It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so happy Thanksgiving. We will have lunch shortly, but first there is work to do. I am warning you now, don't panic. We're gonna do two of these today. Because again, I've told you this before, I am not clever in coming up with things year after year. Had this great idea that we'll go through the Song of Ascents on Thanksgiving Sundays for the next few years, because it's like Psalm 120 through like 130 something, I've looked and I don't remember the exact number. Most of them are so short though, we're gonna get through two of them, which is really helpful because they set the stage for each other. So if you have no idea what I'm talking about, Song of ascents are the songs that would have been sung by pilgrims traveling back to Jerusalem for the national feast. So you remember the command in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus that three times a year all the males of Israel have to present themselves before God in the city that he chooses. He chose Jerusalem, built a temple there. So at Passover, my brain just stopped working again. Yeah, well, I said Passover, Tabernacles is the last one, and then the one in the middle is Pentecost. Oh my goodness, my brain does not want to work this morning. We are not off to a good start. I need turkey. These would have been the songs that were sung traveling back, which is a fascinating look at the mindset of Israel as well as the theology of what is the Old Testament. Because remember, remember what our supposition is about Scripture. You have 66 books, 40 plus authors, 1,500 years, multiple continents, how many stories you got? One, these songs being sung as they return to worship, as they return for the markers of time celebrating the provision and accomplishment of God, lay down an understanding of who God is and what he has done. So, one of the reasons we want to do it like this is, I am at the time of the year that I despise the most, and here is why. I am one of those December Christmas people. So all Christmas stations that have started already are evil and should be launched into the sun. So that's me. If you are a Christmas music- If you are a Christmas music person in October, I do not think you are a bad person. I just can't do it. And the one, there's a political commentator that starts his Christmas stuff, like the first of November, drives me up a wall because he always says this, and this is what drives me crazy. He goes, Thanksgiving is a day, Christmas is a season. I want to reach through the internet and strangle him because Thanksgiving should not be a day. And this is one of the symptoms that you get when you are drifting along in the world. And by the way, you're not a bad person for drifting along. We all drift. We all drift on occasion. The goal of Thanksgiving is that it's a marker of remembrance, a marker that is laid down, not so that you will celebrate a day and eat turkey, although it's worth it, but so that you will then take that idea and expand it throughout your entire lives. As Christians, what should be our day of Thanksgiving? Yes! The answer is yes. That's one of the reasons for the Song of Ascents, is that as you're going into Jerusalem, as you're returning to the reminders of who God is and what He has done, you are setting yourself up to get away from that drift and to anchor yourself into a place of thanksgiving so that it is not just a day, not just a season, but the air that we breathe and the life that we live. We have two short Psalms, this one is seven verses, Psalm 121 is eight verses. We will, I promise the notes aren't any longer than they normally are, we will get through both of them as a quick overview. Psalm 120, prayer for deliverance. Psalm 121, prayer for protection. And they go together and we're gonna make that make sense as we go through it. So you ready? All right, let's dive in. Verse one of Psalm 120. In my trouble I cried to the Lord and he answered me. Duh, this is what God does for his people, things like Isaiah 41. You, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, my friend. Catch all the history that just got laid back there. How far back Isaiah is going. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its remotest parts and said to you, you are my servant. I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. The reason I always point out whenever the history goes backwards is realize that we assume and take for granted a lot of the knowledge and wisdom of Scripture because we're at the end of the Bible process, but the purpose of the Bible process is that it is a progressive revelation. So, when dealing with theological matters, you have typically a couple ways to look at them. Many, many times people will try to give you an abrogated view of scripture. So abrogation would be something that comes later undoing what comes earlier. So it's like when your mom tells you you can't have any cookies and then your dad comes home and eats a cookie and you're like, but mom said we couldn't have any. So he gives you a cookie. Your dad has abrogated the rule. The mom laid down the rule that there were no cookies, but since