WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.600 So we started a new series tonight called The Songs for the Journey, and they are based 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:12.759 on the songs of Ascent, which is Psalms 120 to 134. 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:15.620 There's 15 of them in the Psalter. 00:00:15.620 --> 00:00:19.879 We've got 10 weeks, so we're not going to do them all. 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:24.519 So we're starting with 121 instead of 120 tonight, and I just want to dive right into 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:25.519 it. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:27.760 We're going to look at three things. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:35.320 The fact of the Ascent, the peril of the Ascent, and the keeper of the Ascent. 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:39.760 So first, the fact of the Ascent. 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:49.120 It's a fact that the Bible consistently puts our lives, the Christian life, into the language 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:57.640 of a journey, of a traveler, of a pilgrim, and the songs of Ascent are here because 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:06.599 they're teaching us that a traveler, the Christian traveler, needs songs to sing on the way to 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:08.400 help them. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:15.000 And that's because there are dangers and perils on every side as you walk through life, and 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:20.120 the songs aren't here to stop the danger. 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:24.040 The songs have no purpose in stopping the danger. 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:25.840 That's not the point. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:32.599 What they're for is for when you are in an unsafe place, they're for finding safety in 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:33.599 the heart. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:41.760 In other words, what they're about is an ability that only the Holy Spirit can give because 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:46.240 of the work of Christ, and that's the ability to have a changed heart, a heart that can 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:51.600 float when all the circumstances in life are pulling you down and trying to sink you. 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:57.760 And that's what the songs of Ascent are here for, the songs on the traveler's way to help 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:05.360 your heart, to help keep you afloat, ablumient as Paul put it, to find the equilibrium there 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:11.719 to help you stay on the path when the siren songs of the forest are calling you. 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:17.319 It's a venture away from the path that's been made for you. 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:24.599 And so each of the 15 songs here, the songs, they have what we call a superscription, which 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:31.680 is the little introductory title line, and it says a song of Ascent or song of the Ascent, 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:36.159 or it can be translated a song for the Ascent. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:44.439 In the word Ascent here, it means going up by marching, and the word song means that 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.159 it's a song. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:54.359 And so it's a song for the going up while marching is what the songs of Ascent are. 00:02:54.359 --> 00:02:59.120 And the question is, where is the traveler, the pilgrim, going up to when they are going 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.439 up by marching? 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:08.079 And none of the 15 songs tell us at all where the traveler, exactly what's happening, exactly 00:03:08.079 --> 00:03:09.680 the context. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.960 We know they're going to Jerusalem, but exactly what the context is, we don't know. 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:20.759 So Old Testament scholars usually say that there are two main contexts for where the 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:22.759 Israelites would have sung these songs. 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:27.000 The first is that these are ceremonial songs. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:33.879 So typically when coming back from war, a king would not only have a marching band, 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:36.199 but also a choir. 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:41.680 And it's often thought by Old Testament scholars that a choir would sing these songs with 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:48.560 the army on the way back from victory, David Solomon, the other kings of Israel, or another 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:53.520 ceremonial event that we know happened, and it's definitely true. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:04:00.640 And that's that because of Jewish tradition records it pretty regularly, that the priests, 00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:05.719 well on the south side of the temple in Jerusalem in the ancient world, there are 15 steps that 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:10.960 lead up to the gate called Beautiful and that enters into the women's court outside the 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.920 outer court of the temple. 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:19.000 And the priest would sing one of these songs for every step that they took up to the gate 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.680 called Beautiful. 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:24.079 And we know that's definitely true, but there's probably other contexts as well. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:30.920 And the most prominent context, the most likely context that Israelites would sing these songs 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:34.960 is they would sing them on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:41.680 Three times a year, every single Israelite had to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:50.439 the three great feast days, festivals that God had called them to that's Passover, which 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.920 is to celebrate the Exodus from Egypt. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:05:00.319 It's Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, which is to celebrate the giving of the law at Sinai, 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:06.360 and it's the Feast of Booze, which is a celebration, a remembrance of their time in the wilderness. 