You don't want to go back. But
if you're a soldier, you're called to do that. You serve and you
do what you would. So keep our servicemen, too,
and women in prayer. Keep them in prayer and pray
that God would use the time wherever they are to maybe bring them
to himself if he so chooses to do. Genesis 15, verse 1. Look at
what the Lord says to Abraham here. And think of this. As I
said, this is after he's been in battle. After these things,
verse one, the word of the Lord came on to Abraham in a vision
saying here, fear not. Fear not. This is what God says
to the sinner in Christ. Fear not. He says to Abraham,
I am thy shield. And I exceeding great rewards
the battle is scarcely over and our Lord visits Abraham His faithful
servant with these words of comfort and mercy Comfort and mercy. He says fear not Why because
I am your shield? I am shield and you know how
folks and I was doing this in religion. You know how everybody's
talks about rewards and crowns and all that. Christ is the believers
exceeding reward. He's the believers exceeding
reward. He gets all the glory and all the honor and all the
praise. So these are also words of assurance
to Abraham. That all his foals were mere
chaff. before Christ who is his shield,
before the Lord who is his shield. Whoever would come against him,
they're a mere child. God is his shield. And a believer,
if you're in Christ, God is your shield. This is my home. God's my shield. He's my protector. He's my protector. He's everything
to me. And where am I safe? And where
is the believer safe? If you believe, where are you
safe? Only in Christ. Only behind him is our shield. See, when we get in trouble is
when we trust in ourselves and in our own doing. And that's
when I get in trouble. When I get my eyes off the Lord,
oh, I'm in a mess. I'm in a mess. But remember the
traveler that we looked at in Isaiah, who when that sandstorm
came upon him, And he looked and he saw that rock, right?
And he found refuge behind that rock. So is Christ our shield. He's our refuge. He's our hiding
place. Now Abraham finds shelter in
Christ and Him alone. Abraham in warring, he probably
had a shield with him. Every soldier then carried, not
everyone, but most of them carried a sword and a shield or a spear
and a shield. It was a lot different than the
warfare we have now. So he would know what the Lord
meant by this metaphor. And think of this, believer,
think of this. We're assaulted from all sides
here on earth, aren't we? We have the constant assault
of different things occurring. We have assaults from the world.
We have assaults from the devil. And then we have assaults from
our own flesh. I think it was Spurgeon who said,
the worst enemy I have is myself. So we're assaulted from all different
places. And we live in this world, and
we do. We go through trials, we go through tribulations. Every
day we battle. Every single day. But what is
the believer's rest? And what is the believer's repose?
Where do we find comfort and strength in times of trouble? Only in Christ. Only in Him. He's a shield from trials and
temptations. temptations and different things
that we go through. He's a shield that we hide behind.
We're in him. And we're going to look at it
later, but think of all those assaults and they hit him. They
come upon him. He's our shield. He's our defense. He's our hope. Does a believer have hope in
himself? At one time he did, right? I remember when I had
hope in myself and thinking I could do things, but not now. My hope
is Christ. He's hope, and he's the only
place that we can find comfort. And we can find rest. And the
word repose is often used by old preachers. I love it. It
means to sit, like you guys are reposing right now. It just means
to sit at rest. We're to repose in Christ. He's
our shield. He's our shield. He's our defense. Our text again says, fear not
Abraham, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And we all know what a shield
is, but let's look at what is a shield? A shield is armor made
for defense. It's made normally for defense. Sometimes it's used in an offensive
way to push an opponent back, but it's mostly a defensive piece
of armor. It usually has one or two straps
where the wearer puts his arm through, and it is used to deflect
or absorb the blows from an enemy. It's used to deflect or absorb
the blows from an enemy's weapon. Whether the attack be a sword
or a spear or any other weapon, the broad surface of the shield,
right? The broad surface of the shield
intervenes between the one holding it and the attack. Think of this as we pilgrimage
through this world, beloved. We encounter many battlefields,
right? Many battles, many different things. But Christ is the believer's
shield. He is the believer's shield.
Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew, chapter 10. Every foe, every enemy which
shoots arrows at us, they fall harmless as straw. They fall harmless as straw. Matthew 10, verse 28, And fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul. but rather, fear him which is able to destroy both body
and soul, or soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows, think
of the sparrows that fly around, that's the thing I love here
too, lots of songbirds flying around, right? Think of those
songbirds as they're flying around, and they land in a tree near
you, and you look out your window and you see them. Are not two
sparrows sold for a father, and one of them shall not fall on
the ground without your father? But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. God knows his people so intimately. The very
hairs of your head are numbered. And he takes care of that little
sparrow that you see in the tree. He doesn't work. That little
sparrow doesn't work. He doesn't toil. And the Lord
takes care of him and feeds him. Are we not of more value to the
Father than that sparrow? Absolutely. Absolutely. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are
of more value than many sparrows. Verse 31. And think of this, too, in our
text. It says, after these things the word of the Lord came unto
Abraham in a vision. Now, the word Lord there, I did
a study on the Shepherd's Psalm, and I hope to do it maybe down
the road, too, redo it. But as I was studying for that
series, The word Lord here is the self-existent one. The self-existent
one. He exists and needs none of us.
He's self-existent. He's perfect. But scripture says
here, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham
in a vision, saying, fear not, Abraham. Now remember, the self-existent
one, right? The self-existent one says to
Abraham, I am thy shield. God is the believer's shield. So whatever comes against us,
here protect us. Think of the things we've went
through, and we go through trials and tribulations, don't we? But
the Lord always takes us through them, and they're never easy.
No one wants to go through trials and tribulations. No one wants
to have people say things or do things. But Christ is our shield. He's
our protector. He's our protector. The sovereign,
almighty, majestic God of the universe is the believer's shield. The one who holds everything
together, gives us the very breath that we breathe, has all things
worked for his good and his glory, is the believer's shield. Oh, that I could live in that
all the time. Oh, Lord help my unbelief. Oh. And he says to Abraham, and
us too, fear not. Fear not. He calls his sheep,
he knows them by name, right? To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them. And the sheep follow him, and
they know his voice. He goes before us. These are
protected. Think of this, you who are redeemed
by Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ stands between,
remember the shield being between the blow? Jesus Christ stands between the
justly offended majesty of God and the sinner. And he presents himself to receive
blow after blow after blow from the justice of God in the sinner's
room instead. What a picture. And he does it willingly. to redeem his people from their
sins. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The justice of God falls upon
him in the room instead of his people. He's the he's the elect of God's
shield. And think of this, it pleased
the father to bruise him in our room instead. Because his justice
has to be satisfied, right? It must be. And there's Christ,
dying in the room instead of sinners. Jehovah wakes his sword. It falls
upon his fellow, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the fury and wrath and justice
of God falls upon Christ. And He bears it all as a sinner's
substitute. He bears it all. Thus the believer meets God's
wrath in Christ and lives. And lives. Is Christ your shield? Oh, that He grant you faith to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that God would make it so
today. There is no shadow of safety
but in Christ. Turn with me if you would to
Romans chapter 5. One does not have a shield if
we're not in Christ. Romans 5, verses 1 and 2. I like these imperatives. These
statements that we have these things. It's not a question. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Verse 1. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand
and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, justified by faith. And what's the result of that?
Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's nowhere else.
It's nowhere else. When the justice of God strikes
that shield, which is Christ, He bears it all. He takes the
full blunt of it in our place. It's marvelous. It's marvelous. Nowhere else,
in no other religion, in no other In all other religions, you have
got to do something. But in what we preach, Christ
did it all. He did it all. Deuteronomy says this, Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon the land of corn and wine, and his heaven shall drop down
due. Happy art thou, O Israel, Who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord? Deuteronomy 33,
verses 28 and 29. The shield of thy help. He's the shield of our help.
And who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee. And thou shalt tread upon their
high places. What marvelous scripture. People
saved by the Lord. Deuteronomy 33, 28 and 29. Happy
art thou Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord
Saved by him not saved by our doings right saved by him Saved
by nothing innocent nothing innocent that that we deserve today nothing
saved by him God's elect people are a people
saved by the Lord and they're behind him and he is their shield
He is their shield. He is called in that text in
Deuteronomy 33, 29, the shield of thy help. The shield of thy
help. And think of this, He is the
only shield that can defend us. He is the only shield that can
defend us. And He said, the Lord is my rock
and my fortress and my deliverer. The God of my rock and him will
I trust. He is my shield. And the horn
of my salvation, my high tower. And my refuge, my savior, thou
savest me from violence. 2 Samuel 22, verses 2 and 3. To the believer, God is my rock. In him will I trust. The horn of my salvation, my
high tower, my refuge. Maybe I hope down
the road we'll look at the cities of refuge and how he's our refuge.
