Our scripture reading this evening is Psalm 121. So we'll open our Bibles to Psalms and to number 121. There we read this word of God. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. I help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. from this time forth and even forevermore. May the Lord bless the reading of that psalm unto us. The text for the sermon is verse 5, really all of the psalm, but especially verse 5. The Lord, or Jehovah, is thy keeper. Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. Loved in our Lord Jesus Christ, this psalm enjoys a rich history and a love among God's saints and his church. Even in recent history, even in our own Protestant Reformed churches and families, Psalm 121 is a very familiar psalm. For example, in my own family history, when I was young, Maybe some of you have the same memory as well. Psalm 121 was often read by my father during our family devotions, especially at the beginning of the new year. But also during the war years of our churches, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, when it was common for our young men to be drafted, into the military, into the armed services. On the Sunday before they would be sent or sent to training or deployed overseas to fight on behalf of the country some enemy in a foreign land, before that took place, the congregation in its last psalter number would sing. They would sing from Psalm 121, perhaps a psalter number that we will sing later this evening, or one of the other versifications of Psalm 121, knowing that this might be the last time this young pilgrim would be with them, and commending him to the grace of God and safekeeping wherever the Lord would lead him. Even more recently, and that's where we understand why I chose this text for the sermon tonight. More recently, some of our churches have also done likewise, not with young men that are sent off to the battlefield to fight for our country, done that with their missionaries. or perhaps a young man, a son of the congregation who's sent off to seminary or will be sent off to a new place of labor before the worship service ended, before they would not see this missionary family or this young men as they go off in the service of the kingdom of God to that field of labor to which the Lord would send them. They would sing from Psalm 121, Psalter number 345, commending them to God's care. And so it's not difficult then, beloved, to appreciate Psalm 129 as what has often been called the traveler's psalm. or the Sojourners Psalm. This was one of the Psalms sung by the people of God, either as they looked to the mountains of Zion, or they were looking and traveling towards the mountains of Jerusalem, particularly Mount Zion. Perhaps they lived far away from the hills of Judea, or they were living in a distant corner of Palestine, or perhaps later times in Old Testament history towards the coming of Christ, they had been dispersed abroad and were coming back for the annual feast to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah. Upon their travels from a distance, they would look to the mountains of Zion on their way to Jerusalem, desiring to be there. where God was pleased to reveal in the Old Testament types and shadows and in the temple in Jerusalem the glory of his covenant and the glory of him who is the covenant God, our Jehovah. And as the traveler was in that distant location looking forward to the day when he could sing Psalm 122, which we sang earlier, in the presence of God's people there in Jerusalem, He asked the question as he looked to the hills or the mountains of Zion. From whence comes my help? As a pilgrim and stranger, a sojourner in this earth, and a sojourn to that place. From whence, what is the source of my help? To be faithful, to get there, and to the courts of the Lord, to give thanks to his name. That question and of course the answer which the Lord gives us in the psalm was a rich encouragement to the Old Testament saints and remains a rich encouragement to you, also to me as your missionary. And it's an encouragement to us who, from an earthly point of view, are reminded that we are pilgrims and strangers in the earth. We don't have a continuing city here. Perhaps we might think so as we live in the same place for many, many years, or from time to time when we see others having to move. or a missionary family having to move for the sake of the work of the kingdom of God, then it becomes very clear to us, reminded, we have no continuing city here. Our home, our eternal home is not here. We are only strangers and pilgrims on the earth in this life. And so we look up to the hills. to Mount Zion. From whence comes my help for this sojourn in life, the spiritual sojourn, for the sake of the kingdom of God, as a citizen of that kingdom, and then a stranger and pilgrim in the world and on the earth? From whence is my help to be a faithful, successful sojourner in the earth? and as a servant of God and the work into which he calls you and me. Beloved, do you wonder sometimes how you, your children, will make it to Zion? We hear in the gospel, even this morning, we are citizens of that kingdom of heaven, been called out of darkness, By the word of God and his spirit into his marvelous light, what a wonderful thing to know that we are prophets, priests, and kings. We are citizens of that kingdom of heaven. But here we are in the earth. There is our destination. Will we make it there? Oh, beloved, the word of God in the text this evening is, fear not. My beloved pilgrims and strangers, fear not. Here, listen to the good news that Jehovah gives to us as strangers