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:11.040 That's why it's called booze or tents because they slept in booze and tents in the wilderness. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.319 And so three times a year, they had to do this, three corporate feasts. 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:18.079 They had to pilgrim to Jerusalem, and that's what this is. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:22.079 These are the songs that they would sing on their pilgrimage toward Jerusalem three times 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:23.439 a year. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:34.199 And when they're journeying, the ethos, well, I know that at least up to 1870, military 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:39.479 armies usually had marching bands and sometimes choirs that continued to march with them, even 00:05:39.479 --> 00:05:43.240 in, I know that at least it happened through the Civil War, and perhaps even later than 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.519 that here in Europe, I'm not sure. 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:53.799 But the ethos, think not of the military marching band hiking up to Jerusalem. 00:05:53.799 --> 00:05:58.719 Think more of this context being like the English Ode. 00:05:58.719 --> 00:06:02.359 The Canterbury Tales is more of the picture here. 00:06:02.359 --> 00:06:09.639 It's more of the dwarves in the hobbit on their way up the mountain singing the great 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:15.060 song, far above the misty mountain cold to dungeon deep in caverns old. 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:19.360 We air away a break of day to the pale forgotten gold. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.439 That's the ethos here. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:28.000 That's the kind of travelers' tune that they're singing as they march up the mountain to the 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:29.000 feast days. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.340 Ancient people sang the stories. 00:06:31.340 --> 00:06:32.639 They sang their fears. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:34.360 They sang their hopes. 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:36.199 And that's exactly what's happening here. 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:41.120 Isaiah 3029, it actually records the fact that this happened all the time. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:47.399 The pilgrim plays the flute as they go up to the feast, Isaiah 3029. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:54.519 One commentator, William Johnson, he says this though about the modern pilgrimage that 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:55.920 we're on. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:03.680 The idea of the pilgrimage itself, even for Christians, is increasingly remote in Western 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.240 man's thoughts. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:11.280 The travelers' ode is lost and forgotten today. 00:07:11.280 --> 00:07:16.360 And that's true that we don't see so many contexts that we still sing the pilgrim songs 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:22.079 out and about in our life as travelers because we drive cars and they have radios and CD 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.160 players and things like that. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:28.079 Not even CD players, what am I thinking? 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:31.560 Bluetooth, of course. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:38.439 But the fact that these songs cannot be lost in the church, the songs of the pilgrimage, 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:39.439 where do we sing them? 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:44.519 We sing them in the church as Christians in the Christian life. 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:45.800 They must be sung. 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:46.879 Why must they be sung? 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:53.600 Because Hebrews 3 and 4 puts the Christian life, our life today, in exactly the same 00:07:53.600 --> 00:08:00.040 terms as the Old Testament pilgrimage, that we are the true exodus, that we are the ones 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:04.520 living in the wilderness, that we are the ones in exile, that we, if you are a believer 00:08:04.520 --> 00:08:08.960 in Jesus, are on the pilgrimage, that it's out in front of you, that you are running 00:08:08.960 --> 00:08:13.000 the race, that you are called to walk. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:18.840 And the New Testament quotes these Psalms of a sense six times, which isn't that often. 00:08:18.840 --> 00:08:22.920 But every time it does, what it's saying is that these songs aren't just for the Israelite 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:26.480 pilgrimage, that's just a shadow of the real. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.680 And the real is the pilgrimage that Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, calls 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:37.759 each of us to, if we're Christians tonight, that you are on a pilgrimage, you are going 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:42.279 somewhere, that it has a true and final destination. 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:43.279 What is it? 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:49.840 Philippians 3, 14, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:52.680 me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:56.200 Or Hebrews 12, 22 puts it exactly. 00:08:56.200 --> 00:09:03.320 You are going to Mount Zion, just like the ancient Israelite, to the heavenly Jerusalem, 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:05.960 to the city of the living God. 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.040 And the only point I want to make, and this first point, which is an introduction to the 00:09:09.040 --> 00:09:16.160 whole series, is that some of us tonight need to come back to terms, to wake up, to get 00:09:16.160 --> 00:09:23.080 back on the path, to realize once more that you are a pilgrim in exile, that you are actually 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:29.160 walking a pilgrimage, that you are traveling, and that it has a real and final destination, 00:09:29.160 --> 00:09:31.320 and that is the city of God. 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:40.920 And that you, on the pilgrimage, you are either going forward or you're going backwards. 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:44.680 And so tonight, some of us simply need to, because of the dangers and the perils and 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:50.080 the siren songs that have called us off the path, we need to get back on the path. