(Applause) Good morning. Okay. As many of you guys know, about a month ago, my wife and I, we had a kid, a baby boy named Josiah. He's cute. (Laughter) I know it's biased because it's coming from me, but he's super cute. In the beginning, he looked just like a little old man.

Now he's plumping up, so he's just a cute baby. His Korean, his name is Josiah, and in Korean, that name is Yoshiya. So we decided to give him the nickname Yoshi. Yeah, that's cute too. (Laughter) Just super cute kid all around. But I'll tell you what. There are various circumstances in life that make you just want to sigh.

You don't want to complain. There's not much you can do. You just sigh. You know what I mean? And in the last month, I'd have to say, all sorts of various circumstances have arisen where I just wanted to sigh. There are times when you're just frustrated. Maybe the frustration you have with your parents or something.

You can't really say anything or do anything, so you just sigh. Or when we've been up late night, and Josiah just would not sleep. He just cried. If you put him down, he'd cry. We did everything that the nurses and doctors told us to do, but he just didn't want to sleep.

What can you do? So he just... (Sigh) And I think for me, there's a passage, the passage that we're covering today. It's a passage that's very dear to my heart because in moments when I felt that need to sigh, I just felt weary. This passage just spoke to my heart.

At times, not even just when physically I was fatigued or just life situations brought it about, but even in my own heart, maybe because of certain failures, even sins that I struggle with. I'm sure you've been there. Because of your own sins, you genuinely ask yourself, "Oh man, am I ever going to overcome this?" (Sigh) In those times, this passage has so refreshed my heart.

It caused me to worship the Lord in a new, fervent way. And so I wanted to share this passage with you. If you can, please turn over to Psalm 121. Psalm 121. This comes in a series of psalms, starting from Psalm 120 and 15 chapters forward that are called the Songs of Ascent.

And it reads like this. "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. 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.

The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in.

From this time forth and forever." Let's pray for the Lord's blessing on our time. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you so much, God. Lord, we do see our time of worship as precious to us, but such a privilege to come to give you worship that you deserve. And we ask God, first and foremost, Lord, that you be pleased.

God, we pray that you would grant us the sense of minds and humble hearts to listen and apply. And God, by having faith, it would be manifested into our lives. And by having faith into your word, it would be saturated and applied, Lord God, into our weeks and our lives, Lord.

So we pray, Father God, for fruit. We pray for the working of your Spirit. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. When we read this psalm, the very first verse of the psalm says, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains." Now, if I can give you guys a little bit of a backdrop, the psalms are called "Songs of Ascent" because they believe that the tribe, the nation, so to speak, was moving towards Jerusalem.

So actually, physically, they were going from lowlands up into the mountain, Mount Zion. And in their journey, in their trek, they would sing these songs. But interestingly enough, the content of the songs would also move. It would move up. It would move from, a lot of times, a cry in despair.

"I am troubled!" If you look at the first verse of chapter 120, it says, "In my trouble I cried out to the Lord." It begins that way. And if you notice, even in this psalm, it will start moving from one thought to the next, and it will build, ascending eventually to a praise and worshiping of the Lord.

So just picture with me this psalm coming from a group of people who are moving and traveling in tents. And a lot of times, if you're moving and traveling and you're resting for the night, what ends up happening is this. You want to rest on high ground. Why? Because that's advantageous for you.

You've got the bandits, you've got the valley, which is just so susceptible to any kind of raiding, whereas the mountaintops, it kind of provides a natural protection. And so, naturally, he says, in a time of need, as he says he's in trouble, he'll look up to the mountains. He'll look up.

Interestingly enough, I want to, just from the very beginning, ask you a question. Are you guys looking for help? Are you guys even looking for help? What do I mean by that? You know, there are people who recognize that they need help in life, whether it be physical, whether it be daily needs, things that are common to every single individual, difficulties in life, but there are also spiritual needs and there are needs that are very, very severe.

But oftentimes, we just have an extreme difficulty asking for help. And if you guys remember my previous sermon, I preached on a leper who was humble and knew that he was in a devastating position. And he asked for help. Why? Because he realized he needed it. Whereas an individual, perhaps like myself and perhaps in this generation, our self-confidence and self-dependence is just too prevalent.

