I will lift up mine eyes. The natural man would have us
keep our eyes cast down on our sorrows, on our troubles, on
our pains. I will lift up mine eyes, but
the guilt of sin would have us look down like the publican in
the temple, who would not so much as lift up his eyes unto
heaven. But David said, I will lift up
mine eyes. Not my works, mine eyes of faith. Not my my hope in Christ. Not a catalog of my deeds, but
just my eyes, looking unto Jesus. I will lift up mine eyes, look and live, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. I will set my affection my mind
on things above where Christ reigns and intercedes for us.
I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, not these eastern Kentucky
hills, and not the majestic mountains
of the Appalachians, smoky mountains, nor the holy, so-called holy
hills of Jerusalem. nor to those in power and prominence, but I will lift up mine eyes
to the throne of God." That's what Jonah said even in
the belly of the fish. I will look again toward the
temple. And when he had what, he didn't
know what direction even to look. He was in the darkness. The bars
closed about him, seaweed around his head. He called it hell,
the grave. But somehow, someway, I'm going
to look, he said, to that temple where the blood is put on the
mercy seat for sinners like me. I'm going to look unto the hill
of the Lord. And that's what the throne of
God is called. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills. Now verse 2. From whence cometh
my help? My help. The scripture says,
let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive
grace and mercy to help. Help. I was reading a psalm the
other day. See if I can remember where I
was reading it. Psalm 12. Listen to this. You know how it starts? Psalm
12. Help, Lord. Help. Help. The godly man ceases. The faithful fail from among
the children of men. This is our day. They speak vanity
every one with his neighbor. Look at verse 8. The wicked walk
on every side. and the vilest of the sons of
men are exalted. Help! I will lift up mine eyes to the
throne of God from whence cometh my help, my help cometh, and
I've told you this so often, from the capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D, that's one person, Jehovah. The Lord
Jesus Christ, God my Savior, my help cometh from the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ, salvation
is of the Lord. Come thou fount of every blessing. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. It please God that in him should
all fullness dwell. My help cometh from the Lord. And listen how he identifies
him. He's the one who made heaven and earth. He made heaven and earth and
all that dwell therein and the fullness thereof. So he's able to help me. I will
lift up mine eyes. under the heel of the Lord, from
which cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord
who made heaven and earth. He's able to supply all of my
need according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.
He is able to help not only because he made heaven and earth and
has the power, but he is able to help because he was appointed
of the Father to be our help. God the Father made him our surety,
mercy and grace flowed from his lips. He's able to help since
he has all power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as God had given him. He is able to help because he
promised to help and he's plenteous in mercy. Verse 3, and he, our Lord, will
not suffer thy foot to be moved. Thy foot to be moved. Think about
that a minute. If the foot slips and moves,
the whole head, body, and everything foot moves. If the foot slips
off the rock, the whole person goes down. If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquity, who would stand? Who could stand? The paths of this life are dangerous. They're difficult. They're slippery.
Who can walk and not fall? The lives of those who live before
us are marked with many slips and stumbles and missteps. Wherein do we differ? But he
promises the Lord our help who made heaven and earth, he will
not suffer thy foot to be moved. Moved from where? Moved from
off Christ the rock. Moved away from this gospel Brother
Walter just preached to us. The gospel Paul declared. The
gospel of Christ who died for our sins according to the scriptures.
