Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / Our Maker and Keeper (Psalm 121)- Mr. Scott Hultstrand
Transcript
- 0:00Well, good morning, y 'all. Bring you greetings
- 0:04from Downtown Presbyterian Church in downtown
- 0:08Greenville. Really thankful to be here with y
- 0:10'all and very honored to be here with y 'all.
- 0:14Thank you for leading and just I love having
- 0:17the choir. I feel like the songs y 'all selected
- 0:19just align perfectly with the sermon. So very
- 0:22grateful for that as well. So again, Scott Holtz
- 0:26strand. I've been married to my wife Marybeth
- 0:28for 26 years and some change. We have three grown
- 0:32children. One's in the workforce and two are
- 0:34at Clemson. And this was our first year last
- 0:37year of being empty nest. And I don't know why
- 0:40I smile so widely whenever I say that we're empty
- 0:43nest, but it's been a great year together. But
- 0:47we miss our kids. Well, we are in Psalm 121 this
- 0:52morning. And I invite you to turn in your Bibles,
- 0:56if you have one, to Psalm 121, because I'll be
- 0:59referring a good bit to this Psalm. But before
- 1:01we dive into the Psalm, I want to just do a little
- 1:04bit of an introduction to it. This is what is
- 1:07known as a Psalm of Ascent. Many believe that
- 1:12these were Psalms that the Israelite people would
- 1:16sing on their journeys to Jerusalem. There were
- 1:19three journeys that they were required to take
- 1:21under the Old Testament for three festivals during
- 1:23the course of the year. And on the way to Jerusalem,
- 1:26they would sing these Psalms at Psalm 120 through
- 1:29Psalm 134. And Psalm 121 would have been one
- 1:32of them that they would have sung over and over
- 1:35again as they moved towards Jerusalem. And this
- 1:39Psalm in particular is what's called a Psalm
- 1:42of Confidence. You've probably heard Psalms.
- 1:46of lament or psalms of joy or psalms of praise.
- 1:51This psalm we have this morning is a psalm of
- 1:55confidence. And what that means is, is the psalmist
- 1:59is facing an uncertain future, but even though
- 2:05that future is uncertain and even possibly treacherous,
- 2:09the psalmist is entirely confident in the God
- 2:13who he's singing to. And so, if you're like me,
- 2:17we probably all have lots of things ahead of
- 2:19us that we're uncertain about, unsure about,
- 2:22maybe even scared by. My hope and prayer is that
- 2:25this psalm of confidence will give us confidence
- 2:28in the God who walks with us every step of the
- 2:32way. So I'm gonna read the psalm and then we'll
- 2:36pray and then we'll dive into this passage together.
- 2:39So let me read the psalm. Hear now the word of
- 2:41God. from Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes to the
- 2:47hills. From where does my help come? My help
- 2:53comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
- 2:57He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps
- 3:00you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel
- 3:04will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your
- 3:08keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right
- 3:12hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor
- 3:15the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from
- 3:18all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will
- 3:22keep your going out and your coming in from this
- 3:25time forth and forevermore. This is the word
- 3:29of the Lord. Let me pray. We do thank you Father
- 3:34for this word, and I pray that this morning that
- 3:37this word would become more true, more nourishing,
- 3:41more encouraging to us. Would it give us confidence
- 3:44in you? Would it remove any confidence we have
- 3:47in our own selves or anything else in this world?
- 3:50And would we, because of this song this morning,
- 3:54turn confidently to you when we need help? And
- 3:58I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, as I
- 4:03said, this is a song about a journey and about
- 4:07an uncertain journey. And this week, my wife
- 4:10and I took another step towards one of our own
- 4:13uncertain journeys together. She was diagnosed
- 4:16a few months ago with a very rare condition where
- 4:20her trachea or windpipe develops scar tissue
- 4:23inside of it and starts closing up her windpipe.
- 4:27And a couple months ago, when we did some testing,
- 4:30we realized that she was breathing out of her
- 4:34windpipe, out of a tiny little hole, kind of
- 4:36the size of a McDonald's straw, because everything
- 4:39else had kind of closed up, so that she was really
- 4:42having a hard time breathing. Well, this Monday,
- 4:44just this week, she had her second surgery in
- 4:47about four weeks to remove that scar tissue.
