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. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
psalm, how we thank you for your word, how we thank you for your
gospel, how we thank you for who you are, how we thank you
for the perfect righteousness that you have given every one
of your children, how we thank you for the precious blood, the
sacrifice of your son, how we thank you for his intercession.
Pray that we might be enabled to worship him. We pray that
we might be enabled to hear the gospel and the power of your
spirit. We pray that you would speak to each heart here according
to your will. We pray for those that are going
through trials and difficulties and health. We pray for your
blessing on them. We pray for our families. We
pray for our children. We pray that your word would
Go forth in power wherever it's preached, for Christ's sake.
Accept our thanksgiving, in Christ's name we pray, amen. This psalm has a special place to me. I hope all of the psalms have
a special place to me, but I love this psalm. I remember in 1988,
I got very ill. I was working at the University
of Kentucky. And I had to go through six months. And after
six months, I had to make up my mind whether or not I was
going to go back to work. And I just was conflicted about
it because I didn't know whether the church would be able to support
me. And we were a very small group at the time. And I was
sitting in the backyard of Paul Mahan at the time in March of
1989. The six months were up. And I was looking at the Blue
Ridge Mountains from his backyard, and this psalm came to my mind,
and I thought, it's settled. It's settled. Lord will take
care of me. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help. Now, perhaps he's speaking of
the hill of Jerusalem and the Lord who dwells between the cherubims.
The holy hill of Zion, which is not a geographical location. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy
place? The emphasis is the height of
the dwelling. I will lift up mine eyes to the
hills. The height of this is infinitely
more than the highest height here on earth. I love the way
David continually calls the Lord. This is one of his favorite names
for the Lord. O thou most high. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills. From whence cometh my help. My help comes from the high throne
of his grace. High above all of his enemies. And I need help. I need help. All the time. I'm always poor. I'm always needy. And I need
help. Now that's the state of every
believer all the time. Poor and needy, I need help. I love the scripture, let us
come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to what? Help. In time of need. What time's that? All the time. I will lift up mine eyes to the
hills From whence cometh my help? I love it when the Lord said
to the Syrophoenician woman, and try to put yourself in her
place, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, when she said that, she
said, I'm only sent for, he said, I'm only sent for the elect,
the lost sheep, of the house of Israel. I didn't come to save
everybody. The Lord says that. Now what's
her response? Then came she and worshipped
him. He's to be worshipped whatever
he does with us. Amen, you believe that? He's
worthy of worship. She came and worshipped him,
not knowing if he was gonna give her what she wanted, She came
and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. If I do not have your
help, I won't be helped. Lord, help me. Now here's a prayer that's always
appropriate. Lord, help me. How the Lord has helped every
believer. The Lord's my helper. I will
not fear what man can do to me. The Lord's my helper. Now, I
think of the way he helped me, and I don't understand this,
obviously, but I don't know how he put me in Christ. I don't
know how I'm eternally united to Christ. That is so mysterious,
but of him are you in Christ Jesus. Oh, the Lord helped me.
He put me in his son. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That's help.
How the Lord helped me when he chose me in his son before time
began. Oh, he helped me. How he helped
me when Christ came here as my representative, working out my
righteousness. Help me when he justified me
and made me so I stand before him without sin, without guilt. Perfect. That's the Lord's help. Oh, what help he gives. How he
helped me when he took my sin and put it away and made it to
be no more. How he helped me when he gave
me life. I was dead in sins and he gave
me life. How he helped me. How he helps
me even now as I'm preserved. You know, that word is used in
this psalm six times. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy preserver. He helps me. The reason I'm continuing
the faith right now, the reason I'm looking only to Christ right
now is because he helps me. And oh, I'll realize how much
he's helped me when I stand before his throne dressed in beauty
not my own. When I see him as he thou art, love thee with unsinning
heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then, how much
I owe, how the Lord has helped me. Look what he says in verse
two. My help cometh from the Lord. What a blessing to be able to
say that and believe it. My help, oh, how he's helped
me. And this is, his help is not
like our help. Let me help you out. No, that's
not, his help is him doing everything. My help cometh from the Lord,
the one which made heaven and earth. Now he has creative power. That means omnipotence. That's
who my helper is. The one who spake the universe
into existence. What power there is in this one
who has helped me. My help cometh from the Lord. Now, how many times have you
seen a situation where you would help if you could, but you can't? You lack the wisdom, you lack
the ability, you lack the power, but that's never the case with
him. He has all power to help in whatever
way. And the thing is, we're all called
upon to come to him for our help. Whatever it is. You know, there's
nothing that you can't bring into his presence. Lord, help
me. Help me. Whatever it is, Lord, help me. Cast all your care upon him. All of it. For he careth for
you. Oh, what a helper we have. My help cometh from the Lord,
the one who made heaven and earth. Verse three. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. Now this is a gospel promise.
He will not suffer your foot. Do you know why you won't be
moved? Because you're not gonna let it happen. You're gonna fall. The righteous falleth seven times
a day, the scripture says. You know what that means? All
the time. All the time. I'm glad the Lord
told us that. The righteous falleth seven times
a day, but he is made to get up by the grace of the Lord. You may fall, but you will not
be moved. You see, we have a standing that
we can't be moved from. Philippians 4.1 says we stand
in the Lord. We read in Romans 5.2 of the
grace wherein we stand. We can't be moved. We can't be
taken out of it. In 1 Corinthians 15.1, we stand
in the gospel. 2 Corinthians 1.24, by faith
you stand. See, your foot's not gonna be
moved, because the Lord's not gonna let it be moved. Stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Stand fast in one spirit. We have this promise. He will
not let our foot be moved. When's the last time you fell?