Because in all honesty, when I read the Psalms, I read of King David who's crying out to God, "Lord, there are enemies against me surrounding the nation. Their arrows and their spears are ready to attack." And I'm reading that and I'm like, "I don't relate to that. I don't feel like enemies are against me." And in terms of asking for help because they're traveling, they want help from the sun or help just in, you know, I don't know.

It just seems too trivial to ask for God. Like, I'm not going to ask God for help because it's raining. Like, get an umbrella. I'm not going to ask God for help because I just need to eat today. You know? I just need to go and pop something in the microwave.

Sometimes it's just either things seem too trivial or at other times, if it's because of my failure, I'm just too prideful to ask. For example, if I'm having difficulty reading the Bible, do you guys feel the need to ask God for help for that? In all honesty, if you're having difficulty with your daily devotion and daily giving of worship to God, would you ask God for help for that?

When was the last time you asked for help in that kind of honest manner? My first question really is, in our generation, are you even looking for help? And when you are looking for help, where are you looking now? Are you looking up to the mountains and the general things that people generally look for?

Because for us, generally it's this. I'm in some kind of frustrating bind, whether because I need financial money, financial struggles. I'm in some kind of help. Generally, we think the more set our life is in terms of pattern and finances, the better it will be. My question to you this morning, are you even looking for help?

And if you are, where are you looking for that help? We read on here and it says this. "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where shall my help come?" He's not really asking, like he doesn't know. Like, "Oh no, who's going to help me?" He's asking to make a point.

And the point is this. "My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Do we look all over the world? Do we look all over to our family and friends? Do we look to a particular individual to help us? Or do we look to the Lord, believing He is fully capable and fully powerful enough to help you?

Regardless of whether it's physical. There's nothing wrong with the Christian who finds himself in some kind of common bind or difficult situation, whether it be financial, health related, whatever, and seeking God's strength in that time. But I hope we're not doing that only then, but we're asking the Lord's help in every situation, whether it be your spiritual life, daily disciplines, or your own sins and struggles.

But the first question we have to ask is, do we really believe God is capable to meet those needs? Because if we believed it, perhaps we would be going more often and more frequently and more fervently at the feet of the Lord. And so the psalmist is going to describe for us and answer that question, is the Lord capable?

Is the Lord sufficient to meet all of those needs? And the very first thing he says is this, "My help comes from the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth." You want to know whether God is capable of meeting your needs? Let me remind you of the fact that God created the heavens and the earth.

You know, Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry, if you remember, He was somewhat frustrated with people. He would do a miracle and people would be like, "Wow! Did you hear?" And they would be ecstatic, and they would be so infatuated with His miracles. "Show us more! Give us more!" And Jesus Christ is sitting there, sometimes frustrated.

Are you so excited because of the miracles? Do you realize that I could call at any time and create out of nothing, ex nihilo? He created the heavens and the earth. You think He can't provide for your needs now? Out of nothing, poof! I can create. And you think I can't sustain you in your day?

This psalmist is saying, "My help comes from the Creator." It's almost this question of, "Is He capable?" It's almost a, "Duh! Of course He's capable!" The universe He called into being. If I need something, if I am weary, if I am fatigued, the Lord who created our known world will come to help.

That's the one who I'm calling upon. That's the one who I'm looking to. And so we move forward in asking this question, "Is the Lord able to help us?" "Is the Lord capable of sustaining us?" I'm going to restart reading from verse 1 again, just so that we can reiterate this passage.

To have this effect of just resonating in your minds. Verse 1. "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. 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." Verse 2, verse 3 and 4, I would like to label, "The Lord keeps you like a shepherd." Look what He's saying here. And think about what a good shepherd would do. The good shepherd would constantly watch his flock and see if any one of the sheep is going astray.

See if any one of the sheep, because they're always sitting there, grazing on the ground, blindly going off cliffs and so forth, whether their feet are going to slip. So the good shepherd, the great shepherd is watching. And our God is so good. Our God is so omniscient. Just because He's watching one sheep doesn't mean He's loose-eyed on the other.

