Five years ago, this month, in
the middle of the night, the phone rang. It was my mom. She and dad were on vacation
in Western Canada. She called to tell me that my
dad had had a major, or what we found out, we kind of figured
probably was, a major brain bleed. And while we were on the phone,
the paramedics came, and I asked her, don't hang up, just set
the phone down. And I heard everything going on. And based on what I
heard, I was sure I'd never see him alive again. I was very confident,
at the very least, if I did see him alive again, I'd never see
him conscious. We'd never talk again. And I hung up the phone. I looked at Janet, and I asked
her, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And with some wisdom, she
said, you're going to look to Christ. You're going to depend
on Him, and He's going to bring you through this. And He did.
You know those MasterCard commercials, priceless? It's priceless to
have a wife with a little bit of wisdom. That was very, very
helpful. That was a wonderful answer.
Well, we began to make arrangements to make the trip to Canada, Jonathan,
Becky, and I. And on that trip, I thought about
her answer. And what came to my mind is this
Psalm 121. I'll lift up mine eyes into the
hills from whence cometh my help. That's five years ago. Very shortly
after that event, I preached from this Psalm five years ago.
And when John asked me to preach, I'd been looking for a text.
And I came to this, and I thought would be an appropriate time
to preach from it again. Just in the past few days, Dolores
lost her husband. Andrea and Judy lost their father.
Ron lost his father. Julie lost her grandmother and
her grandfather. Sue lost a sister. We've had
several people sick and hurting. We've seen more inside of hospitals
in these past few months than you want to see in years. And
I just thought it might be appropriate to look at this psalm again.
Maybe we'll find some comfort from it, like the first time
I went through it. I found some help in it this
week, and Lord willing, we will again. So, Psalm 121. David writes in verse 1, I will
lift up mine eyes unto the hills, for whence cometh my help? Now,
I'd been thinking about this psalm, and it came time to come
home all, and Becky flew home with Dad in the air. And Jonathan
and I drove their car home. We had to drive all the way from
Western Canada. It took us three days, nearly. And we were driving, I mean,
we drove. And we were about sick of it.
And we came across beside, right beside the road we were on was
the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. And we were sick of
being in that car. And we said, let's pull off the road and see
what we can see. So we pulled off. And the plate was closing,
but we got to look around a little bit. And the terrain there was
very, very hilly. And the grass had grown tall.
And Jonathan said, look at this. He said, you could hide hundreds
of people behind that hill over there. You'd never know they
were there. So I went home and looked on
the internet. And that's pretty much exactly what happened to
Custer. He came and prepared to charge into that village.
And it was much larger than what he thought, because they were
in those hills. And he went to one end, he sent part of his
command to the other end, and they were going to charge in
and meet in the middle. And in the meantime, Crazy Horse
made a movement around him in those hills and caught Custer
and their crosshairs, slaughtered every one of them. And there
was a man, Custer's command, Captain Benteen, and he left
him back in those hills. And he sent command to Benteen
to come quick. Now Benteen, as I read, didn't
like General Custer and he wasn't going to stick out his neck for
Custer. And he didn't do it. He stayed put. Never did come
help him. Now I just imagine Custer's men
kept looking to those hills, thinking any minute, because
this is the cavalry. I mean, they're the cavalry.
Surely they thought our buddies in the cavalry are going to ride
over that hill any minute. And they never did. Now that
is the opposite of the way it is for God's children. You never
look to the hills from whence cometh our help and not see the
Lord coming. Every time, we look confidently
and expectantly because of who we're looking for. The Lord Jesus
Christ will never fail His people. He'll never fail to be there
when we need Him. Now we look to the hills, David
says. Now we don't look, there's a
lot of hills we don't look to. We don't look to the hill of
the law, Mount Zion. Because all we're going to find
there is death. We'll find there what Custer found. We're not
going to look there. We're going to look to Mount Zion, God's
holy hill. Look at Psalm 2. You know, we
look to the hills. David says we look to the hills.
We're not looking to a grass covered hill. We're not looking
to a place. We're looking to a person. I'll
show you that in Psalm 2. We're looking to Christ. Psalm
2, verse 6. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. I've set my King, I've set my
anointed on my holy hill of Zion. We're not just looking to that
hill. We're looking to God's anointed. We're looking to the
King. We're looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we're
looking to. We're looking to Christ. We look
to that hill of Calvary where Christ accomplished the great
work of putting away the sin of his people. See, that's where
we find help. That's where we find comfort
in who He is and what He did for us. That's who we're looking
to, the Lord Jesus Christ. You look into God's Word, you
look to the hills of the great truths of Scripture. Look to
the attributes of our God. He's eternal. He's immutable. He's omniscient. He's omnipresent. He has all power. There's nothing
too hard for Him. You're not going to find yourself
in a fix like Custer did. Somebody can't come help him.