I've done it a few times running in the last, and I don't have
the strength to hold myself up. I feel myself going to the ground,
and you feel so utterly vulnerable, you're getting ready to crash.
But listen to this scripture from Psalm 94, 18. When I said
my foot slippeth, by mercy, O Lord, help me up. Even while I was
in the process of feeling so I'm going down, His mercy held
me up. Your foot shall not be moved. And here's why. He that keepeth
thee will not slumber. Why does a believer persevere? Because he that keepeth thee
will not slumber. If he took his eye off of you
for a second, what would happen? It's over. But he that keepeth
thee will not slumber. And this is one of six times
this word keep is used. This thing of being kept, being
preserved, being maintained by the grace of God. Anybody else
has to sleep sometime, and there are periods when they can't keep
or watch or preserve us, but he never slumbers. Behold, verse 4, he that keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Now, Israel is the church, the
Israel of God. Every one of his people, the
church of the living God, and every member of his church has
his complete attention all the time. Isn't that wonderful? I have his complete attention
when I'm not thinking about it. When I'm thinking of something
else or doing something else, every believer has his complete
attention all the time. He never slumbers. He never sleeps. What a Savior. Verse 5, the Lord is thy keeper. There's the word again. Why are
you going to persevere? Why are you going to continue?
The Lord's thy keeper. You can't give yourself the credit in any
way to any degree. The Lord is thy keeper. What
a keeper He is. The Lord is thy shade. upon thy
right hand. The burning of the sun. This is how carefully he is our
keeper. This is the picture. Does a child know he needs to
stay out of the sun? No. It's up to the parent to
shade them from the sun. They don't have enough sense
to get out of the sun. The parent must shade them from
the sun. Now this is the Lord shading
his people from the sun. Does that mean you won't be burnt? No, you'll be sunburned. But
still we have this promise. He's thy shade upon thy right
hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
night. Now the sun shall not smite thee. That word is also
translated kill. slay, you might get a sunburn.
When you walk through this life, this sin-curse world, there are
going to be the problems associated with that, but it's not going
to kill you. It's going to be for your good. It's not going
to smite you. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. Now, what I thought about, you
all, I'm sure, remember Adam's family. And I remember they would
try to get moon tans. Do you think I ever say we're
trying to get a moon, Dan? Well, the moon's not gonna smite
you. You might get a moon, Dan, but
the moon's not gonna smite you. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. And look at this promise. The
Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. Now, there's one called the evil
one, Satan, who walks about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. And I can tell you right off
the bat, me and you are no match for him. I've heard preachers get over interested in demonology and
demons and devils. I know this much, he's a mighty
being and you and I are no match for him. And we have this promise,
he protects us from the evil one. And we're taught to pray
that. Preserve us, keep us from evil, keep us from the evil one.
lead us not into temptation, keep us from the evil one. But
not only that, this world we're living in is an evil world. Paul called it this present evil
world. And we find that to be the case. We're living in a world that
has no love for God, that has no love for his gospel. It's
a hostile world. You know, this world really isn't
our home, is it? It's not our home. This is not my home. My
home is in glory. And I'm, by his grace, looking
forward to getting out of here. This is a present evil world. Evil because of sin. The biggest
problem I have is this evil one. And the Lord said to his disciples,
listen to these words carefully. The Lord said to his disciples,
if you then, being evil. Now how can he call his disciples
evil? If you got to ask that question,
you're blind. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your Heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him. Now, I need to be preserved from
the evil one. I need to be preserved from this
present evil world. I need to be preserved from this
evil one. When I would do good, and I would,
I would Do good, I would never sin again. When I would do good,
evil is present with me. Now here we have this promise.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. Believe that. Like a little child
trusting his father Take care of him, no worries, no worries. He's promised, the Lord shall
preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. Now, your body is gonna die. Everybody knows that, your body's
gonna die. but that which is his gift should
be preserved forever. And you'll be given a new body
in heaven, a body without sin, a perfect body. Right now, we
have bodies that are affected by sin, but not there, not there. He shall preserve thy soul. And I love this eighth verse,
and I don't even know if I, the Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in. From this time forth and even
forever more, forever. Now, our life was a entrance into
life. September 9th, 1959, I entered
in. And I don't know what day my
going out is yet, but it's already been determined. But in between
then, our lives are a series of Entrances and exits, going
in and coming out, different experiences, different times
in our life. I mean, there's a going in and there's a coming
out. It's going into a trial, coming
out of that trial, going into trouble, coming out of that trouble,
going back into it. I mean, this would summarize
our life, going in and coming out. constant experience of going
in and coming out. That covers everything that takes
place in our lives. Going in and coming out. And
we have this promise, and we might not even be aware of all
these goings in and coming out. What's going on? I don't know.
I had this one preacher, he'd say to me, what's the Lord doing
in your life? I said, I don't know. I don't. I know what he's
done. And that's what I'm, who I'm
counting on, what I'm counting on, what he has done. But what's
going on, I don't know. You know, I always say to people,
what's new? Well, and I always get the same
answer, nothing. I have the same, I have the same, nothing, nothing. You know, it just, going in,
coming out, But here we have this blessed promise. The Lord
shall preserve, shall keep thy going out and thy coming in.
You know, every going out is his will. Every coming in is
his will. Everything I experience is his
will. I wanna know God's will for my
life. You're up to your neck in it. It is God's will for your
life. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. In everything give thanks, whatever
it is, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Now all your goings in and comings
out, he shall preserve you. He brought them on from this
time forth and even forevermore. That means eternally. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time
forth and even forevermore. Isn't that a wonderful psalm?
Love it. Okay.