Psalm 121. Psalm 121. I lift up mine eyes into the
hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the
Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee
will not slumber. He's never sleepy on the job.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper. Notice capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah,
Jehovah, all that he is. He's thy keeper. The Lord is
thy shade upon thy right hand. The Son, shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord is with us day and night.
That's what he's saying there. Day and night, the Lord shall
preserve thee from all evil. Does not say we'll be preserved
from all trials, but from all evil, specifically from the evil
of our sin. He shall preserve thy soul. He shall preserve or save thy
soul. The Lord shall preserve thee.
Those two words there, verse seven, verse eight, preserve,
I looked it up, and it's exactly the same word as keepeth, keepeth,
keepeth. The Lord shall keepeth or preserve
thy going out and thy coming in. Wherever we go, in or out, from this time forth and even,
even, or eternity, forevermore. Now, I'm entitling the message
from the words that's found in verse five. It's really, it's
the theme of what this psalm is all about. The Lord is thy
keeper. The Lord is thy keeper. Do you have a keeper? You have
someone who watches over you, and guides you, and keeps you,
and leads you. Yes, it's the Lord who is the
Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd of the sheep.
The Lord is thy keeper. He's our Savior, and when He
saves us by His grace, you know what He does? He keeps us. He
keeps us. He keeps us by His grace. You
see, we are His property. I could give you a homely illustration.
You have some property and you have some things you own and
you're a keeper of those property, of that property. And that, in
a sense, is the way the Lord has a property, something that
he owns, he purchased, he bought the church with his own blood
and he's going to keep us. We're His. He bought us. The
Lord is thy keeper. Six times it says this in the
psalm. What a wonderful and comforting
and true thought. We're not kept by our doing,
are we? We're not kept by our power.
The Lord who saves us shall certainly keep us and bring us to glory. We are kept by the power of God,
remember? in 1 Peter 1, 5, we're kept by
the power of God. And then we read in 1 Peter 3,
verse 18, that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered once for our
sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
So we are kept by his grace, and then he brings us all the
way to glory, as it says there in verse eight, He shall preserve
us from this time forth and even for a little while longer, evermore. How long is that? As long as
you want to make it. Eternity to eternity. He is our
keeper. He gives us all grace now and
all glory forever. He's called the captain of our
salvation. who brings many sons unto glory. We read a moment ago in John
17, Father, I will that thou also, whom thou hast given me,
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou
hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. You reckon any of his sheep will be lost eternally?
He said, all that the Father hath given to me, they will come
to me, and those that come to me, I will never cast them out.
I believe his word, don't you? Now, I don't understand those
people who think the Lord cannot keep those whom he has redeemed,
those who think they are kept by their own puny and sinful
and rotten flesh, It must be and can be only that they do
not know the true Christ of God. He said, my sheep, hear my voice,
I know them and they follow me and they'll never perish. No
man can pluck them out of my hand. Oh, my father, which gave
them me is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of
his hand. Double security. We're in the hand of Christ and
the hand of his Father. Our life is hid with Christ in
God. This psalm clearly sets forth
that blessed Bible doctrine. We find all through the scriptures
that salvation is of the Lord. Christ alone is all our help,
all our hope, all our happiness, all our salvation, now and forever. Now, people want to argue about
eternal security or everlasting salvation. Well, if God saves
you, he saves you with an everlasting salvation because he obtained
for us eternal redemption. There is no argument. There's no reason to argue about
if a man can be saved one day and lost the next. If God saves
him, and salvation is of the Lord, if God saves him, He saves them forever because
He gives them, what does it mean when He gives them eternal life?