- 4:50And now she is breathing great. We are very thankful
- 4:53for how well she can breathe. But in terms of
- 4:57the journey we have ahead of us, the doctor has
- 4:59told us he's treated a number of other people
- 5:02that have this condition. And unfortunately,
- 5:05it continues to grow back again and again until
- 5:09he thinks she reaches the age of 75 or 80. And
- 5:13we're both turning 50 this year. And so we've
- 5:16got about 25 or 30 years more of surgery after
- 5:20surgery after surgery. As you can imagine, that's
- 5:25a daunting thing to have to think about ahead
- 5:27of us. My guess is, is that each of you, if you're
- 5:32like me, have a number of daunting things ahead
- 5:35of us. When we think about what lies ahead, it
- 5:39can be really scary, it can make us feel very
- 5:42uncertain, it can make us lack confidence. All
- 5:47of us have these things. And what this song does
- 5:51is it asks the question, What kind of help do
- 5:55we need and who can give us the help that we
- 5:59need? And so those are the two points we're gonna
- 6:01look at this morning is what kind of help do
- 6:04we need as we're walking through life's journey?
- 6:07What help do we need and who gives us the help
- 6:10that we need? So first off let's think about
- 6:13what kind of help we need as Dalton said I work
- 6:19at downtown Presbyterian Church as our executive
- 6:21and as part of my duties there It's kind of like
- 6:24everything from A to Z. And so one of them is
- 6:27we're looking into purchasing a new security
- 6:29system for our church building. And as you can
- 6:32imagine, when we started looking at new security
- 6:34systems, we had a number of vendors that would
- 6:36come and say, well, what kind of security do
- 6:39you need? What kind of help do you need? How
- 6:41much help do you need? When do you need it? What
- 6:43kind of cameras do you need? What kind of video
- 6:45do you need? All this kind of stuff. Because
- 6:47they're asking questions to try to determine
- 6:50What kind of product do they need to try to sell
- 6:52us? And as you can imagine, when they came up
- 6:56with their product offering, there was a standard
- 6:59plan, a deluxe plan, and a premium plan. And
- 7:05we're working on what we're gonna go with, but
- 7:08in this passage that we have this morning, it
- 7:11actually talks about what I would call a standard
- 7:14needs. what I'll say, deluxe needs and then premium
- 7:17needs. So what kind of needs do we have in this
- 7:20passage? Let's talk about the standard needs
- 7:22first. Here's the standard needs. Here it is.
- 7:26We need protection from both real and imaginary
- 7:31threats. So protection from real and imaginary
- 7:35threats. First of all, real threats. Look at
- 7:38verse six. It says, the sun shall not strike
- 7:41you by day. nor the moon by night. And if you
- 7:46can think about someone traveling towards Jerusalem
- 7:49and Israel, the sun, and if you're actually traveling
- 7:52from your car to this building this morning,
- 7:54the sun is a real threat. It is hot on the journeys,
- 7:58especially back in the times of Israel, going
- 8:01to Jerusalem from a long way away, that sun is
- 8:04a legitimate threat. Heat stroke, all kinds of
- 8:08dehydration, other problems that the sun could
- 8:11cause. Well, the psalmist needed protection from
- 8:14the sun. That's a real threat. And we have all
- 8:17kinds of real threats in our life. It certainly
- 8:20is the sun during this July, but there's other
- 8:23things that threaten us on our journey. Our health.
- 8:27What might happen with our jobs? Maybe general
- 8:30threats like what's gonna happen with our country
- 8:33or what might happen with China or what might
- 8:34happen with AI? And certainly more personal things
- 8:37like I've already said our health our jobs our
- 8:39family What's gonna happen with our grandchildren
- 8:41my own children my own self all kinds of things
- 8:45are in the way of our journey ahead But not just
- 8:49threats that are real even imaginary threats
- 8:51things that will actually never happen, but might
- 8:54happen can cause problems. And that's the moon
- 8:57by night. You notice in verse six that he needs
- 9:00protection from the moon. Well, who needs protection
- 9:03from the moon? The moon's rays are not going
- 9:06to hurt anybody. But back in that day, and even
- 9:09in this day, there's a concept called being moon
- 9:12struck. Have you ever heard of that concept?
