Safe and Secure
Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsThe Lord will keep all his people from all danger for all time.
Notes
Transcript
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Let’s pray.
Trinity of Portland - Thomas Terry
Missionary - Evan and Kristie
Help them return to Thailand. With all that the restrictions that are baring their return, we ask that you would give them favor.
There are dangers all around us. There are thieves, vandals, and murderers. So we make sure we live in safe neighborhoods and we install our security systems. Our cars are dangerous also, not to mention the hundreds of other cars that you drove past on your way to church this morning. So we buy safer cars, we buckle up, and we keep our cars tuned up. There are dangers in the work place, dangers at the grocery store, dangers at the park, there are dangers everywhere. And if we think staying home will keep us safe, well well we should think again. Our house can catch on fire, carbon monoxide can fill the air our homes. So make sure your smoke detectors are working. And don’t forget to install a carbon monoxide detector as well. Be sure you turn the oven off when you are done cooking, and don’t forget to change out your air filters and water filters. And you best hope there aren’t any natural disasters. And I haven’t even mentioned the many ways your own bodies can fail. There are dangers all around us.
It’s no wonder so many of us are anxious. Be it from sickness, vaccines, loss of jobs, or a domineering government. Every one of us knows what it means to be afraid. If you’re prone to be anxious like I am, then this morning’s psalm is especially for you.
To get a better understanding of this Psalm, it’s helpful to know how it was used in ancient Israel. Ps 121, is the second of 15 psalms that all share the same title. The title is A Song of Ascents. These fifteen songs would have been sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for their three yearly Jewish festivals.
But why call it a Song of Ascents? (put map on screen) Well, seeing a map might help understand the title a bit more. This is a map of Jesus’ multiple journeys to Jerusalem. Jesus lived in and did most of his ministry in and around Galilee up in the northern region of Israel. And Jerusalem in relation to Galilee is down south in Judea. But when pilgrims traveled south to Jerusalem from Judea, the trip was always said to be a trip up to Jerusalem because of its geographical location in the hills. The Gospel of Luke describes one of these trips.
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.
A trip to Jerusalem was like a hike up a mountain. Hence the title, A Song of Ascents. With this in mind, hear again the language of a pilgrim that is ascending up to Jerusalem.
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Hopefully you hear the language of a pilgrim journeying to Jerusalem. A pilgrim’s journey would not have been luxurious like the trips we take today. A pilgrim didn’t have cars with A/C in the heat of the summer and heat in the cool of the winter. Rather pilgrims had to endure the elements and all the dangers along the road to Jerusalem. And this trip could take up to four days for those who were able bodied and well equipped for the journey. Ps 121 addresses the dangers that a Pilgrim could face.
But this song applies further to us as well, for we are also pilgrims on our way to the Celestial City. And there are all kinds of dangers that we will face on the way. And we like any traveler will look for help when danger comes.
So the Psalmist writes,
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
Hopefully you can picture the view of the pilgrims in this verse. They are no longer in the flat lands, but now they are in the hills county of Judea as they travel along the path in the valley.
We would do well to understand what the hills would have represented for people in the days when this psalm was written. The hills were a natural defense against enemies. Cities were often built in these high places because it would prevent enemies from easily storming their walls.
Since pictures are worth 1,000 words, I have a picture that depicts city built on a hill.
(Put up picture of mountain) This is the fortress called Masada that was built on top of a mountain near the Dead Sea. It demonstrates just how fortified a city like in the hills would be against armies who would come up against it.
This is one benefit that Jerusalem would have had having been built atop Mount Zion. Jerusalem was the city on a hill that everyone would have seen from miles away.
Listen to v1 again,
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
Consider the question being asked. Where does your help come from? Is our help and security found in our cities built in the mountains? Or in the military strength of man? Is our help found in medicine, or in job security? Is our help in a safe home is a safe nation where you have all your freedoms?
No, but instead our help comes from the one who is higher than the hills.
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
We are so quick to look to the creation for help… be it a city on a hill then, or any modern means of security today. But the psalmist, after having his eyes raised to the greatness of the hills, goes to look even beyond the heavens. And there he remembers that his help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. If hills give man a strong defense, how much stronger is the help that comes from the Maker of every mountain?
All that we see was made by God. The Lord created everything from nothing by the word of his mouth. Consider the power of our God who does this.
No person can make something out of nothing. If we make something, we first need the right resources or ingredients. And further, in order for any of us to make something, we can’t just use our words. If we want to make something, we need to get up and use our hands.
If I want to make lunch, I cant just speak in order for it to appear. If I want lunch, I’ll need to get up, and I’ll need to go to the fridge to see what food I have available, then I’ll need to prep it using all the other tools that make it possible for the food to be edible.
You and I can’t just use words in order for reality to exist. If we are just talk, but no action, then we are liers. But our God has so much power in himself that all he needs to do is say a word and when he speaks it is done. And with just a word, God created all that there is.
What kind of help can the hills offer in comparison to our God who made them. What help does anything in creation have to offer us in comparison to the Creator who is our keeper.