And when He says they'll never perish, that's comforting, is
it not? The Lord is thy keeper. Oh, He keeps us. He keeps us. You see, we belong to Him. We're
His sheep. He's the great shepherd. The
Great Shepherd watches over the sheep. The Great Good Shepherd
laid down His life to save the sheep. And because He saved them
with His precious blood, He's going to keep them saved. Justifies
them with an everlasting salvation. Now look at verse 1, I will by
His grace By his grace, I will, thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills
from whence cometh my help. I think we can read that as a
question. Look at the marginal reference on that. Or shall I
lift up mine eyes to the hills? Whence should my help come? Well,
it comes from the Lord. Comes from the Lord. I will,
by His grace, lift up mine eyes to the hills of His mercy, to
the hills of His love, to the hills of His grace. The lifting
up of the eyes here is a prayer, is a gesture in prayer. It's
an expression of boldness and confidence in prayer and hope
of certain expectation based upon His promise. You remember
what we read just a moment ago in John 17? These words spake
our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, and he lifted up his eyes to
heaven, to the hills, to the hills. Now he's not talking about
looking to these beautiful mountains that surround us here, and they're
beautiful, especially now this time of year with all the colorful
trees. But he's not telling us to look,
lift up our eyes into these natural hills. We look to that holy hill
of Zion. the heels of his mercy, the heels
of his grace. How do we look? With eyes of
faith, the eyes of understanding, being enlightened, looking unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he said in Isaiah
45. That's pretty simple instruction. L-O-O-K. Look. Look. Look unto me, and be ye
saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God, and there is none else. Look to Him with eyes of faith.
The instruction of the Lord unto us is look to Him for help, for
hope, for salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Remember Psalm
27? We're not instructed to look and hear, are we? We're not instructed to look
within. All we see when we look within is what? Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Oh, I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. You see, we don't look in here.
We don't look within. We don't look to our feelings.
That's a sad thing to trust, is it not? Feelings. You remember
what Luther said? Feelings come and feelings go.
Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. So if we don't look within, we
look to Him. God-given faith always looks to the giver of
faith, the author and finisher of faith, looking unto Jesus. Remember Hebrews 12 too? The
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has
sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. These hills
are not physical hills, they're symbolic of the throne of His
grace. Remember Psalm 2, he said, I've
set my king upon my, what? Holy hill of Zion. It's the hill of his sovereign
purpose, the hill of his immutable promise, exceeding great and
precious promises. All the promises of God in him,
remember we studied from 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20, all the promises
of God in him are yes. and in Him, yes, and amen, and
to the glory of God. The hill of His sovereign purpose,
everything God does, He does on purpose. Purpose, predestinating
purpose. It's the hill of His immutable
promises, and the hill of His covenant mercies that are ordered
in all things, and they're sure. Look at verse two, my help, my
help comes from my Lord. My help comes from my Lord. My
help cometh. It's coming. Help is on the way. When you have one of these automobile
wrecks and somebody stops and makes a phone call, what do they
say? Help is on the way. Hold tight. Help is on the way.
My help cometh from the Lord. He's on his way to help his people.
He came from the heavenly glories. You remember we prayed? He said,
Father, I will, that thou be with me where I am. He said,
and now, O Father, thou glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Where
did he come from? The Lord cometh. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them. that were under the law, my help
cometh from the Lord, Jehovah Almighty God, and he is the one
who has all help, he is the one who created all things, he made
heaven, he made the heavens, and he made the earth. Certainly
he can help those poor worms upon the earth, and that's what
we are, worms, helpless worms. with no ability, will, want to,
might, power to do one thing to save ourselves. We're a wiggling,
wretched worm on the dunghill of sin looking to our Lord to
come and help us. My help comes from the Lord. He's the one who made heaven. He's the one who made earth.
The Lord is the creator of all things and the sustainer of all
things. It says that again right across
the page in Psalm 124 verse 8. Our help is in the name of the
Lord. Our help is in the name of the
Lord who made heaven and the earth. There's no help of salvation
and forgiveness of sin from man. Would you look to a man for salvation? Not to any earthly man. We do
look to the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over
here to Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Psalm 146. Put not your trust
in princes, nor in the Son of man, or the Son of Adam, in whom
there is no help, no salvation. Verse four, his breath goes forth,
he returns to his earth. In that very day his thoughts
perish. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, for his salvation, whose hope is in the
Lord his God. The Lord is our helper. You see
what he's saying here? Isn't that a sweet comfort? You
need help? Oh yeah, I need help. My help
coming from the Lord. We trust not the creature, we
trust the Creator. Big difference, isn't it? Our
condition is so desperate due to our sin, the only one who
can help us and save us is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, the Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that
which is lost. Is He able? Able to save to the
uttermost. My help cometh from the Lord.