dad wants a cookie, and since we're trying to be fair, who's getting a cookie now? See, that's abrogation. Progressive revelation, which is what your Bible does, is that that which comes later is not undoing what has come earlier, it is building upon it. So it's like the reminder I give you as we are going through Romans. You can't just show up in chapters 8 and 9 and be like, We don't need chapters one and two. Those were way back then. We don't need to know that. No, no, no. You need one and two and three and four to understand everything that comes later. This is the same thing with your Bible. This is one of the reasons why I like going back to the Old Testament every chance we get and one of the reasons why I like to remind you of what is in the Old Testament and how it should be rightly seen. Because if you just, imagine if you just like popped open Matthew for the first time and you didn't have anything of the Old Testament before you. Who's an Abraham? What's an Adam? What's sin? Who's Israel? I have so many questions! What are we doing here? What is wrong? So what you have in the Old Testament is a lack of conclusion. Well, in the New Testament, you have a lack of beginning. You need both to work. You need the history of Scripture. to explain to you who God is and what He's doing. So all this stuff that we assume about God, His patience, His presence, His provision for His people, His mercy, His grace, we know this because we've seen it. Well, where have we seen it? Well, that's what all of this stuff is for. That's what all of that history is for. That's why the prophets are reminding you of the Exodus, reminding you of Genesis. That's why even things like what we read this morning in Psalm 136, it say, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his loving kindness is everlasting. How do you know that? Well, because he made the world in which you dwell. He redeems His people. He conquers their enemies, both great and small. He does not leave anything undone. He does not leave anything forgotten. Therefore, we know that His loving kindness is everlasting. You can't lose the history because when you do, you lose the reason for being. Once again, why sing this? on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate because it puts you in the right perspective, it puts you in the right frame of mind to remember that we as a people have called out to the Lord and he has remembered us. Me as an individual, I have called out to the Lord and he has remembered me, even me. This is one of the lessons that you get from the nation of Israel that Moses tries to slap them with in Deuteronomy. It's one of my favorite verses, Deuteronomy 7. God didn't choose you because you're numerous but because you were the least of peoples, God has chosen you and strengthened you and multiplied you. This is not about you, this is about God. So in my trouble, I cried to the Lord and he answered me. Verse 2, deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. And the best part is because I've called out and he's answered me, when I say this prayer, what do I already know is accomplished. that He has, so go back to where we've been, Romans 3. Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. So, Psalm 120 is crying out for deliverance, for hope in God. The rest of your Bible is pointing out that that is what God is delivering, that is who He is delivering, that is what Christ is accomplishing, that is what the nation was pointing to, that is what the sacrifices were pointing to, that this hope of humanity, because let's be honest, humanity gets hope wrong, because where do we center hope? in us, in our desires, in our needs. This is the problem you get with Israel when you get to the New Testament. We need a Messiah to conquer who? The great enemy of God's people. Well, stop. Who's the God's people? Well, Israel. That's what the whole test was about. Didn't you pay attention? Okay, so who's your enemy? Well, obviously Rome, since they're the one oppressing God's people. And then Jesus shows up and goes, hi, I'm your Messiah. And they went, you can't be our Messiah. You're not killing the Romans and delivering the nation. We've missed something somewhere. Yes, you have. Like all of history, all of that redemptive story, all of what God has been revealing. Always remember that God is about accomplishing His purposes, not always ours. This is the reminder here in Psalm 120, that God hears His people and He delivers His people. That should get your eyes off of you. And the reason why it's called Song of Ascent, remember, is because we cover this every time we do something like this. You always go up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem's uphill. But part of the advantage of that is, as you're traveling, you're looking where? Away from yourself, away from your world, towards something higher, towards something better. The entirety of living a life with the knowledge of who God is and what he has done is a looking where? Away from you towards something higher, towards something better. This is the reminder that you get in these Psalms. So, verse three. What shall be given to you