- 9:15There were beliefs that the moon could kind of
- 9:18create imaginary threats that really couldn't
- 9:20hurt you, but you think can hurt you. And if
- 9:23anybody's been ever in this room, if like me,
- 9:26anxious or worried and thinking about what might
- 9:29happen, that's a threat alone. And in fact, John
- 9:35Cox, who's in our denomination, the PCA, he's
- 9:39a counselor and a psychologist, says that over
- 9:42the course of his counseling career, which has
- 9:45been 30 years, He said that 98 % of the threats
- 9:49of people that have come into him, that they
- 9:51think they're gonna have these things happen
- 9:53to him, he says 98 % of those things have never
- 9:56happened. But those things cause anxiety and
- 9:59worry and concern. And we need protection from
- 10:03that. And we also saw in that first verse, or
- 10:07that third verse, about he will not let your
- 10:09foot be moved. And if any of you are like me,
- 10:13every step we take is treacherous. I don't know
- 10:16if y 'all keep track of how many steps you take
- 10:18during the day, but every step we take is a fall
- 10:23risk or something could happen. We don't know
- 10:24what's around the corner. All kinds of things
- 10:27out there threatening us. And so we need in the
- 10:29standard plan protection from real and imaginary
- 10:31threats. But we also need protection in a deluxe
- 10:35kind of way. And I want to talk about this in
- 10:37three different ways. We need a family plan.
- 10:40We need 24 hour coverage and we need a comfort
- 10:44plus plan. So family plan, 24 hour coverage,
- 10:47comfort plus. First of all, a family plan. And
- 10:51I don't know about y 'all, I get all kinds of
- 10:53emails. I have some newspapers that I belong
- 10:56to and some other websites and they always want
- 10:58to offer it to my children for free. and you
- 11:01know what they're doing. They want my children
- 11:02to get hooked on that website too eventually
- 11:04so they'll start paying as well. But we see here
- 11:08in verse four that we want protection not just
- 11:11for ourselves, we want protection for our loved
- 11:14ones too. Verse four, behold, he who keeps Israel.
- 11:20You see, we don't just need protection for our
- 11:23own lives. We want protection for much poorer
- 11:26than ourselves. And I know y 'all know this too.
- 11:28You want your family to be safe. You want your
- 11:30loved ones to be safe. You want your church members
- 11:32to be safe. And not just safe every once in a
- 11:36while, but we want 24 hour a day coverage. Look
- 11:39in verses three and four. He who keeps you will
- 11:42not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will
- 11:45neither slumber nor sleep. we know we need protection
- 11:49more than we can give ourselves. We can't stay
- 11:52awake every moment of every day. And even while
- 11:54we're awake, we miss things. We need protection
- 11:57all of the time. And then this comfort plus,
- 12:01because along the way our journey is hard enough,
- 12:03can't we just get a break for a minute? Can't
- 12:06we just have something that provides comfort
- 12:09even in the hardship? And we see in verse five
- 12:11at the end it says this, the Lord is your shade
- 12:15on your right hand. You see that shade? Imagine
- 12:20that if you're walking along in this journey
- 12:21outside, imagine if you could have someone with
- 12:24a little shade that's just blocking the sun from
- 12:26you. And in fact, I was walking home last week,
- 12:29and there was someone across the street from
- 12:31me. We both had a telephone pole near us, and
- 12:34both of us were standing so that the telephone
- 12:36pole's shade was on us, because even just that
- 12:38little bit of shade was nice and relief from
- 12:42the journey. But we want to be comfortable even
- 12:45in the midst. of a treacherous journey. And then
- 12:50we've got the premium features. If you look in
- 12:53verse seven, the two worst enemies of them all,
- 12:59evil and death. We want protection from both
- 13:02of these, don't we? Verse seven, the Lord will
- 13:06keep you from all evil. He will keep your life.
- 13:10We see there that evil, and certainly we've already
- 13:12prayed this morning, Lord deliver us from evil.