Now look at verse three and four. He will not suffer or permit
thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee does not
go to slumbering. Behold, he that keepeth Israel,
that's the elect of God, shall neither slumber or, he doesn't
even take a nap. He certainly doesn't go to sleep.
He's never sleeping on the job. The Lord will not permit us to
be moved from the foundation He has established. He will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. Now, have you ever stepped down
on a piece of ice, icy pavement? I've done this several times.
I walked down a step or stepped out of a truck and stepped on
some pavement that had that black ice and didn't know it was there.
And when my foot slipped, when my foot slid, the whole body
went down. Oh, it hurts. When you hit the
bottom step, oh, it hurts. That hurts. He will not permit
the foot to be moved. That means He will not permit
our soul and body to be moved from Him. He is our keeper. Remember that verse over in Deuteronomy
where it describes the ungodly? He said, their foot shall slide
in due time. Our foot never slides, you know
why? It's fastened to the rock. It's fastened to the rock and
to move the believer, turn to Psalm 62. To move the believer,
you gotta move the rock. You gotta move the foundation
that God has laid in Zion. Now if you can move the rock,
I guess you can move the believer. But the believer is fastened
to the rock. He will not permit us. He will
not allow us, our foot to be moved. Nothing can separate us
from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
only is my rock, verse two, my salvation. He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved. Verse five, my soul, wait thou
only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He is my rock, my
salvation, my defense. I shall not be moved. And God
is my salvation, my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge
is in him. Trust in him at all times, ye
people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Our foot shall not be moved.
We are one with Christ. The foundation that he has laid
for us, we're stuck on him. We're one with Christ in that
eternal union. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made one." To move the believer, you've got to move
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is all of our salvation. The Lord
is our keeper. He's never asleep. He never vacates
His post. You remember what Elijah said
to those men on Mount Carmel, those prophets of Baal, when
they cried and jumped up and down from morning till noon and
cut themselves and cried upon Baal, O Baal, hear us. Remember
what Elijah said. Why don't you call a little bit
louder? Maybe your God's sleeping or he's on vacation. You see,
our God never vacates his throne. He never vacates His post. He
keeps us by His holy power. He preserves us by His sovereign
grace. He holds us by His mighty hand. He guides us in perfect wisdom
by His Word through the Holy Spirit. He will never leave us
or forsake us. He will bring us to Himself and
to eternal glory. You remember in the book of Jude
where it says that he keeps us from falling and presents us
faultless before the presence of God's glory with exceeding
joy. Now, that's kept, is it not? He will not suffer thy foot
to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
fail. Will not fail to keep thee. Verse
four, behold, he that keepeth Israel that's the Israel of God,
shall neither slumber nor shall he sleep. Verse 5, the Lord is
thy keeper. The Lord is thy savior, and because
the Lord has saved us, the Lord does keep us. He said, I give
unto them eternal life, and they will never perish. He said, this
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God,
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The Father hath given him
power over all flesh, and he should give eternal life to as
many as the Father hath given to him. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy
right hand. The Lord is not only the Savior
and Keeper, He's our refuge and He's our righteousness. He's
our shade. He's our resting place on a hot
sunny day Where do you seek rest and comfort and refuge? In the
shade, the shade of a tree. The Lord is our Savior and Keeper.
He's our refuge and righteousness. He's able to keep that which
we've committed unto Him against that day. The foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. We are safe and secure under
the shadow of His almighty wings. He is our hiding place. Turn to Psalm 91. Psalm 91. We had this not too many weeks
ago. Psalm 91. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High. Verse 1. He that dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, from the noise and pestilence.