He's our refuge. My savior, which implies that
we needed to be rescued. Thou savest me from violence. Oh, when we meditate on God in
Christ as the rock, as our fortress, as our deliverer, as our shield,
as our refuge, it fills our hearts with praise. He's our salvation. The believer doesn't want to
go anywhere else. He just wants to rest and repose in Christ. He's been bought to the end of
ourselves, haven't we? We who believe. We've been bought
to the end of ourselves. Throw with me, if you would,
the Psalm chapter 5. And also put your finger in Psalm
chapter 3. And let us be quick to remind
ourselves through trials and temptations that He is our shield. And may it bring us great comfort. Psalm chapter 5 verses 11 and
12. For let all those that put their
trust in Thee rejoice. Oh beloved, rejoice. Rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy,
because Thou defendest them. Remember, the self-existent One. God Almighty defends His people. Let them also that love Thy name
be joyful in Thee, for Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous
with favor, wilt Thou compass them as with a shield. And that's
like a shield thrown round about, or before one in the day of battle,
to protect him. So thou will protect, the Lord
will protect the righteous, his people, people who are made righteous. Psalm chapter three, or Psalm
three, chapter three, Psalm three, verse three says this. Just a
couple pages over. But thou, O Lord, are a shield
for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. Remember the
shield, right? He stands between the blows of
the enemy. He's a he's our shield. Our soul waited for the Lord,
he is our help and our shield, Psalm 3320. Think of this, how many times in times of danger has the Lord
protected us? I know every one of us here who
believe, we can look back in our lives and go, wow, I shouldn't
be alive. There's several occasions for
me, pre-grace, where I shouldn't be alive. but that God is a shield of his
people, even before we're saved, even before we know him, he protects
us. He's our shield, our defender. Whatever need comes up, I need
to constantly remind myself, Wayne, just wait on the Lord,
just wait on the Lord. He's my defender, he's my shield. Is it not so with you? We just
have to remember. And what does He do? He gives
us the grace to endear whatever trial comes along, doesn't He?
He always does. He always does. And believers cry, O Lord, teach
me to wait upon You and help my unbelief. Psalm 5911 says, Slay not them,
lest my people forget. Scatter them by thy power and
bring them down. Oh, Lord, our shield. This was a constant vein through
David David Psalms. He knew what he was a man of
war. He knew what what a shield was and how important it was.
He constantly says, Oh, Lord, you're my shield, our shield. God is the protector and defender
of his people and the scatterer of their enemies. He takes care of his people.
I remember Brother Donny Bell saying the Lord always takes
care of his people all the time. All the time. Behold Oh God our shield Psalm
84 9 behold Oh God our shield and look upon the face of thine
anointed Here we see an address to God
and in the name of Christ Psalm 84 verse 9 Behold Oh God our
shield and look upon the face of thine anointed here We see
an address to God in the name of Christ by the Church of the
Old Testament Saints Oh, that we would be given grace to exclaim
this too. Behold, oh God, our shield and
look upon the face of thine anointed. God, the Father says, this is
my beloved son. Whom I am well pleased, speaking
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we could cry back to him
with this scripture, behold, oh God, our shield and look upon
the face of thine anointed. Our shield, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom God the Father was well pleased, in whom we are safe
and protected in. Safe behind the shield. Christ,
the believer is safe. Psalm 89, turn with me if you
would there. Psalm 89, verse 18. This will be the last text we
look at. The same Hebrew word used for
shield in our text in Genesis 15 is here translated defense. Psalm 89 verse 18. For the Lord
is our defense. and the Holy One of Israel is
our King. Our King is our defense. He's
our defense. He's our defense from enemies
that encompass us all around about. He's a wall of fire to
protect His people. He's as a mountain before their
enemies. He's a stronghold or a garrison
unto salvation. He's the believer's shield. He's the believer's shield. And
He is our righteousness, isn't He? He is our righteousness. We're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ and salvation for sinners. is only found in Him, nowhere
else. Oh, may we rejoice this way,
that Christ is our shield, is our shield.