, great love to such unworthy sinners. This Lord, who is giving grace,
it's because of his love. For God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us. It must have been
great love, mustn't it? To have loved such an unworthy
sinner as you and me. Great love. Wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, yet with no hope, joy in
the things of this vain world. Dead in sins hath quickened us,
made us spiritually alive, together with Christ. We're joined to
Christ. We're one of his children. He's
our friend. We're his friend, the friend
of sinners. together with Christ by grace
you are saved you see here it is this grace the Lord will give
grace he does give grace when he comes and makes us spiritually
alive when he comes to us he gives us this grace what a wonderful
blessing it is by grace you are saved and has raised us up together
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see, Christ is now not just
some figment of our imagination. He is now our friend. He's now our beloved. He's now our Redeemer. He's now our Saviour. He's now our King. He's now our heavenly master. He's now the one who has died
on Calvary's cross to shed his precious blood, to take away
our sins. There has been a wonderful change. His grace has come into our life. The Lord will give grace. Are we the recipients then of
that grace today? And we praise God for his grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith in none of yourselves. It is the gift of God. These are beautiful words, aren't
they? They put into very sharp relief the glory of the gospel,
because it demonstrates to us that it's not in ourselves. There's
nothing good in ourselves. but it's that which emanates
from the Lord Jesus Christ, His grace. And it is therefore this
wonderful blessing that in the ages to come, He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. His kindness toward us. could have cast us off couldn't
he could have cast us out of his sight he could never have
looked upon us there could be no hope for us what a mercy it
is if the lord's granted us this wonderful blessing of his grace
this wonderful blessing of his favor this wonderful blessing
of his mercy reward us give his grace well it is his grace and
then as the apostle goes on for by grace are you saved through
faith and that none of yourselves it is the gift of God and then
of course just moving on for just a moment or two the Lord
will give grace and glory yes eternal happiness glory What
a blessing that will be. And so the apostle told the Corinthians,
the second chapter, the third, second epistle, third chapter,
18th verse. But we all, that's all those who receive this grace,
with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as
by the spirit of the Lord. What a mercy it is then. to recognise
this great and glorious truth. You know, what God is to his
people, what is he? He is a sun and a shield. And this sun and shield means
he's a source of all good. It means a defence from all evil. And what he gives? Grace here
and glory hereafter. what he withholds, all that is
not good. It gives us all that is good
and what a wonderful blessing and favour that is. And so to
think of glory. And what is glory? Being with
Christ, the Lamb, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of the world. The Lamb is all the glory. in Emmanuel's land. It's a line,
of course, in Rutherford's hymn. It's a very true word. The Lamb
is all the glory in Emmanuel's land and he will be all the glory
by the God's grace and mercy to you and me to rejoice in the
wonder of it, the wonderful truth it is, you know, just conclusion
is to quote again a verse in the old testament in isaiah 60
verses 19 and 20 this is what isaiah said who of course was
a wonderful prophet under the influence of the spirit of god
the sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness
shall the moon give light unto thee but the lord shall be unto
thee an everlasting light glory and that light of course shines
to us today. And thy God, thy glory, thy sun
shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. Yes, we may mourn on this earth,
but when we get to glory, mourning will be no more because of Christ
that died. And we shall be in that eternal
state of happiness forever and forever. For the Lord God is
a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory and let us not forget glory must follow. If you and I have
received grace, they are joined together. grace and glory, no good thing
would he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Amen.