You know, Bentine wouldn't and probably couldn't have helped
him. Our God always has the power to help. There's nothing too
hard for Him. We look to the hill of His electing love, His
eternal electing love for His people. We look to the precious
promises of God's Word. We look to the covenant of grace
that's ordered in all things and sharing. We look to the past
faithfulness of the Lord. He never has failed you in the
past, has He? Well, He's immutable. Then He's not going to fail you
now. He's not going to fail you in the future. We look to those
hills. We look to the person that God
set on the hill in full assurance of faith. Full assurance. Because
look what David says here in verse 2. He says, My help cometh
from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. My help cometh, David
says. It never fails to arrive on time
when help's coming from the Lord. He's a very present help in time
of trouble. Look over at Psalm 46. See, our
comfort comes in who we're looking to. We're not looking to that
unreliable Captain Mendheim. He wasn't reliable. We're looking
to the Lord. Psalm 46, verse 5. is in the midst of her. She shall
not be moved. God shall help her and that right
early. He'll help her right early because
He's already there. He's not coming from a great
distance from over the hills and dales. He's in the midst
of her and He'll help her right early. He's not far. He's never
far from His people. And David says it's the Lord
who's our helper. Jehovah. God my Savior, the One
who undertook to be my Savior, is our Helper. He didn't just
save you and leave you alone. He didn't just pay your sin debt
and then forget all about you. Our Savior, the One who loved
us to the extent that He would give Himself for us, is our Helper. The One who never fails, the
One who never tells a lie, is our Helper. He's faithful, that
promise. But He's promised help. He'll
be there. You can bank on it. And our Helper is sovereign.
Nothing's going to come up that will prevent Him from helping
us because He's sovereign, in control of all things. He sits
on His throne of grace. And we look to Him. The King
that God set on His holy hill, we look to Him. That's the throne
where we come boldly, where we may find grace to help in times
of need. That's who we're looking to.
And I'll give you The example of all examples, the best illustration
of our help coming from the Lord. The Father sent his Son into
this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. He sent the
Savior to take care of our problem of sin, sin that separated us
from the Father. And He bore that sin away. He
was made sin for His people and He completely removed that sin
through His sacrifice. Now no matter what other problem
we have, and there's going to be a lot of them, I'm not downplaying
those problems and the trials and tribulations that come up.
But no matter what the problem, you'll never have another one
as great as the problem of sin. Where our Savior took care of
this problem, He'll take care of all the minor ones too. He's
able. And then look at the power of
our Helper. Who He is. Because this is where
we find comfort in who we're looking for. Our Helper made
heaven and earth. Our Helper is none other than
the Creator. He dwelt alone. Nobody but God. And He spoke. He spoke the world
into existence. He spoke the dry land into appearance. The world is covered with water.
God spoke. Caesar just went back and stayed
in their place. Just at the power of His Word.
God spoke and the sun and the moon and the stars appeared and
they all stayed in their orbits. Just at the power of His Word.
God spoke and plants started to grow. God spoke and there
were the animals grazing in the plants. He spoke and they appeared. The One who spoke everything
into existence by the power of His Word is our Helper. He'll
use that same word, that same power to speak peace to your
heart. And he'll do it by his word,
by his written word. And when it's broken, he can
bind it up. He made it. It's his. Our help
cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. Verse 3, you'll
not suffer thy foot to be moved. Now look back at Deuteronomy
32. Now these promises, this psalm is
written to believers. This promise is not made to everybody
in the whole wide world. This is made to God's children.
Deuteronomy 32, verse 5. Now, I've written down the wrong.
I looked at that this week. Today, what am I doing? Verse 35. Verse 35. To me belong vengeance and recompense. Their foot, and he's talking
about the wicked, their foot shall slide in due time, for
the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that
shall come upon them make haste. See, this promise is not to everybody
now, but it's to you. It's to God's people. It's to
His children. Your foot. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. Your foot won't be moved because
He won't suffer it. He will not allow it. The believer
will never be moved away from our safety. Because He won't
allow it. Our feet won't move because our
feet have been set on Christ, the eternal rock. And that's
such a comfort. Because we go through this life,
and I'm telling you, frequently, it's a narrow path. It's a slippery
path. It's a rocky path. It's tough
footing. It's tough going. And your feet
will occasionally slip a little bit, but you won't lose your
footing and slide away. You're not going to fall off
now. What did David say in Psalm 73? He said, my feet were almost
gone, almost, but they didn't fall away. My step said, well,
nice lip. And they would have, if God hadn't
held me up. Look back to Psalm 37. You'll
not suffer thy foot to be moved. He won't allow it. Psalm 37, verse 23. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. That's why he won't fall away.
