this morning as I went over the
message. And as the day went on, troubles
came, difficulties flew in, and the feelings that I had this
morning are not the feelings I have this evening. So they're
fleeting, aren't they, the feelings that we have. I'm thankful for
them. We're going to see some of this
this evening, Lord willing. I'm so thankful my salvation
is not dependent upon how I feel at any given moment. It is absolutely dependent upon
Jesus Christ, our Savior. And I ask for your prayers for
me as I pray for strength and understanding and the ability,
the words that I need. And I pray that God would open
every heart. Pray for Rylan and Emma as they're
traveling. I think Chuck and Patty are traveling,
aren't they? Tomorrow. OK, they're leaving tomorrow.
Go out to California. They'll be gone a couple of weeks.
We're going to miss them, surely. So pray for them as they travel.
And then as they come back, Kimberly and Kevin are going
to come back and live. I think they're moving in Lexington,
in that area. But Kevin will be preaching in
our annual conference at the end of July. We're having it
the last weekend in July. We're having two men, Kevin and
David Edmondson, are both going to preach the gospel. I imagine
Sunday I'll let David off the hook and go back if he doesn't
have anybody. That's usually the way it is.
Sometimes he doesn't have anybody to fill in. So I'll probably
need to preach on Sunday. with Kevin for that conference. I'll give you the times and so
forth in this next coming week. I'll have all that printed out.
You can pass it around. We'll email it out. Any other requests need to be
mentioned? Yes, Tia? Pray for that brother. Pray for
that church. He's a very integral part of
the congregation there. You know, I don't know what's
right. I don't know what's wise. I assume that I thought I did.
thought I would know what would be wise and what would be good,
and I just don't. And this is what it means to
trust the wisdom of God, because I don't have a clue. Things appear a certain way to
us. And that's all it is. It's an
appearance. And to us, it's very real. It's very frightening,
fearful. But to God, it is not fear. It
is not a strange thing. So pray for him, this believer
and Todd and church there. Let's go to him in prayer. Our
gracious Father, we thank you for this opportunity, another
one that you've given us to assemble together. We pray, Father, that
you'd bless the message tonight, that you would open every heart
and mind to hear the gospel. As you have declared it in your
word, I pray, Father, you give me liberty and unction of thy
spirit, ability in the body and the mind to declare this message, that every believer's heart might
be encouraged and strengthened, that even those that are outside
of Christ might hear it and believe. We are truly in need of your
help. We can't do these things. Except you come. Except you deliver
us. We should have no hope of any
good thing. But Father, I know you have promised
to be our helper. You have promised to strengthen
us. And I know you will do what you've promised to your people
and for your people. I pray, Father, those that are
sick that you would be gracious to raise them up and give them
health. Father, that you'd touch their bodies and heal them, Father,
according to your mercies. Be with those that are away,
those that travel. Bring them again to us. Father,
I pray you'd forgive us our sins and lead us. And I pray you would do this
in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles this
evening and turn with me to Psalm 121. Psalm 121. I entitled this,
God Our Helper. God Our Helper. Psalm 121 in verse 1 begins with this phrase, a song degrees a song of degrees I Will lift up my eyes under
the heels from whence cometh my help Just in case you didn't understand
what that meant he explains it my help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and Now, in the previous psalm, the writer
recalls a time of great distress. He cried unto the Lord, and this
was his cry, deliver my soul from lying lips and a deceitful
tongue. Now, the writer in that psalm
was surrounded by his enemies. He said, Woe is me that I sojourn
in Mishah and dwell in the tents of Kedar." Mishah is Gog and
Magog and the tents of Kedar are the Ishmaelites. He is bemoaning
the fact that he is traveling through and surrounded by his
enemies. The enemies of God. Does this not remind you of the
condition that every believer is in as we journey? We are surrounded
by enemies. Surrounded by enemies. We often
find ourselves in great distress. All the saints of God are sojourners
and pilgrims in a wicked, crooked, and perverse world. We are surrounded
by those who hate God and despise our gospel. I tell you, we become
often fearful because of this. It doesn't take much, I don't
know about you, it doesn't take much for me to be fearful. Just