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.560 And that's what these songs are about, is keeping us on the path, of helping us stay 00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:56.200 on the path, of taking our place. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:10:01.360 Okay, so this psalm, the last two points. 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:06.280 This psalm is, the question is, what do you face on the pilgrimage? 00:10:06.280 --> 00:10:08.720 What do you face on the journey? 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:11.000 What is it that you're facing? 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:19.759 And the point to you face, you face the peril of the ascent, is what this psalm is about. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:28.879 So the New Testament teaches that says, repeatedly, that the Christian on the journey has three 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:36.200 great enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:40.000 Those are the three great enemies of the travel that we are on now. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:46.039 And the world is everything that's wrong outside of you. 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:50.240 And the flesh is everything that's wrong inside of you. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.559 And the devil is the one who wants to destroy you. 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:55.159 And those are the three great enemies. 00:10:55.159 --> 00:11:00.919 And this psalm is about the peril of two of the three great enemies that the New Testament 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:02.799 teaches us about. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.559 Now which two? 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.719 Well, to find out, you have to look at the hills. 00:11:10.719 --> 00:11:12.360 You have to look at the hills. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:17.919 First one, I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:21.360 What's happening here? 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:27.919 You're driving through Glencoe, as we did a few weeks ago, and you see the hills. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.000 You see the mountains. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.600 And what happens to you? 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:34.639 You're taken aback. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:37.240 They catch you off your guard. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:42.480 And you realize this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.039 And what does it make you do? 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:46.639 It makes you look up and see God. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:50.120 And you say something like, where does my help come from? 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:53.159 It comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.000 He made this place. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:57.279 And that's true. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.519 And that really does happen when you drive through Glencoe. 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:04.799 But that has nothing to do with what this passage is about. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:08.319 That's not what's happening here in verse one at all. 00:12:08.319 --> 00:12:12.919 And I know a lot of us might have read it that way in the past as I have as well. 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:18.519 But when he says, I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:24.000 You see, to put it simply, the hills are bad here, not good. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.120 The issue here is when he looks up to the hills, he's afraid. 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:30.559 The hills have made him afraid. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:32.399 And he's saying, where can I have help? 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:38.600 I'm about to face the hills, and the hills are not a good thing for the pilgrim here. 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:41.279 He's saying that he's anxious. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:45.959 One commentator says like this, in the ancient Near East, the hills are consistently the place 00:12:45.959 --> 00:12:48.199 of real danger. 00:12:48.199 --> 00:12:51.399 Hills and their valleys are where the thieves do their work. 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:58.039 It was commonplace that traveling in the high places on tops of the mountains was the safe, 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.519 smart way to go in the ancient world. 00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:08.079 Not to mention that when you, this is a Psalm for the ascent, probably what's happening here 00:13:08.079 --> 00:13:13.799 is he sees the hills of Moriah, the hills outside of Jerusalem. 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:19.559 And there's a 2,000 foot elevation change from outside Jerusalem to in Jerusalem, of 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:23.000 course Jerusalem's up on a mountain. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.799 And it's pretty rocky and rugged. 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:29.240 And so he sees the hills, he's talking about the climb that he's about to make up the 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:36.320 hills, not to mention that Jewish tradition, actually to mention it in fact, Jewish tradition 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:43.919 says from a lot of different texts, this isn't the Bible that I know of, but that typically 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:53.960 no pilgrim would sleep in a house or a built structure on the festival pilgrimages because 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:59.039 they were trying to re-experience the Exodus experience, the wilderness experience, right? 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:05.919 So they wouldn't stop in the rural house, the structure that was built to find security 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:06.919 and safety. 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:11.079 They would sleep outdoors, they would build booze or tents. 00:14:11.079 --> 00:14:15.959 And so the hills, they are the domain of danger here. 00:14:15.959 --> 00:14:18.319 That's what the Psalm is about. 00:14:18.319 --> 00:14:27.000 And for us today, because of roads, the hills are not really the domain of real danger, 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.919 but what it's talking about, it's talking about one of the great problems that we face 00:14:32.919 --> 00:14:34.399 in our lives and that's the issue. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:39.159 I mean, it's real, it's tangible, it's daily, and that's the issue of safety. 