- 13:15We know that evil is out there, but we also know
- 13:18that we have evil in our own hearts. If you're
- 13:21like me, with this confession of sin, I'm assuming
- 13:23you'll do a confession of sin each week. Oftentimes
- 13:26I'm confessing the same sin every week, and I
- 13:30just want to be rid of that sin. And you know
- 13:32what happens when you finally feel like you've
- 13:34broken free from that sin? It gets revealed to
- 13:37you. There were other sins that you weren't really
- 13:39paying attention to, and now I've got to deal
- 13:40with those too. We want to be rid of the evil
- 13:43in our hearts. We want to be rid of the evil
- 13:46that attacks us. And then most of all, death.
- 13:50Death is the greatest enemy. And we want to be
- 13:54free from that too. Well, if I were to sum it
- 13:58up, in terms of what do we need help from, it's
- 14:03a long list. We've got known and unknown threats
- 14:06to our lives. Every step that we take each day
- 14:10is unpredictable and treacherous. We want to
- 14:14find some type of comfort in the midst of this
- 14:17hard journey and some kind of rest. And we want
- 14:19protection not just for us. We want protection
- 14:22for our family, too, and our loved ones, our
- 14:25colleagues, our neighbors. And we also don't
- 14:28want just protection sometimes. We want protection
- 14:30all the time, all day, every day, and all night,
- 14:34every night. And of course, we want protection
- 14:36from evil and from death itself. And so the question
- 14:41becomes, what kind of helper do we have? We know
- 14:46the help that we need. We need lots and lots
- 14:48of help. Who is it that's gonna provide us with
- 14:53this help? And y 'all, the answer is kind of
- 14:56obvious, but it is profound. Here's the obvious
- 15:00answer from our passage, verse five. The Lord
- 15:05is your keeper. The Lord is your keeper. And
- 15:10what I love about, if you get into the Hebrew
- 15:12a little bit, and I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but
- 15:14when it says you're there, it's easy to think,
- 15:16oh, of course, God's kind of the general keeper
- 15:18for everybody, but the you're in verse five is
- 15:22a singular you. So when it says the Lord is your
- 15:27keeper, the psalmist is saying the Lord is individually
- 15:31your. kind of personal bodyguard. And so it would
- 15:35be fair to say the Lord is my keeper. The Lord
- 15:39is my personal helper. And here's why I say this
- 15:42is so profound. I learned this week that one
- 15:46out of four homes in our country has what's called
- 15:49a video doorbell. Do y 'all know what I'm talking
- 15:52about? The ring is kind of the most popular one,
- 15:55but one out of four homes in our country has
- 15:57a doorbell that's taking video and watching what's
- 16:00happening outside the front door. And of course
- 16:02the reason we get that is for security and for
- 16:06safety and to know what's going on in our houses.
- 16:09So imagine that you go home today after I've
- 16:11just talked about this video doorbell and you're
- 16:14like, I'm gonna order one myself. And so you
- 16:16go onto Amazon and you press the button and you
- 16:19buy this ring doorbell and two days later you
- 16:23hear a knock on the door. And you open the door,
- 16:26and it's three very strong -looking brawny men
- 16:29wearing dark suits like mine, and they've got
- 16:32an earpiece and sunglasses, and they say, did
- 16:35you order a ring doorbell? And you say, in fact,
- 16:38I did. And they said, well, instead of a ring
- 16:40doorbell, we've decided to give you a full secret
- 16:44service detail for the rest of your life, 24
- 16:46hours a day. And you would look and say, well,
- 16:49I don't think I need that much protection. I
- 16:52just wanted a doorbell. And they respond back
- 16:55and say, well, sorry, you've got full presidential
- 16:59-level Secret Service protection for the rest
- 17:02of your life. And you would probably be thinking,
- 17:04wow, I've got it made. It's going to be pretty
- 17:07safe from here on out. And here's why this passage
- 17:10is so profound. Because as we sung this morning,
- 17:14come thou, Almighty King, we heard from the choir,
- 17:17the choir sung about the ancient of days. Y 'all,
- 17:22the ancient of days. God Himself is your keeper,
- 17:27individually, for you. That's way better than
- 17:31the Secret Service, y 'all. God Himself is your
- 17:35keeper. So what do we learn about this keeper
- 17:38in our passage? Well, we're gonna learn three
- 17:41things about our keeper. What is he like? What
- 17:44is our helper like? We learn, first of all, that
- 17:48our keeper is the creator of the universe. So
- 17:52imagine, you know, we've already talked about
- 17:54the sun striking you by day, or the moon by night.
