All right, brethren. I didn't
ask Adam to read that first hymn. It goes so well with our psalm. That scripture reading does as
well. This is said here in Psalm 121. It says this is a song of
degrees. Three times in the year, God
commanded the children of Israel that they leave their homes,
trust God to protect their home, protect their cattle, They just
left it all. And they were to travel up to Jerusalem in Mount Zion. God's children right now, those
he sanctified, were traveling through the wilderness on our
way up to God's holy city, to heavenly Jerusalem in heavenly
Mount Zion. And the Lord commanded these
saints to travel up to the temple The Lord's house, that's where
we're pilgriming through this world on our way to Christ Jesus,
our true tabernacle. The Lord commanded them to come
to these feasts which God ordained, these three special feasts that
God ordained. We're sojourning in this world
on our way to the feast that Christ has prepared. He was the
one pictured in all those feasts. He offered them, He fulfilled
them on the exact day when they all were observed. And our Lord Jesus is the feast,
and we're on our way to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But those saints did not wait
to worship God until they got there. they worshiped him the
whole way. These were songs that they sang
in worship and praise to the Lord as they pilgrimed through
the wilderness on their way to those feasts. And right now,
we're on our way to heavenly Mount Zion, heavenly Jerusalem,
to Christ our tabernacle, to the great feast he's prepared,
but we're worshiping him along the way as we sojourn through
this world. Verse one says, I will lift up
mine eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help. The song says, like saints of
old, we travel across the desert sands on our way to the holy
temple, but our temple's not made with hands. We lift our
eyes to heaven's sign and see our mercy seat, the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb, our shield, defender, and strength. We're
absolutely dependent on Him as we pilgrimage, make our pilgrimage
through this wilderness on our way to Him. There'd be thieves
and there'd be robbers that would hide out on those old paths as
they were on their way there. And we have a lot of thieves
and robbers along our path too. The Lord said the cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other
things enter in. They choke the word, make us
unfruitful. We get so encumbered with the
journey, so encumbered with the journey. You know, this path
we're going, this wilderness way, it is the valley of the
shadow of death. That's not just when you come
to the end of your life. This whole way, we're in the
valley of the shadow of death. A shadow can't hurt anybody. It's just a shadow. Christ already
conquered death for his people. And it's Christ Jesus the Lord
that's traveling through this way with us in the spirit of
the Lord that keeps turning our hearts to him so that we're made
to say, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from whence cometh
my help. Miss LaMelle, she knew where
her help came from, She wrote a song too, this was her song.
She wrote, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful
face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace. Verse two, my help cometh
from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. You know, the help
of the helpless, that's what we are, we're the helpless. and
the help of the helpless is Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's our God.
He's Jehovah, Jesus, the Lord, our Savior, our righteousness.
My help cometh from the Lord. How about you? Where's your help
come from? My help cometh from the Lord.
The Spirit of God has to, what we saw this morning, When we're
encumbered and we're entangled with the cares of this life and
our sins and all the troubles we face and the tribulation,
what happens? How do we turn to him? Just what
we saw in the red heifer. Christ Jesus, by his finger,
by the spirit of God, sprinkles his blood and purges our conscience
and turns us from all these dead works below and turns us to him.
turns us to him. Is he able to do that? Is he
sovereign to do that? He's not here now. Oh yes, he
is. He's here now. He said, I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you. He's present. This
is what religion doesn't believe. He is as present with his people
right now as he was when he walked this earth. He is not bound by
time and space. He's an all-knowing, ever-present,
sovereign God of glory. And here's what's amazing. He
makes you to see my help cometh from the Lord which made heaven
and earth. Which made heaven and earth.
The very one that laid down his life for his elect and purchased
us with his own blood and says you're mine. This very one who
did this He's the one in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. He's the invisible God,
the image of the invisible God. And He's the one, the scripture
says, by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that
are in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him.
