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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 41
9 March 2008
God’s Preservation
(Message delivered by
Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, March 2, 08)
Text:
Ps 121:7-8
As we greatly need and appreciate God’s guidance in this
confusing world of sin and darkness, we also greatly need God’s
preservation, protection or keeping. We are like “sheep in the midst
of wolves” (Matt 10:16), and Satan is like “a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Without a
good and brave shepherd, a defenseless and naive sheep is just an easy
prey for a lion or a fierce beast. Without God’s preservation and
protection, we are just like defenseless victims of Satan. Truly,
“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Ps
127:1). Therefore, God’s preservation/protection is always vital for you
and me. Psalm 121 is a beautiful picture of God’s preserving His
children.
God’s Preservation Is Sure and Perfect
The Psalmist lifts his eyes unto the hills/mountains and
asks where his help comes from. His confession is, “My help cometh
from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (v 2). His help comes
from the Creator and Maker, who made the mountains, even heaven and
earth. Dear friends, whom do you and I turn to and look to when we need
help, deliverance, guidance, protection or provision? If we are tempted
to look unto some humans, human means or human resources, let us turn
our eyes unto our Creator and Maker, who made human beings and all
things. How do you and I know that God’s preservation/protection is sure
and perfect? His sure and perfect Word says so.
God’s Promises to Preserve:
We thank God that He is the Most High God and
His preservation is sure, perfect, continuous, and forever. The verb
“keep” and “preserve” in Psalm 121 are from the same Hebrew verb
shamar, which means to keep, to watch, to guard, to preserve, to
watch over. If He has promised to keep His dear children, then we are
safe. If He has promised to keep/preserve His pure Word forever (Ps
12:6-7), then we can wholeheartedly and unreservedly trust in His Word
as we trust in Himself without doubt or question.
It is amazing that the Lord Himself taught His servants
to bless His people, “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD
make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift
up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num 6:24-26).
And in Psalm 121, we know that our Divine Keeper will “neither
slumber nor sleep” (vv 4-5) and He “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 for evermore” (vv
7-8).
Our Lord Jesus Christ confirms His preserving His sheep
safely in His mighty hand, “And I give unto them eternal life; and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one”
(John 10:28-30). There are many more precious promises of God’s
preservation in the Scriptures. Shall you and I not wisely trust in God
and praise and thank Him for His loving care and protection?
God’s Power to Preserve:
Do you and I believe that our
almighty God is able to keep His
promises? It is strange that many “Christians” believe that God is
almighty and all-powerful but they dare not believe that God is able to
preserve His Word to the jot and tittle as He has promised (Ps 12:6-7;
Matt 5:18). If God were not able to perfectly preserve His Word to the
jot and tittle, then all His precious promises, doctrines, and truths in
the Scriptures would be affected and they would not be reliable any
more. God forbid! It is blasphemous or insulting to say and preach that
God is not able to create the world or to save sinners. It is also
blasphemous or insulting to say and preach that God is not able to
preserve His Word to the jot and tittle! Thank God that our almighty God
is always able, so we can fully trust in His Word without any doubt or
question. That is the proper way to honour our God and to get all His
blessings. Then, dear friends, our almighty God is also able to keep you
and me perfectly and forever as He has promised: “Who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time” (1 Peter 1:5) and “Now unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24). Praise the Lord!
God’s Faithfulness to Preserve:
Although we are not faithful, “yet he
abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim 2:13). Although we
sometimes break the covenant, but “Know therefore that the LORD thy
God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with
them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations”
(Deut 7:9). Then, dear friends, we can fully trust in God’s preservation
not only because of His power but also because of His faithfulness:
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that
calleth you, who also will do it
(1 Thess 5:23-24) and
“But the Lord is
faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil”
(2 Thess 3:3).