and pilgrims. The good news that this Jehovah, he is your keeper. Notice, beloved, that truth under three points. He is our divine preserver and we'll consider How is that possible? God is, as we confess personally tonight, how can God be my keeper? How is that possible? And seeing that it is possible, and there is for you and me a blessed expectation. Yes, we need a keeper or a preserver throughout our sojourn in life and in death, when that time comes, and then into the life thereafter, forevermore in the presence of God. We need a keeper, and that's the emphasis of the psalm. Although the psalm begins with the word help, from whence comes my help, and then the answer, my help, comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth, that implies the help that we need which is mentioned six times in the psalm in the word keep or preserve. That word preserve in verses seven and eight is the same word as keep in the other verses in the psalm. That word keep we understand to mean the activity of taking great care over something which is very valuable to us, very precious. We reckon this object is very precious because perhaps one of your ancestors, a grandfather or grandmother gave you that heirloom. It might be some jewelry. It might be a book. It might even be a Bible or something like that. Reckoning the great value of that heirloom We exercise great care over that to preserve its glory, to preserve it in its profitable purpose for us who have received it. Then secondly, that word keep means and recognizes that because we live in a life of moth and rust, which corrupts the things of this life, and there are those who might steal that heirloom, keep also means to guard. guarded from the evils that would threaten the good purpose that we have with this precious treasure which we may have received, guarded from being stolen or destroyed or being covered up. We keep that object from the threat and the perils of destruction or theft. And that implies then thirdly, Keeping means we keep a good attitude. We maintain a committed obligation towards that precious thing to guard it, to maintain it in its glory and its purpose. We think of that term keep then and consider our situation in life as strangers and pilgrims in the earth in the midst of this wicked world as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Yes, this is the sort of keeper that you and I need. God calls you and me, having brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son by the blood of Jesus Christ and his Spirit, to be faithful servants, to love him, to obey him, to trust in him, to seek his kingdom first, and trust that he will add to us all the things that we need to continue that faithful service in his kingdom, whether that be in the church as an office bearer, whether that be as husbands in marriage, or parents in the home, or as children obeying our parents, working hard at school, Our duty is to serve the Lord in true faith, in daily conversion, daily repentance, daily running to the cross of Christ for refuge from our sin, daily reading and studying the word of God, attending the worship services, receiving the means of grace, and feeding on the word which the Lord lays before us on the table. We must love the Lord and keep his word and abide in that word over against all of the enemies which would seek to rob us of our only comfort in life and in death. And so we must fight our sin, must fight the world, we must fight Satan, resist temptation, and seek by the grace of God to remain faithful. We all have our callings in life, all our different stations and callings in life, where God has placed you and me. There you must be a faithful pilgrim and stranger in the earth, laboring in the service of God's kingdom with your abilities and gifts, which God in his wisdom has given to you, doing his will, not our will, for the glory of his name. Now to do all that, we need a keeper. We need a preserver. One who will not only make us citizens of his kingdom, earn for us the right to be in the kingdom, and then place us into the kingdom by his spirit. Then we also need one who will keep us in that life of his kingdom. who will keep us in his truth, not sell that truth for anything, who will preserve us in daily repentance, in humility, in true faith in Jesus Christ. who will preserve us from our own enemy within and all of its unbelief and pride, arrogancy and sin and lusts to fight against these things so that we may be preserved in the life of Jesus Christ, all of its virtues. We need a keeper to do that. so that we might be faithful also in this week and all the days of our life and all the work that God gives us to do in the service of his kingdom. What will do that? What will preserve your soul in salvation? And that only comfort in life and death over against the misery of our sin and the misery of this life and all the sicknesses and the problems of life, what will preserve you as a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, laboring to enter into that kingdom which is coming quickly? What will do that? The answer of the psalmist and we with the psalmist learn that the answer is not the gods of this world, Although they will tempt you to say, follow us, worship us, this is the way of happiness, this is the way of hope, this is the way of peace. Not so. Not even the false gospel. That alone which will preserve your soul and body is Jehovah himself. You see, when the text teaches Jehovah is your keeper, Jehovah does not hire out this work of preserving and keeping you to some security force that he sends into your life, and now you're followed constantly