Richard Belcher wrote a book called The Messiah and the Psalms. The subtitle of his work was preaching Christ from all the Psalms and he treats a select number of Psalms and by this he's hoping to kind of give some general categories for the genre of Psalms that we might kind of hang, if you will, several psalms from in those different categories. And in his work, he says that the psalm that we have before us today is what he calls a psalm of orientation. It is a psalm, a psalm of orientation is according to Belcher, a psalm that emphasizes that life is oriented toward God and a person is experiencing in that seasons of wellbeing that evoke from him gratitude for the constancy of God's blessing. Belcher was assisted in his thoughts of all things by a 20th century German theologian. They're not always the most trustworthy of theologians, those 20th century Germans. The only thing worse might be the 19th century Germans, but not to be hard on the Germans here, but Klaus Westermann in his commentary on the Psalms has a very helpful comment where he speaks, he says that this, This confidence in God dominates the whole of the psalm. And these types of psalms, Belcher says, look ahead and they express trust in whatever situation the psalmist may face in the future instead of looking back to the past. It's very difficult, isn't it, not to look back at the past. You think of Paul, he's just forgetting what lies behind. The moment your heart gets encouraged and hopeful about looking to the future and the things of Christ that he promises to you, you find yourself what? But then there was this thing. You just kind of gravitate back to those kinds of things. Well, narrowing his focus a little more, Belcher considers this particular psalm, this psalm of orientation, as a psalm of confidence. So it's almost as if he has within the broad category of psalms of orientation that orient us away from the situation to the promises of God, He has some subcategories, and he wants to call it a psalm of confidence. And he says about that, that in this psalm of confidence, obstacles and difficulties of life are subordinated to the strong statements of confidence in God. And it does so by making use, he says, of striking metaphors to show an intimate awareness of God's presence. In reading Psalm 91, we are confronted, we are brought in, if you will, to the very presence of God, and this should shift the way we think about the situation that we're in. Now we established in months and weeks gone by, and just banking off of what Richard Barcelos talked to us about last week, we've pretty much established, I think, the premise that as Jesus says, all the scripture speaks about him. So we're not going to take time today to really prove the point, but all scripture, including the Psalms, bear witness to Christ. This is fundamental. It's fundamental to the way you read the Bible. It's fundamental to the way you engage with truths in the Bible. If you don't think that all the scripture is testifying and pointing to Jesus as what Rich said last week, the target, the scope, it's what it's aiming at. then you're never gonna get, you're always gonna be like me in basic training, you know, 37 years ago with that M16, trying to get the marksman ribbon and failing because I miss over and over again. And they wouldn't let me take one home to practice somewhere else. They made me give that M16 back, I don't know, the military, what are you gonna do? All right, before we get off on gun control, which we won't. So scripture is speaking about, it's pointing to Jesus. This is fundamental, this is inescapable. And as such, this psalm of orientation, this psalm of confidence presents us, it presents us with a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. who he himself is taking all the obstacles, he's taking all the difficulties that are presented to him in his incarnate mission, and he makes them serve his sovereign ends, and through them, for all the joy that is set before him, he strengthens himself with a great confidence in God, since he, more than any other, is fully aware of God's presence in all things. And here we see Christ in the words of Philip Ebsen. Philip Ebsen was an Old Testament scholar and used to be the principal, what we would call the president here, the principal of London Theological Seminary, which happily, several months ago, started a relationship with IRBS. And we can take their students and help them get a full-fledged master's degree, which is pretty cool. Well, Philip Ebsen says that we see Christ here as a king who was given these assurances of God's help and the promise of deliverance and vindication and glory. And furthermore, Ebsen helpfully notes that and reminds us that all who love God and belong to Jesus Christ, hear this, can take to heart the words of this Psalm and know the life and salvation that he has obtained for them in his gospel work. When we come to the Psalms, it's very easy, isn't it, to read the Psalms and check in. David's talking about being in despair or discouragement or trouble, and you're like, You know, I know about those things, to scare, despair, discouragement, trouble. Are there any takers? Well, sure, and all the hands go up. Yes, I can identify with this psalm, all right? But let me say, the only way that you will ever fully identify with any psalm is if you come to the psalm through submission to the lordship of Christ. The psalm is not fundamentally about you and your experience. The psalm is fundamentally about Christ and his experience and you to get to the psalm and to get to the resolution at the end have to come to it through Christ. We all know what it's like. to hear a song and there's no resolution at the end, doesn't that just leave you just kind of go, ah, it's just like it ends on some kind of minor, I don't know, that sound like a dead cat. But you get the idea, it's like a discordant note, it's like a minor key and somebody