Searching for Silver but Finding Gold
Sunday, April 17, 2016
By Rev. James May
Yesterday was an unusual day here at Victory Temple. Many of you know that we had a memorial service for someone who had only visited our church one time. Just a short time ago, she came into our midst, sat on the back rows with a few other people. Most of you probably noticed her and you may have even spoken to her and welcomed her to the church.
I know that we try to make everyone feel welcome, all of the time. We all realize that those who come, each come with their own set of hurts; their own problems and often with a lot of questions about God; about life and about how God might move in their lives. It’s our purpose to hope, pray and believe that by coming to this church, many of those hurts and questions can be solved as they come to Jesus.
It is incredible to think that we have an opportunity to really make a difference for someone just by having a moment of time to share their concerns and to minister to them. I am humbled and astounded that any of us, including myself, can be used to make a powerful impact upon someone else because of the presence of God in our midst. The anointing that we carry with us is a very real anointing, and because of that anointing; that unction; that leading, guiding and empowering presence of the Holy Ghost, great things can come of what seems to us to be a small thing.
In that brief encounter, as her soul sailed through the seas of time and into the port of Victory Temple, where she found herself dropping anchor at an altar of prayer, this young woman found Jesus. She didn’t shout the aisle or speak in tongues or even dance in the Spirit; but her heart was changed and she began a walk with God.
I knew she was very ill; having been stricken with cancer; but none of us knew how soon she would be going home to be with the Lord.
I can only say that she came to our church looking for silver, but before she left this altar she had found gold!
What do I mean by that? It’s simply this; she came down with sadness, sorrow, pain and suffering. She was looking at death in the face, and all she could think about was that there was soon coming a judgment day when she would have to answer for a lifetime of rejecting God, denying his very existence and claiming that there was no God. What a fearsome thought that is! She had come to the point where she realized that there was truly a God in Heaven, but she didn’t know him. All she could do is fear him, because it was unimaginable that he could love her after all that she had done.
Now, I’m saying all of this; not to put down upon this woman who had come to the altar. I’m saying this to let you know that we all have come short of the glory of God. We all like sheep have gone astray. We all either have come to that same point in our lives; or that time is coming when we will.
We come into the presence of God full of shame and disgrace. We come before him with nothing worthy to offer; and we can only come before him, casting ourselves before him and pray for mercy.
All we can truly expect is God’s judgment for sin. That’s what we know we deserve. But when we call upon his name, we don’t find the silver, we find gold!
Silver is quite often used as a symbol of judgment in the Bible, just as gold is often a symbol of God’s holiness and his presence.
In the eyes of men, both silver and gold are called precious metals, rare and highly desirable. I wouldn’t mind finding or having more of either one.
I want you to know that in the eyes of the Lord both God’s judgments and His Holy presence are very valuable too.
Interwoven within God’s judgments we always find grace and mercy. Mingled with the hard part of judgments we will discover there are veins of God’s love, and his hand ever reaching out to deliver those who will take his hand and turn to him in repentance.
When this woman came forth, bowed her head and her heart before God, and finally found the faith to confess her sin and ask Jesus into her heart, she found Gold, for the Holy Ghost came upon her, the blood of the Lamb cleansed her from sin, and she was Born Again. Where there had been only an expectation of silver in the form of God’s anger and judgment; she found gold in the form of God’s grace, mercy and love! She was looking for silver but found a gold mine!
When Adam and Eve fell in the garden, they suddenly knew that all things were greatly changed. No more could they freely, and without guilt and shame, talk to God in the cool of the day. Now they would hide in fear, expecting only the silver of God’s judgment to come upon them.
And they did get a taste of the silver because they felt the pangs of death brought upon them by sin; and they felt the pain of rejection when they were cast out of the garden. But they also found that God still loved them. The vein of gold in their hearts was still there. God had not forsaken them. In fact, God had done for them something that they didn’t fully understand I think. God had proven his love by driving them out of the Garden of Eden!
How can that judgment of silver have any trace of Gold in it? How could being driven from the presence of God and out of the perfect life that they had known, have any trace of the goodness of God in it?
We have to remember that there was a tree called the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden, very near the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God’s judgment fell because of they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and suddenly knew sin because of their pride; but his Gold was shown in keeping them from eating of the Tree of Life and being eternally locked into a life that would never end but would grow ever deeper in the depravity of sin that was already growing in their hearts.