Who was buried and rose again according to the scriptures.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved from Christ, from the
gospel, from the house of God. David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. He
will not suffer thy foot to be moved from his fold, from his
covenant, from his care, from his kingdom, from his book of
life. I gave this illustration one
time, I think it's a good one. When I was on a ship in the Navy,
we'd come into a port and we wouldn't go into close to the
land, we'd anchor out away from the shore, drop the anchor, the
rear anchor, huge huge, heavy, powerful anchor, let it down
on this chain, big as your arm or bigger, and it'd go down and
set, and it'd set. Then you'd pull your ship forward,
and that anchor would lock. As that anchor was drawn in,
and the ship secured. And there it sat for days. But
the ship would drift around, it'd turn different ways, it'd
be facing this way and facing that way and this way, but it
never moved from that secure foundation. And that's the way,
I believe what he's saying here, when we stand in Christ, with
Christ, on Christ, this is a faith only God can give, this is a
blessing only God can convey. Though we change and grow older
and have different experiences and we're knocked this way and
that way from various things, our feet resting on Christ never
move. I shall not be moved, he said,
of Christ. Never move. He that hath begun
a good work in you shall finish it in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He puts you in Christ, and when He comes for you, you'll
be found in Christ, anchored. See, our anchor is not hanging on a rock at the bottom
of the sea. Our anchor is within the veil.
That's where it is. That's where we're anchored.
Where Christ, our forerunner, has already gone, and is seated,
and we're seated in Him. And that's, He'll not suffer
thy foot to be moved. not do it. And then he says,
he that keepeth thee will not slumber. He's the keeper of the
sheep and he never naps. He never is taken away from his
fold. His attention is never diverted. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. He's the keeper of the sheep.
He keeps them in His hand. He feeds them. He preserves them.
He will bring them to God. He'll never close His eyes on
them or toward them. Lo, I'm with you always, even
to the end of the earth. Now, He keeps us when we sleep.
when we sleep. It says here in verse 4, behold
he that keepeth Israel, he never slumbers and never sleeps. Someone
said a soldier may fall asleep on guard duty and cause great
traumatic things to happen. A ship's crewman may fall asleep
at the wheel and cause the ship to go on the rocks. A mother
may because of weariness fall asleep and fail to give a sick
child medicine, but our God never slumbers and never sleeps. He's never unaware of his own,
but he's always with us and he's always in command and control. I read a story Spurgeon told
about a the captain of a ship, they had sailing vessels in those
days back when Spurgeon preached in 1860 and 70 and 80. He called
the man's name, I don't remember what it was, Captain something.
And he said he was going to make a voyage and he invited his wife
and his two sons to go with him on this particular voyage in
the sailing vessel of which he was the captain. Been a captain
a long time, sailed the seas many years. One boy was about
14, one about 16. And they set out to sea and late
that night a storm swept over the ship. It was being tossed
about. And the mother came to the bunks
where the boys were sleeping. She awakened the older boy and
got him up. And then she woke up the young
boy and she said, wake up son. And he said, why mother? She
said, because there's a storm at sea and we must get up and
be prepared for whatever may take place. He said, is my father
up on deck? Oh yes, she said, your father's
on deck. He said, then I'll go back to
sleep because everything's alright. My father, that's what it says
here, the Lord is thy keeper. the Lord is thy keeper and he
never slumbers nor sleeps. In verse 5, and the Lord is thy
keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Here are
two words here, keeper and shade. The Lord is the keeper and the
Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The titles of our Lord,
this is a title, he's a keeper and he's a shade upon our right
hand. The titles of our Lord are virtually
promises. Every title, now think about
this a minute. Every title he takes to himself and here he
takes two. He says the Lord Jehovah God
is thy keeper and the Lord Jehovah is thy Christ Jesus is thy shade. upon thy right hand. Every title
he takes is virtually a promise. Father, all the promises contained
in that, the everlasting father. Shepherd, all the promises contained
in that word shepherd. High priest, all of the promises
contained in that. Substitute, redeemer, And here,
keep her. And when he prayed that prayer,
Holy Father, I have kept those that you gave me and none of
them is lost. That's a promise. I have kept
them. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never, never
perish. He's our keeper, our keeper. And then our shade, well in those
eastern countries, I don't know a whole lot about the awful heat,
the power of the sun in those countries, but the burning sun,
one writer called it, a shade is of the greatest value out
in that burning, burning sun and desert in those eastern countries.