and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows of the warrior with the burning coals of the broom tree. Well, that escalated quickly, but that's the right attitude towards your sin. What do we tell you we should be doing with our sin on a daily basis? Kill it, kill it with fire! Well, what should be done with my deceitful tongue? What should be done with my lying lips? This is battle imagery. This is being burned imagery. This is what you want. You want destruction of your sin, because if your sin is not destroyed, your sin will destroy you. This is the hope again of the pilgrim returning. Because again, what are we celebrating in Passover? What's the reminder of Passover? that God has redeemed a people. He has taken them away from their enemy and he is going to give them a good land. Now the problem you have is for all those lambs, for all those daily sacrifices of the priests, has our corruption been undone? Has sin been reversed? Has the curse on the planet been undone? The answer is no. So there's still something more. There's still a sacrifice yet to be given. There's still a hope. Passover... This is, again, one of those things humanity messes up. We look back at the works and go, man, it was so awesome that God did that. But there's promises. There's hope. This is not just a looking back. That Passover should have also been a looking forward to the accomplishment of the Lamb, of the final sacrifice, of the one who crushes the serpent, who explains God from Deuteronomy 15, who rules like David, who does these things. That's the hope. It should have been expected, looking to God, trusting in his accomplishments. This is what we mess up so often is we look back and we forget because what we remember is us. what we failed in, what we've succeeded in, what God has succeeded in, but then we forget that He is still at work. He is still working and still accomplishing and still bringing to fruition, which means, I want this. I want this to be done to my sin because this is again, the hope of God that where I am is not where I want to be. Now look, if you told me I was gonna be here 15 years ago, I'd be like, I'm doing so good. And yet I look at me now and say, what? That's actually a good thing. Don't celebrate necessarily where you are, celebrate what God has accomplished and what God is accomplishing. So rules for driving, right? You check your mirrors, correct, as you drive. What's the manual say, like every 10 to 15 seconds, you're supposed to check your side mirrors and your rear view mirror? Nobody does that. Some of you do, but you're weird, so it's okay. We knew that. Why do you have to check them periodically? Because what can't you do while you're driving? Can't do this, can we? What's going to happen? Staring in that rearview mirror, don't look backwards while driving forwards. That's going to end badly. Even in Indiana where there's nothing to hit, you're going to hit something. Sorry. Part of me is still somewhere in the flatlands of Ohio and Indiana. I was walking around this morning, I was going, OK, I don't feel like part of me is still moving. So that's an accomplishment. The part of my brain is still somewhere in between central Ohio and central Indiana, so. You can't drive forwards while looking backwards. Christian, you can't live looking for a kingdom while dwelling on your failures and faults in the past. You have to celebrate the accomplishment of Christ, that he has been the propitiation of wrath for your sin, that he has brought about that good end, and that he is still redeeming his people. That's the hope. That's the killing of sin. And again, this is not unusual language. So you get to things like what Jesus says in Matthew 5. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out. Throw it far from you. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off. Throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Now again, why haven't we done that? because this is what Christ does for His people. So Paul explains this in Titus chapter 3. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So you're not cutting off your hand because the Holy Spirit's already done it for you. This is the boy I'm always joking about with you, the Holy Spirit comes behind you and goes, stop that. I'm like, okay. Message received. We're killing that one today. The one I was worried about that you're not worried about, we'll kill that one tomorrow. Deal? Okay, good deal. And that's sanctification. That's just the walking. That's the constant. It's also done, notice where the focus is. The song of ascents is having you look to where? to God, not to you, not to your accomplishments, not to your righteousness, but to the work that God has done, the work that he is doing, and the work that he will do. Verse five. This is my favorite verse right here, by the way. Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech, for I dwell among the tents of Kedar. And everybody goes, I so get that, because you guys are just such experts on ancient Near Eastern geography, right? I had no idea where those places were either, I had to look. But this is a fascinating thing for me for one reason. Meshech is in Asia Minor, and you all just went, huh? So depending on which history book you read, Asia Minor is ancient Anatolia, is also known as Cappadocia, is modern day Turkey. So that little section was between the Black Sea and between the Mediterranean. So that's where Meshech is. Kidar is in Arabia, located in the Syrian desert, which compasses most of modern-day Sinai Peninsula, and what's called the Jordanian Steppe. So, south and east of modern-day Israel, moving towards southern Jordan, and then towards the plain that would go below, like, Iraq towards Iran. Make sense? So there you go. So if you remember all the maps of us blowing stuff up in the 90s, south of where we were dropping all the bombs, okay? There you go. Now, why do I say that's fascinating? You can't live in both places. They're too far apart, they're too diverse, so I don't think this is literal. I think this is figurative. Now, who lives in most of Asia Minor? Jews or Gentiles? Gentiles. Who lives primarily in the Jordanian steppe in the Sinai desert? Jews or Gentiles? Gentiles. This is what it looks like to live in the world. Now again, sojourners coming back to Jerusalem. Where are they coming back from? They're from that diaspora. They have been dispersed for centuries because of what the Babylonians did. They are returning to Jerusalem. When they're done worshiping at Jerusalem, they're gonna do what? They're gonna go home again, go back to the world. This is a reason for woe. I live in this world, I live out there. Christian, you would know nothing about that. Coming in for worship and then having to go live back out there. You see, your Bible is not unaware and this is not an unusual thing. Now also realize this, who are they traveling with? Are we traveling with a bunch of Gentiles? I mean, did a bunch of people from Meshech and Kedar come along with us to Jerusalem to go visit the family? Who's making this trip? Believers. Now, not just believers and Jews, but, well, Jews, Jewish believers, there you go, because that's what they would be. Does everybody return every year for every festival? No. So if you're returning for the festivals and singing the songs, are you like the marginal Jew who's like the... You want me to use my derogatory terminology in the church? Get me in trouble? Yeah. You're not the Christer Jew. You know, the Christmas and Easter show up only. You're showing up when God has commanded. You're going to the synagogue. You're involved. This matters to you. And you're singing this lament in the presence of the other people to whom this matters, to the other people to whom are living in this world who are doing this. This is a reminder of who you are and where you are on a regular basis. So again, things like Isaiah, woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live where? Among a people of unclean lips. And my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah's freaked out, why? Because I'm looking at God, the holy of holies, and I'm recognizing what abouts myself. That's not me, and that's not you, and that's not you, and that's not you, and it's not any of you people! And this is a problem. It's also a reminder of what Jesus was trying to teach the crowds in things like Matthew 7. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." It's also one of the reasons why you can look at Jesus' ministry. How many times did Jesus, like, grab the Romans, or grab one of the other Gentile groups and castigate them, and complain at them? How often in the Gospels? Can you even think of one? How many times did he grab the religious leaders and basically smack them? Why? What are the religious leaders doing? They're leading people astray. They're teaching wrongly. They're blaspheming God. That's where the harsh critique should be. What's most important? Looking at the world and making sure they know they're going to hell? Or making sure that we know who God is, what he has done, what he is doing, and how we live our lives in light of that. See, this is your hope in Christianity. This is why I tell you for every look at yourself, take, Ted looks at Christ. Why? Because when you see yourself in your brokenness, you look at the accomplishment of Christ so that you can rejoice in who he is, what he has done, and what he is still doing. This is the reminder from Paul's life. There aren't accidents. There aren't failures from God's words. It's not like, oh man, I was gonna give them better parents. I was gonna give them better siblings, and oh, this is gonna be so, okay, how are we gonna overcome this, guys? How are we gonna get him from A to B so that he'll do the work that we need him to do? No, you are who you are. So I've told you this story before. But I had a seminary professor who, it's always funny to me that sometimes you can figure out what generation people are from just by their mannerisms. And so you have to rewind to when I was in seminary, which was 05 to 07, and for the life of me, I cannot remember his name. I can see him, but I can't remember his name. He was in his 70s at the time. So stop me if you can pick this one out of a lineup, but imagine a man in his 70s in the early 2000s, Got to see him preaching a