It was that golden vein of God’s love that allowed death to come upon mankind for death of this body brings release from the power of the fall. We can finally leave it behind and rise into a new realm of existence where we can once again walk in the solid gold of God’s presence, just as God had designed for us to do in the first place. Even while God’s judgment was falling; his grace had already designed the plan of salvation for the souls of men.
In Revelation 13:8, we read these words, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
These words are written in the middle of the description of the power of the Antichrist that will come in the Tribulation. The Antichrist is an embodiment of the power of evil and the wrath of God will be poured out upon mankind through the works of the Antichrist. He will enact the judgments of God upon the earth. He will bring forth the silver!
But in the casting forth of the silver; the gold of God is revealed because God had already provided a Lamb. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Savior, was no accident, but his coming to die for the sins of man, even of the Antichrist if he would repent, had been established from the beginning. God’s plan; his golden presence, has been there, and will be here until the end of days. His love is ever reaching out, even in the midst of his judgments!
Oh if man could look past the silver to see the gold and embrace the love of God in faith and obedience! What a wonderful world this could be if Jesus reigned in the hearts of every man! That day is coming and all I can say is the same as John did in the Revelation, “Even so, come Lord Jesus!” I’m ready for the Gold! I’m ready for the silver to go away forever!
When the Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre of Genesis chapter 18, he appeared with two of his angels. They had come for two reasons. One reason was to announce the coming of the son of promise to Abraham and Sarah! This was the gold in the story! God’s presence and his promises to Abraham would not fail!
But there was also the silver present, because their second purpose was to bring down fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah for their great sin! The Holiness of God would tolerate the sins of those cities no longer. Even so, Abraham searched for the gold in the judgments.
Lord, would you save them if there were 50 righteous living there? Yes, I would, said the Lord! His gold was there, but the silver was too!
Lord, what about if just 40, 30, 20 and finally, what if there were only 10 who were there who trusted and served you; would you spare the cities for their sake? Yes, said the Lord! But they aren’t there. My grace wants to save them; but my judgments must come! The silver was there; but the gold cried out to be revealed if only someone would be found righteous before God!
I want to tell you that these verses give me hope for a revival; hope for a change in America that will stay the hand of judgment for a while upon our nation. If the gold, the presence of God, and his great love would be willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for only 10 righteous people; I pray that the church in America can stand in the gap, call upon God, be found righteous in his eyes, and give him sufficient cause to spare the casting of the silver upon us.
Lord, instead of the silver; help us as a nation to find the gold. I know we’ve sinned greatly! I know we deserve nothing but the silver! But Lord, give us the gold! Help us to turn back to Christ; if even for a little while!
Our God is a gracious God! He doesn’t want to bring down the silver around our heads! He wants to give us the gold of his presence! We must pray that God will show mercy and give us a revival of righteousness in America once again!
The Lord spoke these words to Abraham in Genesis 18:17-19 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Oh I pray that we can find that same grace in the eyes of the Lord! Lord, stay the silver and give us the gold! I pray that the church will follow Jesus, will keep the word of God without compromise and keep the ways of the Lord. I know God wants to bless America once again! I know that he wants his people to know what’s coming so that we can call upon the name of the Lord, pray and seek his face and intercede on behalf of our nation, just as Abraham did on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah!
The gold of God’s mercy and his presence was there once again at the end of Israel’s captivity in the land of Egypt!
Judgment against the evil empire of Pharaoh was surely coming! Nothing could stop it now! God’s wrath was at the doorstep of Egypt and in Exodus 12:12, God promised that it would come quickly!
Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Is not that the same judgment that is coming upon America? Is not that the same judgment that God is sending upon all the earth in these last days?
All of the gods men worship will be destroyed! The economies of nations; the power of governments; the riches of kings; the great military machines of mankind; all of it will be utterly destroyed in the end! The Silver is beginning to be poured out even now!
But in the midst of it all, there is the promise of Gold! God’s mercy will be there to save and deliver those who call upon the name of the Lord!
Exodus 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
The Silver of Judgment was going to flow, but in the midst of judgment, the golden vein of God’s grace was going to be there too! When I see the blood, I will pass over you!
Saints of God, make sure that you’re under the blood!
• Only the blood of Jesus has the power to save!