by a secret service that's all around you, like the President of the United States of our country. Text teaches, no, Jehovah himself is your keeper, ever-present keeper. That triune God, the eternal, the unchangeable, sovereign one, Jehovah, is your keeper. And he keeps you in body and soul. Now, the text emphasizes, of course, our souls with respect to this life, but even so, He keeps our bodies too. Now he reveals, of course, that as pilgrims and strangers in this earth, that this tabernacle must be laid aside in death. It must be sown in the grave. But even so, the Lord keeps that body so that in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the resurrection, that body will be united to your soul. That great and glorious wonder. We will inherit eternity with the Lord in that body that he has kept, and your soul, the soul which he makes new, the soul over which he cares night and day. Even when you're sleeping, he does not sleep. He guards you, he keeps you. He guards your soul so that it is not cursed, it is not destroyed. Rather, it is blessed and preserved. You might wonder, why does God do that to his saints? Why does Jehovah do that to me? We are precious in his sight. He reckons us as very precious. He is committed to guarding us from our enemies. Even in death, the Psalms teach, our death is precious in his sight. And that is so. not because of you and me ourselves, not even because of what we do. The reason for that is in Jesus Christ, to which we'll refer a little later. For Christ's sake, Jehovah keeps the souls of his saints, exercises great care over them, and guards them, as the text teaches, from all evil. That's the glory of Jehovah, your keeper. When we consider the glory of Jehovah, our keeper, we see in the passage five different characteristics of God as our keeper, which are very, very encouraging. In the first place, number one, Jehovah is your keeper who is all powerful. As we learn in essentials class, omnipotent. How do we know that? In verse two we read, this Jehovah, who is our keeper, made heaven and earth. That's not just a clear statement that the creation has its origin in God, but it's a declaration of his power. He made them all, all of those creatures himself by the word of his power. and then is applied, then his power, having created the heavens and the earth and all the creatures therein, his ability, his power to preserve them in their existence and then to move them in the purpose that he has for all of his creatures as they serve the grand purpose of Jesus Christ. That Jehovah, of almighty, incomprehensible to us, incomprehensible power, that Keeper has the power to keep your soul. He has the power to know every detail of your pilgrimage, every ounce of your pain, everything. He has the power to hear you when you cry unto Him, no matter what time of the day it is. or in what period of history you may be. It doesn't matter. He has the power, for he is Jehovah. And in that same power, then, he has the power to supply you with exactly what you need, exactly when we need it, for the service that he has appointed us to in his kingdom. He is all-powerful to be faithful so that in verse 4 we read, Beloved, he will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. He that keepeth, behold, he that keepeth Israel will not slumber nor sleep. He cannot become weary as he upholds all the creatures in his creation. His arms do not begin to droop as he holds you in his hand and all the other saints all over the earth in his hand. He is faithful because, first of all, he is omnipotent. That's your Jehovah, beloved. Secondly, he is also willing to do that. He is committed to being your keeper. Text we read, he will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He does not, you see, determine that your foot will be set in slippery places, which God does do to the reprobate according to Psalm 73. He does set their feet in slippery places so that they might be cast down to destruction. But your foot, he's not willing to do that. He's not determined to do that. that you fall down to everlasting torments of destruction and punishment. Certainly, as pilgrims and strangers, like Abram had learned when he departed from the land of Canaan to Egypt for a time, the Lord preserved his soul, but he also chastised Abram for that sinful departure from the land of Canaan. God does not so chastise you and me that he chastises and does that for the destruction of our soul. No. The purpose is to bring us to repentance. The purpose is that that chastisement upon you and me will bring through us, by the work of the Spirit, that peaceable fruit of peace and righteousness in Jesus Christ. For God's saints, he wills, he determines that safekeeping of your soul and all of your tribulations, all of the trials through which he must send you so that he may work in you the glory and the grace he has determined. He is willing to be your keeper according to his sovereign good pleasure. That means thirdly, then, that is Although sometimes we don't always confess that, he is committed to being your continuous keeper. The Psalm does not allow us to walk away from it, to think that Jehovah is our keeper today, then tomorrow, maybe not. Or even to think, well, yes, the Lord is your keeper, but only after you fulfill certain conditions which attract God's desire to keep you and to preserve you. If that were the arrangement of the safekeeping of our souls, that we must obey him and then the Lord will certainly keep us, we would certainly perish. Our good works do not activate God's sovereign, almighty action of keeping you and me. Oh, no. God's