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:41.840 I mean, it's that surface level here. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:46.360 His fear is on the surface, is the fear of safety. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:51.240 There are two great problems, two great enemies in this passage and the first one is the fear 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:59.440 of, for his bodily existence, for his safety, and for us, well, it's not the hills, it's 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:07.200 not the mountains usually, but how often, how much time do we spend thinking about and 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:12.480 protecting ourselves from and occupying our mind with the issue of safety in our day-to-day 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:13.480 lives? 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:20.320 I mean, it's really common for us whether it's that moment where you leave the baby in 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.440 the room by themselves because you're single parenting at your house and you just can't 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.040 do it all and the baby has to be left in the room by themselves for just a split second, 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:30.040 right? 00:15:30.040 --> 00:15:32.800 And the whole time you're away, this is what happens at my house, the whole time you're 00:15:32.800 --> 00:15:37.680 away, you're afraid and you don't know what you're going to come back to, hopefully, a 00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:40.600 living baby, that's the prayer, right? 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:46.160 Or when you put your 16-year-old behind the driver's seat, what do you do? 00:15:46.160 --> 00:15:47.880 You see the hills. 00:15:47.879 --> 00:15:53.480 That's what's happening, or whatever it may be, and it's the reason you locked your doors 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:59.320 at night, the hills, that's what's being talked about here. 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:08.279 Well, it's hard to even get it across to you because Edinburgh is a ridiculously safe place. 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:14.360 It's so safe relative to most of the cities of the world, but most people in history have 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:21.639 not been safe, and of course, safety is only relative and danger exists everywhere, even 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:23.600 here, right? 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.960 Now this psalm is antiphonal. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.279 It's an antiphonal psalm, which means that it's a conversation between multiple people. 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:37.159 If you notice it's not actually a prayer, it's a conversation between more than one person. 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:42.440 The first person speaks, you, and the first person plural and says, I see the hills. 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.800 I've just put my 16-year-old behind the wheel of a car, or whatever it is for the first 00:16:45.800 --> 00:16:46.800 time. 00:16:46.800 --> 00:16:51.680 I see the hills, and I'm afraid, and anxiety is creeping in my heart, and my concern is 00:16:51.680 --> 00:16:54.000 growing and growing, and it's going to overtake me. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:03.080 The second person you see then speaks in verse 3, and antiphonally, and sings to you, he 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.720 will not let your foot be moved. 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:10.080 So it's another person coming alongside of you and saying, you need to know this about 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:11.080 God. 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:16.559 He will not let your foot, and just notice in what the second person says how surface 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:18.319 level the danger is. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.439 This is literally about physical danger. 00:17:21.439 --> 00:17:24.199 He will not let your foot slip. 00:17:24.199 --> 00:17:27.279 He's about to hike 2,000-foot elevation. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:28.439 The hills, they're dangerous. 00:17:28.439 --> 00:17:31.359 He will not let your foot slip, the fear of death. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:35.079 He who keeps you will not slumber. 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:40.839 The real danger of going to sleep in the wilderness at night, which is something if you've 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:45.240 done much of, is scary, sleeping outdoors in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:46.240 at night. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:51.279 That's what he does not sleep or slumber, because when you sleep at night in the middle 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:57.279 of the woods, it's scary, and the sun will not strike you by day. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:02.359 The real danger in the ancient world of sunstroke, which was very common here. 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:06.799 People died from it all the time, still do, especially in the ancient world. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.319 The moon will not strike you by night. 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:12.159 That's a parallel verse. 00:18:12.159 --> 00:18:16.759 Now, we had a long conversation about this last night. 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:21.960 I had a long conversation about this verse last night with our minister and others, and 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:26.720 he convinced me that this is real and true, and I can say this. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:33.720 The idea in the ancient world, and commentators regularly note this, who knows what the medical 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:38.439 professionals will say to me afterwards, is that the moon and its rays and the celestial 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:44.480 bodies and their rays do, can, cause some form of, well, the term we've adopted in English 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:49.920 is lunacy, which comes from the term lunar, lunacy, the term for the moon, right, that 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.600 people go crazy at night. 00:18:52.600 --> 00:19:02.320 Whether it's a medical condition, it's called synoplexia, according to Wikipedia. 00:19:02.320 --> 00:19:06.799 There are stories of what happens when a full moon comes out, and what happens at the ER, 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:08.879 apparently, it's a little bit different. 