chapel service at school. Got that one hand here. Got your Bible here. And as he's going, that right hand is just doing this number on points. Now, where does that come from? You guys know? Every time you say something important, you throw that hand up. Maybe you turn sideways on occasion and throw that hand up. Do you know where that comes from? It's a Billy Graham. Go watch an old Billy Graham crusade. It just became the way that people internalized how you're supposed to preach, because what do you see all the time? You see Billy up there throwing that hand up and talking and... Look at those cat-like reflexes, there you go. See, that's why I don't do stuff like that. Now, the reason I tell you that is here was one of the fascinating things. You know one of the first lessons he told us? He goes, God sent you, you do it. Don't try to be somebody else. I just thought it was fascinating that that was his message for a guy who's basically preaching style imitated Billy Graham. But if you go to that generation, they all did. They all did. Put on the suit, get the tile buttoned up, and here we go. But he was right, God sent you, who you are, how you speak, what your memories are, what your history is, God sent you, be you. If God wanted somebody else to do it, he'd have sent them. Since he didn't send them, he sent you, you go do it. This is part of the reminder in your world. This is what I mean when I say God is still working, still accomplishing. So I try to give this message to seniors, so not picking on you guys, but it is what it is sometimes. You're still here. You're still breathing. You're still working. You have work to do for the kingdom. Figure out what that is and get to work. You're not done yet. That's one of those things you don't retire from church. You serve God until God brings you home or he comes back. And that you figure out where you do that and how you do that with who you are. Be that at home, be that at church, be that in the nursing home, be that at Walmart, you figure that out. And that's not just a message to seniors, that's a message to all of us. We have different life stations, different life experiences. Some of us have kids, some of you guys have grandkids, some of you don't have kids, some of you have siblings around, some of you don't, okay. Where are you? How do you serve? How do you glorify God and recognize that God has placed you to witness and testify to him in that spot? You know how I know he sent you to do it? Because you're there. And this is how he operates with his people. You're in the world. But you don't have to rejoice over it. You do get to rejoice over God. So now what? Yes, we mourn of where we are, but we still accomplish. We still testify rightly. We still rejoice. Verse six. Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. Well, have you turned on the news lately? Has anything changed? This is one of the reasons why. I also tell you, you don't read Revelation with one hand and the newspaper in the other, because you're told that you're not going to know the day or the hour. There's going to be wars and rumors of wars, and you're going, that's been every day since humanity left the garden. That there was famine and plague and pestilence and wars and rumors of wars and people hating each other and people killing each other and people just doing generally awful, terrible things. I told you my borrowing in life, you have sinful people doing sinful things to sinful people sinfully. That this is the planet we live in, so welcome to the world, welcome to the planet, now what? Who is God? What has he done? What is he doing? What has he promised? How do you live there? Welcome to why this matters for Thanksgiving. Forget all of those things. No, go back, we're not there yet! Go back! The computer is so helpful sometimes. And the sad part is, she probably didn't click on it, she just hovered over it, and then it just clicked itself, because I have changed slides before, before the service, and typed it up, and hit enter, and looked at it, and it's changed, and then we go to the service, this is why you're looking like the verse will be wrong, or the title will be wrong, I fixed it, and then the computer was just like, no you didn't, and it just undoes the fix, and it's like, it's an apple, it's evil. All of you people that have joined the cult, I'm sorry, there's no hope for you. Who is he? What has he done? What has he accomplished? What is he accomplishing? This is where you live for Thanksgiving because when you lose that, when you lose that focus on God, you start hoping for something better. And look, this is where I pick on the Christmas people for a second because I get it. I get why people want Christmas. What's the one time a year when even the pagans are like, you know what we should do? We should be nice to people, and we should be kind and loving and joy- I mean, when is it? It's Christmas! And it's the lie, it's like a Hallmark movie come to life. It's like, no, no, no, we go to Walmart and people are polite and they are kind. No, they're not, they're Walmart people. And they're so bad, we made websites about them. If you've never lost an afternoon