- 17:58And so you imagine, and you say, I need help,
- 18:01Lord, from the sun and from the moon, from real
- 18:03threats, from imaginary threats. And what does
- 18:06God say back to us in this Psalm? Verse two.
- 18:11My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and
- 18:15earth. So imagine, you say, I want security,
- 18:18I want help. from the things that threaten me,
- 18:21real and imaginary, the sun and the moon. And
- 18:24God comes to us in this passage and says, I made
- 18:28the sun and the moon. I'm the one who made them.
- 18:31Do you think that I can protect you from these
- 18:33things? Yes, I can protect you from these things.
- 18:36And if y 'all are familiar with what's called
- 18:38the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is
- 18:41one of our constitutional documents in our PCA
- 18:43denomination, the very first sentence in the
- 18:47Westminster Confession of Faith, tells us what
- 18:50we learn about God being the maker of heaven
- 18:53and earth. It says this, although the light of
- 18:56nature and the works of creation and providence
- 18:59do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and
- 19:05power of God. And so that's kind of an old English
- 19:08way of saying, when we look at creation, what
- 19:11we see is that God is powerful, God is good,
- 19:16and God is wise. And what that means is as we're
- 19:19walking in our journey and we see treachery ahead,
- 19:22we see danger ahead, we see uncertainty ahead,
- 19:25we can be certain that God as our maker is strong
- 19:29enough to help us. If he made the sun and the
- 19:31moon, he can help us with anything. But he's
- 19:34not just strong enough to help us. He's also
- 19:37wise. And so what that means is sometimes in
- 19:40the journey ahead we do face treacherous times
- 19:42that harm us and we can trust. that God is wise
- 19:46enough to put things in our path that are good
- 19:49for us. And that's that third aspect. His goodness
- 19:52is revealed in creation. We can trust that whatever
- 19:56we face, he is good. And whatever he does is
- 20:00good towards his people. Well, we see that he
- 20:04is the maker of the universe, but we also find
- 20:07from this passage that he is a powerful and yet
- 20:10humble king. A powerful and humble king. And
- 20:15I want to imagine if you were doing a journey
- 20:17like this back in the day of Israel and you got
- 20:20to go before the king and the king said, I want
- 20:22you to go on a journey to Jerusalem for me. And
- 20:27the king would say to you, and I can give you
- 20:28whatever resources you need to go on this journey,
- 20:32to keep you safe. Think about the things that
- 20:34you would ask for. You would probably ask for
- 20:37a caravan to be able to support you with food
- 20:40and nourishment and water. You would probably
- 20:43ask for soldiers to go ahead of you and behind
- 20:45you and to be with you. And this king can give
- 20:48you anything that you want. And the king says,
- 20:50sure, I'll give you a caravan. I'll give you
- 20:52all the water and food you need. I'll give you
- 20:54soldiers both ahead and beyond and soldiers with
- 20:57you. And so you are totally protected. And then
- 21:01you get your nerve up and you say, King, can
- 21:03I ask for just one more thing? And the king would
- 21:06say, well, what is it? What would you like? And
- 21:09you say to the king, well, I'm glad you're providing
- 21:10for my journey. But I would love just a little
- 21:13comfort along the way, maybe some shade. Could
- 21:16you give me maybe one of those persons that walks
- 21:18beside me with that shade to block me from the
- 21:20sun? And here's what the king says. Hey, I'll
- 21:25do that myself. I'll go with you. I'll carry
- 21:29that shade so that you can walk along in comfort
- 21:32because you see here in verse five at the end
- 21:35it says this. Who is your shade at your right
- 21:38hand? The Lord is your shade. at your right hand.