just kind of went, brah, you know, hit all the notes at one time. And you're like, oh, that just didn't end well. And then there's the song that goes. Nice tone, and you're like, oh, that's a happy song. I like that. Everybody kinda knows the distance there, or the disconnect, all right? If you come to the Psalms and you try to enter into the experience of the psalmist, but you don't come through Christ, every one of the Psalms is gonna end with that discordant note. It's not gonna resolve properly. It resolves in Christ because the psalm is about him. Now in this psalm, we find that the suffering, the triumph, the glory that had been won by Christ are then in turn shared with the believer. Now, we're gonna read the psalm in a moment, but I'm still trying to get there. I'm almost there, all right? I think we see this kind of thing experienced by Paul. Remember Paul to the Philippians, in Philippians chapter three, he says this. This is after he's listed out all of his resume, you know, Hebrew of Hebrews, as the law Pharisee, circumcised on the eighth day, tribe of Benjamin, et cetera, et cetera, all right? His fleshly, you know, CV, if you're like an academic, you have to get a CV, you know, and it's all the stuff that you've done making yourself sound amazing, all right? Or your resume, or if you're in the military, like your OPR or something like that. Paul says, you know, whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted what? I've counted loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, garbage, bodily waste. That's what the term gets to. Why? Because I want to gain what? I want to gain Christ. I want to empty my hands of all the stuff of the world so my hands can fully lay hold of Jesus. And I want to be found in him. I want to be found in him, Paul says, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know him. and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Why? What's the goal? What's the end? What's the telos, Paul? Because I want to attain to the resurrection of the dead. That is awesome. Amen, let's go home. That's just, that's amazing. That's so wonderful. That's Paul coming at the promise of resolution in the Psalms by coming through Jesus. Some of you here today, listen, you want that happy tone of resolution in your life. You want that peaceful end to the song. You want the beautiful music to play and end well and go out with joy. Brothers and sisters, friends, there's no way to go out of this world with true joy. Are you listening? Without Jesus. Without Jesus. not to just borrow from poor rich last week, but if you go out of this world without Jesus, you will die in your sins. And listen, you will die a death that never ends. You will die forever and ever and ever and ever, and when a billion years are gone, you've just begun to grieve. Paul, on this hope-filled note. Courage is our heart. This hope-filled note of suffering, triumph, and glory in the life and labors of Christ to be shared in by faith-filled believers in the gospel is the subject of the psalm, our psalm, our psalm of confidence. So let's begin by hearing Psalm 91. Look there, if you will, with me, Psalm 91, verse one. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark, and you will not be afraid of the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the Lord my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. Because he has loved me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him and I will be with him in trouble and I will rescue him and honor him with a long life. I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. Now, historically speaking, this psalm, much like the psalm we saw a few weeks ago when Brother Sam Gunnett preached for us, is set within the context of the Mosaic Covenant. It is a life that is kind of overshadowed, if you will, or couched in curses and blessings, or blessings and curses. And if you keep and you obey, you receive the blessings, and if you disobey, you receive the curses. And we know what happened to Israel in the Mosaic Covenant. They have received the curses. because they were disobedient. But again, going back to our initial comment today, this psalm is not fundamentally about Israel. This psalm is not fundamentally about the Mosaic Covenant. This psalm is about the covenant between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the covenant will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ in His own incarnation. This psalm is about Christ. Christ is the one who comes, and yes, he faces blessings and curses, but he himself becomes the curse, not for his own sin, but for ours, and he receives the blessing that he then in turn, as Psalm 68 says, like a mighty triumphant warrior, turns and gives and pours out his blessing upon his church. This psalm breaks down into three sections, which I will present under three heads, each of which will focus attention on the Messiah, his humiliation, his efforts, and his reward. His humiliation, his efforts, and his reward. Now I want to be quick with the text itself because I want to get to some uses or applications for the believer today in particular, I want to begin by considering the faith-filled humiliation of the Messiah in verses one to 10. The faith-filled humiliation of the Messiah. We see when we come to this text that the Messiah has made God to be his representative. Refuge, listen to what it says in verses one through four. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For it is he who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings. you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. The Messiah in his incarnation has lived a life that demonstrates an absolute and full trust in his God. He has sought in him a refuge and a shelter He is protected from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions under his wings. You may seek refuge and you may sit there and say to me, well, wait a minute. Jesus in his life wasn't always sheltered from difficulty and despair and trouble. Let me say yes, but wait. Yes, but wait. So it's not saying here that nothing will ever befall the Lord Jesus Christ, or by extension, his children, that's difficult in the world, but the final word will not be given to the enemy. He has God as his refuge. Furthermore, he has God as his confidence. In verses five through 10, notice this kind of litany, this grocery list of difficulties that come. You will not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day, of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked, for you have made the Lord my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent." It almost sounds too good to be true. But Christ himself, coming into this world, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, is always cared for by the Father, always watched over by the Father, always protected by the Father. I think of all the times, I think of all the times that Jesus is in the world and he's like in what you would think, if it were a movie, it would be like the moment where the music's getting really scary and everything's getting really tense and there's like people crowding in around him and all of a sudden he does what? He just pulls the Obi-Wan Kenobi move and he just walks through the crowd. And you're like, what just happened there? How did he do that? Well, it's not Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's not some kind of cosmic dualism of George Lucas. It is the very power of God that has ordained for him a particular hour in which he will die. And it will not merely be at the hands of men because ultimately it will be the father who will crush him. It will not be men who determine the end of the story. When he is there in the wilderness, we'll see in the coming weeks, it seems rather bleak, doesn't it? And Satan seems to have the upper hand, but at every turn, one after another, Jesus shuts him down and he has to depart and wait for a more opportune time to come back. Jesus is always provided for. Everything he needs, man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word of the mouth of God. Yes, he doesn't have food. He doesn't need food. He needs the word of God. Come and throw yourself off the temple and the angels will come and protect you. Said by an angel to him. The irony of that. Worship is to be given to God alone and Satan is thwarted at every turn over and over and over until ultimately the cross, Satan thinks he's what? He has triumphed. but really Christ is triumphant. Well, this is just a brief look at the faith-filled humiliation of the Messiah. He has made God his refuge. He has made God his confidence. God provides for him everything he needs while he is in this incarnate state. Look secondly with me for a moment at the triumphant efforts of the Messiah in verses 11 and 13, or 11 through 13. For he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent. You will trample down. Now this is fascinating imagery, and it's this particular portion of the Psalm, especially verses 11 and 12, that Satan quotes in Matthew chapter four. Now, I don't want to, we're going to treat that more fully later on, but I want you to see a couple of things that happened in this section. Number one, we find in verses 11 and 12, this is a reference to the incarnate Christ. This is a reference to the incarnation. Notice the text. For he will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways, and they will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone. This is a promise that God says to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ, that in your incarnate state, angels will watch over you, angels will provide for you, angels will care for you, that you don't strike your foot against a stone. Let me ask you, before the incarnation, what foot did Jesus have? He didn't have a foot. The imagery here is speaking of a foot because he now has a what? It's taking like one part of the body to represent the whole of the body. In other words, it's not just you're gonna stub your, you're not gonna stub your toe, but you might stub your elbow. No, you're protected, you're provided for. And this is exactly what happens in the incarnate ministry of Jesus. We see over and over again angels coming to tend to Christ. That would have been quite fascinating in Matthew chapter four. If you look over in Matthew four, just for a moment, I really want to be careful here because I don't want to spend a lot of time in Matthew four. We're just trying to lay this as somewhat of a backdrop. But after the devil is done, after the devil is kind of, he's unloaded his weapons on Jesus and he has no bullets left. And he has to leave, the devil left him. Notice what happens in verse 11? It says, behold. Angels came and began to minister to him. Would that not have been amazing to have been, I don't know, I don't know if you could have been like a fly on a cactus or something right out there in the wilderness and seeing what happened. Angels come and minister to the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know what actually happens there. It makes me think of the Old Testament. The prophets sometimes are fed by the ravens, and the angels would care for various ones. We looked last night at the house at the story of Elisha when he's surrounded by the king of Aram. He's surrounded by these massive chariots, and his servant is terrified, and Elisha prays. I think it's Elisha, right? Not Elijah. I get those guys confused. I think it's Elisha. And he prays that God would open the eyes of his servant. And he opens the eyes of his servant and he sees all these fiery chariots all around. It's these angelic majesties that have come to provide protection for the prophets. And here is Jesus surrounded by angels who attended his birth. They attend his temptation. They attend his agony in the garden. They're continually coming to care for Christ. And