And that's what he's saying here. And throughout the word, it talks
about Christ being the shadow of a rock in a weary land. He's our shade, covering, comforter at thy right hand. And then verse
six, the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by
night." Two great lights rule the day and the night in the
universe, two great lights, the sun by day and the moon by night. And none but the Lord can shelter
us from the power of those two great lights. I won't tell you all the things
I read about the moon, but some of the reliable ministers
of the 18th century, 19th century, talk about the power of the moon. Upon the mind, upon the body,
you'd have to read some of these things that these A person who
was mentally deranged was called a lunatic. And one writer said that when
men at sea would fall asleep under the moon, with their faces
toward the moon at night, the captain would come wake them
up. They had those feelings about two great lights. One rules the
day, rules, absolutely, it's a great, the sun and the moon
that has a powerful force upon this earth, on the tides, on
a whole lot of things now. I'm not going off somewhere,
don't be alarmed, but the moon, it's mentioned here, he said,
the sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. And these tremendous forces that
rule the day and rule the night do not rule you. He does. Turn to, just for a moment, Psalm
139. Psalm 139. Verse 7, Psalm 139. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high, I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee
from thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in the grave,
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 and keep me.
If I say, well, surely the darkness will cover me, even the night
will be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, and the night shineth as a day. The darkness and the
light are a light to thee, my keeper, my shade, my protector. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. And then these last two verses. The word preserve is used in
three times. He shall, verse 7, preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thee. This
is not a promise to every son of Adam. This is a promise to
his people. This is a promise to his sheep.
This is a promise to those for whom he is the keeper and the
shade and the Jehovah Savior. He'll preserve thee from all
evil, which includes everything and excludes nothing. All evil. All evil, great and small. All
evil, present and future. All evil in heaven, principalities,
powers, rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high
places, and all evil on this earth. He shall preserve you
from all evil. All evil temporary and all evil
eternal. He shall. And then it says, he
shall preserve thy soul. Mr. Spurgeon says soul keeping
is the soul of keeping. For if my soul is kept, all that pertains to me is kept.
because I have no further use for this body. I'm going to have
a new one. He shall preserve thy soul, thy
soul. And if he preserves my soul and
it's kept, all that pertains to me is kept because I am my
soul. And Christ is the keeper of the
soul from the dominion of sin Brother Walter said, pass from
the condemnation of sin, now from the dominion and power of
sin, and someday from the penalty and judgment of sin, my soul. He shall preserve my soul from
Satan, our adversary, who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. He'll keep me. He never slumbers
nor sleeps. He'll keep me from pride of the
flesh. He'll keep me from pride of the
spirit. He'll keep me from falling. He
is able to keep us from falling. And He'll keep us in the love
of God. He'll preserve our souls. What a psalm. And then the third,
He'll preserve us from all evil. He'll preserve our souls. Now
watch this. Jehovah shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in. What do you see there, Pastor? Well, we go out from childhood
and come into adulthood and He preserves us. All the dangers, He preserves childhood to adulthood. When we go out of our parents'
home and come into our own family, He will preserve us and keep
us. When we go out in the morning
to labor on the job, run the high cranes, go into the mines,
face all the dangers, going out into an unfriendly, hostile world. What evils about us we don't
even know. What dangers surround us. We
go out, and then when the whistle blows, we come in home. He's
kept us. You men, how many years he's
kept you. How many goings out on that train,
speeding down the track, going out and coming in. He kept you,
preserved you. When we go out of our strength
into the weakness of old age, he preserves us. And someday,
when we go out of this world and come into his presence, he
preserves us. He'll preserve you from all evil. The Lord will. He's your keeper.
He's your shade. He's your protector. He'll preserve
your soul. That's all that matters. My soul.
But He'll preserve your goings out and your coming in. Listen! From this time forward. Forevermore. Forevermore. Our Father, how we bless your
name, for our Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd, our keeper, shade upon our right hand, our
Lord and intercessor, our great high priest, who will preserve
us, keep us from all evil, preserve our soul, day by day and preserve
our goings out and our coming in from this time forth forevermore. Amen.