Jesus’ Atonement and Prayer for Preserving:
We are perfectly preserved forever not because
of our goodness, merits or cleverness but because of our Saviour Jesus
Christ’ atoning sacrifice and prayer: “Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them… For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb 7:25; 20:14). Our
Lord has prayed and is still praying to His Father for you and me,
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,
that they may be one, as we are… I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil”
(John 17:11, 15). It is so comforting and encouraging to know that our
Christian brethren are praying for us, and much more to know that our
Saviour Jesus Christ is praying for us. Peter did know that Satan
desired to have him and sift him as wheat, but our Lord Jesus did
foreknow that and said to him, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”
(Luke 22:32). Dear friends, we shall be more humble and thankful
when we realize that it is by our Lord’s prayer for us that our faith
has not failed and that we can stand firm in the Lord until now despite
all the attacks of Satan which many times we have not been aware of.
How to Be Preserved
Trusting that our God is almighty and faithful to
perfectly preserve us forever based on our Lord’s atonement and prayer,
we must know what we must do to enjoy God’s preservation.
Be Cautious, Prayerful and Hiding Ourselves in
Christ: We cannot take God’s protection
for granted and do whatever we like or go wherever we want. It is a sin
of tempting/testing God! Satan tempted the Lord Jesus by asking Him to
jump down from the pinnacle of the temple for God has promised, “He
shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee” (Luke 4:9-10),
but our Lord did not do that and answered, “It is said, Thou shalt
not tempt the Lord thy God” (v 12). We cannot drive carelessly and
expect God to protect us. We cannot watch ungodly movies/programmes or
read ungodly novels/stories or go to places full of temptations and
expect God to preserve us from sin and evil. Our Lord resisted Satan and
he fled away, so we have to do the same, “Submit yourselves therefore
to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
Dear friends, we are to keep ourselves (1 John 5:18), to “Be sober,
be vigilant” (1 Peter 5:8), to “watch and pray” (Matt 26:41)
and to hide ourselves “in Jesus Christ” (Jude 1; cf. Ps 91:1).
Live in God’s Presence:
To be preserved from sin and evil, we are to
walk in God’s light and practise living in God’s presence everywhere and
all the time, “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at
my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Ps 16:8) and “But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin” (1 John 1:7).
Commit Ourselves and Everything to the Lord:
God only preserves what we have committed to
Him. If I ask you to keep my wallet, but I do not pass it to you, you
cannot help me. Many pray to God to keep them and protect them, but they
have not committed themselves to the Lord. Their lives are not the
Lord’s. They still do whatever they like and go wherever they want, then
how can God preserve them? Dear friends, shall we not wisely commit
ourselves and everything to the Lord in prayers to enjoy His keeping?
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7) and “For the which
cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim1:12).
Trust In God’s Faithful Preservation:
To enjoy God’s preservation, we are to trust
in His preservation as any doubt is sin and disrespecting God.
“Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for
God is my defence”(Ps 59:9).
The nouns defence/ preservation/protection/keeping here is from the same
root word shamar. Then, is the Lord Himself our defence/
protection/preservation? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa 26:3).
Shall you and I not wisely trust in our almighty God and let our mind
rest/lean upon Him to enjoy His preservation and perfect peace?
Love God and Keep His Word:
To enjoy God’s
preservation, we must be His loving and obedient children.
“The LORD
preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy”
(Ps 145:20) “Because thou hast kept the word of
my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which
shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”
(Rev 3:10). Shall you and I not wisely love God and keep His Word to
enjoy His preservation?
Be Kind to the Needy:
Sometimes we forget God’s concerns for the
poor and the needy: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor the
LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him,
and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou
wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies” (Ps 41:1-2), and
“He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on
the poor, happy is he” (Prov 14:21), and “He that hath pity upon
the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay
him again” (Prov 19:17). May the Lord fill us with His love and
mercy so that we may show our love and mercy to the needy and enjoy
God’s preservation in time of trouble.
Conclusion
Dear friends, we cannot trust someone we do not know
well. Many do not trust in God and His Word or commit their lives to Him
because they do not know the Lord well. May God graciously help you and
me know (heart knowledge) Him and His Word, His love, His power, His
faithfulness, His grace, and His mercy more and more so that we may fear
Him, honour Him, love Him, appreciate Him, trust in Him, obey Him,
commit our lives and everything to Him, rest upon Him and humbly hide
ourselves in Him to enjoy His preservation always until we see Him face
to face. Amen.
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