the slightest wind, the slightest disruption, and I become fearful. So we're fearful as we travel
through this And oftentimes we begin to fear even if we are
going to endure. Are we going to endure this one,
this trial, this affliction, this difficulty? We often fear that we won't be
able to make it. We fear that we should find some
peace or solace in the tents of false religion or the tense
of this world. I'm fearful of that. I'm fearful
that I would find anything in this world that I would lean
on. So let us be careful that we
do not become complacent. Isn't that a temptation? To be
complacent? To be seduced by the cares of
this life? It is. To be lulled to sleep? To compromise? Isn't that the
temptation? To compromise the gospel as we
journey? So we have to be careful, and
we pray, Lord, deliver our souls from lying lips. Deliver our
souls from the enemy that surrounds us. From the love of the world,
deliver us from the foes, that would ensnare us. But notice there's an even closer
foe found in verse 6 of that previous chapter. He said, My
soul hath dwelt long with him that hateth peace. You know what
this is? That's a flesh. I've got a nearer
foe than those in the tents of Kadar and Gog and Magog. I've
got an enemy within here, within the gates. It is this natural
flesh that we were born with and even after God has saved
us, we still are contending. As we journey, we are contending
both with enemies without and enemies within. Our soul is troubled. We long for peace. We long that
the peace of God would just in a moment flood our souls. I pray that. When I'm distressed
without and distressed within, I ask God that in a moment He
would flood my soul with peace. That He would drown out the lust
of the flesh and the things of this world. We cry with the psalmist,
deliver my soul. This is a constant cry of the
believer. Deliver me from the snares of
Satan. Deliver me from my own lust. Deliver me from the hatred
of men. Deliver me from my own vile nature. Deliver me! Deliver me! Deliver
me! Please! Is that not constant?
We are constantly asking the Lord to deliver us. And this
is the background then of Psalm 121. Now these Psalms, with this title, the Song of
Degrees. Song of Degrees means a song
of steps, a song of progression. In Psalm 120, He shows the believer
in great distress, having need of deliverance, and then in Psalm
121, He shows us the hope of deliverance. He shows us hope of our help.
that every believer has a help. You need help. I need help. And I don't need
it just once. I need it every single day. I need help. So there's one theme
that is found in the psalm, in this psalm that is a balm and
a cure to the troubles of those who need help. And here it is. Listen to this. The Lord is thy
help. The Lord is thy help. The psalmist by the Holy Spirit
now speaks to those saints in great distress and affliction
And the first thing he determines to do, he said, I need deliverance. I'm surrounded by my enemies.
The enemies without and the enemies within. And the first thing the
psalmist determines to do in the very next step, in the very
next psalm, he says this, I will, I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills. It's as though he couldn't even
lift up his body. His body was so weary that he couldn't even
lift that up. All he could get was his eyes.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh
my help. What are the hills? What does
the psalmist mean when he says, I look unto the hills? From whence cometh my help? And
then he states exactly what he's meaning. My help cometh from
the Lord. That's where my help is coming
from. This hill, these hills that were
in view, were the hills of Zion. Now in these Song of Degrees,
this is what Israel, as they were required of the Lord three
times a year, they were to march to Zion. They were to gather
together in their tribes, and as they marched to Zion, they
would sing these songs of degrees. And as they went, they became
weary, and they would sing, Lord, deliver me from my enemy, surrounded
by enemies where they went. They marched every year, every
time, three times a year to Zion. And so see the picture, they're
marching to Zion, whose journey is long, it's tiresome, they're
weary, to the state where they look up and now they see there's
an end in sight. They see the hill of Zion in
the distance. It was to Zion they were going
for this purpose, to worship God. They were going to worship
God. That's where the offering was
to be made, wasn't it? In Zion. How much more than we who are
born again of the Spirit, aren't we marching to Zion? We sing
that hymn sometimes, we're marching to Zion, heavenly Zion. We're not going over to that
land of Israel, we're not going to go over there. That's not
real Zion, that was just a picture. We're marching to heavenly Zion.