this opens up the idea, what about me? Do they care for, in fact, yes. The Bible talks often about how angels come to tend and to care for the saints. He is made for a little while lower than the angels in this incarnate state that we read about there in Hebrews chapter two that I had Paul read, and he's cared for by the angels. There's something else here. Not only is this a picture in verses 11 to 13 of his humbling, it's also a picture of his triumphing. Notice what it says in verse 13. You, you whom I will protect by the angels and make sure your foot doesn't strike against a stone, you will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent will trample down. These are two images that are used throughout the Bible. Refer to who? The devil himself, that serpent of old, the dragon or the devil who prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, what does it say? This one who is incarnate, this one who is humble, this one whom angels attend, will one day come to the point where he will crush the head of the serpent. He will shut the mouth of the lion. And like little David killed the lion and the bear, so Jesus will come to destroy the works of the devil. There is for this work in verses 14 and 16 a glorious reward of the Messiah. There is, verse 14, because he has loved me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. This is fascinating because this is the first time in the psalm in which God, the Most High, the Almighty God, the Lord speaks. Up until this point, the only ones that have spoken have been the psalmist, and the one who's being protected. The one who's being protected speaks back in Psalm 91 verse 2 where he said, I will say to the Lord my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trust. The rest of it has always been kind of recounting the difficulties and the triumphs by the psalmist but now at the end Having seen the humbling work, having seen the faithfulness, having seen that this one has sought God to be his refuge, now God the Almighty, the Lord, turns and says, because he has loved me, not the psalmist, but he, this one the psalmist was speaking of, because he's loved me, I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him and I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and he will honor me. Verse 16, with a long life I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. I see here very clearly pictures of resurrection, ascension, Session and glory. The Father speaking to the Son of the value of his work, because you love me, because you've trusted in me, I will raise you up. In other words, all those difficulties in verses around 3 to 10. All those difficulties that don't touch him. This is how they don't touch him. They don't have the final say. God raises him up, and God sets him on high. It makes me think of the psalm, or not the psalm, but the sermon by the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, when he speaks about how he's descended to the grave, but God has not let, quoting Psalm 16, he has not let my Holy One's seed decay. He's not left him in the grave. Though he descended to hell, he has risen in triumph. Well, what do we do with this psalm? I'm hoping we have time to kind of pause for just a moment and consider some uses of this text as believers. Well, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, this psalm, I believe, is of much practical use. I mean, it would be enough. I think it would almost be enough to stop and just Bask in and rejoice in the wonder of the humiliation of Jesus and his great triumph over the devil and his exaltation. I mean, you could say amen, we're done there. And just rejoice in Christ and what he's done on our behalf. And that would be beautiful and full of glory. But it's kind of like one of those moments when you think about the gospel, listen, when you think about the gospel, there's always that, but wait, there's more. And it's not the Gensu knives or whatever that you're gonna pay $19.99 for or whatever, but wait, there's more. It's not some cheesy commercial that's gonna give you just a few more trivial things in the world. The Lord Jesus, Though he is deserving in himself of all glory, all praise and all honor, has constructed things in the gospel in such a way that he extends his kindness to you and he brings you into that. Now you ever remain you and he ever remains him. It's not that we're gonna like become God. No. If you're watching that, that's like Oprah or something like that. That's not what this is. We will ever be creature. He will ever be creator. We will ever be the saved. He will ever be the savior. We will always be the rescued. He will be the rescuer. But he brings us into that deep and everlasting communion with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. What does it say in our confession in chapter two, in paragraph three? It speaks about the doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all of our what? Our communion with him. In this great gospel work of the Father choosing, the Son redeeming, the Spirit sealing, he brings us in and we commune with this triune God. So think with me for just a moment of the use of this kind of psalm. We ought to remember often the words of Peter. who, reflecting on the gospel work of Christ, exhorted the saints to whom he wrote that Christ was not only their Redeemer, but he was also their example. Do you remember Peter's words? This is in his first epistle, chapter two, verses 21 to 25. It says this, for you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And while being reviled, he did not revile and return. While suffering, he uttered no threats and kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. And he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you've returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. So having borne your sin in his cross work, Peter now, in light of that, calls upon you to follow his example in dying