There is one theme throughout this entire psalm, and consequently there is one point for my sermon.
The Lord is our help, and he will keep all of his people from all evil for all time.
The Lord is our help, and he will keep all of his people from all evil for all time.
The word keep is an important word for us to understand this morning because it’s used six times in our psalm. To keep means to watch, guard, protect, and preserve.
A guard of a city is said to keep watch… because he is to guard, preserve and protect the city from an enemy attack.
A shepherds job is to keep the sheep under his care… in keeping the sheep the shepherd feeds them and protects them from danger.
Adam was put in the garden to work it and keep it… in other words, he was to watch, guard, preserve and protect the garden.
The repeated refrain of Psalm 121 is this: the Lord will keep you… This means he will watch you, he will guard you, he will protect you, and he will preserve you.
Listen to how God keeps his people,
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
Think about what these words would mean for a pilgrim on their way to Jerusalem. The psalmist said, “He will not let your foot be moved” Or the way the NASB translates it, he will not allow your foot to slip. For the pilgrim that his hiking up the side of hills, this would be significant. For the trip to Jerusalem would have all kinds of obstacles that might cause for a pilgrim to fall.
A fall for a Pilgrim might be compared to flat tire for us. And worse, a fall could lead to all sorts of injuries that will make the rest of the journey miserable and difficult.
But such a thing will not happen to God’s pilgrim. For he establishes each step that we take such that we will remain upright throughout the journey.
The psalmist said, “He who keeps you will not slumber, behold he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
The journey to Jerusalem would be exhausting. As I said earlier, it could take up to four days before making it to the destination and then there is the trip home. This journey would require rest along the way. And in the night, when the pilgrims lay down to sleep, there will be a whole new list of threats that could come in the night. But the Lord’s pilgrim has no need to fear what may come in the night. For even when pilgrims are sleeping, their God is awake keeping them, guarding them, protecting, and preserving them.
Who among us is can endure with no sleep? The answer is none of us. A month ago, the Youth Group had a lock in here at the church - and even the most youthful and energetic among the church were dropping like flies when sun began to rise. Our need for rest reveals just how weak we are.
But our God has so much strength in himself that he needs no sleep.
So understand, in the day, when the Lord’s pilgrims are walking - the Lord is keeping their steps from slipping - and in the night when they are sleeping - the Lord is keeping watch over them. Hopefully you get a better sense as to what it means for the Lord to be your keeper.
But the Lord doesn’t just keep you as an individual. While the psalmist has said that the Lord is your keeper - he also shows us that the Lord keeps the entire nation of Israel. This means every single pilgrim on their way to Jerusalem is under the watchful care of our God. And not a single one of they will slip on their journey nor be killed in the night. The Lord will not fail to keep all who are his.
Do you understand what this means for us? If God is the keeper of Israel, then God is the keeper of his Church. This brings me such relief as a pastor. You see, at the end of the day, I am exhausted and I need to sleep. But dangers do not take a break just because the day is over. There are all kinds of troubles that the all of you will face in the night let alone in the day. Furthermore, as a man, I am only one person… Even all the elders here at LWC we are only five mere men. And if it were up to us to keep the church, we would fail. If it were up to me to even keep myself from stumbling, again I would still fail. But the Lord keeps me, and he keeps you all as well.
What the psalmist is saying is this: Not a single saint has slipped for our God does not sleep.
What other source of help can compare to our God?
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
Again, it’s helpful to to put yourself in the shoes of a pilgrim when we hear this. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night… For pilgrim on the road with no shelter, shade is indispensible for comfort and survival.
I for one am not a fan of being in the sun. If I am outside, I work hard to find shade, so I can easily appreciate what it means for the Lord to be my shade to keep me from the sun by day.
But it’s not just the sun that pilgrims need protection from, for even the moon by night can be harsh. The cold biting wind in the night is sure to make even the most rugged man wish he was back home in his warm bed.
Psalmist says that the Lord is a shade in both the blistering heat of the day, and in the biting cold of the night.
We can understand for our pilgrimage as well. For God is with us in the heat, and in the cold. Let’s take the image of the sun by day and the moon by night metaphorically.
In times of rejoicing and in times of mourning, the Lord is our shelter
In times of peace and in times of war, the Lord is our fortress
In times of health and in times of sickness, the Lord is our protection
Or as the Apostle says
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Learning the secret to contentment in every circumstance requires that we learn that there is a constant variable in our life that never changes. Listen again to how the psalmist describes this constant variable.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
What is the shade at your right hand?
Do you see a shade that is next to you? Be it under the sunlight or the moonlight, we all have a shade that is right next to us. We all have one - it’s called our shadow. Shadows only runs away from people in the cartoons… but in the real world that we live in, your shadow never leaves you.
So it is of the Lord. He is our shade on our right hand. This means that Lord is with us in every circumstance. So be it any hour of the day under the sunlight, or any hour of the night under the moonlight, the Lord will never leave you or forsake you. When you learn this, you will also learn secret to contentment.
