It's Psalm 121. Psalm 121. The name of the message is Our
Ever-Present Help. Our Ever-Present Help. We've been looking at Psalms
on Wednesday nights, and tonight I'd like us to look here at Psalm
121. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. 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. Now we have precious truths scattered
throughout this small little psalm. It's small in length,
but rich in precious truth. And we will see, Lord willing,
if the Holy Spirit illuminates the scripture for us, we will
see that our help, both spiritually and every day that we're living
on this earth, comes from the Lord. Comes from the Lord. Hocker comments on this psalm
this way. This is a very beautiful psalm.
If read first with reference to Jesus, and then as suited
to his people in him, its general contents are the full confidence
there is in God's Christ at all times for his people. Some have recommended it to the
traveler, and some have thought it suitable for the soldier in
the mariner. But every traveler to Zion, every
one of God's elect, May profit from it. May ably
use it. And so may every true soldier
of Jesus Christ. While Christ is kept in view.
So let's look at the first verse with that in mind that says a
song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. So this song teaches
us right off at the very beginning. To look to God and to look to
God alone. To look to Christ alone. And
to trust our souls upon He who is God. Christ is the God of
all power. Christ is the God of all power.
He is God alone. And He is all sufficient for
every single believer. He is all sufficient for us.
He is all sufficient for us in salvation. and He's all-sufficient
for us in providence. We must not rely upon men or
means or second causes. We must not make the arm of the
flesh our strength, because if we do, we'll fail. We'll fail. That's why you hear gospel preachers
say, don't look to me, look to Christ. Look to Christ. Our hope and our help comes from
above, comes from above, comes from God himself. And this is
who we are to look to. Note it says, I will lift up
mine eyes unto the hills. The believer who is in the valley
of this world, one commentator said, this world is like a valley. It's like a valley. And where do we look to? We look
to God. And we look to God alone who
is our help. Now let us keep our eyes upon
Christ and see the type also. The temple was built on the holy
hill of Zion, Mount Moriah. They would look to that. They
would look to that. And the temple was the ark, which
is a type of Christ. And the Old Testament saints
looked to Christ by the teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. And
they saw the day of Christ afar off. And they were glad. They rejoiced. They were looking
to God's Christ. And we've seen the psalmist looks
to him, we've seen in our other studies in the Psalms, the psalmist
point us to him, who is their rock. Him, who is their salvation. Him, who is their savior. Look
and see Jesus in human nature as the sinner's surety. He's
the only surety for us. He's our redeemer, our substitute. Look, look at Christ in his life. When you read the scriptures
about Christ, look at him in his life as your substitute. When he went to be baptized,
he was baptized as our substitute to fulfill all righteousness.
to fulfill all righteousness. Now, we are baptized when we
profess Christ, but that was to fulfill all righteousness.
Look to him, see him in his human nature as our surety, as our
redeemer, our substitute in all his life, fulfilling every jot
and tittle of the law for his people. See him in his death. Die. Well the wrath of God is poured
out upon him. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The sinless one dies for sinners. So in his life we see substitution
and in his death we see a substitutionary death. We look to Him. The Lamb of God lives a perfect
life of obedience, trusting and fulfilling the Father's will,
trusting the Father to carry Him through His vast undertaking
to die as our Redeemer, to die as our Savior, to die as our
Substitute. Where does our help come from?
Look at verse 2. My help cometh from the Lord,
Jehovah. which made heaven and earth,
every believer in Christ can answer the question, where does
your help come from? With this precious verse right
here. We don't trust in other men.
We don't trust in our own strength. My help coming from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. What do we need the most? Help. We need to be rescued. We need
a Savior. We need powerful help, right?
Because we can't help ourselves. Can any of us here help ourselves
with our sin issue? Can anyone on the top side of
God's green earth help themselves with their sin issue? We need
powerful help. We need powerful help. We need
able help. Constant help. As Scripture declares, we need
a very present help in trouble. And I love what Brother Scott
Richardson said, the Christians either going into trouble, in
trouble, or coming out of trouble. And Scripture declares that our
God is a very present help in trouble. In trouble. And I know,
I know we all know it's so. We all know it's so. He's a very present help in trouble.
So what mercy to see that we have help, the help that we need
in Christ, in our God. Our hope is in Jehovah. Lord,
there is Jehovah. My help cometh from Jehovah,
the Almighty. the creator of heaven and earth.
