Stay tuned for the latest message excerpt from JosephPrince.com
You know, people come to God like this.
Sometimes, they come to God and they are afraid, having this sense that they have failed.
A sense of like, you know, I didn’t measure up.
I didn’t do this enough.
I didn’t do that enough, you know?
And then what you do to compensate for this— you try to do something else.
You try to do something good.
But the reason you are doing that good thing is not because it is an overflow from your
heart.
You are actually doing it because you are trying to cover up for the lack you think
you have.
So in people’s eyes, it is good work.
But in God’s eyes, it is dead work.
Rehoboam is the son of Solomon.
Now, he was a good king.
He ascended the throne when he was about 16 years old.
And he was good at first, but he began to listen to the advice of his peers.
And he rejected the counsel and wisdom of the older counselors.
“In the multitude of counselors there is safety.”
His father (Solomon) wrote that in the book of Proverbs.
The same counselors who were around his father, who heard his father’s wisdom— he rejected
them.
And as a result, the kingdom was divided into two.
And that is why you have the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
From his day, there was a split.
That was how he caused a Church split.
Later on he repented and he walked with God.
For a few years.
But later on again, he forsook the Lord.
Rehoboam.
He forsook the Lord and God sent a prophet.
And the prophet said this to Rehoboam: “Because you have forsaken Me, I will hand you over
to the King of Egypt, Shishak.”
And the Bible says in 1 Kings 14:25-28 “It happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam
that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.”
Now, this King of Egypt- mizraim, the place of double stress, alright?
The place where the devil wants to constrict your space, your influence, restrict your
movement, alright?
Egypt.
That is what Egypt means.
Shishak is not the burger.
That is Shake Shack.
This is Shishak.
Amen?
It is Shishak— King of Egypt.
He came against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
And in the fifth year, what he did was terrible.
It was very sad, especially for us, where we have learnt earlier about all the treasures
in Temple’s Solomon in the past few weeks.
We looked at the treasures in the chambers.
But this is what happened.
In the next verse it says: “And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord
and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away everything.
He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.”
Now, this gold shield of Solomon- there are 300 of them.
300 is the number of victory in the Bible.
And each one of them weighed 3-4 pounds of gold- that’s pretty heavy.
And there are 300 of them.
And they are gold shields.
So this king, Shishak, took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made.
Then “King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place.”
Why bronze shields?
Because at first appearance, bronze shields and gold shields kind of look the same.
The shine is about the same.
In fact, we have a picture of the shields.
The one on the left is the golden shield and the one on the right is the bronze shield.
But to the untrained eye, if you told a person that the one on the right is a golden shield,
they might say yes if there is nothing to contrast it with.
So what happened was that the enemy took away the gold shields and Rehoboam replaced them
with bronze shields.
Going back the verse, King Rehoboam, what we do sometimes is try to put up appearances.
You know?
We put up appearances.
We don’t care about who we are, it is more important how we appear to be.
Maybe there are issues you don’t want to deal with, and you think the impression you
give is more important.
Do you know what King Rehoboam did?
“And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them.”
The bronze shields.
So when they come to the house, the drums will be rolling, and the 300 guards will be
carrying the bronze shields.
But because the appearance is shiny and all that, people think it is the gold shield.
Now, I’m coming to the meaning and how it applies to us today.
But after that, they “brought them back to the guardroom.”
Amen?
So he had to keep appearances.
Are you with me so far?
So the enemy came and took away the golden shield.
Now what is the symbol of a shield?
Protection.
Shield symbolizes the protection of God’s people from all the attacks of the enemy.
Now, there is an anti-type of this shield in the New Testament and it is found in the
armor of God.
Here it says in Ephesians 6:16 “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench” how much? “all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”
Amen?
The Bible says with the shield of faith, you will quench not only 80% or 90% but ALL the
fiery darts of the wicked one.
It behooves us to find out what is this shield.
By the way, in the Greek, the word “faith” there is preceded by the definite article.
It is “above all, taking the shield of” THE FAITH.
And this is shown in the YLT. “above all, having taken up the shield of THE FAITH.”
Whenever the Bible uses the definite article of faith, it is no longer just faith for healing,
or faith for miracles, or faith for God to do this.
Or a trusting God kind of faith.
But THE FAITH means “the righteousness by faith”.
It is the righteousness by faith.
Like Jude 1:3 says: “Beloved, contend for THE FAITH which was once delivered unto the
Saints.”
Amen?
Somehow, by the time Jude was writing the epistle, the believers had forgotten about
righteousness of faith already.
They had went back to righteousness by works.
Coming under the law, amen?
Self righteousness.
Trusting themselves, looking to themselves.
And that is why there is no power or protection.
Listen carefully, gold always symbolizes divine righteousness in the Bible.
Divine righteousness.
How about silver?
Silver?
Redemption!
Hey, I am so proud of this church, hallelujah.
Amen.
Who is your pastor?
I love this church.
One more time, silver is a symbol of redemption.