The Lord won't allow it. Look at verse 30. The mouth of
the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
The law of his God is in his heart. And none of his steps
shall slide because the Lord is upholding him. He will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee, says in
verse 3, will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. Now our God is so much better
than the idols of man. You remember the story of Elijah.
Those false prophets were at the top of Mount Carmel and they
were crying for their idol to send fire to fall on the sacrifice. Nothing happened. Elijah started
making fun of them. He's poking them. He says, well,
boys, he said, cry a little louder. Maybe your God's asleep and you've
got to wake him up. Elijah knew his God's not asleep.
He never slumbers or sleeps. One of the writers said, our
God keeps us like a mother keeps her child, or a rich man keeps
his treasure. Now, I suppose that's good, but
I'm telling you, he keeps us a whole lot better than that.
Because a mother, much as she loves that baby, she might not
often fall asleep. I mean, she's only human. The
rich man, he may do everything he can to keep his treasure,
but he could lose it all in a fire, or a hurricane, or a stock market
crash, or something. He could lose it all. But the
believer is safe because our great shepherd of the sheep watches
over his sheep night and day. He doesn't have to take us and
put us in the sheep pen so he can go to the hotel and get some
sleep at night. He never turns us over to someone else so he
can get some sleep. His watchful eye is always open
and upon his people. He's watching. And we're never
such a burden that our keeper will fall asleep from exhaustion.
You know, there's been some times I've tried to stay awake all
night. I did some in college. I don't know how productive it
was, but I did it. I've done it at work a few times,
you know, worked a 30-some hour shift. Don't know how productive
I was at the end, but I could say I did it. You know, everybody
else went home, I didn't. But buddy, when I went home,
I'm telling you, I was out. If I had wanted to go longer,
my body would not have allowed it. You don't want to sleep,
but your body finally just quits. That's how soldiers can fall
asleep in the foxhole. The exhaustion sets in. But never
our keeper. His attention doesn't even become
dull because he's sleepy or he's tired. I read an article at work
today as a magazine for entrepreneurs. I picked it up because this article
about sleep deprivation and entrepreneurialism struck me. And it was cautioning
people, entrepreneurs and people at work. Do not work consistently
sleep deprived because you'll make bad decisions. Things will
be right out in the open and obvious and you'll miss them
because you're just so sleep deprived. Never, our Lord. He doesn't even slumber. He doesn't
even close his eyes and take fuzz off because there's never
any. Always on his eyes, on his people. I read a story. This was from Spurgeon. I read
this story of a woman years ago in an eastern country and they
still had the sultans. And she came to the sultan. She
wanted the sultan to restore her life savings because she'd
lost it all. And the sultan asked her, well, how'd you lose? How'd
you manage to lose your life savings? And she said, well,
I fell asleep. And a thief broke in and stole
everything I had. And the sultan said, well, then
why did you fall asleep? And she said, I went to sleep
because I believed you were awake. He liked that answer. He restored
everything she had. We sleep peacefully because our
God never slumbers. You can go to sleep believing
He's awake. He's awake and He's in control. David says the Lord is thy keeper. He's in the past talked about
the Lord being the keeper of Israel, but now he gets personal,
doesn't he? He says the Lord's thy keeper. The Lord keeps each one of his
sheep just as if they were the only one. The only sheep he had,
and he'll never lose one. Look at John 17. The Lord's thy
keeper. How does he keep his people? John 17, verse 12. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition
that this scripture might be filled. I've kept every one that
you gave me, and none of them is lost. And if the Lord's your
keeper, you fit in that category. You'll never be lost if the Lord's
your keeper. David goes on, verse 5, it says,
The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Now shade, this word
shade, sometimes means defense. As it's translated, sometimes
it means defense. Why is he just defending you
on the right side? What about the left side? Well,
David's a warrior. He's using this as an illustration.
A soldier fights with his right hand. He's got his sword or his
spear or whatever he's fighting with in his right hand. His shield's
in his left hand. So that left side's more defended
than the right side when he's out there fighting. And what
he's saying is the Lord is going to protect the side that's vulnerable. We're vulnerable all over. We
don't have a defended side. We're wide open. There's no soundness
in us. There's nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. But our Lord, the keeper of his
people, he defends the defenseless. He's the helper of the helpless.