The Lord offers us protection and help 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. And even in a leap year, he keeps us 466 days! For our God does not take a single day off from keeping his people.
Let’s look at v 7,
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord keeps us from all evil. How far does this promise reach?
Does this mean God will keep us from the nations who plot against us?
Yes, for all the nations are included in the two words - all evil
Well what about the evil in our own nation when the wicked come against the church, will God keep us from them as well?
yes, even our own evil nation is included in these two little words - all evil
Well what about our own brothers and sisters - be it biological or even those in the church. Does God protect me from them as well.
Yes, for they fall under the category of all evil.
But don’t stop there! Let’s not forget the most present and dangerous evil in your life… that being your own flesh that wages war against the things of the Spirit.
The evil of your flesh is included in this promise as well.
The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
By this point in the psalm, we have heard the repeated refrain, “The Lord will keep you” six times. But we will still need to hear it yet again before we go home, because we are easily consumed by fear and anxiety. So hear it again even now; The Lord will keep you. And tonight when you settle into your house for the day, you’ll need to hear it this promise again. So write it down somewhere… maybe on your hand… on a note and stick it in your wallet. Put it on your bathroom mirror. Do anything you can to lodge this promise into your mind. The Lord will keep you.
“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in.”
This well sums up the entirety the pilgrims trip. If you are just setting off on your journey, or just finishing it up, the Lord will keep you.
This pretty well sums up our life as well.
For in the morning we go out, and in the evening we will come in - the Lord protects us wherever we go
Be it when he head out into the marketplace, or when we return home when the day is done. The Lord keeps us.
In the words “going out” we might understand this to be the beginning of our life… and in coming in, we can understand this to be the end of our life… God will keep us along every step of our journey
“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
Is there any part of the journey where God will not keep us? No, for he will keep us from this time forth and forever more. This means that there is no span of time that will void God’s promise to protect his people.
The Lord is our help, and he will keep all of his people from all evil for all time.
The Lord is our help, and he will keep all of his people from all evil for all time.
This is good news, right? But it seems too good to be true. It seems as if the psalmist has never actually made pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It seems like he has no more looked up to the hills than he has looked out his door.
For saints have slipped on the rocks as they have climbed to Jerusalem.
And in the dead of night, God’s people have been robbed and killed.
And we each of us are still susceptible to sunburns in the day, and the chills in the cold of the night.
And there are countless evils that come against God’s people every day, yes even every minute of every hour.
All these promises simply sound too good to be true in our fallen world. If God really is our help, then why do we face so many hardships? Some of us feel like God has fallen asleep, because there are dangers on every side of our life.
But the Scriptures aren’t silent about our suffering.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Peter tells us that the trials are all a part of the journey. And it wasn’t just Peter who said this, but our Lord told told us that we would suffer.
10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.
Now, this hardly seems like God is our help when when he allows us to be harmed.... but Jesus is not done speaking… for right he said that we will be put to death and hated by all for his name sake, he continued,
18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
How is this even possible?! How is it that we will die, but not a single hair will be killed?
It’s possible in the same way that Jesus never saw corruption… for while he suffered in every imaginable way that man could think of, God did what no would man could have ever imagined. For on the third day, Jesus was risen from the grave!
See there really is no tension between the suffering in this life, and the security we have in Christ.
Paul harmonizes our harm and God’s help perfectly in Romans 8
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
In other words… Paul says yeah we are going to suffer. We are going to face troubles, anguish, and mistreatment in this life. We may have no food, or no clothes. We will be set before every kind of danger, and even under the sword.
We are killed all day every day
We are like sheep that are being brought into the temple… and you know why sheep are brought into the temple right? It’s not to be sheered, rather sheep are brought to the temple to be slaughtered.
Does this mean God has abandoned us? Has our shadow left us under the heat of the sun, or in the cool of the night? Paul’s answer -
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Did you notice what the Paul did here? He said the something very similar to what that the psalmist said. Remember the psalmist said that our life will be kept from all evil… and here Paul said, that there isn’t anything in all creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God.
For those who know the acronym TULIP you will have heard of the doctrine that we call the perseverance of the saints. This is the wonderful doctrine that teaches us that Christinas cannot not lose their salvation because the Lord keeps all that belong to him. There is nothing in all creation that can keep you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is what the Psalmist is saying in v 7
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
The Lord will keep you safe until the end… Hear it again from Paul.
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
How can Paul be so sure? How can Paul have this confidence that those who have recieved grace will be brought to completion in the end?
Well he can be sure, because the Scriptures tell us that the Lord keeps us from this time forth and forevermore.
Take it from our Lord himself.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
This is what our Song of Ascents is saying. Your God will keep you. And he will not lose you. But instead you will be resurrected with Christ on the last day.
Sure it seems too good to be true in this fallen world. But our God has given us his word. And whenever we doubt the promises of God, we would do well to remember who our God is.
19 God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Our God will keep you to the end, and not a hair on your head will perish.
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.