to sin and living to righteousness. So consider this in light of the psalm. Let's kind of keep what we've learned about the psalm in our mind and those aspects of the Savior's work in humiliation, his efforts, and then his rewards. So think with me first. Contemplating Contemplating the faith-filled humiliation of the Messiah, we too ought to hold to the Lord as our refuge and our confidence. He becomes in this, again, not just redeemer, but example. He's the one that shows us how to entrust your soul to the faithful creator. Remember, he who was incarnate, excuse me, was incarnate in an assumed human created nature. And as such, he had to grow in wisdom and in favor with God and men. This is how he could say things like, I'm returning to my God and to your God. He can identify with us in our humanness. And in this incarnation, this faith-filled humiliation of Jesus, we too ought to hold to the Lord as our refuge and our confidence. We, you, are called to faith, an unswerving trust in the Lord that he will provide everything you need for life and for godliness. We are called, to use the words of the psalmist, to dwell in the shelter of the Most High and to abide in the shadow of the Almighty. That's for you. It's not that, I mean, the only one that deserves to be there is Jesus, right? Everybody go like this. Okay, you're with me. You don't deserve to be there, but He in His kindness has made room for you to be there. To dwell in the shelter of the Most High and to abide in the shadow of the Almighty. When Elizabeth Elliot wrote of the life and death of her husband, Jim Elliot, who gave his life in the service of the gospel to reach the Alca Indians of Ecuador in 1756, she entitled her tribute to her husband as Shadow of the Almighty. the life and testament of Jim Elliot. Jim had written in his journal seven years before his death, back in 1949, he had written the very familiar phrase, it's almost like an axiomatic statement of missions. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Though Eliot's words have often been quoted and are easily memorized, they were not radical, at least not in the sense of being innovative. He wasn't espousing something new. Did not the Lord himself tell us that if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me? For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake or for the gospel's will save it. Hear me. Please hear me. Some of you are seeking to preserve your life. For all the difficulties in theology that I might have with a Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, he hits the nail on the head when he says, when Jesus calls a man, he bids him to come and die. Friend, that's what God's called you to do, to die to yourself, to die to your agenda, to die to your pursuits, and to take up His. This truth, Jim and his four friends, they knew four well, he went with five men to minister the gospel to the Alca Indians, and on that afternoon of I believe it was July the 9th of 1956. They waited on the beach for the Alcas to come, and they were supposed to come at 4.30 in the afternoon, and while they waited, they sang a hymn. And they had radioed earlier to tell their wives kind of what they had done, and they were waiting for the guys to come at 4.30 to meet with them. And the hymn that they sung was, We rest on thee, our shield and our defender. A woman by the name of Edith Adeline Gilling. Edith Adeline Gilling Cherry. She's an English lady. She died at 25. She had polio. She wrote the words to this hymn when she was 23 years old. We rest on Thee, our shield and our defender. Go not forth alone against the foe. Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender. We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go. Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender. We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go. Yea, in thy name, O companion of salvation, in thy dear name, all other names above. Jesus, our righteousness, our sure foundation, our prince of glory, our king of love. Jesus, our righteousness, our sure foundation, our prince of glory, our king of love. We go in faith. Just like our incarnate Lord. We go in faith, our own great weakness, feeling and needing more each day thy grace to know, yet from our hearts a song of triumph peeling. We rest on thee and in thy name we go, yet from our hearts a song of triumph peeling. We rest on thee and in thy name we go. We rest on thee, our shield and our defender. Thine is the battle, thine shall be the praise when passing through the gates of pearly splendor. Victors, we rest with thee through endless days, when passing through the gates of pearly splendor. Victors, we rest with thee through endless days. As Elizabeth Elliot recounts it soon after singing this hymn sometime before 4.30 in the afternoon, Elizabeth wrote, the quiet waters of the Curroway River flowed over the bodies of the five comrades. Slain by the men that they had come to win for Christ. Sometimes the people you want to win for Christ will hate you the most. They killed Christ and you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, so press forward. The world, she writes, called it a nightmare of tragedy. The world did not recognize the truth, though, of the second phrase of Jem's credo. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Friend, I would say to you, in light of the faith-filled humiliation of Christ, you too ought to hold to the Lord as your refuge and your confidence. because he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Second, not only are we to be grounded in faith in the humiliating work of our Savior, but we also are to engage faithfully and fervently following the triumphant efforts of the Messiah. As his was a life of suffering and victory over sin and over Satan, so we too are to enter into his suffering bearing his reproach. Following Jesus can be so world denouncing. It can be so world rejecting. It can put me in a spot at my work or in my home where I'm just not prized and praised like I want to be. following Christ faithfully and fervently, calls us to an all-out war against sin and the devil to the end of our day. Let us go, as Hebrews 13 says, let us go to Jesus, for Jesus, that he might sanctify the people through his blood, suffered outside the gate. That's where someone went that was rejected. So let us go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach, friend, because here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking a city that is to come. If you're seeking a city in this world, you will find a city in this world only. In the end, you will find your city forever burning with the flames of hell, and there will be no escape from that. As the hymn writer said, as we labor for the master, till the dawn, from the dawn till setting sun. We are to, like Christ, tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. And while we wait the coming day when, as Paul tells the Romans, the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet, in the meantime, we strive with Luther who said that we fight against the world and the flesh and the devil. And we fight like the saints in Revelation who triumph and overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. the gospel and not loving our lives even when faced with death because we know he is no fool who gives up what he cannot lose to gain or he gives up what he can't keep to gain what he cannot lose. And finally, there is laid up for us, brothers and sisters, there is laid up for us a great reward. And don't tell yourself things like, I shouldn't think about that, because you have some kind of, I don't know, altruistic, crazy thought that I shouldn't think about rewards, I shouldn't think about what's before me, I should just serve, I should just serve for nothing. Jesus never told you to serve for nothing. I'm serving for everything. I'm serving for everything. If I get to the end of my life and I find out there's nothing there, then I am of all men most to be pitied because I've given up everything to follow Jesus. Because at the end of it all, I get him. He who for the joy set before him endured the shame of the cross, scorning his shame, and he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, he has said, I too, for the joy that is set before me, should follow him all that way. Paul wasn't serving for nothing. There is laid for you and I a great reward that as our Savior has obtained his reward, he beckons us on to receive our full inheritance with him and all the saints. Paul stands as a great example of this. In 2 Timothy 4, 6, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. In other words, Paul has not just lived his life that his cup might be full. He has lived his life to pour out his whole person. as a sacrifice to Christ. And the time of my departure has come. I've fought the good fight, I've finished the course, I've kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And you're like, well, that's great for you, Paul. Well, you're an apostle. No, finish the verse. And he says, and not only to me. And not only to me. but also to all who have loved his appearing. Friend, do you love the thought of the appearing of Jesus? I'm not asking you to not love your family. I'm not asking you to not love your kids or your dog. I'm not asking you to not enjoy life. God has given you life. He's blessed you with life. We should be full of joy and full of hope every day, and I fight for that. I struggle for that. It's hard. I'm ashamed. I can be grumpy. I can grumble my way all the way to glory. I set a bad example for you. I set a bad example for my wife. I set a bad example for my kids. I fail miserably every day, but I'm striving to pursue that one thing. I want to see Christ come back. I love the thought that he will appear. And when he appears, I'm going to be like him. I will no longer be who I am. Oh, praise God for that. I'll no longer be this frail man, this sinful man. I'll be like Him. And when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair, When the saved on earth shall gather over on the other shore, when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. And on that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise and the glory of the resurrection share, When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. Brothers and sisters, let us labor for the master. From the dawn till setting sun, let us talk of all his wondrous love and care, and then, Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done, and the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. Will you be there? If you have placed your hope and faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I have good news for you. You will be there. And if you have not placed your faith and trust in Christ, you can do that today. And you can be there too. Oh, that will be glory for me. Let's pray together. Our great glorious God. We thank you for Jesus and his humiliation. We thank you for his tireless work. We thank you for his great reward. And though Jesus is deserving of All of this himself, he has in his kindness and his condescending mercy, he has made room for us in the gospel that we might walk a life of faith, that we might by his power and his provision wage war against sin and the devil, that we might one day attain by grace for the glory of God and the good of our souls, that we might attain glory. That there will come a day when all of this is done and the role will be called up yonder. Oh God, would all under my voice today, would all that hear the gospel today, Would all that hear of the sweet offers of Jesus, would all those here today be there? Be there, be there. For he is no fool who gives up what he cannot even keep to gain what he cannot lose. Hide us, Lord God, in the shelter of the Most High, and let us abide in the shadow of the Almighty. We ask in Jesus' name.