And think of this, the one whom our help comes from, all of heaven
and all of earth and all the angels and all of creation is
at his disposal. That's the one who's our help. That's the one who became a man
to die the sinner's substitute. Jehovah, the self-existent one, the almighty,
is our help, is our help. Spurgeon brings forth this. He
will sooner destroy heaven and earth than permit his people
to be destroyed. And the perpetual hills themselves
shall bow rather than he shall fail whose ways are everlasting. He shall never fail. Jehovah's
our help. Beloved of God, look beyond heaven
and earth. Look to him who sitteth upon
the throne. Jehovah. Look to Him who made both heaven
and earth and all the stars. We trust and look to Him. Him
who is the creator of all that is visible and invisible. And
scripture declares, He is our help. He's our help. Now let us again keep our eyes
upon Christ. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 63. Let us keep our eyes again upon
Christ, who is God incarnate in the flesh. He's ever present
with us. Do you know in Isaiah He's called
the angel of His presence? And He will carry us all the
days of our lives, beloved. Do you know that He's ever watched
over His sheep from from the womb until the day we get taken
home, and then we get to see Him face to face. Oh, what comfort
this brings God's people. He's called the angel of His
presence, and here carry us all the days of our lives. Why? Because
He purchased us on Calvary's cross by His own precious blood,
and He saved us from our sins. Look at Isaiah 63, verses 7 to
9. I will mention the loving kindness
of the Lord, Oh, the loving kindness of our great God and the praises
of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on
us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he
has bestowed on them, according to his mercies and according
to the multitude of his loving kindness. Now, remember this.
If you're saved, it's according to his mercies. It's because
the loving kindness of God has been set upon you from eternity
based upon absolutely nothing in you or nothing in me. It leaves
the believer in awe. For he said, surely they are
my people, children that will not lie. So he was their savior. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. In the angel of his presence, saved them. The angel
of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them. And He bared them and carried
them all the days of old. The angel of the covenant, the
angel which went before the Israelites in the wilderness. This is no
created angel. Beloved, this is the angel of
His presence. This is Christ. Christ. The angel of God's presence or
face. This speaks of Christ. Christ
is God incarnate in the flesh. both God and man, the one who
is the brightness of the Father's glory in the image of the invisible
God. He was the word that was with
God and was God. And it is he who is our mediator.
And it is he who will bring us into the presence of God. It
is he who is our advocate and our intercessor. It is he who
is all our salvation. And it is He who is our help.
And He is an ever-present help. He'll never leave us nor forsake
us. Look at verse 3. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Oh, the paths of life are dangerous
and difficult, aren't they? And every one of us has experienced
that. Before we were saved and even after. The paths of life
are dangerous and difficult, yet the believer stands fast.
Why? Because Jehovah will not permit his feet to slide. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. We are totally dependent upon
him, beloved. We are totally dependent upon
him. If our foot is to be kept and
our hearts are to be kept, it is He who must keep us, and it
is He who must preserve us. Now this is humbling doctrine,
but it's precious truth for the believer. Precious truth. We are here promised preservation. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Those who have God for their
keeper shall be safe from all perils that come before us in
this life. And we go through things, though.
We have trials and we have peril of life and tribulation and trouble. But let us remember that He who
keeps us through all life's trouble is Jehovah, is Jehovah, the one
who never slumbers nor sleeps. And think of this. We would not stand for a moment.
We would not stand for a moment if our keeper were to sleep,
or if our keeper was to slumber, because we need him day and night,
don't we? Day and night, awake and asleep. Not a single step can be safely
taken by us. Now think of this. Not a single
step can be safely taken by us except under His watchful eye. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. My, what a God. What a Savior. Jehovah's eye
is upon His sheep. And His are watchful eyes, beloved.
His are watchful eyes. They are never closed. They never
become fatigued. And we see that in the next verse.
Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Now here's precious truth repeated
again. It's repeated again. One commentator
brings this forth. The consoling truth must be repeated. The consoling truth must be repeated.
It's too rich to be diminished in a single line. If it were
well, if we were always imitated the sweet singer, we would dwell
a little upon this choice doctrine. So he says he repeats this because
it's so sweet. It's so sweet. God keeps his
sheep. and he who keeps us neither slumbers nor sleeps. He shall not slumber, which is
what we do before we sleep. You ever, I sit in my computer
chair sometimes in front of it, and I start to nod off, that's
slumber. And then you snap your head,
and next thing you know, you've got a sore neck for three days. But
that's slumber. You start to get, your eyes get
a little heavy, and you start to slumber a little bit. Not God. He does neither. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.
His eyes are ever open and they run to and fro the whole world
and over all His creation and over all things. But He looks
upon His people, beloved, with a special care. They're His. They're His by choice. They're
His by purchase. And His eye is ever upon them. Oh my. Ever watchful over them as we've
seen so far. Note the word behold. The psalmist
is calling attention to this precious truth. And note, He
that keepeth Israel. Now in the Hebrew, it's the keeper
of Israel. The keeper of Israel. Beloved of God, God keeps his
people. He keeps his people. He is the
keeper of Israel. He's the keeper of Israel in
the text, and he's the keeper of spiritual Israel, his people,
and he keeps them. Spiritual Israel, whom he has
chosen in eternity. whom He's redeemed with His own
precious blood, and whom the Holy Spirit calls with an effectual,
invincible calling. He alone is their keeper. Men try to keep themselves in
religion. They don't know our God. God alone is the believer's keeper.
