Title: My Help!
Text: Psalm 121: 1-8
Date: January 15, 2012
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Hebrews 2: 12, we read of Christ Jesus “saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” Let’s hear Christ sing praise unto the LORD. As we do, let’s look to God our Savior.
Psalm 121: 1: «A Song of degrees.» I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4: Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5: The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6: The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7: The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8: The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
I. WE SEE FROM WHERE OUR HELP COMES
Psalm 121: 1: «A Song of degrees.» I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Like saints of old
We travel ‘cross the desert sands
On our way to the holy temple
But our temple is not made with hands
We lift our eyes
To heavens Zion, and see our mercy seat
The LORD God Almighty and the Lamb
Our Shield, Defender and Strength
Proposition: Like the ark was in the temple, Christ our Mercy Seat sits enthroned in glory. Brethren, read verse 2 and may the Lord lift up the eyes of your heart this morning.
Psalm 121: 2: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Personal help—MY help…
Help is good, but it is excellent when it your help personally---MY help…Me the sinner—describe a sinner—my help
Help means succour
Hebrews 2: 17: Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18: For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
My suffering brethren hear the sweet Psalmist of his elect Israel, our Savior, who was made like unto his brethren, Touched with the feeling of our infirmities; In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Our merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, Christ who made reconciliation to God for the sins of his people
I will lift up mine eyes unto his holy hill of Zion--from whence cometh my help. “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Heb 2:18)
Psalm 121: 2: My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
Repeatedly we find the LORD connecting his name to that which he has made—the LORD which made the heavens and the earth.
This heaven and this earth makes us marvel at his name.
Psalm 8: 3: When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
But there is a heaven and an earth he has made that is even more marvelous than this one
· 2 Peter 3: 13
· Revelation 21: 1-6
· Isaiah 66: 22
Our Psalm is Christ singing of God’s faithfulness in the midst of the church, declaring his name—this is God’s word to Christ for his finished work—so Christ sings to us of his faithfulness.
“But my troubles, o, my troubles” one says. We do face puzzling providence and puzzling trials
Illustration: I have seen the puzzle put together
Christ Jesus our Mediator, our Prophet, Priest and King sings of his faithfulness…
II. WE SEE THE LORD’S WILL NOT
Psalm 121: 3: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
The LORD WILL NOT suffer thy foot to be moved.
Many times “our feet are almost gone, our steps well nigh slipped”
Psalm 91: 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psalm 62: 2: He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.
The LORD will not slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 121: 3:…he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4: Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Illustration: Tent watchers
When travelling in the desert, they would set watchmen to watch over the tents at night to protect them from robbers. It was tough to find a watchmen who could stay awake through the night—the watchmen were travelling, too—facing same afflictions—same sufferings—same trials—tired when the night came. But we have this assurance, brethren…v3:..he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4: Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
“BEHOLD”—what a command. When God says, “Behold” he is giving us a word we can be sure of. When our Lord speaks this command, “BEHOLD”, in regeneration in beginning, in refreshing on the journey, he causes us to lift up the eye of our hearts, the eyes and ears of faith. What a wonderful sight! “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Behold…he that keepeth Israel--Chosen by God the Father in Christ before the foundation of world, Redeemed by God the Son when Christ said, “It is finished”, Regenerated by the Holy Spirit to behold Christ in whom all fullness dwell
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep: night and day, good times, bad.
1. God’s eyes never becomes weary of his children.
Illustration: Mother’s need a little quiet time
Those eyes that closed upon the cross now look down from the throne of power and grace and wisdom and they never slumber or sleep.
2. God never forgets his children.
Illustration: Ever put something somewhere just so you will not forget it?
We can’t remember what to forget and we keep forgetting what we should remember.
Philippians 3: 13: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Numbers 11: 5: We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Matthew 16: 9: Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10: Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Joshua 1: 13: Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.
But God never forgets his child—neither slumbers nor sleeps.
3. God never ceases to consider his child of grace.
Psalm 40: 17: I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Spurgeon: “He is so great that his center is everywhere, and his circumference is nowhere.” Think about that brethren. No child of God is ever on the outer circle of God’s thoughts. Every child is always at the center, the focus of his thoughts. Realize the wondrous truth of that. There is never is a moment, night or day, in which the great mind of the Eternal ceases to think of the child he has everlastingly loved in Christ Jesus.
III. WE SEE WHAT THE LORD IS--Psalm 121: 5: The LORD is…
Thy Keeper--MY Help is MY Keeper
It means “to guard, to keep an eye on, to have charge of”
· Believer, the LORD is YOUR Guard
· The LORD keeps his eye on YOU
· The LORD has charge of YOU--THY keeper:
Shade Upon Thy Right Hand--Christ is our Defense—v6: The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night
Isa 4:5: And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all, the glory shall be a defence. 6: And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Christ our Cloud by day, flaming fire by night—THE GLORY, THE DEFENSE upon our right hand—the sun shall not smite thee (day storms), nor moon by night (night storms).
· Fire of judgment shall not—satisfied
· Firey darts of Satan shall not—shade, defense upon thy right hand
1 John 4: 10: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
IV. WE SEE THE LORD’S SHALL’S--Psalm 121: 7: The LORD shall…
Preserve thee…There would be no perseverance of the saints where it not for the preserving of our LORD
Ephesians 1: 13: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Preserve you from WHAT?--ALL evil--How many kinds of evil exist? (569 references to evil in the bible)
1. Evil of the heart—Gen 6: 5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
2. Evil of your doings
3. Evil report—bad news (Num 13: 32)
4. Evil beast
5. Evil congregation (Num 14: 35)
6. Evil place (Nu 20: 5.)
7. Evil generation (Deut 1: 35.)
8. Evil diseases (Deut 7: 15)
9. Evil name (slander) (Deut 22: 14)
10. Evil spirit
11. Evil dealings
12. Evil understanding (Job 28: 28)
13. Evil time (Ps 37: 18)
The LORD shall preserve thee from ALL evil.
Job 5: 19: He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. 22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24: And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. 25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. 27: Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.
The LORD shall preserve thy soul—
He will raise our bodies incorruptible from the dust of the grave…But the soul—how important!—the soul.
Matthew 16: 26: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
App. Have you thought about that? The redemption of an immortal soul requires a greater price than gold and silver and corruptible things—nothing short of the blood and life of Christ, is a proper exchange—a ransom price for the soul. Today is the day of grace. There will be no redemption in the grave. The loss of a soul can’t be bought back—once lost and damned, it can never be retrieved.
Ps 34:22: The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
The LORD shall--preserve thy going out and thy coming in—what is that? ALL my ways--
Proverbs 3:6: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
When will the LORD start doing this? V8:…from this time forth,
When is this time forth? It is right now. I need the LORD to preserve me right now. Here is our anxiety medicine
Matthew 6: 31: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
"Cast foreboding cares away,
God provideth for today."
There is rest for the heart if we simply believe the Word of God who cannot lie.
Keep your mind on the Lord’s business
He will keep all his children in all our business.
Application: Now you who are without Christ as well as my brethren here who believe—look away from all earthly hills to the Holy Hill of Zion, to Christ our Righteousness—you will find peace in believing him.
But for how long will he do these things for his children?
v8:…even for evermore.
The end is the beginning
Matthew 5: 8: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
How long?
v8:…even for evermore.
AMEN!