- 21:43See, God as the Almighty King says, I'll walk
- 21:47alongside you. I'll be that shade for you. And
- 21:51by the way, you'd be fine without the shade,
- 21:53it's kind of a luxury to have it, but I'm gonna
- 21:55give you a luxury, and I'm gonna be the one providing
- 21:58it myself. And so what that means is, is that
- 22:02you're not only receiving shade from the God
- 22:04of the universe, it means he's really close to
- 22:07you on your journey. It means He's less than
- 22:10a step away from you all the way along. And I
- 22:13don't know if y 'all have ever felt like God's
- 22:15not been with you on your journey. What this
- 22:17passage is telling us is that He is right there.
- 22:20He's always right by your side as you journey
- 22:24through your life. And then we find, thirdly,
- 22:29that God reveals Himself in this passage as a
- 22:32mighty Savior. So he reveals himself as the maker
- 22:36of the universe, he reveals himself as the humble
- 22:39and generous king, but he also reveals himself
- 22:42as the mighty savior. If you looked in verse
- 22:46two and then twice in verse five, once in verse
- 22:49seven, and once in verse eight, God is referred
- 22:53to as the Lord. Five times in this passage, it
- 22:57says the Lord. And if you're looking in your
- 23:00Bible, you might have all capital letters there
- 23:02for the Lord. It says, the Lord is your keeper.
- 23:05The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The
- 23:08Lord, the Lord, the Lord. This is actually God's
- 23:12personal name. That's why it's in all caps. It
- 23:15was known as Yahweh back in the Hebrew days.
- 23:18This is God's name that is revealed to His people
- 23:22to show how personal He is, but also to show
- 23:25that He is a strong promise keeper. Because even
- 23:28in the days of Abraham, they knew God as Yahweh,
- 23:31but it was not until the days of the Exodus that
- 23:34they truly knew what that name meant. And what
- 23:38that name Yahweh meant was, I will keep my promises
- 23:42to my people and I am stronger than all evil
- 23:45and death. I am the one that can conquer the
- 23:48empire of Egypt, and I can take you out of bondage,
- 23:51and I can bring you to the promised land. And
- 23:53so the Lord took on a new meaning. And so when
- 23:57this psalmist is reminding us about who it is
- 24:00that's actually leading us through every step
- 24:02of the way, he's reminding us that it's the Lord
- 24:06himself who keeps his promises, and who doesn't
- 24:10just keep his promises, but comes into history
- 24:13itself and saves his people. You see, that's
- 24:17one thing that's actually really distinctive
- 24:19about Christianity. Christianity is not just
- 24:22about a list of rules about how to live well,
- 24:25even though we do have a list of rules about
- 24:27how to live well. It's not just a philosophy
- 24:30of life to make us into better people, although
- 24:32scripture and its laws do make us into better
- 24:35people by the work of the spirit and faith, but
- 24:37it's much more than that. Christianity is a historical...
- 24:43religion that is about real things that happen
- 24:46in real time by a real God who came to save his
- 24:49people. It's about good news. That's why it's
- 24:52called the gospel. It's about good news of something
- 24:54that actually happened. And so in the same way
- 24:57that the Israelites who would be reading the
- 24:59psalm and singing the psalm would say, Lord,
- 25:01Lord, Lord. I am so thankful for how you've saved
- 25:04us from Egypt and how you brought us out of bondage
- 25:06and how you delivered us from evil and how you
- 25:09conquered evil in Egypt. They look back to those
- 25:11real events to remind them of who their real
- 25:15God was and is. Well, we do the same thing, except
- 25:19we have something better to look back to than
- 25:21just the Exodus. We get to look back to the second
- 25:25Exodus, which was Jesus' coming. And Jesus is
- 25:28saving his people from their sins. And Jesus
- 25:30conquering all of death and evil. And Jesus living
- 25:33the perfect righteous life that he shares with
- 25:36us so that we might be forgiven. You see, he
- 25:40is a mighty savior that we can depend upon. And
- 25:43because of that, evil can't conquer us. Because
- 25:47of that, death no longer has its sting. Because
- 25:51Jesus is our savior. that we can look back to
- 25:56in history, knowing that he has accomplished
- 25:58these things for our good and for his glory.
