Turn with me back to Psalm 121. Speaking for myself, it's rare that I can be told something once and remember it. I feel like I typically have to be told things over and over again. We've read this text for scripture reading. It's a beautiful song to be sung. And I pray the Lord would enable me to bring a message from this passage this morning here in Psalm 121.

David starts, he says, I'll lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. There's a number of time in scripture we're told to look up, to look up. Back in Numbers 21, I won't have you turn there, but remember that serpent of brass? Remember the people had sinned against God, and he sent those fiery serpents, and he bit the people, and the people were sick and they were dying. Then God sent the cure. He told Moses, he said, make a serpent of brass, and lifted up, lifted up upon a pole with these instructions, simple, simple instructions to the people. Look and live. Look up.

The publican, I don't know if you remember him, but there he was in his sin and his shame, and he wouldn't even, he wouldn't even raise his head, he wouldn't even so much Look up. But here we read, I'll lift up my head to the hills. I'll look up. I'll look up. Jonah, he was in the belly of that great fish, in the depths of the ocean, surrounded by darkness. And he said this. He said, I'll look. I tell you, when you're low, When you're brought low, there's only one place to look, isn't there? And that's up. He said, I'll look again to thy holy temple. I'll look toward thy mercy seat. I'll look to Christ. I'll look to him.

In Genesis 23, or I'm sorry, 22, look, turn to Genesis 22, verse 13. Genesis 22, verse 13. If you'll remember, remember when God told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac? That was the instruction. He said, you take him and you offer him up as a burnt offering unto the Lord. And Isaac was, he was walking along with his dad and he said, here's the fire. You remember that, don't you? He said, here's the fire and here's the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for a burnt offering? You can't have an offering without a sacrifice. Where is the lamb? And Abraham told Isaac, he said, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

Again, Genesis 22, starting with verse 9, it says, And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and he laid the wood in order. And he bound Isaac his son, and he laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he said, lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do now anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing you've not withheld your son from me, your only son from me. And then look what happened next. Abraham lifted up his eyes. He lifted up his eyes and he looked. What did we just read there? I lift up mine eyes to the hills. That's what Abraham did and what did he see? Look at this. Behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and he took that ram and he offered him up as a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Look up. Isaiah said this, he said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. Where was he? High and lifted up. I'll lift up mine eyes unto the hills. Mount Calvary, there to the Lamb of God, lifted up and exalted. I'll look to Him.

David says, from whence cometh my help? Help. I need help. Oh, I need help. I have a great need for it. I have a constant need for it. I need it. I need it right now. I can't think of a time when I don't need help. There are few directions where we can look for help. There's a few directions we try to look. Would we look to man? Is that where we look? Man's feeble. Man's changeable. Man's unreliable. Man's sinful. David said in Psalm 146, he said, put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. There's no help to be found in man.

In Acts 20 verse 32, Paul said this, he said, now brethren, I commend you. Where would you find help? I commend you to God. I commend you to him and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified, all them that are set apart. Could there be any better instruction? Any better instruction for a true servant of the Lord Jesus to give to the flock of God? Listen, look to Him. Don't look to the law. The law can do one thing. The law can condemn you. The law pronounces each and every one of us guilty. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. We're not to look to ceremony, religious ceremony. That's not what saves a man. We're not to look to ourselves. Looking to ourselves can only do one thing. It just makes us more self-righteous. Listen, don't even look. Don't look to the preacher. Listen. At best, a preacher is a sinner and needs grace. just as we all need. We must have Him. What's the answer then? Lift up your eyes to the hills. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ who has provided all things, all things for His people. He's made unto the believer wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Look to Him and continue to look to Him. Keep looking to Him.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. I must look up. I must look to Him. I must look to the Lord. Let's read on. Verse 2 of Psalm 121. He says, my help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth, His providence, His grace, all things, my help cometh from the Lord.