He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shall not be afraid for
terror by night, or the arrow that flyeth by day. The Lord
is thy keeper. He is our hiding place. He is
the shelter in the time of storm. God is our refuge. As the Lord
provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness journey,
with the hovering cloud during the day, the shade from the burning
heat, Even more, does the Lord provide a refuge for us. Christ
is the shelter that we need and the refuge that God has provided.
You reckon it's a good refuge? Absolutely. My God shall supply all your
needs according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ being our protector, he
protects us from the flaming sword of God's holy justice by
bearing our sin away. From the fiery penalty of the
law, he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. From the holy wrath of God to come, he has
delivered us from the wrath of God, having taken the wrath of
God to himself. because of our sin, and the Lord
protects us from the fiery darts of the wicked one. Father, he prayed here, I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that
thou should keep them from the evil or the evil one. Isn't that a blessed thought? That's what the Lord said to
Peter. The Lord said that Peter's Satan
had desired to sift you like wheat, but I pray for you that
your faith does not fail. Look at verse six now. The sun
shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. Christ is our shelter, our refuge,
our salvation at all times, day or night." That's what he's saying
there. Day or night, He's always our
refuge. Wherever we're at, whatever time
of day it is, the Lord is our refuge, day or night. He's ever-present,
His ever-present protection never ceases, never diminishes, but
always is prevailing and present at all times. The heat of the
sun or the coolness of the night are not to be understood literally,
but mystically and spiritually from all harm He protects us
and saves us. Look at verse seven. The Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil. He doesn't say that he'll
preserve us from all trouble. That wouldn't be our real experience,
would it? Man is born of woman, a few days
and full of trouble. Our Lord said in this world you
shall have tribulation. Remember we studied in Acts chapter
14 that Paul said we through much tribulation must enter into
the kingdom of God. But the blessedness of the gospel
is the Lord sends the trouble. The Lord sends the trial and
then he sends us grace for the trial. The Lord shall preserve
thee. from all evil, it will not consume
you and take you away from the Lord. Matter of fact, the Lord
sends troubles in the hearts and lives and afflictions and
trials that are called precious trial into the hearts and lives
of his people, not to drive them away, but to draw them near. When you're in trouble, saving
faith runs through the Lord. False and phony faith will run
away. True saving faith runs to the
Lord in the time of trouble. He shall, the Lord shall preserve
me from all evil. And we can also make reference
to this, from the evil of my sin, He has saved us from the
evil of our own sin. He shall preserve thy soul. Man is made up of body, Spirit
and soul. The Lord has redeemed all three. Our body, he's gonna give us
a new body like unto his glorious body. He saved our soul and he's
given us a new spirit in our heart. God, the Holy Spirit within
us. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. Soul,
body and spirit. If our soul is kept, saved by
his sovereign power, the sovereign power of God, all is kept. It's well, when we sing that
song, it is well with my soul. And we can say that. Why? He
shall preserve thy soul. My soul's eternal. And I need
an eternal salvation for my eternal soul. Look at verse 8. The Lord
shall preserve thy going out, or whether you're coming in.
What did you do this morning when you got up and went out
to work? You went out. When the day was done, what did
you do? You came back in. In our goings
and comings, going here, going there, The Lord shall preserve
thy going out and thy coming in from this time, and we have
just a short time here. Our days are numbered. The number
of our months is with the Lord. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forever and
ever, evermore. He preserves us at all times. The steps of a righteous man
are ordered of the Lord because he has blessed us in Christ abundantly. We shall be blessed forevermore.
They sing the song in glory, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive all honor, glory, blessing and power. He loved
us and gave himself for us and we shall never perish. Matter
of fact, when the Lord is pleased to call a believer home, this
prayer that we read earlier in John 17 verse 24 is answered.
I usually include this in a funeral. I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. That's an answer to the Lord's
prayer. When he takes us home to be with him, the Lord shall
preserve thy going out and thy coming in. And we can look at
it this way too. When we come into this life,
even before we know Him, He knows us. And when we go out of this
life, to be absent from this body is
to be present with the Lord. The Lord shall preserve thy coming
in and thy going out from ever and ever and ever. Isn't that
a good psalm?