WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Psalm 121, very well known Psalm. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Let's jump right into it. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.000 We're gonna see the fact of the ascent 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.000 and then the peril of the ascent 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.000 and then finally the keeper of the ascent. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.000 So those three things, so let's think about that. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.000 First, the fact of the ascent here in the Psalm. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.000 So one of the things to notice in your Bible 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.000 is at the very beginning there's a superscript 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.000 and it says a song of ascent. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.000 And there are 15 songs of ascent. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.000 So 120 to 134. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And so we're just looking at one of these tonight. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:41.000 And the fact is that this whole group of Psalms, 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:42.000 the Psalms of the Ascent, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:47.000 are part of a metaphor, a reality in the Bible 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.000 where the Bible is very regularly putting the Christian life, 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.000 the life toward God in the metaphor of traveling, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.000 in the metaphor of a journeyman, 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.000 in the metaphor of a pilgrimage, an ascent. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.000 So that's exactly what these Psalms are about. 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:03.000 Psalms of ascent towards God. 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.000 And so that happens all across the Bible. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.000 And it does that not because we ascend to God 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:11.000 in order to reach Him by our own works and by our own merit, 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.000 but once God has come down into your life, 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.000 God comes down, God comes condescends to you first, 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:20.000 then He puts you on the path of the ascent, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.000 of then walking towards Him, 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.000 because He's already found you. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000 And the ascent is a guaranteed victory. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 It's a definite win in the Christian life. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.000 You will reach the mountain of the Lord 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.000 because He came down first. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:37.000 But at the same time, and we should say at the same time, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.000 there is an ascent to this life, a growth, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.000 and it's hard. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.000 It's really difficult. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.000 The Christian life is not easy, 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:49.000 and there's this metaphor of going up to the mountain of the Lord 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:51.000 that happens all across the Bible. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.000 And so that's what these Psalms of ascent, 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.000 the group of Psalms are all about. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Songs for the journey. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 So what these Psalms are is they are songs 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.000 that people sing on the ascent, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.000 on the pilgrimage, on the journey. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:05.000 And one of the simple things to say about this 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:07.000 before you think about the details of the Psalm 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000 is just that we need this. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.000 We need songs for the journey, songs for the ascent, 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 songs for the going up, songs throughout our life 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.000 for heading towards the mountain of the Lord. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.000 And we have these 15, this group that God's given us right here. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.000 And we need to be able to go up, 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.000 because there are dangers and perils on every side. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.000 You lift your eyes to the hills and you say, 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.000 where does my help come from? 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Where does my help come from in this life? 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000 You go out your door, you're going out and you're coming in, 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.000 and there are dangers all around you. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.000 The world, the flesh and the devil, and all sorts of things. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.000 And we need help. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:45.000 And one of the things God, I think, is just simply saying to you tonight 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 is that singing is a really, really important thing to do 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 to keep you on your path, to take you along the way. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:55.000 Music, poetry is elevated prose, right? 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.000 And music is sung poetry. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.000 It's elevated poetry. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.000 It's the highest form of language. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.000 And that means that God has given us this great gift 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000 in these Psalms and singing to keep us on our path, 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.000 to keep us along the way. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000 We will encounter the dangers. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.000 What are the songs here for? 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.000 The songs are not for getting you out of hard circumstances. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.000 No, singing doesn't do that. 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:26.000 The songs are there to keep your heart afloat 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.000 when you are in the midst of the dangers, 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.000 the midst of the hard times, 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.000 the midst of the really difficult circumstances. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 And so that's what they're here for. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Now, what is this exactly referring to? 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.000 A song of ascent, the ascent. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.000 What is this ascent in the Old Testament, in the context here? 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.000 There's a few possibilities. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.000 One of the things I want to note is that in the superscription, 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:54.000 a song of ascent, this Hebrew preposition of a song of ascent 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.000 can be translated in tons of ways. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 And so not like in English where we have, what is it, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 40-some-odd prepositions, 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.000 but in Hebrew you don't have that many. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:06.000 And so we translate it contextually. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.000 And so a lot of commentators will say that this could be a song of ascent, 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.000 but it can also be a song for the ascent. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 And I think that second translation really gives it the flavor 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:19.000 of exactly what the songs are there for. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 They're for the ascent. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.000 They are the types of songs that you sing when you are on the ascent, 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 traveling, when you're going up. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.000 And so what is this going up that's happening here? 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.000 The commentators will say that there's a few instances. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:36.000 One is ceremonial songs. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:39.000 So if you're a king, if you're a mighty army, 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.000 and you win a great battle, 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.000 you're headed back to your hometown. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 You sing songs of ascent. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.000 If your hometown is up on a fortress like Edinburgh Castle, 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000 the army, you can picture this, is marching, 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 and people are singing, right? 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.000 A song of ascent. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.000 We're going home, we won. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.000 That's sort of a deal. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:03.000 Another instance is we know we've learned tradition. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.000 It's not in the scriptures, 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.000 but it seems to be the case that quite often 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.000 the priest would sing the songs of ascent 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:14.000 on their walk up to the temple in Jerusalem. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.000 So that they would even, there's a place around the temple in Jerusalem, 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.000 the second temple, where there's 15 steps 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.000 near the gate called beautiful. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:25.000 And so the tradition is that they would sing a psalm, 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.000 one of the psalms of ascent, every step, 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:31.000 entering into the workplace to make sacrifices. 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:34.000 But that's clearly not the context of this Old Testament passage. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.000 And instead, everybody pretty much is very agreed that 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.000 what this is, is this is a psalm. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.000 These are psalms for the ascent to Jerusalem 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:46.000 when you are called into Jerusalem 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:49.000 for one of the three great feasts in the Old Testament. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 So the three, there's five feasts. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.000 The three big feasts that happen in the Old Testament 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:57.000 are the Passover Feast, celebrating the flight out of Egypt, 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.000 the Pentecost Feast, celebrating the arrival at Sinai and the law, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 and then the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.000 for remembering the journey in the wilderness. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:09.000 And so three times a year, most Israelites were coming 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:12.000 into Jerusalem from wherever they lived, 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.000 and you would ascend, Jerusalem's elevated, 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:17.000 so you would ascend toward Jerusalem 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.000 and you would sing the psalms of ascent. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.000 So it's less like army, military connotation, marching, 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.000 and it's more in my mind like the hobbits and the dwarves 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.000 on the way to the Misty Mountain, you know. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.000 Singing the songs that keep them out of trouble, 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.000 that get them on their way to the holy mountain, 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.000 to the place that they long to be, right, the home. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.000 And that's exactly the picture, I think, that we have here. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.000 We have this actually in other places in the Old Testament. 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:44.000 Isaiah 30, verse 29 says, 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.000 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 and gladness of heart will be yours, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.000 as when one sets out, sets out on the journey 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.000 to the sound of the flute 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.000 to go to the mountain of the Lord to the rock of Israel. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.000 So there's a direct reference. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.000 You will sing on your way to the mountain of the Lord, 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.000 and that's exactly what we have here. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.000 And so ancient peoples did this all the time. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.000 They sang in their traveling. 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.000 We do it too, but we do it in the car, right? 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:17.000 But they did it in groups moving together, 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.000 caravans up through the mountains and the valleys. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:23.000 William Johnson, one writer, he says, 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:26.000 The idea of this metaphor, this metaphor of life, 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.000 the Christian life as a pilgrimage, as a journey, 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:31.000 as an ascent towards the mountain of God, 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.000 it's not one, or it is increasingly one, 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.000 that is remote in the Western Christians' mindset. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.000 And so in some ways this psalm causes to recover that, 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.000 that we are on a path, and it's not easy, 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:45.000 but we're moving towards something, 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 towards the mountain of God, towards the Lord, 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:50.000 and there's a call there to grow and to sing, 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000 and to be committed to it, 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.000 and to say, I want to be different than I was yesterday. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.000 It's the call to the journey, it's the call to the pilgrim. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.000 We have this in Hebrews 3 and 4. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:02.000 How does the New Testament put it? 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:05.000 The Psalms of Ascent are quoted six times in the New Testament. 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.000 And I think that means that the Psalms of Ascent are a shadow 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:12.000 of the ascent that we, as New Testament Christians, 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:13.000 are walking along. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:17.000 And in Hebrews 3 and 4 we're told that we are pilgrims. 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.000 That's exactly the language. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:20.000 We're wandering exiles, 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.000 journeying toward the city that we have not yet reached. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:25.000 We are on the ascent. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.000 We're going to the great city of God, Hebrews 12-22. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:33.000 We are traveling to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.000 to the city of the living God. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Are you on the journey? 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:39.000 Are you singing the songs? 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.000 Are you walking along the way? 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:42.000 It really is. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.000 The pilgrim's progress. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.000 The progress we are making as pilgrims. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.000 And so the pilgrimage is very real, 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:51.000 if you've been called by God, if you've been found by God. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.000 And we need music to get us all the way there. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.000 That's what we're being told here. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.000 That's the fact, secondly, let's get the details for a few minutes, 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:05.000 the peril that we face on the ascent. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.000 Now, this is a Psalm that is singing about the dangers 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.000 that you face on the journey to the mountain of God. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.000 And we know from the New Testament and the Old Testament 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.000 that the Christian, that all of us in this life, 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.000 we've got three great enemies. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:21.000 That's kind of the summation. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:25.000 The world, the flesh, and the devil. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.000 The world is the word for everything that is wrong outside of you. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.000 What's wrong with the objective world outside of you? 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.000 The flesh is everything that's wrong inside of you. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.000 Everything that comes from you that's wrong. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.000 And the devil is personal, conscious, evil, 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000 that hates you and wants to destroy you. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 And so these are the three great enemies. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.000 There's an objective enemy, the world, a subjective enemy, 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.000 the flesh, and a personal enemy. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.000 Satan and the principalities and powers. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.000 And all three of those dangers show up in this Psalm, actually. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.000 Those dangers are what this Psalm is fundamentally about. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.000 And when you look down, if you look with me at the first verse, 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:06.000 I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000 From where does my help come? 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.000 My help comes from the Lord. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.000 So here, I think like an ancient Near Eastern Israelite, 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.000 I lift up my eyes to the hills. 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:16.000 They are outside. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:17.000 They are traveling. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.000 There are no cars. 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:23.000 They are traveling through Glenco, just them and their pack. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.000 And they lift up their eyes and they see the mountains. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:27.000 They see the hills. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.000 They see the rain. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.000 They see the weather, all sorts of things. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.000 And they say, where does my help come from? 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:34.000 Right? 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 And so there's a few different ways to take this. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.000 Sometimes people have said, well, let's stick with Glenco. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.000 You're in Glenco and you lift up your eyes to those hills. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:43.000 Boy. 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.000 And you say, where does my help come from? 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.000 The Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:53.000 And one of the things that it could mean is that you're saying, 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.000 this place is unbelievable. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:00.000 And I can't believe these mountains, these moon rows, they exist. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.000 And you say, wow, look at our God. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:04.000 He does great things. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.000 He makes great things. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:07.000 And that is very true. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:13.000 But that is not exactly, I think, the tone of what's going on in this question. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:17.000 I lift up my eyes to the hills and I wonder where my help is going to come from. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:22.000 Because in the ancient Near East, the hills absolutely the theater of God's glory. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:26.000 But you go into Glenco without equipment. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.000 And you go into Glenco without a car in an ancient world. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.000 And it is a very different experience than driving through. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.000 And so actually what's going on here is he's talking about the real, at first, 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:45.000 the first level, the objective world, the enemy is that there is a real issue of the vulnerability of the flesh 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:47.000 that's being talked about here. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.000 And you can see that as it goes on. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.000 If you just look at the next couple verses, he will not let your foot be moved. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Right? 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.000 So he won't let your foot fall, your foot slip. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:02.000 Because you're a traveler in the mountains and he doesn't slumber, he doesn't sleep. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.000 He'll keep you in the day and in the night. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Why? 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:09.000 Because there are dangers all around you as an ancient Near Eastern traveler. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.000 And so the commentators will talk about this. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:17.000 They say, in the ancient Near East, the hills are consistently the place of real danger. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:21.000 Hills and the valleys are where the thieves most often do their work. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:26.000 And so there's all sorts of threats, all sorts of vulnerabilities that come out here. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:32.000 We don't know exactly when, but somewhere along the way, in the Second Temple period, 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:36.000 in the last 400 or so years before Christ came, 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:41.000 a tradition developed in the pilgrimage to the feast of Jerusalem where the expectation is 00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:48.000 that you would not sleep in a tent because you were experiencing what the Israelites experienced 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.000 in the wilderness. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:53.000 So there was a kind of choice to suffer a little bit more openly, to be more vulnerable. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:57.000 And that's exactly the sort of thing I think that's being talked about here. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:02.000 And so you can see that this Psalm is antiphonal, 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.000 meaning the first person sings and asks the question, 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:08.000 where does my help come from? 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.000 And then somebody answers. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:11.000 Somebody sings back. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.000 So he says, where does my help come from? 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:17.000 And the person still talking about this says, my help comes from the Lord, 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:18.000 the maker of heaven and earth. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:22.000 And then somebody else says, he will not let your foot be moved. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:28.000 So somebody in the journey, you can imagine, you're traveling two sides, two aisles, 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.000 and you guys, let's try it. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.000 No, you guys, I don't know. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.000 You guys say, where does my help come from? 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.000 You guys say, he will not let your foot slip. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:40.000 You sing it back to them. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.000 That's actually what's probably taking place here. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 It's an antiphonal Psalm, right? 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.000 And so they're saying, they're saying, let me encourage you, let me remind you of how much God 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:50.000 will take care of you. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Now, here's what do we learn first? 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:58.000 We learn the Bible here addresses our vulnerability as physical beings. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.000 That's very important to say, because one of the things we know is that in all sorts of religious traditions 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:09.000 and philosophical traditions, there's been a neglect, a rejection of the importance of the human body. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:13.000 And what we have here is saying, no, God made your body. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.000 He made you exactly as you are. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.000 Male and female, he made them in the image of God, he did it. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 And the physical is part of the image, he cares about that. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:32.000 And boy, just lift up your eyes and look at the resurrection and say, we know God cares about the human body. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:37.000 So much so that the Son of God will have a human body forever. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.000 His human body will never go away into all of eternity. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:49.000 And we see here just that good news that Jesus, that the Lord really does care about the broken body that we experience. 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:53.000 The vulnerability that we face, the anxieties that we have about our physicality. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:55.000 I don't know if you do this. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:00.000 Do you ever get that pain, you know, that pain here and there and everywhere? 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.000 And you say, boy, I think this is it. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:08.000 I know I've got this disease and this disease and this disease and we do it, you know, because we're vulnerable 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.000 and we're anxious about it. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.000 And someday it's going to be real. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000 It's going to be true. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:21.000 And Jesus, the Lord, he comes in a physical body and he dies in a physical body and he's raised in a physical body 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.000 and he cares about the physical body. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:25.000 God cares about our bodies. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:34.000 Isaiah 49 verse 10 talks about the totality of hope that we can have in the resurrection and the glory of the new creation. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:42.000 It says, the hope of all peoples is this, on all the bare hills shall be your pastor. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:43.000 No one will hunger. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:44.000 No one will thirst. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:49.000 There will be neither scorching wind nor sun that will strike you, that will cut you down. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:53.000 He will make every mountain into a road. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:54.000 That's the physical promises. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.000 Those are physical promises. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:03.000 And so we'll move on to the second enemy here, but what is the help that's being offered here? 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.000 And what he says, if you go down, the Lord is your keeper, verse five. 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.000 The Lord is your shade on your right hand. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:18.000 So he's literally talking about a shade, like a giant palm branch that you can hold in the middle of the scorching heat there. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:28.000 It could remind you of Jonah, who was in the very end of the book of Jonah, was under the scorching sun and God raised up a plant to cover him. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.000 It's the same image as that. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:30.000 It's the same idea. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.000 We have a similar idea in Psalm three. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:39.000 It says that the Lord will be for you a shield all around you, which the commentator say is the seed shield. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:43.000 So it's a shield that you use when you're going against an enemy. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:49.000 And so it's over your head at your front and at your back in case somebody throws something down on top of you. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:55.000 And that means that the shade and the shield, what are they for? 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:56.000 They're not promises. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.000 They're not guarantees that you won't have heart circumstances. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.000 Not at all. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.000 You know, the shade comes in the midst of the scorching sun. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:11.000 The shield, the seed shield, where do you use it when you're at the gate of the enemy and they're throwing rocks down upon your head, right? 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.000 It's not a promise in this life that there won't be broken bodies. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:32.000 And instead, the help that's being offered here, the shield is the promise that when you walk on the path, when God has found you and you're walking towards him, towards the mountain of the Lord, that he will keep you in your heart, 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:37.000 lifted up to the point where you will be okay no matter what happens. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.000 That's the promise. 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:40.000 That's the help. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.000 That's the help being offered. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Now, the second enemy here is, and very briefly on this, is the other enemies, the flesh and the devil, the temptations that go on inside of us and the personal conscious evil that is all around us. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:02.000 We're being asked here to pray our fears, to take our vulnerability straight to God. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.000 Whenever you feel anxious, what do you do? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.000 You go straight to the Father with it. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.000 You pray. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:08.000 You pray your anxieties. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.000 You're really the first takeaway. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:17.000 And then here, we read in verse 7, the Lord will also keep you and here it is from all evil. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:24.000 So, he's been talking about the vulnerability of physical life and then in verse 7 he says, and the Lord will keep you from all the evil. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Meaning, the world, the flesh, and the devil, all the evils. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000 And that's not as obvious to see on the surface of the text. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.759 but he is talking here about the principalities and the powers of darkness, 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:40.680 forces of evil that want to destroy the people of God. 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.640 How? 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:47.240 When you read through the Old Testament, this takes some work here and study, 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:52.920 but one of the things that you start to notice is that the hills, the word hill, 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:57.799 often stands not only as a place of physical vulnerability, 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:03.960 but the place where pagan idolatry happens most often throughout the Old Testament. 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:09.599 And so in verse 1, the hills being referenced in the ancient Erees, the hills, 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.799 that is where you go and set up worship to pagan idols. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:15.039 That is the hills all over the Bible. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.599 You think about the righteous kings that came along and God said, 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:20.200 it's time to bring reform. What did they do? 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:25.359 They went out to the hills to cast down all the false gods that have been erected. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:29.639 That's exactly where the false gods, where it's exactly the domain of principality 00:19:29.639 --> 00:19:31.919 and power of darkness all over the Bible. 00:19:31.919 --> 00:19:33.639 So here's a couple of examples. 00:19:33.639 --> 00:19:39.959 Jeremiah 3.23, for in vain you look for salvation in the hills. 00:19:39.959 --> 00:19:44.119 That's a reference towards false deities that are being worshiped in the hills. 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.240 First Kings 20, 23, the servant of the king of Assyria said to him, 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.559 their gods are the gods of the hills. 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:55.079 So that was an entire reference point, the gods of the hills 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:58.519 that said the principalities and powers of darkness take root, 00:19:58.519 --> 00:20:01.480 take capture of people's hearts in the hills. 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.359 That often happens throughout the Old Testament. 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:06.240 Jeremiah 10 verse 11, 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:07.639 Thus you shall say to them, 00:20:07.639 --> 00:20:12.000 the gods who did not make the heavens and earth shall perish from the earth 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.639 and from under the heavens. 00:20:13.639 --> 00:20:15.759 Now that's a parallel to Psalm 121. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:16.919 Psalm 121 says, 00:20:16.919 --> 00:20:21.639 the Lord, I lift up my eyes to the hills and I see all sorts of dangers, 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:25.160 but the Lord, my helper, the maker of heaven and earth. 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:28.240 And then Jeremiah 10, 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.280 you shall say to the gods who did not make the heaven and earth, 00:20:31.280 --> 00:20:33.960 they're going to perish, the gods of the hills. 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.160 So he's saying the gods of the hills did not make heaven and earth, 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:37.520 but the Lord did, 00:20:37.520 --> 00:20:41.000 the God who has his temple in the Old Testament and Jerusalem. 