God's word in Hebrews 4.16, it says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. My help cometh from the Lord in him, And in Him alone do we find help. In Him we find mercy and grace for every need. The Lord, the Lord Jehovah. He said, my help cometh from the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth. He made heaven and earth and all that dwell therein. It was made by Him and it's made for Him.

And as the Lord, he is able to supply all my need according to his riches and the glory of his grace in Christ Jesus. My help cometh from the Lord. He's able to help because God made him. He made Christ surety for us. He's able to help since he has power over all flesh. He can give eternal life to as many as He has chosen, as many as God has given Him. He's able to help because, listen, He promised to. He promised to help.

In Isaiah 41.10, we read, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. God who cannot lie, I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. He's able to help. He's able to help because he's plenteous in mercy. My help cometh from the Lord.

Look at verse 3 of Psalm 121. He says, He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. I've learned something here recently. When the foot slips, the whole body goes with it. When the foot slides, the rest of the body's gonna follow. Maybe you've experienced that. But he says, he will not suffer thy foot to be moved. This is a promise to preserve, to keep. It's the preservation of his people.

Our Lord said this in John 10, 28. He said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Not one of Christ's sheep will ever perish. That's a bold statement, isn't it? Not one. He's not going to lose one. And that's a common mercy to every one of his sheep, every sheep in his flock, to the believer, to those that trust in the Lord. Do you trust him? Do I trust him? Have I put my trust in him? All of it, not just a little, all of it. As Henry used to say, lock, stock, and barrel, all of it in Him.

Those that trust Him, those that have received eternal life shall never perish. Christ Himself promised that. You know, think about this. We go through the Scripture and we see these different men, but you know Noah's fall, that did not alter God's grace. Abraham's weakness, it didn't make God's grace less, did it? Lot's wickedness, wicked Lot, that didn't make him any less righteous in the sight of Almighty God. David's crime, David's crime did not cause him to perish. Peter, Peter denied the Lord. Think about that. Peter denied the Lord, but listen, the Lord never denied him. Salvation is of the Lord. It's all of him and his sheep will never never perish. He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved.

He that keepeth thee, read on in our text, it says, he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. I was thinking about this Some of you have worked a third shift. You've worked through the night. And there's times in there that it is, I'm going to say difficult, it's impossible. About 2 or 3 o'clock rolls around, or 4 in the morning rolls around, and you cannot keep your eyes open. How about a soldier keeping guard, keeping watch through the night? Literally trying to hold their eyes open to keep from falling asleep. How about a mother? Is there any greater love than that of a mother for her child? And that young one's sick through the night, and the mother does everything she can to stay up with that child and just cannot, cannot keep her eyes open.

He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. He's always on watch. He's always on guard. I read a story, and you've probably heard this illustration before, but there was a time when the only way to cross the ocean was on a ship. And there's a story told of a captain in Liverpool And on one voyage, his family sailed with him. They were on that ship with him. And during the night, when everyone else was asleep, a great storm hit that boat and completely turned it sideways. And that boat began to rock back and forth. Everybody inside that ship tumbled and fell out of bed. And the passengers awoke, as you can imagine, in great fear. What's going to happen? Out in the midst of the sea. And many of them even sprang from their beds and just went ahead and put their clothes on. That's how they wanted to be found, dressed. Anticipating the worst.

But the captain had an eight-year-old girl on that ship, his daughter. And she awoke with the other passengers and she asked, what's the matter? What's the matter, the child plead. And they told her a storm had struck the ship. And she had but just one question. Is my father on deck? Is he on deck? And the answer was yes. Yes, your father is on deck. and the little girl dropped her head back on her pillow, and without a fear in the world, she fell fast asleep.

How's that possible? Her father, her father was the one who guided that ship. Oh, that the Lord would give us childlike faith to believe Him, to rest in Him, knowing that he never sleeps, he never slumbers, and that we would never forget that he's on deck. Whatever the storm is in this life, whatever storm this world may bring, our Heavenly Father is on deck. He never slumbers, he never sleeps, he's never exhausted, he's never weary, he's never inattentive. He never closes his eyes on the condition of his people.