work is always first, always. He is the sovereign. He is always the almighty keeper of our souls, who works in and through us. That's the foundation. That's the source of our faithfulness to him. Though in this life, it's only a small beginning. Because the Lord is committed to that continuously, because of His sovereign good pleasure, the psalm can say at the end there, from this time forth and forevermore. even the day where I, as a child of God, begin to understand that by faith, even as a little child, as a lamb of Jesus Christ, begin to understand, yes, this Jehovah is the keeper of my soul too, from that time forth, even forevermore. That will not end. Though there may be times when I don't live in the true understanding of that, Or there may be times when I walk in the way of sin foolishly. Nevertheless, the Lord will keep my soul, bringing me in repentance, preserving me in the way of true faith in Jesus Christ. And that reveals then in the fourth place that the attitude while God is keeping your soul, the attitude towards you is an attitude of grace, grace, grace unmerited. grace unearned, grace undeserved. That's what motivates Jehovah to keep the souls of his saints. That's not the attitude of God towards the wicked. The wicked cannot take this psalm on their lips and say, this is the way it is. God is the keeper of my soul. That's not so. It's true, in his providence, God does give existence to the souls of the wicked. That is true. He does continue their existence in his providence for his purpose. That's not the keeping of his blessing. They are under his disfavor and curse. Just like Pharaoh was in the Old Testament. Yes, God raised him up. God used him and God used his soul, but unto his destruction. But unto you who fear my name, the Lord declares, I am gracious and merciful. I am gracious and merciful to you because that's what I will do. That's my will and good pleasure. I will care for your little soul in my almighty and sovereign hand by my grace. I will protect you. I will work in you and do all things in your life for your salvation. That means in the fifth place, there is a purpose in the keeping that Jehovah performs upon us. God has a purpose in forbearing with the wicked. is to use them for his glory, but then to destroy them and to show in their destruction his righteousness. But for his saints, there's also a purpose. Having redeemed your soul by the blood of Jesus Christ, he has a purpose in keeping your soul through tribulation, through trial, through calamity, through suffering. And that's to be with him in what Psalm 122 pictures, that Jerusalem with him. As a result of that purpose of God, according to his grace, his commitment to you, according to his sovereign good pleasure and by his power, all things in your life work together for your good. That's the purpose to which he keeps your soul. We might respond to that word of God and say, does he keep, really, does he keep my soul too? But I'm a sinner. I have sinned against this Jehovah in word, in deed, in thought, in public, in private. I've been like Abram, who sinfully departed from the land of Canaan during the famine, went into the land of Egypt because he did not trust that God could provide for him his daily bread during the famine. We have been like Lot, who pitched his tent toward Sodom, not toward the altar at which Abram worshiped, and therefore to Jehovah in heaven and his kingdom and covenant. Rather, we often have pitched our tent toward the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. We have not regarded this name of Jehovah as a very precious heritage and gem which has been entrusted to us in a faithful confession and walk of life, but instead, for the pleasure of sin, have denied that name. And besides that, You and I learn as we go through our sojourn in life, there's always this lifelong companion with us. He's our enemy, and that's our old man, our old nature. Who hates Jehovah? Who hates the destination to which we are sojourning by the grace of God? Constantly present with us, out of which principle we sin and sin and sin. How can this Jehovah who is holy, who is righteous, be my keeper. Should not he be my destroyer? How can he be my keeper? The good news, beloved, of Psalm 121 is this Jehovah is my keeper. He is the preserver of my soul by His grace, for His glorious purpose, for the sake of Christ alone. That's made clear in the first part of the psalm when we learn that the help that we need for the preservation of our soul as pilgrims and strangers in the earth comes, it says in verse 2, from the Lord. Literally, the word is from with the Lord. There's actually two prepositions there, from with Jehovah. Teaching us, first of all, that yes, the source of the help that we need for our preservation is from Jehovah. It's not from the things of this earth to which we may be prone to find our help in the misery of this life. We might be prone to think in alcohol or food or various other things, well, there I will find my help for dealing with the misery of this life. No, only from Jehovah is my help as a stranger and pilgrim in the earth. Only in him is there the strength to repent and believe, to embrace the promises of his word, and go forth in that faith and his truth in obedience to him, in Jesus Christ alone. But more than that, the text teaches that from Jehovah, but also from with Jehovah is that help for our preservation. And that addition of the word with shows us that We don't understand then that the source of our help is next to Jehovah, such as a child going to his father and asking the father for money. And the child