Sermon Tone Analysis
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How did it go fighting the good fight this week?
I hope you were able to see God work in some unique ways in your life.
Kept By God
It has been an unsettling week for many, though, hasn’t it?
If you have been watching the news, you have seen the stock market swinging wildly for fear of what may come.
It is hard to believe that the day has come.
This afternoon, Gordon Howard and I, along with two men from GraceLife, will head to Washington DC so we can fly out tomorrow morning to go to Zimbabwe.
You have seen shootings in America, unrest in Hong Kong, and more.
Perhaps something happened in your personal life this week.
You started off well, trying to take hold of eternal life and fight the good fight like we talked about last week, but something came up that got your eyes back on this life and has you concerned.
The closer we get to this trip, the more the world goes insane.
There are planes missing, diseases spreading, and enough situations to worry about to drive you insane.
I imagine that most of us are faced with a situation that has us worried.
I know that many of you are concerned about us as we go on the trip, and I hope that is motivating you to pray.
What I don’t want to have happen is for you to be worried about us while we’re gone.
That’s why this morning, I want us to look at one of the most comforting, reassuring passages I know.
The only thing that makes this passage difficult to preach is that it is so straightforward.
This morning, you may not be getting ready to fly out of the country.
However, I imagine that most of us are faced with a situation that has us worried.
Maybe you are afraid for your health.
Perhaps you are worried about a family member who seems to be out to get you.
Is your boss trying to find an excuse to fire you?
As you are starting classes, you are faced with the overwhelming fear of all that needs to be read, written, and studied in the next 13 weeks.
Maybe it is something from your past that you have never faced?
A person who hurt you and left you in fear that it would happen again?
What is it that has you afraid this morning?
Whatever it may be, no matter how big or how small it may seem to you or anyone else, I want you to learn this key truth this morning: If you have placed your trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, you are protected by God.
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If you walk out of here with no other understanding than that, I want you to see that you are protected by God.
The psalm we look at this morning explains that in great detail, so turn over to .
Keep in mind that the psalms were originally songs that were sung by the Israelites.
Like last week’s psalm, this is from the Psalms of Ascent, which were songs sung by pilgrims going to Jerusalem to celebrate the holy days God had set in place.
This particular psalm is in a unique group of psalms called “songs of ascent”.
They were sung by the Jews as they made their trips to Jerusalem for the feasts God called them to observe.
You will see the word “protect” or “Protector” six different times in this passage, so the psalmist is driving this lesson home.
When you hear the word “keep”, what images come to mind?
Hold on – “I want to keep this”
So, as they are coming from all over Israel to worship at Jerusalem, they would be looking around at the mountains around them and acknowledging that God is their protector, no matter what.
Protect – “I will keep you safe”
Preserve – “How long will these keep?”
The idea here is that God is the one who keeps us.
He protects us, He preserves us, He holds on tightly to us.
Let me ask you this question, and don’t be too quick to answer: do you really believe, honestly, that God is able to keep you safe?
Remember, the way you act shows what you believe.
Do your actions, your thought processes, your decisions reflect that God really can keep you safe?
Do you think God is bigger than cancer?
Is He bigger than your rebellious child or your wicked boss?
Is God good enough to protect you through the drudgery of the day in and day out routine of life?
Do you think God is bigger than cancer?
Is He bigger than your rebellious child or your wicked boss?
Maybe you’re like the dad who was completely honest with Jesus when he said, “Lord, I believe; only help my unbelief.”
You may want to believe, but you are still struggling this morning.
My prayer is that God will take His word this morning and apply it to your heart, helping you to find peace because, if you are His, you are kept by God!
As the psalmist writes, he gives us at least five character traits of God that show why He is the best one to keep us.
Look at the psalm with me, starting in verse 1…
1)God created everything.
The writer of this psalm starts off with a question.
Look at verse 1.
We don’t know what prompted him to write these words, but that actually may make it better.
There could have been any number of situations that caused the psalmist to need help, but as he looked out over the hills, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was help there.
In verse 2, he seems to answer his own question…
He identifies the source of his help as the LORD.
There, he uses the personal name for God that distinguished Him from other deities.
That name is going to be important to us in a few weeks when we look at the life of Moses.
Just like Baal was called Baal, Asherah was named Asherah, here the psalmist calls God by His name.
If you have ever studied a culture that worships many gods, you know that each has their own realm of expertise.
The Canaanites around Israel worshiped Baal, who was the storm god, Asherah who was the fertility goddess, and so on.
The name the psalmist uses here is the name that speaks to the fact that God was, is, and is to come, just like we talked about last week.
He has existed from eternity past, he is fully present in this moment, and he is present in every moment that has yet come to pass.
The One who is the source of our help is not limited to only controlling one part of nature at a time.
Why?
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Because He made it all.
He is the maker of heaven and earth!
We believe and we teach that makes it clear that God created everything from nothing.
He made everything that exists by his own word.
That’s what Paul explains in :
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
(, NASB95)
He created everything that has been made!
He created everything that has been made!
If He made it, He can control it!
God isn’t like a mad scientist who created a monster he could no longer control; He created everything and still guides and directs His creation today.
Did you notice that in Paul’s words?
“…by him all things hold together”?
Right now, everything that exists is there because He is holding it together.
Who better to keep you safe than the one who is holding it all together anyway?
As you think about the God who watches over you at this very moment, remember that He is the same God who created it all.
The psalmist gives us more assurance that God will keep us.
Look at verse 3, where we see that…
2) He is proactive.
Here, the psalmist draws a picture for us that is pretty clear and straightforward.
Many of you have hiked some of the gorgeous trails in the forests around our area.
Have you ever noticed that, as you start out, you pay lots of attention to the ground?
You may even spend more time looking down than looking up as you watch for roots, rocks, and other problems on the path that could trip you up.
The longer you walk, though, the more tired you become.
As you get tired, you start zoning out and not paying as much attention.
Before too much longer, you trip, slip, twist, or stumble because you aren’t paying attention.
The picture here is that God, our keeper, is proactively watching out for you to keep you from slipping.
God isn’t like anti-lock brakes that just activate when something goes wrong; he is actively monitoring everything about your life to keep it from going off track.
That doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you.
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