And they are safe Think of this. They're safe under His sovereign,
almighty care. Look at verse 5. The Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. This verse brings forth more
fully who it is that keeps both Israel in our text and who it
is that keeps spiritual Israel. Jehovah. The Word. The Lord. Christ, the Word of
God and the wisdom of God, is the keeper of His people. The
Father has given them to Him in eternity, and they have been
put in His hands, in Christ's hands, to be kept by Him. Remember, Christ is a shepherd.
A shepherd has a responsibility to care for the sheep. to feed
them, to care for them, to protect them, even to die for them. And Christ
is the shepherd of our souls. And those who are made willing
to trust Christ, we commit the keeping of our souls to Christ,
don't we, and to Christ alone. We've been made willing by the
Holy Spirit of God, born again. And He, Christ, is our rest and
our trust, our hope. And He alone is able to keep
us. We can't keep ourselves. We can't keep ourselves. He alone
is the mighty God. He alone is the shepherd of the
sheep. And think of this. You who are
beloved of God, You who are the elect of God are the apple of
his eye. That's something to think about. The apple of his eye. My. And he keeps diligent, constant,
careful watch over all his sheep, night and day. Night and day,
lest any should hurt them. And they are his flock, the elect
are his flock. They are the vineyard of the
Lord, a house. They are as a fortified city.
And it is the Lord who keeps watch over them. He is the head
and they are the body. They are his jewels. They are his jewels. and peculiar
treasure, particular treasure. They're His. They're His by choice.
And they're His by purchase. And they are in His everlasting
hands. They're His. Again, we see that
Christ is the shade for His people. We saw that Sunday night. And
let us never forget, a man shall be as a hiding place from the
wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And that man
is Christ. God incarnate in the flesh, what
a shelter, what a shade to his people. And Christ is like the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land, or of a spreading tree,
which is protection from heat. Very reviving and refreshing.
And again, we looked at that on Sunday night, didn't we? And
think of the pillar of cloud by day, which guided and guarded
the Israelites in the wilderness. And it was a shadow from the
heat. It was a shadow from the heat, just as Christ is for his
people, a shadow from the heat of the fiery law of God. Of the flaming sword of God's
justice and of the wrath of God and the fiery darts of Satan.
He's our protector, our shield, a shadow for us to rest in. Gil brings out about our text,
the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Gil brings this out,
Christ is at the right hand of his people. To hold their right
hand, to teach them, to go, to lead them into communion with
himself, and to hold them up safe. He keeps us, beloved. He holds us safe in his arms. And remember the arms that hold
us, are the everlasting arms of God, the arms of Jehovah. You remember when we were kids
and we used to run into our dad's arms and put his arms around
us? Felt safe, didn't you? I did. Felt safe. All the everlasting arms of God
are around His people protecting them. and keeping them safe. And He strengthens us. And we
know and acknowledge that without Him, we can do nothing. Nothing. Look at verse 6. It says, The
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Calvin
comments, by these forms of expression the psalmist magnifies the advantages
which result to us from heaven our God present with us. Heaven
and present with us all the time. Turn if you would to Psalm 91.
Psalm 91. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. Let us take note that the psalmist
declares in general the faithful shall be safe from all adversaries
because they're defended by the divine power of God. And I ask
you this. Who can thwart the Almighty?
None. No one can thwart the Almighty.
None. Look at Psalm 91. We'll read
verses 1 to 10. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall
be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day,
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked, because thou hast
made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most high thy habitation.
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling. Now none could shelter us from
those tremendous forces. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night, except the Almighty. Only He
can protect us. And let us remember when it says,
the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Let us remember that day and
night make up all time. Makes up all time. Thus, our Lord God is the ever-present
protection for His people all the time. All the time. When it says, the sun shall not
smite thee by day, nor the moon by night, this protection never
ceases. Because He who protects us never
slumbers nor sleeps. Look at verse 7. The Lord shall
preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil or keep thee from all evil. In the Hebrew, the
word preserve is to keep, guard, observe, give heed. God not only
keeps his own in all evil times, but from all evil influences
and operations. You know, we'll never know this
side of eternity, what he has kept us from. what He's kept us from. Jehovah fully guards His own
from evils both great and small, temporary and eternal. He is
our shelter. He is our refuge. Now let us ponder this. Jehovah
keeps the believer by Himself. And the person protected, kept,
is definitely pointed out by the word thee and thy. In our text, he protects his
sheep, beloved. And every believer says, he protects
me. Me. The Lord, Jehovah, shall
preserve thee. Me. From all evil. He, Jehovah, shall preserve my
soul. I can't keep my own soul. But
my soul is in the hands of He who can keep all who come to
Him. Who can keep every one of His
sheep. That's why we say He'll not lose one of His sheep, beloved.