thinks, well, the source of the money that I received from my father to buy this item at the store, that source is my father. But upon further investigation, we know that the money did not originate with the father of that child. It came from somewhere else. And that example teaches us that's not the arrangement, that's not how it works with the help that we receive from Jehovah. He doesn't give to us something that has been made or is outside of Himself. The help that we receive from Jehovah, the help that He is to us is from with Him. It has its origin in Him, in His glory. as Jehovah, our covenant God. The with teaches us that our help is part of the wonder of Jehovah himself personally being our help. And that leads us to understand that the help of Jehovah, God as our preserver, is Christ our Lord. For Jehovah himself in his bare glory cannot be our keeper. He himself in his glory as the triune God cannot approach unto us. The scriptures teach no man can approach unto God in his bare glory, his essential glory. But as we learn and as the children will teach us later this month in their program, there is one who comes to us. And that's Jesus Christ, our Mediator. Jehovah sends Him who is with Him in His glory, the only begotten Son, and sends Him unto us. Our Mediator, Emmanuel, God with us. He is our helper. He is Jehovah, the second person of the Trinity. He is God and man, able to satisfy for all of our sin by His atoning work on the cross of Calvary. And by that blood of Jesus Christ, He washes away our sin. So that's the answer to our question, how can God be my keeper with all of my sin? The blood of Jesus Christ washes away your sin. In the sight of God, you are justified through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God is not your destroyer. He is at peace with you through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then that power of the cross of Jesus Christ breaks that dominion of sin over you, so that sin does not rule over you, but grace rules over you. The Spirit rules over you. It works in you, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. God comes to us, Himself, personally, in the Mediator, Immanuel, God with us. And that Christ comes into us by His Holy Spirit, through the wonder of salvation, to work in you the life of Jesus Christ. And having implanted into you the life of Jesus Christ, under the preaching of the Gospel, under the means of grace, calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light, and works in you the faith by which we walk in this life as strangers and pilgrims in the earth. He gives to you through the preaching and through his word that soul food that you need to be nourished, to be refreshed, Build up that sagging spirit, put gladness in your soul again. You belong to that kingdom which has the victory. So you're able to get up in the morning, begin the week tomorrow and work. Go to work, not seeking your own will, serving your Lord, your King, doing his will out of a true faith to his glory. that Christ and by the Holy Spirit is pleased to preserve in you that life, that salvation, and preserve you in your place in his kingdom for your work which he has given you to do. Beloved, do you have the evidence that Jehovah is your keeper, that he does preserve your soul, that he is working in you, repentance and faith. It is working in you those godly desires in Jesus Christ, a true sorrow over your sin. Looking to God, looking to Jehovah, looking to Christ for deliverance from that sin. The desire to walk in gratitude for all that God has given you. Do you have in you a longing to seek that kingdom first? and to press everything in your life to the goal of that new Jerusalem. Do you believe that Jehovah is your keeper? Beloved, you must. That's what the Lord declares, I am your keeper. Now walk as a faithful pilgrim and stranger in the earth whom I have redeemed into the kingdom of my dear son. And in that faith, enjoy the blessed hope that you have for your sojourn. We need that blessed hope because verse 7 reminds us, there will be evils that befall you, not by chance, by the Father's hand. The church may expect evils. such as reproach for the sake of the truth and labor for the truth of God's word and his heavenly kingdom. We may expect calamities in life, evils such as cancer, heart attacks, strokes, various other ailments, a long list of sicknesses and diseases which beset us in our pilgrimage here below. We may expect the evils of temptations by the world and our own sinful lusts designed to tempt us away from faithfulness to Jesus Christ, to tempt us out of the way of true faith in him. We may expect the evils of false doctrine and heresy designed by the devil to rob us of our only comfort in life and death in Christ alone. And so in your home life, your single life, your widowed life, your life as those who are married, as parents or children, young adults, young people, whatever circumstance of life we may be in, office bearers in the church, as we sojourn through this life, there will be evils, earthly evils, spiritual evils, which we must endure for the sake of the kingdom of God. It means for you as a missionary family, my wife, children, you may expect difficulties in the way forward. There's the difficulties of separation from family, a different routine of life, which you're already somewhat familiar. different school, different teachers, different climate, various things like that, which are called to seek and to serve God's kingdom. There will be temptations you must deal with, temptations to be discontent. The devil will seek to draw you away from faithfulness