Listen to this, and for Him. He said, I created the wicked
for the day of evil. We get to complaining about the
powers that be and this and that and all. They're created for
Him. They work in His will. They're
accomplishing His purpose. And by Him, all things consist. He's before all things, and by
Him, all things consist. And here's the good part. and
he's the head of the body, the church. We're united to him,
just like your head and your body's united. He's the one that
filleth all in all. He's the beginning, he's the
firstborn from the dead, so that in all, he might have the preeminence. And he's working all these things
and using all these things he's created so that in your heart,
as he comes and sprinkles his blood and purges your conscience
and renews you, he's gonna get all preeminence from you. He's
gonna make you see he's all. He's all. For it pleads the Father
that in him should all fullness dwell. What's that word all fullness
mean? It means whatever we need at
all times, dwells in Christ. All fullness dwells in Him. Anybody
here this morning have any needs? We always do, don't we? Well,
He is the answer to all our needs. All fullness dwells in Him. And
He's upholding everything by the word of His power. I love
it how He, when He told Isaiah to preach the word in Isaiah
40, Comfort my people, tell them their warfare's accomplished.
He said, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who meted out heaven with a span? That's what it is, right there.
Who comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed
the mountains and scales and hills in a balance? He said,
I the Lord. And you know who he also said
he is? He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather
the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently
lead those that are with young. That's what he's teaching us
right here in our psalm. My help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and earth. He's made a new heaven and a
new earth when he creates you anew in the heart. What he's
saying, he's going to shake the earth, this heaven and this earth
once more. And the only thing that will remain is what can't
be shaken. And the only thing that will
not be shaken is what he's created in his righteousness and his
holiness. Everything else is going to be
burned up, folded up like a garment, he said. What's gonna remain? That new heaven and that new
earth, heavenly Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, adorned by
Christ, like a bride's adorned for her husband. He did the adorning,
he did the creating, everything's of him, and that whole city's
made up of his people, created in his righteousness and his
holiness. That's who my Lord is, that's who my help is. He
did all that for his people. Think he's gonna let one member
of his body be cut off? How does he turn our hearts to
him? Just like we saw this morning. See, the reason I was gonna preach
this message first and the other one second, but I thought, well,
that first one shows how he works this in our heart. He's the red
heifer. He bore the fire of God's justice
for his people, and he comes now, and through his blood, he
sprinkles your conscience by the Spirit. What does, how does
that really happen? Like what really happens when
that happens? You'll be sitting here listening
and you can't focus, you can't concentrate, you can't hear.
And all of a sudden, it's like the light bulb goes off and you
hear. And when he does that, it's just
like, just like our sister LaBelle said, the things in this world
go strangely dim because he shines the light of the glory of God
in his face, and you see him by faith. And that's with the
strength of the heart. And here's what he brings you
to see in verse three. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He'll not suffer thy foot to
be moved. On one occasion, David said this. If you want to look at it, it's
back at Psalm 73. But David said this in verse
two, Psalm 73, two, he said, He said, my feet were almost
gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. Why? Why? What made that happen?
He said, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked. David was slumbering. He had
his eyes and his affection set on this earth. He was looking
at the things of this earth and looking at others and focusing
on others. And he said, my feet were almost
gone. Almost gone. Did the Lord suffer
David's foot to be moved? Well, he said, my feet, I slipped
and my feet were almost gone. The Lord's not saying he's not
gonna suffer you to slip and fall, but he's not gonna suffer
you to fall away from Christ. Oh, how did he keep David? Our
Savior worked this work in his heart. He brought David to the
house of the Lord, and he spoke this word in his heart through
the gospel, and he turned him to Christ above. David said,
until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their
end. David went to the Lord's house.
He heard the gospel preached, and when he did, Christ turned
David's heart from everything below to the true sanctuary,
to Christ Jesus and the holiest of holies, that's where he turned
him. And doing so, the Lord gave David
spiritual discernment. He already had it, he's already
converted, he's already a saint, already a child of God, but he
gave him understanding for that hour and what he was facing. to behold Christ as Redeemer.
That's how he gave it to him. And David said this in Psalm
73, 22, he said, so foolish was I and ignorant. Isn't that always
what he ends up showing us in every trial? So foolish was I
and ignorant. I was like a beast before thee.