to people of Walmart, I don't know how you haven't done that yet. That's an astounding thing. And I say that as someone who has been to a Walmart at like two o'clock in the morning, and yes, you will see some things. We lie about it because we're hoping for something else, but that's a hope in the world. That's a hope in a holiday. That's a hope in the wrong thing. A spirit of thanksgiving, a spirit that rests in Christ is a hope that is in the right thing that says, I don't expect more from you because I am for peace. They are for war. Woe is me because of where I live, but yet rejoicing is me and happy and satisfied and Settled is me because of who Christ is and what God has done for me. That is thanksgiving, not just in a season, not just in a time period, but in each and every day. Now, why does that reminder for this psalm end there? Because let's be honest, is this a happy psalm? This is why you gotta sing all of them. Now we move ahead to Psalm 121. because this is why I say they go together. With that reminder, that knowledge in place, you've gotten your bad news. Guess what we need now? Now we need good news. Verse one. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. This is the right response to reality. I go out into the midst of the world. I am for peace in the world, but they are for war. Woe is me because of where I live and who they are, but. I have God. I have security. I have the maker of heaven and earth. I have the one who has redeemed, the one who is redeeming. I have the one to whom I can be thankful for because his loving kindness is everlasting. This is the response. So things like Psalm 37, the steps of a man are established by the Lord and he delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. Psalm 18, In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried to my God for help. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry for help before him came into his ears." And not just an Old Testament concept. 1 Peter 5, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all of your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. This is who God is. This is the reminder. So again, all that old history stuff we were talking about earlier, is a reminder of who God is and what He has done so that, as you live in the world, you'll be reminded of that so you will rest. So that your eyes will be uplifted off of you, off of this place, and onto the One who is actually saving, the One who is actually redeeming, the One who is actually sanctifying, the One who has actually overcome and is leading you to a good end. Yes, you sojourn in this place now, but that is not forever. How do we know that? Because the God who has accomplished has promised that there is coming a day when sin will be undone, when it will be crushed, when the creation will be reborn, and when it will be good and right as it was in the beginning. That's a hope, and it is a hope laid upon an accomplishing God who made heaven and earth, who crushes enemies great and small, and accomplishes all things for his people. Verse three. He will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Why not? Because it's who he is and it's what he has promised. So things like Deuteronomy 31. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or tremble at them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. And that's not just in the Old Testament, Hebrews 13. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you, so that we may confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid, what will man do to me? So one of those reminders we talked about with Romans before I was gone last week is Who cares what the princes of the world say? Who cares what the kings of the earth say? God knows me. God has named me. And this is what Christ has accomplished and what he has promised. So things like John 14, I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever. That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. So, you go out into the world, you have woe because they are for war when you are for peace, you recognize the iniquity and sin of this place, you recognize the problems in and amongst yourself, and you are downtrodden. You have the maker of heaven and earth, who has redeemed you, who has loved you, has set his glory upon you, and who has redeemed you, and who has indwelt you with his spirit, so that you will not be ashamed, so that you will not be left alone, so that you will not be forsaken nor forgotten. That's why you keep taking 10 looks at Christ. That's the reminder of who you are daily in the world, so that as you encounter these things, you encounter them in the right spirit and frame of mind. This is what it looks like to be renewed daily. to have your mind changed by the work of the spirit, to have this accomplishment brought in you, so that as you look at these things, you are changed and transformed each and every day. Because look, as you do that, what will happen to your walking? It will just keep doing what? Keep moving forward, and what will we do with all of these little baby steps? We celebrate, we rejoice. because you have moved in the right direction. Why? Because God