00:19:08.879 --> 00:19:10.240 But that's what's being referenced here. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.879 That's what the commentators talk about, is the fear of disease or something that happens 00:19:14.879 --> 00:19:16.879 particularly at nighttime. 00:19:16.879 --> 00:19:19.799 But the point is, it's physical, it's real, it's about safety. 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:26.200 I mean, that's what he's talking about here, and this teaches us two things. 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:34.960 This means that this song legitimizes the fears that you have for your own safety, for 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:43.279 the bodily harm that you're afraid of, the fear that drives you to lock your doors. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:49.200 It says that God is paying attention to this real concern that we do have, where we think 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.000 about our safety. 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:55.600 And this is a song about vulnerability. 00:19:55.600 --> 00:20:01.799 It's saying you are vulnerable, and you don't control your circumstances. 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:05.440 And bad things come our way, and we're not safe. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.759 And that's because we have a great enemy, and that's the world. 00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:13.759 And the world in the New Testament means much more than this, but it at least means that 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:19.240 this place is bruised and broken and corrupted, and that people are sinners, and that nature 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:22.039 doesn't work right, and that we are in danger. 00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:23.039 It at least means that. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.639 It's true, it's real. 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:34.920 And the second thing it teaches us is that God deeply cares about your safety. 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:44.160 That's why the Psalm is here, that he deeply cares about your body, not just your soul. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:49.440 He doesn't want your foot to break when it slips, the ankle to roll. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:51.000 He made your body. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.520 He loves your body. 00:20:53.520 --> 00:20:54.880 He created us. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.440 He doesn't want it to be this way. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.840 It's not the desire of his heart. 00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:05.360 He hates the curse of pain, just like you hate the curse of pain. 00:21:05.360 --> 00:21:12.220 Isaiah 49-10, God shall feed the traveler along the way. 00:21:12.220 --> 00:21:18.040 On all the bare heights in the place of danger, he shall be their pasture. 00:21:18.040 --> 00:21:20.400 They shall not hunger or thirst. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.800 Neither scorching wind nor the sun will strike them. 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:30.039 He cares about our physical problem, about the dangers, about the issue of safety. 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:35.839 Now let me just close out this point by saying, what is the help here? 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:41.599 What is the help here that the Psalmist says, from where does my help come in this issue 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:42.960 of danger? 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:44.440 And what is the help? 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:52.000 And you can learn about it when he says that God is a shade in your right hand. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:57.240 Now when he says God is a shade in your right hand, he's talking about an actual shadow, 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:00.039 like an umbrella in modern terms. 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:05.359 You saw this in Jonah chapter 4, right, when Jonah is getting beat down by the sun and God 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:11.279 provides for him the tree, the shade that goes over his head, protects him from the sun. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:18.680 The metaphor across the Psalms, whenever the danger is climate, the sun, or something like 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:23.920 that, is God will be your shade or shadow, it can be translated. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:29.480 The parallel metaphor, whenever the danger is from a human being against you, is God 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:31.960 will be your shield in your right hand. 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:34.519 Just like it says here, he'll be your shadow. 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:40.600 And in Psalm chapter 3, David is afraid. 00:22:40.600 --> 00:22:48.039 And he says that the Lord is the shield in my right hand, parallel to this passage. 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:50.920 The shield all about me. 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:56.519 And the reason that the translators translate it, the shield all about me, is because it's 00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:59.480 a very particular word for shield. 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:03.000 There are multiple words for shield, and this is a particular word for shield, and it's 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:08.480 not just any shield, it's not like the shield that you would slide on your arm, circular, 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.920 that's for single hand-to-hand combat. 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:16.960 This shield, so the commentators say, is a shield all about me, is what David says. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:22.840 In other words, it's a shield that has three sides, it protects you this way, and it goes 00:23:22.840 --> 00:23:30.279 over your head, and it's particularly a shield that you would use for one purpose. 00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:32.920 When do you need a shield that goes over your head? 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:37.759 And that's when you are on the front line about to be a part of the siege, right, to 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:40.160 take the castle. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.559 You need a shield that's literally all about you, because what's going to happen when you 00:23:43.559 --> 00:23:45.799 get close to the castle door? 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:46.799 What do they do? 