Scripture talks about him protecting us round about. He encampeth
round about them, protecting us on every side. Now shade also
means what we think of when we hear shade, a cool spot in the
shadows. He lived in a hot desert country,
and shade is a very important thing to be able to find there.
Well, our Lord's a shady spot that we can find in the heat
of trial. Look over at Isaiah 32. Isaiah
32, verse 2. And a man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
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." He is our shadow that we can
hide in from these storms of life. But more importantly, the
Lord Jesus Christ is the shade from the heat of God's wrath.
God's wrath, His fiery judgment that should have fallen on us,
that we deserve to have fallen on us, Christ stepped between. He stepped between God and sinners. And when that fiery wrath of
God's judgment fell, it fell on our substitute. It fell on
our helper. It fell on our keeper. And it
burned him up. But He provided a shady place
for us to hide in. And we're preserved in Him. Now,
verse 6, David says the Son So not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night. Now I'm familiar with a sun stroke. I have a daughter that's very
susceptible to heat and she can't, you've got to be careful about
that. Well you have a sun stroke because your brain is damaged
because it's too hot. The sun is just too directly
on you and you have too much heat and you have a heat stroke.
Well the believers are protected from that. We just read about
the Lord being our shade on our right hand. What's he talking
about here? He says you're protected. The
moon won't smite thee by night. Well, this is interesting. In
these eastern countries, people sleeping outside are careful
to cover their face from the moon. I don't know if the moon's
stronger there or what, but this is what they're careful to do,
to cover their face. Because if not, frequently, the
side that's exposed to the moon, they'd be blind in that eye in
the morning. Or their face will be drawn up, or that side of
their body become numb. They have an effect like a stroke.
Now, I don't understand that, but that's what people who know
what they're supposed to be talking about say. Well, I understand
a sunstroke. I've heard of that. I understand
that. I understand how that happens. I've never heard of a moonstroke
before. Well, the Lord protects us. He keeps us from the things
that we understand and the things we don't understand. There's
things that happen. I don't understand that. The
Lord protects us from it. He protects us from the things
that we've heard of. And He protects us from the things
we've never heard of. He's our Keeper. And we're safe
from all of our enemies day and night. We're safe from those
enemies that we see coming at us in the light of day. And we're
safe from those enemies that are sneaking up on us under the
cover of darkness. Now, we tend to be more scared
at night. You know, we're scared of what
we can't see We're scared of what we imagine is out there.
That's typically our problem. We're scared of what we imagine
is out there in the dark. You ever notice there's never
a monster under the children's bed in the day? It's just at
night time. That's when the monsters come
out. Because it's night. We're afraid of what could be
out there. Well, look at Psalm 139 over just a few pages. Psalm
139, verse 7. Whither shall I go from my spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I stand up into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hieth not from
thee, but the night shineth as the day, and the darkness and
the light are both a light unto thee." We might have trouble
seeing in the dark, but not our keeper. The darkness is just
as light to him, and we're protected. But do you know what? That's
not what we deserve. Not at all. So I'll show you
why we enjoy that blessing, being protected both day and night.
Look back to Psalm 22. We don't deserve a blessing like
this, so why is it that we're protected both day and Psalm
22, verse 2. This is the psalm of the cross.
We read that our Lord quoted as He hung there on the cross.
And these are His words in verse 2. Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. And in the night season, and
am not silent. I cry in the day, you don't hear.
I cry in the night, and the answer is silence. Christ our substitute
was cut off. He was cut off in the day and
He was cut off when the sun refused to shine. He was cut off in darkness.
So that we, the people He died for, are protected and preserved
and loved and heard both day and night. So you look to Him.
Now verse 7 in our text, Psalm 121. The Lord shall preserve
thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. Now
really, this should have been translated, the Lord shall keep
thee from all evil. This word preserve is the exact
same word that's translated keep in every other part of this psalm.
I don't know why the translators changed it. The Lord shall keep
thee from all evil. He'll keep thee from falling
into all sorts of sin and evil. Now that doesn't mean He's going
to keep you from never sinning. It doesn't mean that He's going
to keep you from feeling the effects of sin. Because we're
sinners. That's why the sickness and the
death and the trouble we experience in this flesh, because we're
sinners. So you're not going to be free from feeling the effect
of sin. But sin won't have dominion over
you. That's what Scripture says. And He'll keep you from evil.
From the evil one. Now Satan will tempt. He'll poke
at you. He'll roar at you. But you won't
fall prey to him. Because our keeper won't let
him. Just like Peter. He might shift you like wheat, but He
can't have you. Because the Lord has prayed for you. Your Keeper
is protecting you. And while we're in this world,
evil things happen to us. Things we don't think are fair.