- 26:03Well, I think the last question, and the natural
- 26:07question would be, all right, we need a lot of
- 26:10help. I think that's been pretty clear. We need
- 26:12help from all kinds of things in our future.
- 26:16And we know who helps us, God himself. And the
- 26:20last question is, well, How do I qualify for
- 26:22this kind of help? Who gets this kind of help?
- 26:27And it's kind of an interesting answer. And an
- 26:30answer that has both bad news and good news.
- 26:33So the Israelites who would have been singing
- 26:35this Psalm in verse eight, if you notice it says,
- 26:38the Lord will keep your going out and your coming
- 26:41in from this time forth and forevermore. When
- 26:45they would be singing that going out and coming
- 26:47in, they would have known their Bibles really
- 26:49well. their Old Testament, and they would have
- 26:51known that in the book of Deuteronomy, that same
- 26:54language is used about going out and coming in
- 26:57and going out and coming in. So as they were
- 26:59singing Psalm 121, they would have been thinking
- 27:02about the book of Deuteronomy. And it's actually
- 27:05in the place in the book of Deuteronomy that
- 27:07talks about blessings and curses. And basically,
- 27:12in Deuteronomy 28, it says this, if you faithfully
- 27:17obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful
- 27:20to do all his commandments that I command you
- 27:23today. The Lord your God will set you high above
- 27:27all the nations of the earth and all these blessings
- 27:30shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey
- 27:34the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall
- 27:37you be when you come in and blessed shall be
- 27:41when you go out. So same language, you'll be
- 27:45blessed and you're going in and you're coming
- 27:47out. And all you have to do is perfectly obey
- 27:52the Lord. And it says later on in Deuteronomy
- 27:5628, that if you do not obey the voice of the
- 27:59Lord and be careful to do all that he tells you
- 28:01to do, here's what it says, cursed shall you
- 28:05be when you go in and cursed shall you be when
- 28:09you go out. And so as these Israelites are singing
- 28:12this song on the way to Jerusalem for these annual
- 28:14festivals, they would have been singing knowing
- 28:16that it's only those who obey the voice of the
- 28:19Lord that get these blessings, that get this
- 28:21protection, that get the deluxe, the premium,
- 28:24the standard. All this stuff is for people who
- 28:26obey the Lord. And the bad news is, is that none
- 28:30of us can obey him like we're called to. None
- 28:34of us can obey him, which means none of us deserve
- 28:37this level of protection and goodness. from the
- 28:40Lord. Well, here's the good news, y 'all. There
- 28:45was an Israelite who sang this song on the way
- 28:48to Jerusalem who had obeyed the voice of God.
- 28:51who had done everything that the Lord who commanded,
- 28:54who had lived a perfect life. And you can imagine
- 28:57that Jesus, as he is approaching Jerusalem for
- 29:00the Passover and obedience to God's commands,
- 29:03and he's singing this Psalm. He is singing this
- 29:05Psalm about his life being kept, about him being
- 29:08protected. And we know what happens. The keeper
- 29:13wasn't kept. The keeper wasn't kept. And yet
- 29:19he was. Because Jesus, as he approached Jerusalem
- 29:22for the last time, singing this song about God's
- 29:25protection, instead faced the wrath of God. For
- 29:28all the ways that we don't follow him, for all
- 29:30the commands that we break, for all the ways
- 29:33that we have failed him, he took all the punishment
- 29:36we deserve on the cross for that. And then for
- 29:40all the ways that Jesus lived a perfect life,
- 29:42he says, I give you my righteousness, I take
- 29:45your sin, in this great exchange. Which means
- 29:48that because we are now united to Christ by faith
- 29:51in Him, not by works, not by doing anything good,
- 29:55but by faith alone, we receive the blessings
- 29:58that are promised in Psalm 121. Because we are
- 30:01united to Christ, we get all of these blessings.