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:53.599 They throw bricks down on your head, they pour hot coals down upon you, they throw the 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:58.440 javelin down to try to get you from the top, you know, and everybody knows, right, we've 00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:04.519 all had this experience, and you need a shield all about you, and that's the word that is 00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:05.919 being used here. 00:24:05.919 --> 00:24:12.839 In other words, when God says, when the promise in the Psalms is, he will be the shield all 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:18.240 around you in your right hand, he will be the shade in the scorching sun, which direction 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:21.559 is the pilgrim going? 00:24:21.559 --> 00:24:24.759 Not away from the danger, it's toward the danger, right? 00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:29.959 It's about going into the siege, going toward the battle, walking down the road straight 00:24:29.959 --> 00:24:34.240 into the terrible circumstance, that is, people pouring hot coals on your head, and it's 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:35.240 the shield. 00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:44.480 In other words, the help here, the help here is not a promise of safety when you feel unsafe, 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:47.079 that's not the promise. 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:56.680 Goodness know, look at Jesus' life, he was not safe, and the eleven of the twelve first 00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:02.759 great pilgrims of the Christian church were not safe, they were martyred. 00:25:02.759 --> 00:25:10.960 The promise here isn't safety, the help is an ability to be buoyant, equal, to find a 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:16.279 peace that surpasses understanding in the midst of circumstances that aren't safe, right? 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:21.240 And that truly is a peace that surpasses understanding, and that's what he's saying here, God is your 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:26.119 helper, your keeper, he's the only one that can make your heart safe when there is no 00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:28.599 safety about you. 00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:31.119 And that's the promise that's being offered here. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:40.199 All right, secondly, the second problem, and briefly, the second great enemy in this passage, 00:25:40.199 --> 00:25:47.519 on the surface it's clear, this is about real and present danger, physical danger, but 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:51.359 it's about more than that, and the thing that it's about that's more than that is not as 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.919 obvious on the surface of the text. 00:25:54.919 --> 00:26:01.079 And it's this, verse seven, the Lord will keep you from all evil. 00:26:01.079 --> 00:26:09.399 Now that little phrase, all evil, is a reference to the third great enemy of the New Testament, 00:26:09.399 --> 00:26:17.639 the devil, what Paul calls the powers and principalities, the prince of this age. 00:26:17.639 --> 00:26:20.480 Now how do we know that? 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:28.319 Verse one, the hills, the hills, in verse one, this is from a, the hills stand as a domain 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:32.240 in the Israelite mine for mysterious forces. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.559 In the ancient Near East, being away from the city, being away from the mountain of 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:42.279 God, the place that God has set his presence, this is the domain of the demons, it's the 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:48.759 domain of the hills, this is the domain of the high places, the high places, the place 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:55.879 that you worship, false spirits, false gods, idols, is the same as the hills in the Old 00:26:55.879 --> 00:26:56.879 Testament. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:58.640 There are a lot of parallel synonymous terms. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.640 Let me just give you some examples. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:09.680 Jeremiah 3.23, in vain salvation is looked for in the hills, meaning in the fallen spirits, 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:15.440 the false gods, not the true God in the hills, or first Kings 2023, the servants of the king 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:21.680 of Syria said to him, the gods, the false gods, they are the gods of the hills. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:23.560 And so they are stronger than we. 00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:30.960 Where this one's important, Jeremiah 10 is parallel to Psalm 121.1. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:35.839 It uses the phrase, the maker of heaven and earth, just like Psalm 121.1 does, but in 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:36.839 the opposite way. 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:42.399 So just here, thus you shall say to the people, the gods who did not make the heavens and 00:27:42.399 --> 00:27:48.000 earth, they will perish from the earth and from under the heavens, Psalm 121.1. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:54.319 But the God that you have when you face the hills, which is the domain of the devil, the 00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:59.119 powers, the fallen spirits, the high places of false worship, he did make the heavens 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:00.119 and earth. 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:04.799 You see, it's the opposite of Jeremiah 10. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:05.799 The last one I read for you. 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:06.799 Deuteronomy 4. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:15.519 Beware lest you raise your eyes to the heavens and you see the sun and the moon. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:20.519 And you be drawn away to worship them and serve them. 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:25.079 And you see, you have the hills, which is the domain of the high places, the false gods, 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:31.839 the sun and the moon, the three locations here, which are all considered mediums in 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:37.639 amongst the Israelites for where the demons do their work, where the false gods are worshiped. 00:28:37.639 --> 00:28:38.639 Real danger. 00:28:38.639 --> 00:28:40.639 So it's not just physical, it's spiritual. 00:28:40.639 --> 00:28:43.160 You see, it's everything. 