And I tell you, we do become weary. We are often attacked
on every side by our enemies and often fear that we should
fail. But here is our remedy. Here's
the remedy for the downcast spirit, for the downcast soul, for the
weary believer. Here's the remedy. Here's a fresh supply of courage. Here's a fresh supply of strength. So that we should keep the course
and finish by looking unto Christ. Finish the course of our faith.
So let us now tonight lift up our eyes. Lift up our eyes to
see the fulfillment that Zion pictured. Zion pictured. Now Zion. Zion was the place
where God dwelt. That's the place where God ordained
that His temple should be built. That is the place where the temple
was built. That is the place where the sacrifices
were made. Why? Because God was present
in that place. It was the only place in the
world. Can you imagine that? The only
place in the world. where the presence of God was
manifest and the means by which atonement was made. It was the
only place that you could see it. It's the only place where
it was preached. It was on Zion's hill. It was the place of the temple.
It was the only place where the atonement was made. It was the
only place where the high priest was anointed of God to offer
both gifts and sacrifices for the sins of Israel. Now as the natural descendants
of Abraham approached that, they were able to rejoice in Zion. But how much more are you, who
are believers in Christ, able to rejoice? Because they only
had a picture of it. You and I know the fulfillment
of it. That Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of the picture of Zion. He is the fulfillment. See, it was our sins that separated
us from God. We were like those Jews. When they got to Zion, could
they come into the presence of God? No. There was no way they could approach
unto God except what? Except they have a high priest.
except the high priest have a sufficient offering. None of the sins of
Israel could have been atoned. And yet that high priest of old
remembered that he himself could not enter into that place except
he have one thing. What was it that he needed to
enter into the presence of God? Blood. He could not go in without
blood. Look at Leviticus 16. Leviticus
chapter 16 and verse 1. Leviticus 16 and verse 1. Scripture says, And the Lord
spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when
they had offered before the Lord, and died. Remember that the sons
of Aaron came in and God had already ordained what kind of
incense that they should burn. He had ingredients. And he said,
this is how much of this, this is how much of this, and you
put this together and only use this. And you know what the sons
of Aaron did? They said, well, man, we got a better way. We
got a better ingredient than this. And you remember, they
mixed in their own incense. And when they did, what happened?
God killed both the sons of Aaron. Listen, so it is with every man
who brings the offering of his own making. Anybody is to enter in the presence
of God with their own works, with their own system. That's
what they do. They say, well, you know, I think
I got a better way. You say Christ alone, but I got
something better. Christ plus my works. Listen,
you'll have the same experience as Aaron's sons have. You bring your own works and
your own merit before God, He'll cast you into eternal damnation. Look at this in verse 2, And
the Lord spake to Moses, and he said, Speak unto Aaron thy
brother, that he come not at all times in the holy place within
the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark, that he
die not, for I will appear in a cloud upon the mercy seat."
God said, now listen, you tell Aaron not to come in here willy-nilly. You don't get to come in here
just when you feel like coming in here. He said, no, you come
in here, only one time a year you're going to come in here.
And it's a very specific way that Aaron must have come in
to this holy place, this place where God dwelt. And you remember,
he was to be washed. Scripture goes on and tells us
he must be washed. And then he's to put on a linen
garment. And then in that linen garment,
he was to make an offering for himself, and then an offering
for the people. And then once he made that offering,
he'd take off those bloody robes, that linen cloth, and he would
put on the priestly garments with the breastplate and the
crown on his head, and he would have the bowl of blood in his
hands, and he said, that's the only time you can come in here. And they would pull back the
veil and he would go within the veil with the blood. Couldn't
go in there without the blood. And he would take that blood
and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat where God dwelt in order
to make an atonement for Israel. So now, when they looked to the
hills, that's what they saw. That's what they were going to
Zion for. They were going to witness the atonement. And so now, let us look under
the hills and not see the atonement of Aaron, but rather the fulfillment
of it. You need help? This is your help. Lift up your eyes and see the
atonement that Christ has made. Lift up your eyes to the hills
and see Jesus. Jesus is your great High Priest. You see, He was chosen of God
to be your High Priest. And listen, he was of a better
line than the line of Aaron. Aaron had two sons, and they
were ordained to be priests, and they were killed. Yet Aaron
had another son, and in succession, and then he died, and then they
had another one, and he died, and they had another priest,
and he died. Christ is not after that order.