Let's read on, verse 5. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. You notice it, just keep references back, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. Listen, he keeps those that were given him by his father, were kept by him. Not one can be plucked out of his hand. He's that keeper and he's able to keep. The Savior is, listen, He's not only willing to save, He's able to save. And He has the power to save. He's thy keeper. What's Scripture say? He's able to keep that which I have committed to Him. The Lord God, the mighty God, He's faithful to him that's appointed him. He's tender and compassionate. And to those that are under his care, those that he keeps as the apple of his eye, his care is diligent. It's constant. It never ceases. He keeps his people night and day, lest any would hurt them. They're his flock. They're his sheep, the sheep of his pasture. And as the shepherd, he watches over and protects and keeps them.

His people are a house, a house that scripture says, unless he's pleased to build, the labor, the builder labors in vain. They're a city which, unless the Lord keeps, the watchman wakes but in vain. It's his church, an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven, who are kept, kept. The Lord is thy keeper, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed. in the last time, kept by His power, kept by His love, kept by His grace. The Lord is thy keeper.

Our text says He's the shade. He's the shade upon thy right hand. If you turn back a few pages in Psalm 91 verse 1, David writes, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the what? The shadow. The shadow of the Almighty. That's a reference to the mercy seat. Under those wings. Under His wings. That word shade, it can also mean shadow. And it means defense. It means protection. One of the old writers said this, God is as near us as our shadow. and we're as safe as his angels.

Let's read on in Psalm 121. Look at verse six. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Two great lights that rule the day and the night. Back there in Genesis 1.16, that God made two lights. the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. You know, both of those are incredibly powerful. Without the sun, there's no life. There is no life apart from the sun. The moon, you know, the Lord made the moon for the seasons. It affects the tides, and those tides are necessary. The seasons controlled by it, the sun and the moon, both amazing, both powerful. One rules the day, the other rules the night, but listen, the Lord rules over both. The Lord rules over all. He's sovereign over all things. Both are under his lordship. And whether we labor in the day or rest in the night, we do so under his care and protection.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. And that word smite, listen to some of these meanings. The word smite means wounded. It means stricken. It can mean this, stripes laid to. His people will not be wounded because he was wounded. That's what God's word says. He was wounded for my transgressions. How about stricken? That word stricken, what's scripture say? For the transgression of my people was he stricken. Smite, it also means to have stripes laid too. It's by his stripes that we are healed. All these speak to the substitutionary work of our Lord and Savior.

Well, let's read on. Psalm 121. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. He shall keep thee from all evil. He shall keep thy soul. This promise, if you look, there's no conditions attached to it. Wouldn't it honor God if we would just simply believe Him? To believe what He says in His Word, to just trust Him, to believe Him and rest on the Lord for Him to perform all these things that He has promised. What do we have to fear? The mouth of the Lord has spoken it. God who cannot lie. His word is immutable. The Lord preserves body and soul. He's the savior of the body as well as the soul. The soul which is, this body is going to pass away, but the soul is eternal.

Listen to just a few words from this hymn. That soul that on the Lord Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul that though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. He shall keep thee from all evil. He shall keep thy soul

Well, quickly, look at verse 8. He says, the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore.

A quick summary. Who? The Lord. The Lord. That's this whole chapter. It's about Him. This whole book is about Him. The Lord. It concerns him. And then he tells us what. What's he going to do? Preserve thee. When? Well, my going out and my coming in from this time forth. How long will he do that? Will he be like us until we grow tired and weary? How long? Will He keep and preserve His people? What's He say? Forevermore.

What are we to do? What is the believer to do? Look back at verse 1. What are we to do? I lift up mine eyes unto Him. Look up. Look to Him. To Him from whence cometh my help. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ.

All right. Isaac, come lead us in a closing prayer.