Yeah, you were. You were a lost sheep gone astray.
Christ said, I leave the 99 that need no repentance and I go find
that lost sheep and I bring them back on my shoulder. That's what
he said in Isaiah 40. He's gonna gather the lambs with
his arm. He said, nevertheless, this is
what he also was given discernment to see, nevertheless, I am continually
with you. Continually. Even when I was
like a beast before you, even when I was envious of the wicked
and looking at those Folks, in this world, it's just like cows
being fattened for the slaughter. He said, I was continually with
you. Thou hast holding me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. He said
in Psalm 56, 13, Thou has delivered my soul from death. That's why
you're going to keep doing this for me. You deliver my soul from
death. Will not thou deliver my feet
from falling? Hear that, if he delivered us
from death, the second last death, if he's already delivered us
from that and he has all his elect on the cross, will he not
keep your feet from falling, falling away? Our falls are needful. I'm not saying sin and try to
fall, but I'm saying to you, When we fall, it's needful, because
he's showing you by it that he is the helper of the helpless,
and he's the reason your feet won't fall away from him. Thou
shalt guide me, David said, that I may walk before God in the
light of the living. He only is my rock and he is
my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
Paul said, these light afflictions work for us, They work for us. They're not working against you.
They feel like they are, don't they? It feels like everything's
working against you sometimes when you come into some serious
trials and all the stuff's going on, but they're working for you.
This is the Lord of glory who created heaven and earth, working
all things together for them that love God, to them who are
the called, and he's doing it all exactly according to his
purpose. That word there where he says,
thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, That word counsel means
with your purpose. They're working for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. In other words, God's
work, our Savior's working for you something that's way, way,
way outweighs whatever it is you have to suffer for him to
teach it to you. How did they do this? They turn us from things
that are seen. They turn us from all these things
we're looking at here below to things that are not seen. He
makes you lift your eyes to the holy hill of Zion from whence
cometh your help. You lift up the eye of faith
and you see Christ. That's how it's working for us.
That's how he's keeping us glorifying and praising only him. He worked
us in Jude. You know how I know he worked
us in Jude? because he used you to write this. Now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only
wise God our savior be glory and majesty and dominion and
power both now and forever, amen. There's where he brings you.
He brings you to say that. Why? You see, the trial worked
that for you to bring you to praise and glorify him and see
that he has all dominion. Secondly, look here, our keeper
never sleeps. He's never sleeping. He said
there in verse three, he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
When they were traveling in the wilderness on their way up to
these feasts, They'd have to camp, they'd have to spend the
night somewhere, pitch a tent. But they always took turns setting
up a watchman to watch, to make sure no thieves or robbers came
into the camp while everybody's asleep. Brethren, Christ is the
watchman that never slumbers and never sleeps. He never slumbers
and he never sleeps. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. He says, behold. You know when God says behold,
that means he's telling you something that's sure and certain. He says,
behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
David slumbered. That's why David, he slumbered.
How'd he do it? He started looking at the wicked.
He started looking at things below. What's gonna save you
from that? David couldn't save himself from
that. Who's gonna save us from stuff like that? the one who
never slumbers and never sleeps. He says, behold. What are we
beholding? Well, behold how he entered into
a covenant from eternity to save his people and to bring us to
God the father faultless and present us to the father. He
promised the father that there is an everlasting covenant, the
word of God himself that would have to be broken before one
of his children could be lost. That'll never happen. Behold. how he laid down his life for
his people and justified his people according to the scriptures.