as we serve the Lord and his kingdom in that place. We all may expect our own different situations in life, pain and suffering, financial problems, loneliness for the sake of the truth. Friends won't talk to you anymore because you've said what they're doing is not biblical. And now they've shut you out of their life. They might even be family members, won't even talk to you anymore. You will be mocked. You may be laughed at for loyalty to Christ. The sufferings of this life, but also the evils of this life, sickness. And now God in that sickness calls you, love me, seek my kingdom. I make you sick, nevertheless, seek my kingdom first. Walk as a pilgrim and stranger in this life faithfully. Whatever circumstance I place you, Face those temptations of the devil. Fight against them. Be faithful. When those evils in life come, and they will surely come, of whatever sort they may be, our text implies an honest evaluation of ourselves when we look into the future and know they're going to come. We know, we have learned as pilgrims and stranger based on past experience of our own life, but also of God's saints in scripture that when we face those evils in life, we and I are prone not to submit to them, to become bitter against Jehovah perhaps or angry with him. Why does God make my life so difficult? Who is this Jehovah? Who does this to me as a pilgrim and strange in the earth? Why is this path I must walk so steep into this valley or so dark? The depths of this valley are so steep up the side of this hill. Why is that work so difficult? We're prone to complain. We're prone to say, well, I can handle this. I think we are strong. Beloved, we understand that's what we are prone to do, to be as the wicked, to follow the lusts of our flesh, our unbelief. That's why we need this keeper of our souls, to keep us in the way of repentance, faith in Jesus Christ, looking to Him, the keeper of Israel, in whom there is the blessed expectation that he will preserve us from all evil. Beloved, that doesn't mean that God is going to keep you immune from evil. He's going to separate us from those things so that we never face them. That's not the idea of the preservation from evil. He will not remove you from the battlefield against all the enemies, all of our mortal enemies and others beside, which we must face in this life. You and I must contend with them. We must face them. What God does promise is that he will preserve you from what those evils would do if we were left to ourselves. He promises that what the devil desires in the evils that you face in life never come to pass. God brings into your life the calamities that you face, such as what Job faced in the Old Testament. The devil was busy seeking to have his purpose fulfilled in the life of Job. That Job would curse God and be destroyed and cast into hell. God promises the goal of the devil in your evils, to separate you from Christ, will never come to pass. God will not let your soul go. He will not allow the devil to overthrow the grace of God in you and the kingdom of Christ in you. He will preserve you through the tribulations of this life so that they are defeated and the victory of Jesus Christ is revealed in and through you. Thus, to the defeat of your sin and unbelief, and all of your enemies, and your mortal enemies, and unto the victory of faith, and godliness, and Jesus Christ alone, God will preserve your soul for the sake of Christ alone, who has bought that soul with his precious blood on the cross. And for that sake, for Christ's sake, he will not cast your soul away. He will be faithful to the soul upon which he has set the seal of his Holy Spirit and concerning which he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will not violate my covenant into which I have gathered you and will not let you go. I will preserve your soul. When you stumble in sin, I will pick you up in repentance and faith. by grace through my spirit set you on your way again. When you are assaulted by temptation, I will be your shield so that you have the strength to say no. When you are persecuted for righteousness sake, I will be your strength to be faithful unto the end. And when I bring you to the stepping stone of death, Fear not, beloved. I will keep your soul over the stepping stone and bring you into the glory afterward. Fear not, my beloved pilgrims and strangers in the earth. The Lord declares to you and me, I am Jehovah. I am the keeper of Israel. I am the keeper of your soul. Beloved sojourner, beloved pilgrim, now go forward by faith wherever my hand leads you in life. Yes, even to a faraway place. Go by faith. trusting, I will keep your soul from all evil. You're going out, you're coming in. From this time forth, forevermore. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father who art in heaven, We thank thee for thy word, for the strength and the encouragement that it gives us. Heavenly Father, we are weak. We have no strength. Thou art our help and strength, our refuge in time of need. Thou art the God of our salvation. Thou art the God of the church. Thee we trust. Thou art the keeper of our souls. All of our goings out, comings in, Thou wilt keep us, Thou wilt preserve us from this time forth and even forevermore. Lord, send us now forth from Thy presence this day with Thy blessing and Spirit. Wherever Thy hand leads us now in this life, in our work in this week, keep us faithful to Thee. Be Thou faithful to us by Thy grace and mercy, by the power of Thy Spirit, so that we To the honor of thy name may be faithful strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For Jesus' sake, amen.