00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:48.519 That's what the hills mean here, and the point here is that God is your keeper, he's your 00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:49.519 helper. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:54.440 He not only is there for your good, for your safety, the safety of your heart, but he actually 00:28:54.440 --> 00:29:01.360 actively protects you on the Christian pilgrimage from the all evil, the devil, the powers, 00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:02.920 the principalities. 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:04.960 And this isn't a mythology. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.320 This isn't something we can dismiss in the modern world. 00:29:09.320 --> 00:29:10.320 This is real. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:14.639 The Old Testament teaches it just as much as the Old Testament. 00:29:14.639 --> 00:29:19.480 One commentator says this, verse six, should be interpreted as an argument. 00:29:19.480 --> 00:29:23.720 The sun and the moon, the heavenly bodies, which are often worshiped and credited with 00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:28.919 divine powers and the other religions, are here being stripped of their powers in the 00:29:28.919 --> 00:29:31.119 face of the true God. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:34.079 You see? 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:39.439 John Patton, many of us, many of you know the story of John Patton, the great Scottish 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.680 missionary to the New Hebrides. 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:47.080 The New Hebrides were a land of cannibals. 00:29:47.080 --> 00:29:53.160 And well, John Patton, I think this was in Glasgow, if I remember correctly, but I could 00:29:53.160 --> 00:30:02.640 be wrong, he proposed to his fiance, his soon to be fiance, and two weeks later he told 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:07.680 her for the first time that they were going to move to the New Hebrides, where the previous 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:10.519 missionaries had been eaten by cannibals. 00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:12.880 So I don't know if fur did that. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:17.200 I mean, it's a one way to do it. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:18.299 But that's what he did. 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:24.000 And he went to the New Hebrides and pretty early on, as you would expect, they built 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:25.000 a hut. 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.799 They were in the hut with his family. 00:30:27.799 --> 00:30:31.360 And that night they came for him. 00:30:31.360 --> 00:30:33.320 And they surrounded the hut. 00:30:33.320 --> 00:30:34.720 And they were going to take him. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:37.839 And they were going to kill the family. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:41.839 And they were going to do what they had always done, the people of the land. 00:30:41.839 --> 00:30:43.440 But they never came inside. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:44.440 They never came in. 00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:45.440 And many of you know the story. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.240 You know, it's an amazing story. 00:30:47.240 --> 00:30:49.240 They never came in the whole night. 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:55.400 And a year later, after Patton had learned the language and he had witnessed about the 00:30:55.400 --> 00:31:02.759 gospel to these people, he was sitting with the chief of the clan before the fire. 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:08.960 And the man said to him, that night when we came to your house to kill you, to eat you, 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:14.519 who were the men guarding the way that we could not break through and get to you? 00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:17.839 And you see, God is everywhere. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.039 And the angelic hosts are real. 00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:24.400 Just like the spirits who have fallen are real. 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:27.440 And that's what this passage is about. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:29.879 And it's not some ancient mythology. 00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:33.560 It's about the help of God, the protector of His people. 00:31:33.560 --> 00:31:37.120 He is greater than all of your enemies. 00:31:37.120 --> 00:31:38.680 Greater than all of your enemies. 00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:43.360 And if you are walking on the ascent, if you're on the pilgrimage and you're looking at the 00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:46.560 city of God, it says that He will keep you. 00:31:46.560 --> 00:31:48.160 Now, let me close. 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.040 We just have a few minutes. 00:31:50.040 --> 00:31:52.920 Let me close with this thirdly and finally. 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:54.240 The keeper of the ascent. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:58.160 What does it mean to say that He will keep you? 00:31:58.160 --> 00:31:59.920 It repeats it three times. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:02.640 It calls Him the keeper, that He will keep you, that He will keep you. 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:04.800 He calls Him the keeper. 00:32:04.800 --> 00:32:09.680 One idea, and this is, I think this is true and incredible, is that some scholars said 00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:18.360 that these 15 songs of the ascent correspond to the 15 words in the Aaronic benediction, 00:32:18.360 --> 00:32:19.360 number six. 00:32:19.360 --> 00:32:22.440 In Hebrew, there are 15 words in that benediction. 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:29.559 And each of these 15 Psalms do repeat a word constantly from the Aaronic benediction. 00:32:29.559 --> 00:32:31.720 And of course, the word in this one is keep. 00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:34.240 May the Lord bless you and keep you. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:39.200 And we have keep, keep, keeper here in this Psalm, but that doesn't tell us what a keeper 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:40.200 is. 00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:41.200 What's a keeper? 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:46.279 A keeper is not a position in football. 00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:48.840 Well it is, but not in this context. 00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:54.439 A keeper is a guard, a watchman, as we would call it. 00:32:54.439 --> 00:33:02.480 A keeper is one who takes up the night watch on the city wall to look out and to see if 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:04.879 the enemies are coming, right? 