He made all his elect righteous in himself by his obedience. He purged away all the sin of
his people by his blood. Before God, we don't have any
sin. Before God, before the law, before
justice, The law of God says righteous. That's what it says
of all His people. Christ thoroughly, fully, completely
redeemed you from the curse of the law so that there's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And He shall
keep you. You're led of the Spirit of God
and He's keeping you. but he's gonna keep you looking
only to him to do everything, to do everything. You know, even
a mother that loves her children, a mother,
I know some mothers that would stand between their children
and a bear if they had to. But even a mother that loves
her children like that, at some point she's gotta lay down and
sleep and get some rest. Christ Jesus never slumbers and
never sleeps. His eyes always open, his eyes
always upon his redeemed. He's always looking down from
his throne of power and grace upon each and every one of his
children. I don't know how, that's beyond
me, but he's omniscient, all-knowing, all-powerful God. You know, we
can't keep an eye on all our children. Sometimes they get
lost from us and we don't even know where they went. Not Christ. Listen to David. I will instruct
thee. This is the Lord. I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide
thee with mine eye. He's always looking upon his
people. So here's the next thing. Our
Savior is our keeper who has covered us and shall cover us. Look here at verse five. The
Lord's thy keeper. The Lord's thy shade upon thy
right hand, and the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night. Our keeper's the Lord. Our keeper's
the Lord. We try to keep ourselves. We
try to, like John said. But who's really keeping who? The Lord is thy keeper. The psalmist said in Psalm 40,
17, I am poor and needy. Does that describe you? That
describes those truly sanctified of the Lord. They'll tell you,
I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me,
thou art my help and my deliverer. Oh, make no tearing, oh my God. Our Savior's so omniscient, he's
so all-knowing, that no child of God is ever on the circumference
with him, but always at the focus. Every single one of his children,
every child's at the center of his focus, at the center of his
thought. There's never a moment, night
or day, in which the great mind of God our Father ceases to be
upon a child he's everlastingly loved in Christ Jesus, never. And the Lords are covering. Look
here, he said, He's the shade upon thy right hand. The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Brother Adam read there about
love. Peter said, charity covereth
the multitude of sins. Solomon said, love covereth all
sins. Love, I'm talking about God is
love. Love looked upon his people and
he didn't condemn us for our inability to love as we ought. That's what the love of God does.
That's what the love he puts in your heart does. He makes
you not look at others in their not loving as they ought, and
to judge them and condemn them for it. That's not what he did
to us. He suffered long with us. He suffered long with us. All
the years of our rebellion, he suffers long with us right now.
That's what love does. Love took flesh, and by his own
blood, he took flesh and he bore our sin. The fleshly love gets fed up
with another's sin and his shortcomings. But the love of God took our
sin and it covered our sins with his blood. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. He said, I, we saw this
last week, I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for my own sake and will not remember thy sins. Believer,
listen carefully to me. He said here, the sun's not gonna
burn you. The sun of God's wrath and justice
fell on our Lord Jesus Christ so fully that he fully satisfied
justice for his people. So now Christ is the shade upon
thy right hand. He is the covering upon you so
that you're never gonna be burned by the justice of God, never. How would the moon smite us?
He said you won't be smitten by the sun or the moon. How would
the moon smite you? by going behind the clouds so
that the night becomes totally dark and you can't see. You don't
know where you're going. Christ is our light. In the dark
night, as we travel through this world, Christ is our light. He's
our covering, covering us from the fiery wrath of God, and he's
the light that gives us light in the darkness. That's what
the scripture says. Listen, Isaiah 4, 5 says, the
Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion. Where's
the dwelling place of Mount Zion? He's dwelling in every one of
his people. And he said, and the Lord will create upon every
dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies a cloud
and a smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For
upon all, the glory shall be a defense. That glory is a person,
it's the Lord Jesus, and he's your defense. There shall be
a tabernacle, he's the tabernacle, for a shadow in the daytime from
the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from
the storm and from the rain. You see, when the storm comes,
and the trials beaten down upon you and the sun is about to scorch
you. Lord Jesus Christ comes between
you and the storm and he enters the heart and he's the shade
on your right hand. He's the one that keeps the the
trial from smiting you down and burning you down. He's the one
when you're in the darkness that comes and shines the light so
that you say, I will lift my eyes unto the holy hill of Zion
and behold him from whence cometh my help. Now look at this next
word. The Lord shall preserve thee.