He'll not lose one for whom He died for. Not one. Not one. He, Jehovah, shall preserve thy
soul. Jehovah will keep thy soul no
God is the soul keeper of the soul No one else And think who keeps our soul
beloved he who purchased it with his own precious blood The Lord
Jesus Christ and our soul is kept from the dominion of sin
not the presence but from the dominion of sin and We're saved
from the dominion of sin. We're saved from the power of
sin. We're kept from the infection of error. Why do we hold, stand
fast to the truth while others peel away and fade off? Because
God keeps us, beloved. Otherwise we'd do the same thing.
But he keeps his people. He keeps his people, beloved.
My That's what I said, we'll never know this side of eternity,
what he's kept us from. He keeps us from the crush of
hopelessness because our hope is in he who is everything to
us. There was a time when I was absolutely
hopeless before the Lord saved me. I had no hope. I had things,
but I had no hope. I had no joy. Now what a hope,
what a hope the believer has in Christ. We are kept from the world, the
flesh and the devil. We are kept in the love of God.
We're kept in the love of God. And we are kept into the eternal
kingdom and glory. And it's all in Christ. And he's the one who keeps us.
He's the one who keeps us. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter eight. in light of what we just read
there. What can harm a soul that is kept of the Lord? What can
harm a soul that is kept of the Lord? Who can bring accusations against one who's
protected by the Lord? And keep in mind the truths that
we have seen tonight as we read these verses. Look at Romans
chapter 8. Let's start in verse 31. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now look at this, this next verse
is stunning. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now, now ponder that verse. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Now our own hearts condemn us,
don't they? Because we know we're sinners.
But this verse speaks of the blood-washed saints, whose all
their sins are forgiven. And look at this marvelous verse.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. We've been justified by Christ. Who is he that condemneth? Does
the law of God condemn us? No, it's been satisfied in Christ.
Does the wrath of God consume us? No, it's been satisfied in
Christ. Does the justice of God condemn us? No, it's been satisfied
in Christ for the believer. This is wonderful truth. Absolutely
wonderful truth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. He who keeps us makes intercession
for us right now. My goodness. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Now think of this.
If Christ didn't keep us, all those things could separate us,
couldn't they? Because we know what we are. But he keeps his
people. And here's things listed that
saints went through. Tribulation. Well, we all go
through that. We've all had tribulation in our lives. Distress. Distress
comes in a moment and we don't even We don't even know it's
coming. Persecution, it can come from
family, it can come from friends, it can come from all different
places. Famine, nakedness or peril or sword, war. As it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loveth us. Through Christ,
through Christ. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come. That covers everything.
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Why? Because it's Jehovah who
keeps us. It's Jehovah who keeps us. My,
what a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's look at the last verse
of this psalm we've looked at tonight. Oh my, and in light of what we
just read in Romans chapter 8, look at this verse. The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, and when?
And forevermore. Forever, brother, amen, forever. So we see here that God will
be the continual guide of his people, the continual guide of
his people. And they will do his will, and
he will direct our steps. Now why does God keep repeating in the psalm, why does the psalmist
keep repeating that God will preserve us? And one commentator
came out with this. Calvin brings it out, because
of our distrust. Because of our flesh. That's why he has to keep reminding
us. I'll keep you. I'll preserve you. Oh, Lord, to yield to He who
is the keeper of our souls, to He who has redeemed us with His
precious blood, to He who is the keeper of our souls, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm preaching to myself,
oh, I need to trust the Lord. I need to rest in His sovereign
providence. And let us remember this, that
He who keeps us is Jehovah Himself. Jehovah himself, the God of all
power, the God of all power. May we leave here marveling.
May we leave here marveling that we're objects of his love. Objects of his love, objects
of his mercy. And that he ever watches over
us. Even when we're going through times and sometimes we doubt.
He ain't moved. He's still there, beloved. Where
does my help come from, the believers asked? Well, we answer with the
psalmist. My help cometh from the Lord.
My help comes from Jehovah, from Jehovah, which made heaven and
earth. Christ is my help. God incarnate
in the flesh. And he lives right now and makes
intercession for us. with the Father, and the believer
says, praise his mighty name. Gracious Heavenly Father, oh,
this is a humbling song. Know that you are the keeper
of our souls, and we can't do anything to keep ourselves, but
you, who neither slumber nor sleep, you keep us and preserve
us, and we are kept by thy power. We'll be sure to give you all
the glory, in all the honor and praise, and may we leave here
rejoicing in the great things you have done for us. In Jesus'
name, amen.