Amen?
And the children of Israel would pay half a shekel of silver as a sign of atonement,
amen?
Silver is a picture of redemption.
In fact, the word for “money” in the Old Testament is kaseph which is silver.
Amen?
How about brass or bronze?
The bronze altar is where animals are placed and judgment falls on it.
It is a picture of?
Judgment.
Just like the cross, the bronze altar and cross both share four corners.
Bronze is a symbol of judgment.
The Church has given up divine righteousness (gold).
Therefore, there is no longer any protection.
And they have substituted for righteousness with judgment on it (bronze).
Which is their own righteousness.
Are you listening people?
Now, I would like to tell you something about the gospel.
The essence of the gospel is the gift of righteousness from God.
The law is all about God demanding righteousness.
Clearly, God said “Do your best to be righteous.”
But God knew men could not keep it.
But men are so proud.
We proud beings, we do not know we could not.
So God had to give us the law first.
If God gave grace first, we would not understand or appreciate grace and give God all the glory.
We would give glory to ourselves because we do not know how bad we are.
The law says: “Thou shall not steal.”
But we would say: “What is stealing?”
Amen?
God had to give the Ten Commandments first.
Amen?
Are you listening people?
So God gave the law.
The law is about demand from a Holy God.
Amen?
So God said: “Thou shall not.
Thou shall not.”
But men could not.
On Mount Zion, God gave the Spirit.
And grace is not about God demanding anymore.
It is God supplying, So even now, in our lives, we live life with a sense of supply instead
of demand.
So people who acknowledge the Lord and say: “You are my righteousness.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”
Amen?
Then when you do good, it is not to be righteous.
It is an outflow.
It is something you want to do because you are righteous already.
But whenever you try to become righteous, you are essentially saying you are not.
When you say you are not, you negate what Jesus did at the cross and the Holy Spirit
has nothing to bear witness to.
Because you are now not in truth.
Can you understand what I’m saying?
That is why people who pray: “God, God please hear me!
Why are you so far away?
Why don’t you answer me?”
They find that it seems as if God is further away.
But Pastor Prince, doesn’t God answer that prayer?
Many times, in His mercy, yes he does.
But that is not the prayer He is pleased with.
What kind of prayer is He pleased with?
Family prayer.
My son would not come to me and say: “Abba…
Abba…can I have… one glass of milk…Just one little glass…”
He wouldn’t do that right?
Now, if you are a third party watching this, what do you think is happening?
Do you think I’m a good father?
You would think that this father must be a child abuser or there is something off about
this relationship right?
And then when I brush my hair… what do you think?
And yet people are reflecting this on God.
Imagine saying this before you pray: “I am the righteousness of God in Christ.”
Take your place.
Now, that is truth.
You are acknowledging the truth.
And you are saying it is because Jesus became my sin, I am taking my place.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
The Holy Spirit can bear witness to that truth.
And now, all the blessings of the righteous are yours.
For example, when you read the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:6 says: “Blessings are on the head of the righteous.”
You should say, that’s me.
And you read in Proverbs 11:21: “the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”
You should say, that’s me.
Don’t think it is just for pastors.
Yes, pastors are righteous in Christ.
But don’t think it is just for the elite few, the pastors, or those who go to Bible
school.
No, you have to know it is for all of us, we are righteous in Christ.
When you read in James 5:16 “the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.”
You should say, that’s me.
My prayers avail much.
But I’ll tell you this… there is a religious Christian world out there that will come against
you.
They will come against this message.
Why?
Because they are hankering after self.
They will say: “Yes, but.
Yes, but.
What about the book of…?
What about works?”
No, before you talk about works, the Bible says: “Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness.”
It is the gift of righteousness by which we reign in life.
That is what the devil is so afraid of.
Show them Romans 4:13 real quick— look at this.
God promised that Abraham “would be the heir of the world.”
To be the heir of the world, you cannot be always sick, always broke, always mentally
depressed.
Right?
Am I right?
So for God to keep this promise in your life to be the heir of the world, He has to prosper
you, He has to bless you and keep you in His peace, give you wisdom, and a close walk with
Him, amen?
“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his
seed through the law (bronze shield).”
Through the law.
You do it right?
You are blessed.
You do it wrong?
The bronze falls on you.
The judgment falls on you.
It is not through the law, and yet the Church has preached it like it is through the law.
No, you are included in this promise to be the heir of the world because you are in Christ.
The Bible says in Galatians 3:29— “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
seed.”
Amen?
You are Abraham’s seed.
Hallelujah.
And this promise is ours!
But it is not through the law, “but through the righteousness of faith (gold shield).”
You have to stop that burdensome labor, where you are always trying to please God or get
into His good books.
No, rest.
God is pleased with you.
Amen?
You are the righteousness of God in Christ.
Unless you are settled in that, you will not be interested to know more about God.
In fact, you’ll see God as a distant and angry God.
He isn’t.
He is your Father.
Are you listening people?