has not forsaken you and God has not forgotten you. This is what he has accomplished moving to what he is accomplishing. This is where you're supposed to be living day in and day out, Christian. You forget that. You go back to drifting as we talked about at the beginning. Thanksgiving becomes a day and not a season. It becomes not a way of life. You remember this. You get away from the drift. What's all the language we talk about? Rooted. anchored, settled, built up, strengthened, all of those metaphors that the New Testament uses to describe believers are now true of you, the drift is gone, the accomplishment of Christ is done, and the accomplishing of the Spirit is being done day by day, knowing that there is coming a final day when all will be fulfilled and all will be finished. That's the hope, that's where we live. Now, The psalm does not leave you there. So we continue, verse five. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. Yes, yes he is. This is something taught in the Old Testament, Psalm 107. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. They use that a lot. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary and gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. He's your keeper. This is part of the reminders of the diaspora of Israel. And I've used that word twice that I haven't defined it. That's a shame on me. So Babylonians come in. So actually let me rewind real quick. The Assyrians come into the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 or 721, depending on which book you read. And they conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel, send them off into exile. Basically the 10 Northern trimes are kind of undone for most of the rest of history. The Babylonians come in in 586 or 587, depending on which book you read, and they destroy Jerusalem, burn down the city, burn down the temple, the whole nine yards, and the Jews are dispersed. That has come to us in what's known as the Diaspora. These are the dispersed Jews throughout the Babylonian Empire. And realize, they realize the maps are all in the other room now. The Babylonian Empire encompasses from what would basically be modern day, the western border of modern day Iran, all the way towards what would be the eastern border of modern day Greece and Macedonia. So it's a kind of a big deal, down in through Egypt, through parts of North Africa, and the Israelites are kind of sent out into all of it. So throughout the Fertile Crescent, throughout the Middle East, throughout into the beginnings of Southeastern Europe, into North Africa, and they are dispersed, and they create the synagogue system. You have 10 men, you can create a synagogue, you read the Old Testament, you study the word, you do all of this together, in hope that there is coming a day when God will be merciful, that he will redeem his people, and he will call them from the north, and the south, and the east, and the west, and he will bring them back to Jerusalem. Christian, this language is picked up in your New Testament, because again, where do you live? You have that Christian nation that you go visit on weekends? Sort of. That's what you're doing now. That's what you're doing now. You're with your fellow citizens and our fellow citizens all throughout the world as we are dispersed, are worshiping and celebrating and being recharged and refreshed by studying the Word and being sent back out into the world knowing what? That there is coming a day when that promise of bringing us from the North and the South and the East and the West and setting us in one place will be fulfilled not in a nation, not in a city, but in a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. That's the hope. That's the building up in the accomplishment that Christ has brought. So, verse six, the sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night. That's three smitings today. It is a good day when I get to read smite three times. The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul. Yes, he will, because he has redeemed you. And he has not just, God doesn't just redeem you. I've made this joke before. You know, he's not Billy Crystal. You know, we don't give you the pill, you know, put the little pump in there and be like, have fun storming the castle. No, no, we have redeemed you. We have given you the spirit. We are now setting you to work, not by yourself, but with the helper, with the accomplishment of God, with all that he is and all that he's doing. So things like Romans 5. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. So the lesson is what? God didn't pull you from the swamp, pull you out of the muck and the mire, to use Pilgrim's Progress terminology again, set you up, cleanse you, and now go, okay, there's the path, now walk on it and keep yourself clean. Be honest, what's gonna happen? We're gonna be like, woo! Look at the mud, it looks like- We're toddlers! We're like, woo, the mud will be pretty and fun! Like, you don't- When you had three-year-olds, you didn't get them dressed for church and then, like, leave them alone unsupervised, did ya? Cause what's gonna happen? You put a three-year-old and under in nice clothes and leave them unsupervised. You'd be like, where did the dirt even come from? It wasn't in that, like you were in your bedroom. There's no dirt in your bedroom. I cleaned it yesterday. They found it. They found mud. They found Kool-Aid. They found something they weren't supposed to find. Now everything is ruined because you weren't paying attention. That's not what God does to you. He cleanses you. and then he preserves you, and you persevere, not on your power and in your might, but in his power and in his might, because he is actively at work in you. The Lord will protect you from all evil, he will keep your soul, Romans 8. What shall we say then? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Wasn't God redeeming you and going, okay, hope you make it, I have faith in you, you got this. He has died for us. He has cleansed us. He has redeemed us. He is strengthening us. It's not like we do all of that work and be like, okay, you know, we're good. It's time to take a break now. It's like, imagine having like a 10 hour job to do and doing nine hours and 45 minutes and being like, you know what? All that patience, hard work, you know what I need? Just get it finished already. No, you say what? We finish the job, we finish the work. This is what God is doing with us. This is again where accomplishment moves to accomplishing, moves to accomplishment again. Where the hope will be revealed because our hope is placed in the God who is and was and is to come. The one who is redeeming his people, who has done great things and is still doing great things. And that leads us to verse eight. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Remember where this has come from. A reminder of, in our trouble, we cried for help. In our need, he delivered us. In our recognition of sin, We begged for discipline so that we would be sanctified, so that we would then look at the world and mourn over the sin that is there, and rejoice over the accomplishment that God has brought, so that we would see what is wrong, celebrate what is good and right, and know that it is in God whom we trust. Then you lead to Psalm 121, and recognize that that same God is the one who has accomplished, who is redeeming, who is strengthening his people, has not abandoned them, and then we know this. that the Lord will guard our going in and our coming out from this time forth and forevermore. We have that. This is thanks be to God time. This is the knowledge of who He is, what He has done, and what He is still doing. So things like Psalm 139, the hope of that psalm. Search me, O God. Know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. See, that's a prayer in Psalm 139. Christian, it's realized. Hebrews 7. The former priests, on the one hand, they existed in great numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. So that would be a problem if you need to sacrifice every day and you only had like a priest, right? Because eventually what's going to happen? Yeah, he's gonna die and we're gonna be out of priests, so we need lots of priests, because we need sacrifices every day. But Jesus, on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently, therefore, he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. That's the realization of the hope of Psalm 139, is that I need God to lead me, and watch me, and guard me. And Hebrews 7 says, he does, his name is Jesus, congrats. And he's seated at the right hand of the Father, having been a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. He has redeemed his people. He has strengthened them. He is interceding for them daily. They will not be forgotten. And because you have that priest, you enter into the courts of God, and you are there redeemed and rejoicing. Amen. Thanks be to God. This is the attitude that creates Thanksgiving, not just on a day, but each and every day. This is the attitude that the Christian is supposed to have. A recognition of who God is, and because of who He is, a recognition of what He has done. Again, go back to Psalm 136 that we read this morning. Both great and small, overturning the Egyptians, creating the heavens and the earth, conquering nations, building up His people, strengthening them, casting out their sin, from the macro down to the micro, even to us. This is the basis for who we are as we live in the world. This is the reminder that we have to have not during the holidays, but each and every day. So that means like random April. Well, no April because you're right there at Easter time. You're always in a good mood then. So like February. Nobody's ever in a good mood in February. The winter has been long, the days are still short and you're like, I want it to be warm already. And you're, you watch this bad Hallmark movies and they're like celebrating in the springtime because they're always filmed in Texas or something. And you're like, no, it's February. It's going to be snowing 12 feet tomorrow. See, nobody's in a good mood in February. There you go. And yet God has redeemed and God is strengthening and God is accomplishing. And we rejoice because we know who we are in light of him and what he has done for us as his people. Let's pray.