- 30:06And really the encouraging thing and more good
- 30:08news is it's only sinful people that get to be
- 30:12united with Christ. Sinful people that place
- 30:15their faith in Him. Sinful people that repent
- 30:17and turn away from sin and turn towards Jesus
- 30:19and say, I have no hope but for you, Jesus. Those
- 30:22are the kind of people that receive this blessing
- 30:25and this union with Christ. And that's good news
- 30:29for us because we're all in need of this, aren't
- 30:31we? We all fail in many ways. And yet we get
- 30:36to have this blessed Savior, this strong Savior,
- 30:39this generous and humble King is the one who
- 30:42comes after us. and showers us with his grace.
- 30:48And so let me close with this thought. I was
- 30:51probably not smart, but running on the Swamp
- 30:54Rabbit Trail, I did an eight mile run yesterday.
- 30:56It was a little bit warm out there. And as I
- 31:00was getting towards the end of the run, I was
- 31:02a little bit delirious, but still kind of paying
- 31:04attention. and someone on a bike kind of came
- 31:08past me and I could hear some singing as they
- 31:11were coming behind me and then they passed me
- 31:12and it turns out it was a dad on a bike and then
- 31:15his like maybe six year old daughter on a little
- 31:18bike attachment to the back of his bike so she
- 31:20was attached to his bike and he was riding ahead
- 31:24of me and as she passed me she was singing a
- 31:27little song I don't know if you've heard this
- 31:29song before I think it's from the 1940s but she
- 31:32said she was starting to sing If I had a nickel,
- 31:35if I had a nickel, I'd tell you what I'd do.
- 31:39I'd tell you what I'd do. So she's singing this
- 31:42song with just this sweet little, not like my
- 31:45old 50 -year -old voice, but like with her sweet
- 31:47six -year -old voice. So she's singing the song
- 31:49as she passes me. She's in great delight. And
- 31:52as she passes me, she is just fearing as hard.
- 31:55as she can on that bike, like that bike attachment.
- 31:59I mean, she's about to wreck. And I'm looking
- 32:01at this thinking, oh no, she is gonna wreck this
- 32:04thing. And of course, she's having the time of
- 32:06her life, you know, veering. I can just imagine
- 32:08this big smile on her face as she's veering back
- 32:10and forth. And I was really, really concerned
- 32:13until I looked at the dad ahead of her. And he
- 32:17was as stable as a rock. His bike wasn't moving
- 32:21at all, which meant that she was completely safe.
- 32:25She didn't know how close she was to treachery
- 32:27and danger because she was having the time of
- 32:30her life with her dad as the rock and the steadfast
- 32:33one ahead of her. Y 'all, that's the kind of
- 32:36God that we have. We have no idea, y 'all, how
- 32:39much danger we actually face. We know about some
- 32:41things, but we have no clue how much God is protecting
- 32:46us every moment of every day, even at night.
- 32:49He is with us. He is that strong and stable father,
- 32:53just like this father is not even flinching at
- 32:56what his daughter's doing behind him. He's just
- 32:57giving her a good time. Y 'all, that is the joy
- 33:00that we have by being connected to the God of
- 33:03the universe, the maker and the keeper of his
- 33:06people. And so I want to encourage you, if you've
- 33:09never connected to this God, The way to connect
- 33:15is not by being good. The way to connect is not
- 33:17by being better. The way to connect is by saying,
- 33:19I need you. I place my faith in you and what
- 33:22you have done, Lord Jesus. Save me. And if you
- 33:26have been connected to him and you've lost some
- 33:30of the confidence that you used to have and want
- 33:33to have back, my prayer is that this passage
- 33:36this morning will renew your confidence, will
- 33:38renew your faith knowing that The Ancient of
- 33:42Days is your keeper. How could anything go wrong?
- 33:46He is good. He is powerful. He is wise. You can
- 33:51trust him. Amen. Let me pray. We do thank you,
- 33:56Father, that you give us all of these benefits
- 33:59when we are connected to your Son through faith.
- 34:02Would we experience your goodness? Would we experience
- 34:05your wisdom and your power? As we're scared about
- 34:09things that lie ahead, would you comfort us?
- 34:11We thank you, Lord, that we can experience all
- 34:14the keeping, all the protection, all the help
- 34:17from you, from God yourself. Thank you, Lord
- 34:20Jesus. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.