00:33:04.879 --> 00:33:08.039 To ring the bell if the enemies are coming. 00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:10.000 It's the one who takes up the night watch. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:19.480 And the classic image of the night watchman on the city wall, what happens every time 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:27.000 in every sitcom and movie when the night watchman goes out to take his post and 2 AM rolls around? 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:29.000 You all know what happens to him. 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:30.480 He falls asleep, right? 00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:33.000 Every night watchman, they always fall asleep. 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:38.680 The keeper, he always goes out, he takes his post, he sits down, and at 2 AM he's gone. 00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:43.320 He's asleep, and of course then the enemy sneaks in and the city is destroyed. 00:33:43.320 --> 00:33:48.000 You see the point of the text, he's the keeper, the night watchman. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:50.519 He does not slumber or sleep. 00:33:50.519 --> 00:33:52.580 He doesn't fall asleep. 00:33:52.580 --> 00:33:58.240 Like the night watchman who always do fall asleep is the point of that passage. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:04.680 In other words, to slumber here literally means he doesn't need a break after lunch. 00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:10.559 He doesn't, after eating his big meal at lunch, have to have an extra dose of coffee like we 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:11.559 do. 00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:16.519 The afternoon, the Monday afternoon, tired that we all get, he doesn't get that, that's 00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:18.880 what slumber means because he doesn't sleep. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:19.880 He never gets drowsy. 00:34:19.880 --> 00:34:26.599 I had a friend at New College, my first year studying, we were in a prayer group together, 00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:37.920 and he said that whenever he gets prideful, he knows that he's being a bit prideful that 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:44.639 when he goes to open the bathroom door or put his head down on the pillow, he's always 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:53.759 reminded, I am not God because God doesn't need to do any of those things. 00:34:53.759 --> 00:34:55.279 God, he neither slumbers nor sleeps. 00:34:55.279 --> 00:34:56.400 He doesn't take breaks. 00:34:56.400 --> 00:34:57.880 He doesn't sleep. 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:00.240 He's not like us. 00:35:00.240 --> 00:35:03.559 And he is your keeper. 00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:07.000 And the point here is that what do you do when you're afraid? 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:13.200 When you see the hills, you say you have to talk to your heart, just like the friend here 00:35:13.200 --> 00:35:14.960 is talking to the person that's afraid. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:18.000 You have to talk to your heart, and you have to talk to your heart about God. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:19.000 And what do you say? 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:23.599 When you see that hill in your life, whatever it is that makes you afraid and anxious and 00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:26.759 fearful, what do you say to your heart? 00:35:26.759 --> 00:35:32.719 And what you say is, you need to look at another hill. 00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:36.000 You need to look at another hill. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:39.360 And this is another pilgrim. 00:35:39.360 --> 00:35:44.839 There was a pilgrim, and he faced a hill called Golgotha, and it was a nasty ascent, the worst 00:35:44.839 --> 00:35:46.079 in history. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:50.599 And he carried the wood upon his back as he made the ascent to the mount, the Temple Mount, 00:35:50.599 --> 00:35:55.159 the city of Jerusalem, and he wasn't protected. 00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:56.960 He wasn't kept. 00:35:56.960 --> 00:35:59.920 He was forgotten. 00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:03.159 God did not keep him in the night watch. 00:36:03.159 --> 00:36:06.000 He experienced the ultimate terrors of the night. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:11.880 And when you ask, will God keep me afloat on the path of the Christian pilgrimage, you 00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:18.839 have to look at that hill, and you have to say this to your heart, he who did not spare 00:36:18.840 --> 00:36:25.320 his own son for you, will he not keep you? 00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:30.320 Will he not give you what you need to stay afloat? 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:35.760 You have to lift your eyes up to that holy hill if you want to lift up your heart in 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:40.120 the midst of sinking circumstances. 00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:48.839 We'll close with a quote from St. Augustine's sermon on Psalm 121, which I read this week. 00:36:48.839 --> 00:36:53.199 He asked the question, where do you look for help in the terrors of the night? 00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:58.319 And this is what he says, Who is there who will neither slumber nor sleep, when thou 00:36:58.319 --> 00:37:06.319 seekest one among men, thou art deceived, thou will never find one among men. 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:10.160 Thou art not therefore in any man. 00:37:10.160 --> 00:37:17.480 Every man slumbers, every man sleeps, seek not a keeper among the human beings. 00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:18.480 Let's pray. 00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:24.680 Father, we give thanks to you that you do not slumber, that you do not sleep, that you 00:37:24.680 --> 00:37:31.760 are the night watch who keeps us forever, that you will deliver us to the city of God. 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:37.400 We thank you as well that the Psalms are so real that we can pray our fears about our 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:44.880 safeties, all the things that we get worried about, about our fears about the spiritual 00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:48.560 life, the demonic powers. 00:37:48.560 --> 00:37:50.720 We thank you that these songs are so real. 00:37:50.720 --> 00:37:54.160 So we ask, Lord, that they would do a work on us, that they would help us when we pray 00:37:54.160 --> 00:37:55.160 this in Jesus' name. 00:37:55.159 --> 00:38:02.159 Amen.