The Apostle tells us he is after an eternal priesthood. Our high
priest is one that abides forever. Our high priest is not in succession. Aren't you glad the Pope's not
your priest? Aren't you glad that frail little old man is
not your priest? I'm so thankful he's not our
priest. Why? Because our priest is eternal
in the heavens. He's the great high priest chosen
of God. He was a high priest not after
Aaron, but after Melchizedek who has no beginning of days
nor end of life So God has given to Christ now as the high priest
of old represented only Israel. You got that? He didn't represent
the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Hivites. That priest didn't
represent those people. When he went in to make an atonement,
he didn't make an atonement for every one of them. He made an
atonement for Israel. That's our high priest, isn't
he? He has an elect people given to him by the Father. And what's
the first thing he did? He put on that white linen garment
of humanity. Consider that as you lift up
your weary eyes this evening. Lift it up by faith and see that
He took on humanity. Not just any humanity, but holy
humanity. Perfect humanity. And in humility, our Lord Jesus,
our High Priest, He did something for us that did not need to be
repeated. That's what Paul says about those
old priests. He said this stuff had to be
done every year. Why? To show you that it's not
enough. It's not sufficient. But our
Lord, when He came into this world, He actually did something. He obtained righteousness for
His people. every thought and word of obedience
to God, He was doing it for us. That's what He was doing. And
He made a righteousness. But we know this was not all
He did. Just as the priest was to make
an offering for the people, our Lord Jesus Christ came into the
world to make a sacrifice for sin. And so just as Aaron entered
into the presence of God, but not without blood, so did our
Lord Jesus Christ. He must have entered into the
presence of God to atone for our sins. He must have entered
into the presence of God, not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with His own blood. With His own blood He offered
Himself. Hebrews 8 and verse 3, It says,
for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices,
whereof it is of necessity that this man, Christ, have somewhat
to offer. Now, they had something to offer.
Oh, but this man had much more to offer. Listen to what he did. In Hebrews 9, verse 11, it says,
Christ being come and high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, Not made with hands. That is
to say, not of this building. See, when those Jews marched
to Zion, they were going to look to a building. They were going
to look to an earthly priest. They were going to look to earthly
sacrifices. And they saw by faith a picture of what was to come.
They didn't know everything. But our Lord came as a perfect
high priest in a building, not made with hands. What's that?
That's His body. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once. Listen, when you're weary, and
you're looking, lift up your eyes and see this. He entered
in once. Listen to what Paul said, and
having obtained, eternal redemption. Listen for
us. He got it. He got something that
earthly priest never got. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. Believer, does this vile, corrupt
nature assault you? Does your sin hang heavy on your
heart? Are you in despair with no hope? Are you ensnared by the temptations
saying, surely, surely God will forsake me? Surely His mercy and forgiveness
are clean gone. Are you hated by the world? Enticed
by the vanity of this life? Let us do what the psalmist did.
Lift up our eyes to the hills. Listen. From whence cometh my
help? What is the source of your help?
What is the hope of your help? Is it you? No. It's Christ, isn't it? Christ,
from whence cometh my help? Look unto Christ and see his
great offering of blood that satisfied the justice of God,
for by his one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. As I was contemplating the great
day of atonement, to which these Jews were so much anticipating
and looking unto. I thought of that veil. Remember
when the high priest, he would do all that, sacrifice the blood,
and that veil separated him from God, and he had to enter into
that veil. That's what separated those other
priests from going in there, right? Every time they went in
the temple, those priests did those outer things, the trimming
of the lamp and the laver and the showbread. They did all that
work on the outside, but there was something standing between
them and God. They couldn't go in. They didn't
have access. I want you to see what they saw.