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.160 Last one, Deuteronomy 4, 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:48.200 the sun, the moon and the stars are treated or seen by people in the ancient 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:51.680 areas as gods or mediums, a fallen divinity. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.240 And Deuteronomy chapter 4, it says this, 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:56.840 and beware lest you raise your eyes to the heaven. 00:20:56.840 --> 00:21:01.160 And when you see the sun and the moon and the stars and all the hosts of heaven, 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:04.519 you be drawn away to bow down to them and to serve them, 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:10.080 things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heavens. 00:21:10.080 --> 00:21:12.799 Now we are modern people, so it is very difficult, 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.360 very difficult for us to see Psalm 121 like that. 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:19.319 But in Psalm 21, underneath, 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:24.439 there is a reality that the danger is falling prey to worshiping false gods 00:21:24.439 --> 00:21:27.039 as you travel through the hills. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.959 There are dangers and perils on every side in the Christian life. 00:21:29.959 --> 00:21:32.479 You face the anxiety of physical vulnerability, 00:21:32.479 --> 00:21:35.199 you face the danger of being driven away, 00:21:35.199 --> 00:21:39.240 not by the rocks that people are worshiping on top of the hills, 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:42.559 but by money, sex, and power, and all the gods 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:47.119 that are all around you every day when you go out your door and come home again. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:51.759 It's the same exact problem, the same exact prayer is for us as well. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:55.359 And the point here is that God protects your life 00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:58.639 when you have your eyes on the holy mountain, 00:21:58.639 --> 00:22:01.639 and we'll come to a close, when you have your eyes on the holy mountain, 00:22:01.639 --> 00:22:06.839 the Lord will protect your life, He will keep you from all evil. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:09.240 Meaning no matter what circumstances come your way, 00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:11.839 you will not lose your soul. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.279 And He will give you your body back. 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:16.439 He cares about both your body and your soul. 00:22:16.439 --> 00:22:18.000 He's holistic. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:20.039 Salvation is holistic in that way. 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.319 That's the point I think of Psalm 121, 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.359 He is your protector of body and soul. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.679 Now let's close with this, the keeper of the Ascent, finally. 00:22:29.679 --> 00:22:32.439 What does all this mean? How can you bring it all together? 00:22:32.439 --> 00:22:34.839 And I think the best way to do that 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:39.720 is to just look at one little word as we close, and that's the word keep. 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:43.920 So if you just scan your eyes across the passage, verse 3, 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.680 he who keeps you will not slumber, he doesn't sleep. 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.279 Verse 4, he who keeps Israel will not slumber or sleep. 00:22:52.279 --> 00:22:55.480 Verse 5, the Lord is your keeper. 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.079 Right, so in verse 7 and 8, sorry, 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.680 the Lord will keep you from all evil, He will keep your life, 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:04.240 the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:06.960 It's all over the place, right? Keep, keep, keep, keep, keep. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.000 It's everywhere. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.559 And some of the scholars will talk about how 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.319 if you look across the Psalms of Ascent very carefully, 00:23:13.319 --> 00:23:18.240 one thing you see is that it seems that one word or concept 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:23.119 has been taken from Numbers chapter 6, the Aaronic benediction, 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:26.680 and put as the centerpiece of every one of the songs of Ascent. 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.680 And in Psalm 1 and 21, it is the word keep. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:31.960 May the Lord bless you and keep you, 00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:34.440 and we'll say it in the benediction in just a little bit. 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.120 And so this Psalm has the word keep at the center of it, 00:23:38.120 --> 00:23:42.559 and all the songs of Ascent have one from the Aaronic benediction. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:46.240 Or at least that's the thought from several of the commentators on it. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.519 What's a keeper? 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:51.240 Not a position in football. 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:55.160 Though it is that, but long before that keeper, what is this keeper? 00:23:55.160 --> 00:24:00.279 This keeper, the word keeper here, this is the Hebrew word for a watchman, 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:02.080 a watchman of the night, a guard. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:07.919 So the soldier who stands on the castle wall and rings the bell, 00:24:07.919 --> 00:24:10.119 you know, when the orcs are coming or whatever, 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:14.079 that's the keeper, the watchman, the guard at night. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:16.919 And it says over and over again, the Lord is your watchman, 00:24:16.919 --> 00:24:19.679 the Lord is your guard, the Lord is your keeper. 00:24:19.679 --> 00:24:23.039 That's the very center, and the very, the commentators will say that 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:27.240 really the strap line, the signal line is in verse 4. 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:30.960 Behold, he who keeps Israel, the keeper of Israel, 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:33.279 he will not slumber nor sleep. 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:35.160 He never goes to bed. 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:36.600 The Lord never goes to sleep at night. 00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:38.400 He has no vulnerability. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:42.319 One of my, I had a friend, I used to study across the street here, 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:46.160 and when I was at new college, I was in a little prayer group 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.880 with some of the students, and one of the guy's friend of mine, 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:52.440 he used to always say when we would pray, 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:56.640 or he would tell us, every time I put my head down on the pillow at night, 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:59.480 I remember I am not God. 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:03.880 Every time you put your head down on the pillow, you can say I am not God. 