And it's not just that we don't think they are, they're not.
But they're evil and they're going to happen to us. Trials
and troubles come. And to us, they're evil. To our way of thinking in this
flesh, they're evil. But you know something, someday,
eventually, is going to kill this body. It is. But that thing,
whatever it is, you know, we hear we've got cancer. Well,
that's an evil thing. I mean, to me, that'd be evil
if somebody told me I had cancer. I'd envision this evil thing
in my body. But that thing, whatever it is
the Lord chooses, that kills this body, to God's children,
is a blessing. Because what does Scripture say?
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Well, whatever makes me absent from this body then is a blessing.
It's not evil, right? Because whatever takes me from
this body puts me in the presence of the Lord. That's a blessing.
That evil thing is not going to touch you. It might touch
your body, but it won't touch you. It won't do it. your soul. And if your soul is
kept, everything is kept. What does the Lord say? For what
is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his
soul? For what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? You can't put a price on the
value of your soul. And if your soul is kept, everything
is kept. This body is going to go back
to the dust. But the Lord is going to keep
your soul. He'll keep the soul of His elect. Well, just how safe are you?
How safe are God's people? Well, they are eternally secure
because of who our Keeper is. Now, there are times we read
in Scripture that the Lord gives angels charge over thee. And
people love to talk about, oh, I've got this angel guarding
me, and angels and angels hear them all the time. Well, He does
do that. That's what Scripture says. But
when does He send His angels to have charge over thee? To
bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." He'll
send the angels to protect your body. When it comes to protecting
your soul, the Lord himself, personally and alone, keeps the
soul of his elect. He takes that job to himself.
Because he's the only one who can keep it. He'll keep your
soul. Verse 8, the Lord shall preserve by going out and by
coming in, from this time forth and even forevermore. To the
child of God, no matter where you are, no matter where you
go, you are under God's preserving grace. Tomorrow morning, we'll
go out to work. The Lord's the keeper of that
door. In the evening, we'll come home. The Lord's the keeper of
the door. We go out when we're young. Go
out into life. Our little one's going out into
kindergarten. I just sent another one off to
college. It's another step, you know, going out there to college.
The Lord's the keeper of the door. It's alright. And then
they come home. Eventually, in old age, we come
home to die. The Lord's the keeper of the
door. And He's been your keeper that whole route. When you go
out in the morning and you come home in the evening. When you
go out when you're young and you come home when you're old,
the Lord's been the keeper the entire route. And this preservation, this keeping,
is eternal. Now, David says, from this time
forth and even forevermore. Well, to what I can understand,
it's from this time forth and forevermore, but I'm telling
you, it's eternal. It didn't just start today. It started
eternity past. God the Father and God the Son
struck hands in a covenant of grace. Christ agreed to be your
keeper. It's eternal. He's kept you from
eternity to eternity. Forevermore. Never a moment that
you'll stand alone. He's always been your keeper.
In this psalm, three times David said the Lord will be our keeper.
He'll keep us. Three more times he writes the
Lord will preserve his people. And really all six of those times
it's keep. He'll keep his people six times. In eight verses, he
said, the Lord's going to keep you. I'm always very interested
in things Scripture repeats, because that's the way I learn.
It's got to be repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated. I'm slow
at learning. Well, the Holy Spirit repeats these things, so we'll
learn. The Lord will keep you. He repeats
them, so we're reminded in the turmoil of the trial when everything
just doesn't seem very clear, we'll remember the Lord. will
keep thee." Spurgeon said no one is ever safer than the person
that God keeps and no one's in more danger than the person trying
to keep himself. And we don't like trials, but
the Lord sends these trials for our good, to teach us something,
to teach us something about ourselves, our own weakness, our own need
to be kept. And we learn that We're awful
thankful the Lord's our keeper. We're awful thankful somebody
can tell you, look to the Lord. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Depend
on Him. And He will keep you. There's
a quote from an old psalm I read. It said, God has not led me so
tenderly thus far to forsake me at the very gate of heaven.
And He won't forsake you anywhere along the journey either. At
no point. He won't do it, we'll ask Him. Alright, if Mike's got
the voice left, we're going to sing this song, Psalm 121. Looks
like he does, that's good. We were writing to take Holly
up to school Sunday, and Saturday night I've been looking at this
psalm, and Ethel mentioned this psalm. She talked about liking
this psalm that Frank Sweeney put to music. She didn't know
I was playing this, so that's what we're going to sing.