That veil that separated them, I want you to see it, was anywhere
from 45 to 60 feet tall. The veil was anywhere from 15
to 30 feet wide. It was four inches thick. The estimates of this veil were
anywhere from 18,000 to 60,000 pounds. That's how big this veil
was. It took 300 men to pull it back
to let the priest in. 300 men to pull it back. The thing
that held it up weighed over 3 tons in the temple. to get in there was more than
one man could ever do himself. But you remember what happened
when the Lord Jesus died. The moment He said, It is finished! Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit! And that veil 60 feet tall 30
feet wide 4 inches thick ripped from top to bottom Like it was
a piece of paper This testifies of this the way
into the holiest is now open You got trouble Lift up your
eyes unto the hills and see this, the veil is rent and the way
is open. We now, as we believe in Christ,
as we trust in Him, we now have complete access to God. Your children have access to
you. They have access. When they were
little bitty kids, when they were little bitty, Have access
to you? Of course they did. How much more do we have access
to God? And how convicted I am that I
don't use it. How many times do I try other
things and other means before I have access to God? And so the way is opened by the
blood of Christ. And those for whom Christ died,
the Holy Spirit is now gone out. And you know what? He's going
to save every one of His people. I fret about that sometimes.
I fret. There's so few, there just seems
so few that hear it. I fret and worry about that.
Why do I do that? Why do I worry so? God has a
people. And His Spirit is going to get
them. I think Rob Barnard entitled
it, The Hound of Heaven, The Spirit Always Gets His Man. Always Gets His Man. Our Lord
says this, As thou hast given me power over all flesh, listen,
to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. So as we lift up our eyes to
the hills, what do we see? We see this, that all those that
Christ died for, none will perish. None will perish. I gotta move
on now. Second of all, I want you to
see this. As you look up to the hills,
I want you to know this. Whence cometh my help? He said,
My help cometh from, who? The Lord. The Lord. I want you to see this as you
look to Christ. God himself is your help. God
himself is your help. Believer in Christ, We know this,
we're in need of constant help. I'm so often without strength,
I can't count. My strength is something, and
not just bodily, I'm talking about my strength within. When I was younger, I felt stronger. Doesn't mean I was stronger,
but I'm coming to realize that my strength is very, very weak. It fluctuates. We know and believe this to be
true, that we can do nothing to help ourselves. We just can't. We have no ability
to help ourselves, especially in this matter of faith. So when
troubles come and our foes assault us, and failure is all I see. I see failure. We're going through
in Romans, we're talking about the attitude of the believer
as to how he's to conduct himself in this world. And I have trouble
with this because I'm a failure. I'll tell you, if it wasn't for
my union with Christ, I surely would give up on these things.
But because of my union, I don't, I don't. And because he gives
us strength. Every child of God has faith
in Christ and we have love for God. But when we're weary and
troubled, please don't look to your faith and love. We do have
faith. I do believe on Him. I do love
Him. But in times of trouble, I can't
look to my faith or my love to give me strength. Because the
moment I look for it, it's gone. Tim James told me that one time,
I thought it was the greatest thing. The moment you look for assurance,
it's gone. You don't have it. If you had
assurance, you wouldn't be looking for it, right? We cannot look to our faith and
our love to comfort and keep us, because it's always fluctuating. But since this, because Christ
has obtained our righteousness, Because His blood has redeemed
us from our sins, and we by His grace through faith, listen,
we are in union with Him. Here's the source of your strength.
Union. Union. Who puts you in union with Christ? But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.30.
But of God are you in Christ. You were chosen by God. It was the Son of God who loved
us and gave Himself for us. It was the Spirit of God who
found us in our rotten condition and gave us life and gave us
faith in Christ. Seeing He has done all of these
things, how then can we doubt He will help us? Yet we do. The Lord is my help. Whence cometh
my help? My help cometh from the Lord.
And yet, why do we doubt this? How can we fail? How can we fail
to call on Him for help? We are snared by sin and our
hearts are cold. We vainly ask this question,
will God help me? Will God help me? In such times, let us lift up
our eyes to Christ by faith and know this, God will help. Is this not His Word? Did not the psalmist find his
help? Did he not have confidence the
Lord was his help? And you too may have the same
confidence the Lord is our help. And notice the psalmist encourages
his soul by pointing to the omnipotence of God, which made heaven and
earth. Just in case you're confused as to which Lord that is. This
is the one who had power to speak the worlds into existence. This is the one that rules and
overrules on all things. So if God intends to be our help,
who can overrule Him? If God is engaged and promised
to help us who are in His Son, what then can stop Him or hinder
Him from helping us? Can you name one thing that will
stop Him from helping you? If He has determined to help
you, what then can stop Him from helping you? I remember back
in the 90s there was this warlord out there in Somalia. The whole
United States was engaged in delivering food to these people. You know what that guy did? He
stopped it. We determined with all of our
military might to give those people food and you know what?