He shall preserve thee. Verse seven, the Lord shall preserve
thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. We have this doctrine called
perseverance of the saints. It means everybody Christ has
called, given true faith, they're gonna persevere to the end believing
on Christ. But there would be no perseverance
if it wasn't for the preservation of our Lord. Brother Bruce Crabtree
was preaching one time and he got, he just said this, he just
came out. He didn't mean to say it, but
he coined a pretty good word. He called it perseverance. He
combined them and called it perseverance. The Lord's gonna preserve thee
from all evil, he said. You know, scripture speaks of
a lot of kinds of evil, a whole lot of different kinds of evil.
I'll just give you a few of them. There's the evil of our heart.
Genesis 6-5, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually. That's in your flesh and mind.
Evil of our doings. There's the evil report, that's
slander. Paul said we can do a good report
and evil report. Evil beasts. The evil congregation,
that's false religion. There's the evil generation,
that's multitude of reprobate sinners. There's evil diseases,
there's evil spirits, there's evil dealings, there is what's
called the evil time. Listen now, the Lord shall preserve
thee from all evil, from all evil. He'll deliver thee in six
troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In
famine, he'll redeem thee from death. In war, he'll redeem thee
from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge
of the tongue. Neither shalt thou be afraid
of destruction when it come. At destruction and famine, you
will laugh. Neither shalt thou be afraid
of the beasts of the earth. Thou shalt be in league with
the stones of the field, and the beets of the field shall
be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy
tabernacle shall be in peace, and thou shalt visit thy habitation,
and shalt not sin. Thou shalt know also that thy
seed shall be great, and thy offspring as the grass of the
earth. You shall come to the grave in
a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season. Lo,
this we've searched, so it is. Hear it, and know it for good. for your own good. Well, somebody
might say, yeah, but God's saints in the past have suffered martyrdom.
Cruel deaths at the hands of men. Read the next word in our
text, verse seven. He shall preserve thy soul. No man can harm the soul of one
Christ is redeemed. That's what matters. That's what
matters. We're gonna all put this body
off some way or another but he preserves the soul. You never
be separated from Christ. The Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants. None of them that trust in him
shall be desolate. The redemption of our soul required
the great price of Christ's precious blood, and he paid that price,
and he will not lose one soul he redeemed. So in all ways and at all times
the Lord shall preserve his saints. Look at verse eight. The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time
forth and even forevermore. What is that? What's your going
out and your coming in? It's all your ways at all times. That's what it is. It means in
all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path
My times are in thy hands, the psalmist said. How long's the
Lord gonna preserve us? He said, verse eight, from this
time forth even forevermore. So what Christ say about that?
He said, therefore take no thought for your life. Don't be anxious
and worried and troubled about your life. What you gonna eat,
what you gonna drink, where you gonna be clothed, that's what
this ungodly world's seeking after, your father. knows you
have need of these things. What'd he say? If he delivered
my soul from death, will he not keep my feet from falling? He
that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things? So seek first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. These are the things to be added
to you. Don't worry about tomorrow. Isn't there enough evil today?
Don't you need to just get begotten through today? He said, I'm gonna
keep you from this time, even forevermore. Peter said, always
be casting, present tense, casting all your care on him, for he
careth for you. This is what the psalmist said.
Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall
bring it to pass. What's he gonna bring to pass?
He'll bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment
as the noonday. One of these days, I think people
think that they're gonna stand before God and God's gonna show
that they were innocent from everything they were charged
with by men and they're gonna get to gloat over men that they
were vindicating and all that. It's a lot worse than that. It's
a lot worse than just somebody charging you with something.
You need to be justified from everything about you for every
second of your life. And the Lord's gonna bring forth
his righteousness, and the judgment he's accomplished for you, and
he's gonna say, that one's mine. I bought them. I'm their righteousness. And the whole, everybody's gonna
know it. And you're not gonna be worried
about being vindicated before some man in that state. You just
gonna be thankful that our Lord Jesus vindicated you before his
throne of justice. That's what you can be glad of.
So committed to him, brethren. All right. Brother Adam.