• Only the power of the blood can deliver you from the power of sin and death!
• Only the blood of the Lamb of God will stay the plague of death from coming into your home!
Notice this – the plague came right up to the doorstep of every home in the land of Egypt, even to the doorsteps in Goshen! It didn’t just go to the door of the Egyptians; it came to the door of every Israelite too!
The things that are coming upon this world will come to your doorstep. They’ll try to come inside! Their threat will be real and sometimes frightening, but they’ll never be able to pass through the door because of the blood of Jesus!
• Protect your heart with the blood!
• Protect your mind with the blood!
• Plead the blood over your home, your children, your job, your health, your church, your very life, and over the church!
• It’s only by the blood that we can see the gold of God’s grace in action to deliver us from the power of his judgments that are coming!
No one in the Bible experienced more of the silver and the gold in their life than Job! He went from having everything, to having nothing, to getting it all restored again! His whole life is an analogy of the entire human race when you think about it!
Man began with everything! He was perfect in the eyes of the Lord! He had all of the riches of the earth at his disposal, and most importantly, he had the awesome privilege of walking face-to-face and hand-in-hand with his Creator every day! WE had nothing but the gold!
Then he lost it all and was given the sentence of death both physically and spiritually! WE deserved nothing but the silver!
Then God sent his Son, Jesus, to redeem us! We found the gold again, and now we have everything through Christ!
Like Job says in Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
God’s desire is to bless his people! God’s desire is that all men would be saved! God never wants to afflict and destroy! All he wants to do is give us the gold!
We serve the great God! We serve the only loving Savior! We serve the God that cannot fail! We serve the God that created us to live with him forever! We serve the God that will deliver us and give us all that he has because he loves us!
It’s nothing that we deserve! We deserve the silver of his judgments and wrath, but he wants to give us nothing but the gold!
We cannot take any glory in what is doing in us, and will do for us! It’s all about him; not us! All I deserve is the silver of his judgments, but all he wants to give is the gold of his presence! Oh Lord, help us to know you; to trust you; to serve you; to believe in you; to live for you!
In Jeremiah 9:24 the Lord says, But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
People of God, know that the Lord loves you! Know that he desires to bless you above all things! Know that he is there for you, every step of the way!
No matter what may come, God wants you to have the gold of his presence and his provisions for your life! He desires to bless you abundantly!
He does not want to bring the silver of his judgments upon you, but the only way you’ll not feel his wrath is if you are under the blood!
Many churches, and whole denominations have discarded the blood of Jesus and cast it aside while they embrace the things of this world. We’ve compromised the absolute trust and obedience of God’s Word for the sake of being politically correct and socially relevant! We have become a culturally driven church while we are losing the gold of the presence of God in our midst!
Let us not join in that march to the silver of God’s judgment! Let’s hold on to Jesus and ever trust in the blood of the Lamb! That’s our only hope of deliverance!
If you’re here this morning still trusting in your own self-righteousness; if you’re bound and determined to live by the dictates of your own heart; if you’re more concerned with being socially acceptable than being righteous before God – then you’re heading for the wrath of God that’s soon to be poured out in your life!
It’s time we turn to Jesus, get under the blood through repentance for sin and allow the golden presence of God to fill our hearts once again!
Stop chasing after the silver and find the gold!
God wants you to have his best, but he can only send judgment if you live like the rest!
We have to be separated from the world and closed in with God behind the blood of Jesus! That’s the only true place of peace and safety.
If all you see for your life is the silver vein of judgment lying before you; there’s still time to seek after the gold! Come to Christ! Repent while there is time! Get under the blood while you can! Only then can you really experience the gold of God’s wonderful presence.
Remember the words spoken to the Israelites in Egypt – It’s only by the blood! When I see that blood; I will pass over you! You’re only hope is in the blood of Jesus! Jesus is the gold and everything else is the silver! Stop looking for the silver and come find the gold this morning!
Revelation 12:10-11 says this, “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
That’s the gold that we all seek! That gold is the salvation, the strength of God, the kingdom of God and the power of Christ in us; the final defeat of sin; and the ultimate overcoming of evil by the blood of the Lamb. Let that be your testimony – that you loved Jesus more than you loved life itself! GO FOR THE GOLD AND LEAVE THE SILVER BEHIND FOR THOSE WHO WANT IT!