He stopped us. He took that food and starved
those people to death. He thwarted our mighty will,
didn't he? But when God helps His people,
who can stop Him? Dear saint, if you're in need
of help, remember who is your helper. And why is He your helper? Because of Christ. Because of
Christ, He is our helper. And notice what He does to help.
Look at this. He says this, He will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. This is one of the helps. Matter
of fact, you listen to me, this is the main help. Because if
he does this, nothing else matters. If he does this, nothing else
will matter. The promise of keeping and preserving
us, he says this six times in this He promises to keep and
preserve us. This is the greatest need of
the believers, to be kept, to be preserved, so that he should
continue to believe. Now listen, if God refused to
give you all physical things, now just suppose for a moment
that God refused every physical thing you asked for, but gave
you this. What does it matter? If God keeps you in the faith,
and you die in faith, would any of those things that he denied
you matter? This is the most important thing, isn't it? that
He keep us and preserve us in faith. Why? Because faith that
is of God is always preserved. Now, faith is the evidence of
salvation, isn't it? If you believe in Christ, that's
the evidence of your election and your redemption. Well, how
do you know if you have true faith? John chapter 2 you read it later
and John chapter 8 there were it was said this that they believed
they saw the miracles and believed on him and The Lord said this
to them If you continue in my word Then are you my disciples? What was he saying if your faith
is real It will continue The evidence of true faith is this,
it doesn't end. Now, listen, go to Colossians,
look at Colossians chapter 1. Look at Colossians chapter 1
and verse 19, it says, For it pleased the Father that in him
Christ should all the fullness dwell, and having made peace
by the blood of his cross by him, to reconcile all things
to himself by him I say, whether things in heaven or things on
earth, and you, This is what Christ came to do. He came to
reconcile us, make peace by the blood of His cross. And you who
were sometimes alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath He reconciled. What's the proof of that? Look
at verse 22. In the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in sight. Now here's the proof in verse 23. If you continue in faith. Isn't it easy to say that I believe?
How many millions of people confess to believe? Our Lord gives this distinguishing
fact about faith. Everyone who looks up to Christ,
everyone who believes in Christ, they will continue to believe
in Christ. Why? How is it that you continue? Because I tell you, you've been
tempted not to. You've been tried. You've been
tested. You've been tested by the fires
of affliction, troubles, difficulties. Why are you still here? Joanne,
why in the world are you still here? You've been here a while. You've been here, you've been
at this place longer than I have. And yet, why are you still here?
Why are you still come? What is it? It is the promise
of God, your help. He said this, I will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. Why is it not moved? God says,
I won't allow it. Isn't that precious? Isn't that
amazing? With all the storms of this life,
nothing is going to move me. No, I like the way David put
it in another psalm. He said, he said, the Lord is
my rock, I shall not be moved. And then he said this, the Lord
is my rock, I shall not greatly be moved. What does he mean? Look, he could stagger and fall
on this rock, but he ain't gonna fall off this rock. Oftentimes I stagger and I fall
on Christ. But one thing is sure, I will
not fall off. Why? God my helper says this,
I will not allow your foot to be moved. So only true believers then continue
in faith. Isn't that right? A lot of people
pretend. How do you know they're pretending?
Because they don't last. They'll look to Christ, and then
they'll look to Christ in their works. They'll look to Christ,
and then they'll look to Christ in their obedience to the law.