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.079 I sleep, he does not. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.079 He never gets tired. 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:12.880 He never gets that two o'clock, that 6.30, sleepiness. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:13.880 He doesn't get that. 00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:15.079 He neither slumbers nor sleeps. 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:17.759 When you see the hills, when you lift up your eyes, 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.599 when you leave your house, and you face the fears of this life, 00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:23.319 the temptations, the vulnerabilities, the idolatries, 00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:28.200 the vulnerability of your physical life, the fact that we face death, 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:30.680 what do you do? 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:33.039 You pray your fears, you take your anxieties to the Lord, 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:34.960 and you look at the keeper. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:37.480 You look for the keeper. 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:39.799 That's what the psalm is calling us to, and where is the keeper? 00:25:39.799 --> 00:25:41.519 Who is the keeper? 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:42.519 Who is the watchman? 00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:43.519 Who is the guard? 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.440 Who is the keeper of your life? 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:52.480 And remember that Jesus Christ stood outside Jerusalem. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:54.039 Who took this exact journey? 00:25:54.039 --> 00:25:58.000 Jesus stood every year with his parents. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.119 Jesus walked to this path of ascent to the holy city, Jerusalem. 00:26:02.119 --> 00:26:05.160 And he sang the psalms of ascent. 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:11.039 And I think over time he knew more and more that this was about him. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:15.279 Because he was outside Jerusalem ascending the hill, 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.079 and he lifted up his eyes. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:22.640 He walked up the worst hill ever, the most unjust hill, 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:25.039 that whatever exists, the hill called Golgotha. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:28.279 And when he did that, he lifted up his eyes and he said, 00:26:28.279 --> 00:26:29.279 what did he say? 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:33.839 He said, where does my help come from? 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.759 And we can say my help comes from the Lord, my keeper, 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:38.839 because he heard absolute silence. 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:41.960 He was forsaken, the keeper himself. 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:46.000 He ascended the great hill and he was forsaken. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.720 He had no help, utterly vulnerable, totally vulnerable, 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.279 cast into hell itself wise so that we today, 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.920 we today could say, do I have help? 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:56.920 Do you have help? 00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:59.839 Oh yeah, the keeper. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:02.960 He went to the worst of all hills and he died there 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:07.759 so that we could lift up our eyes and say, that is my keeper. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:10.319 The one who went down into death for me in rose and victory, 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:11.720 that is my keeper. 00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:14.480 Jesus is the great keeper. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:18.399 And he marched up that hill for you and he was forsaken for you. 00:27:18.399 --> 00:27:21.000 And every single day this week when you wake up and you, 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:22.519 what's the last verse say? 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:25.680 When you go out, you're going out and you're coming in, 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.879 which is just a word for travel, a Hebrew phrase for traveling. 00:27:28.879 --> 00:27:31.440 When you leave your home and you come back, 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:35.160 don't forget the keeper, the one who died for you, 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:38.160 the one who was raised for you. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:39.160 Let me end like this. 00:27:39.160 --> 00:27:42.039 Will God keep you afloat in this life and the vulnerabilities, 00:27:42.039 --> 00:27:44.559 the circumstances that you may be facing right now, 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.440 this very week? 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:47.440 How about this verse? 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:52.440 He who did not spare his own son for you, 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:54.480 will he not keep you? 00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:57.559 He who did not spare his only son for you, 00:27:57.559 --> 00:27:59.440 will he not keep you to the day of completion? 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:02.720 Will he not take you all the way to the mountain? 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:04.960 Saint Augustine will give him the last word. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:06.480 He says it like this. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:12.000 Who is there in your life who will neither slumber nor sleep? 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:15.400 If you seek one among men, you will be deceived. 00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:17.480 You will never find one. 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:20.080 Trust not in any man. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:22.480 Every man slumbers and sleeps. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.039 Seek not a keeper among men. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.039 Let us pray. 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:31.199 Father, we give thanks for Christ our keeper, 00:28:31.199 --> 00:28:35.639 our watchman, our guard, our strong tower, our refuge. 00:28:35.639 --> 00:28:37.720 And so this week, Lord, I pray for anybody here 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:43.399 that may be facing a hill, a disease, a diagnosis, 00:28:43.399 --> 00:28:47.439 a decision, a deep vulnerability and insecurity, 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.519 and anxiety, a temptation that's overcome them, 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.039 a sin pattern they cannot break free from, 00:28:55.039 --> 00:28:57.039 something from the world, the flesh and the devil 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.720 that seems to be enclosing upon them. 00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:01.519 I pray, Lord, that you would help them now 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:03.200 to lift up their eyes and look at the keeper, 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.759 the one who went down into the grave, 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:09.120 who ascended that holy hill but had no help 00:29:09.120 --> 00:29:11.240 so that we could have every help. 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:15.559 So I pray that power for many, many in this room this week, 00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:18.000 may we pray in Jesus' name, amen.