Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2814
“Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.” Genesis 15:1.
You have probably heard a great many sermons on the first part of the text, “I am your shield,” so, on this occasion, I am going to leave that portion in order to more fully consider the second part—“I am your exceeding great reward.”
Notice, first, the circumstances under which these words were spoken to Abraham. It must have been in his memory that not very long before, he had parted from his nephew, Lot, and had given him his choice as to which way he would go with his flocks and his herds. And Lot, regardless of the character of the people among whom he was going to dwell, chose the well-watered plain of Jericho or Jordan in which were the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He thought only of temporal advantages and now he had lost everything in the battle of the four kings against five. Abraham had an eye to the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, so he had not lost anything. In fact, he was able to restore to Lot all that he had lost. And now the Lord appears to him and seems to say to him, “Your nephew Lot trusted in what he could see. He followed the leading of his own judgment and chose that which seemed to be for his own immediate advantage, and now he has lost all. But, fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward. You shall not lose. You have chosen the good part which shall not be taken from you. You have no share of the well-watered plain of Jordan to lose. You need not fret, for you shall never lose your portion.” The Patriarch might also have said, on his own account, “The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I trust in Him.”
You, Beloved, have probably seen others suffering the loss of all things and brought to deep despair as the result. But do not be alarmed at whatever happens to you. You have made God to be your refuge and you shall find a most secure abode in Him. You may have losses and afflictions—these are a part of your lot—but they shall not overwhelm you. You shall be no real losers in the end, but you shall be kept by the power of God and shall be delivered out of every trial and affliction. He shall also be to you your shield and your exceeding great reward.
Again, Abraham had just at that time refused the gifts of the king of Sodom. They were his rightful spoil and he might very properly have taken them, yet he would not do so, lest, in later days the king of Sodom should say, “It was not Abraham’s God that enriched him. It is no use for him to talk about living by faith, for it was my gifts, or the spoils of war that enriched him.” “No,” says Abraham, “you shall never be able to say that! Whatever I have shall be God’s gift to me, not the king of Sodom’s gift. I will be independent of men. I will be dependent only upon the living God.” The Lord admires this spirit, so He comes and says to His servant, “Fear not, Abram. Whatever you may have given up for My sake, for My Glory’s sake, for the sake of My honor, you shall not be a loser in any respect, for I will be your shield, and your exceeding great reward.”
Have you, dear Friend, made any sacrifices for Christ? Have you lately been called to imperil your own interests by pursuing a right course? Have you been steadfast even though you lost friendships? Have you been so firm in your adherence to principle that you have been judged to be obstinate? Well, if so, you shall be no loser through your faithfulness! As certainly as God is in Heaven, you shall prove, in some way or other, that in keeping His commandments there is great reward. It is always a pity when any of the children of God begin to think that they can be enriched by the king of Sodom, or try to find their portion, in any measure, among the ungodly sons of men. God’s command to His people is,
“Come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” And His promise to those who do is, “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
We must also remember that at the time the Lord spoke thus to Abraham, the Patriarch was not the possessor of a single foot of the land which had been promised to him. The whole of it was to belong to his posterity and, in God’s promise, Abraham held the title-deeds to the freehold. Those who were in possession were but leaseholders and their lease would soon run out, but, at that time, Abraham had not even a foot of ground that he could call his own. And when he needed a sepulcher, he had to buy the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, in the presence of the children of Heth. So, in our text, the Lord seems to say to him, “Abraham, you have no possession in this land. You are a stranger and a foreigner in it, but ‘fear not,’ I am your portion and your heritage, your exceeding great reward.’ Although others look upon you as a mere Bedouin wandering about with your flocks and herds, and pitching your tents here, today, and there, tomorrow, with no settled resting place, be not troubled because of that.” It is the same with us, Beloved, for the Lord has been the dwelling place of His people in all generations, even as He was the dwelling place of Abraham! And He would have Abraham know that it was so and feel that he was not penniless, or landless, for the Lord was his “exceeding great reward.”