Some will just look to Christ and then totally, completely
go away. Some will say, I'm looking to Christ, but have no fruits
of faith whatsoever, no evidence of it whatsoever. Don't love
the service of God, don't love the worship of God. They live
for themselves, and they say, oh, I'm a believer. Yeah, so
was Lot's wife. Know what our Lord told us? Remember
Lot's wife. One thing about true believers
is this, God will keep them. In 1 Samuel 2, 9 it says, He
will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. Who's keeping
who here? Who's keeping who? Secondly,
consider this. Consider the faithfulness of
your keeper. Look at this in your text. 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. Here the argument is from the
greater to the lesser. We might say he never sleeps
nor slumbers. But slumber is a stronger word. You know why?
Because slumber means dead. That's what it means. When one
slumbers the sleep of death. That's the idea here. Our God
is, what he's saying is this, my helper who has determined
to keep my feet. You listen to this. He's alive. My God is not dead like the other
gods. Over in Isaiah 46, you remember
God distinguishes himself from Baal and Nebo. He said, Baal
and Nebo stooped. The idols were upon the beast. Their carriages were heavy laden,
and they burdened the weary beast. They stooped and bowed down together,
and they could not deliver the burden, but themselves have gone
into captivity. Get the picture. Babylon had
these huge, big gods that they carved, and they put them on
these big wagons, and as Babylon was being captured by the Persians,
right? They put these gods on these
carts, and these cows were pulling these things, and the cows got
so weary that the enemy caught up, captured them, and burned
their gods. And what's the difference between
a false god and our god? You see, our God's not dead. Their God has eyes, we can't
see. He has arms, He can't reach. He has legs, He can't come. You
know, one thing about a false God is this, He has to be carried.
He has to be carried. And in that Psalm 46, you know
what God says? Baal and Nebo needed to be carried.
But listen to this, I carry you. As we look unto God for our help,
remember this, our God is the living God. And our God is the one that carries
us. I ask you why you're here? I
know why you're here. He carried you. You still believe? You know why? He carried you.
He said, I bore You from the womb, and I will carry you even
to gray hairs. This is the promise of our God.
I'm not dead. I'm living. And you know what?
You're not carrying me. I'm carrying you. Doesn't that
take the load off? You're not carrying God. He's
carrying you. Next, notice this, he does not
sleep. What does this mean? It means
that he is consciously aware of everything that is happening
to him. It's not like, you know, I remember
pulling guard duty and man, we were up for like almost, we were
up for like two days. We were so sleep deprived, I
think we got 30 minutes sleep in two days. And we were just
dragging. And I remember having to pull
guard duty. And that was the most unsafe guard duty ever happened. Because I would just close my
eyes. Just a second, I'm going to close
my eyes. And wake up, ooh, five minute was gone. I mean, I slept. He said, no, he don't sleep. He don't sleep. He is very consciously
aware. Your Helper is consciously aware
of everything that is happening to you. And I want you to see this in
verse 5. The Lord is thy keeper. Listen
to this. The shade on that right hand. Now, it's one thing if
He's just aware of everything, right? He's alive and He's aware
of everything that's happening to you. But what if He's too
far? Audrey's in another state and
I worry about her all the time. I worry because I can't get there.
I can't make it. I'm mindful of her. I check on
her, but I can't reach her. God's not like that. God's not
like that. He said He is the shade on your
right hand. How close is that? How close
is that? You listen to what the scripture
says. He is a present help in trouble. Isn't he a present help?
In order to be present, you have to be what? Present. You got
to be there. And God says this, I'm as close
as the shade on your right hand. I want to get this because this
is vital to us. I don't always feel like he's
close. I don't. I love it when I do. I love it when the Lord is able
to give me those feelings of His nearness. And we enter into
a special, sweet communion together. And I pray and it's like He's
right there with me. Like I can fall down and grab
ahold of His ankles. And just hang on to it. I love
those times. But those are so few. We don't always feel this. Sometimes
we feel distant. Like the Shulamite bride. Remember, he came to her and
she rejected him. And you know, he put his hand
to the hole in the door and her bowels were moved. And she comes
to the door and he's gone. And she goes into the streets
and she tries everything to try to find him. Where is he? Where's
my beloved? And remember that person asks
that question and says, well, who is your beloved? And she
began to remember him. And she thought of him, and she
described him, and how beautiful he was. And you know what? The
minute she did that, she said, oh yeah, I know where he's at.
I know where he's at. He's where he's always been.
You know where he's at? He's right here. You think for a moment he's ever
left you? You feel it, but he's never left
you. Didn't he? I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Wrote down this hymn, nearer
so very near to God, nearer I could not be. For in the person of his Son,
I am as near as he. And look at this, the sun shall
not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Listen to this. The afflictions of the sun. In these places that these people
were at, the sun is deadly. We like the sun because we're
in a moderate, temperate climate. Remember what happened to Jonah
when That east wind came and the gourd was smitten. He was
out there, he was in the sun, he said, just let me die. Just
let me die. And listen to this, what God
says, the sun won't touch you unless I tell it to. You walk outside, and if God
were to forbid the sun to touch your skin, it would. He's telling us this, in the
midst of our affliction, it will not kill you. It is not intended
for that. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon. What is this talking about? In
that climate, the night is just as deadly as the day. It's freezing! How often is your heart cold,
indifferent, And yet God promises that He
will not separate the warmth of His love from you. He shall
preserve thee from all evil. Now what does that mean? Listen,
that's exactly what it means. He will preserve you from all
evil. Now you take that as far as you
can. From all evil. I know this, He'll preserve me
from my own sin. Isn't that evil? God says, I'll keep you from
that. Isn't Satan and his designs evil? God says, I'll keep you from
that. What about evil providences?
Yeah, I'll keep you from that too. How is that possible seeing
this, that I have evil providences, Satan does afflict me, my sins,
I often feel my guilt for my sins. How is that true? Because
of this, everything they do is not against you, but for you. The afflictions you face are
not against you. And when they happen to you,
aren't you being preserved in these times? So that what? They won't separate you from
God. I'll preserve you. That word means a hedge. I'm
going to build a hedge about you. They won't ever get to you. You mean the guilt that I feel
won't ever get to me? Nope. What about Satan? Will he ever pull me away from
Christ? No. What about dark providences?
Will they separate me from the love of God that's in Christ
Jesus? No! God said, I, myself, will preserve
you from all evil. And we know this, that all things
then what? Work together for good. And notice this last thing. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. How many
times have we gone out from you? How many times have we strayed?
I've told you this a thousand times because it's just, it's
perfect. That video I saw of that sheep was just amazing. Big old fat sheep stuck in that
ditch. Those men down there digging that sheep out, trying to get
him out, and they put the sheep up on the land, and just as soon
as his foot hit the ground, he jumped right back in the hole.
That's me. That's me. God says this, Even
in that, I'll preserve you. That's not love. I don't know
what it is. Is that not the greatest
thing? The apostle said, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. And notice this, I'll preserve
thy going out, and what? Thy coming in. What happens when you come back?
When you fall? What happens? Is there a probationary
period? You seek forgiveness, and He
said, wait a minute this time, Since when has He ever refused
you to come to Him? When has He ever refused you
to ask for forgiveness? When? Never. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And listen how long
this is going to happen. How long is the Lord going to
be your helper? From this time forward. even forever more. Need help? Where do you look? I will lift up mine eyes to the
hills. I'll see Christ. Whence cometh my help, the Lord
himself is my help. He will not suffer my foot to
be moved. He doesn't sleep. He's not dead.
He's alive. He doesn't slumber. He doesn't
sleep. He knows all that's about me.
He is my keeper. He's as close as the shade on
my right hand. Nothing's going to happen to
me without His divine decree. And nothing is intended for my
ill, but all my good. And He shall preserve me from
all evil. He shall preserve my soul when
I go out, when I come in, and He's going to do this how long?
Even forever more. The Lord Himself is our helper. I pray God will comfort you with
this. Let's stand and be dismissed
and pray. Father began the message by praying
and asking for strength. We pray, Father, and ask for
your word to be declared. We thank you, Father, for what
great things you have done. You have given us strength. You
have given us understanding. I pray by the power of your Holy
Spirit that you would even now quicken the dead, give them life
and faith, and comfort the living. that you have promised to keep
us, preserve us, sustain us, and all because of our union
with Christ. I pray you would keep our minds
and hearts fixed on Him as we journey in this dark and perilous
time. Forgive us our sins. Bring us
again together, we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
and for His sake. Amen.