He watches every single thing. And I love that because, again, when I think of the ways in which I falter, because I'm not paying attention and there's distracting things all around me, I believe it in my spiritual walk and being sanctified as a Christian. Who is going to keep my feet from stumbling?

Is it me? I don't think so. The scripture clearly says, "The Lord is watching as a good shepherd so that my feet will not slip." And when the scripture says, "He's going to keep," it's often translated, again, as one who has a watchful eye, as one who is preserving by careful watching.

A lot of times, actually, that verb shows up as a noun form, as a watchman. So He's watching you like a good shepherd. Let me give you an example. Use Yoshi. A lot of times I'll come home and Bea-- Honestly, I have newfound respect for moms because I watch Bea and I'm like, "I could not do what you do all day long." If Josiah is fussy, she just has to take care of him.

And at night, sometimes I want to help her, so I'll try to take care of him a little bit. It's a funny story, right? It's a little comedic. So I take him and I'm trying to console him and watch him and stuff. But it's nighttime, like 11 p.m. sometimes.

He gets up at 9, 11, 2, and then 5. So we're up, right? And I'm standing there like, "Whoa." I'm falling asleep, like leaning over and kind of swaying. So she'll come by and be like, "Here, here, let me take him." So she'll take him. But I'm so sleepy, I don't really realize what I'm doing.

I'm like, "Here, here, here." And then I still have the blanket in my arm. So I'll go out and I'll wake up. "Oh, my God, where's the baby?" And then I'll take the blanket and I'm looking around, looking around, and I drop the baby, right? And I'm like, "Bia's going to be so mad I dropped the baby." Oh, my goodness.

You don't know how fast my heart's pumping at that time because I'm like, "I lost my baby," right? And the funny thing is, Bia has had those moments, too. I'm not sure she'll appreciate me sharing these stories. But plenty of times, she'll feel the baby. She'll already put him down, but she's so tired, she kind of forgets.

And she actually would fall asleep with her arm like this. And then I'll see her wake up and she'll be like-- (Laughter) I just see her tripping out and I'm thinking, laughing. Oh, my gosh. And it's funny. It's funny now. And there are times when I hear Bia talking to the baby and I hear what she's saying.

And the baby's crying and she's doing other things, so she'll run over there, she's like, "I'm sorry, you're crying." And then if she falls asleep, she's like, "Oh, I promise I love you, I care for you." I think about that right now when I read this passage. Even though Bia and I love and adore this precious baby-- he's cute, okay?

We love and adore this baby. Even though we want to, even though it's in our intention, even though we so desire to be there every single moment for him, you do realize we are incapable. Right? Bia and I fall short of this. And when I read in the Scriptures that God, our Father, is more than willing, he is fully capable, he does not sleep, he does not slumber, he has his eye on you like a good shepherd, that brings such assurance to my heart.

I could even tell my wife, "I love you, but the Lord loves you more. He keeps his watchful eye on you." Josiah, I love you, but the Lord is going to watch you in ways, infinite ways, greater than I can. Let your heart be reassured by the fact that the Lord has a watchful eye on you.

We keep moving here. I'll read from verse 3 and down. Because that's the way the passage actually moves. It's ascending, okay? Verse 3, "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. The Lord is your keeper.

The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." And we'll stop there. The Lord is our keeper. I'd like to label verse 5 and 6, that the Lord is keeping you as a guard with treasure. As a guard with treasure.

That's his watchful eye over us, people. Do you understand that a guard, if he sees precious treasure, what is he going to do? He's going to make sure that there's someone watching. He's going to make sure that there's nothing lost. He makes account of it. He makes sure there's protection, right?

Like a good guard, he makes sure there's ample protection. A case, a room, whatever it may be, he's going to guard that thing. Likewise, it says here, "The Lord is your keeper." He takes that position willingly of being your keeper. And it says here that he offers that kind of protection, a kind of protection that's close.

He says, "The shade is by your right hand side. That is very near and close to you, readily available." That's the kind of protection God offers. He protects you from all the common things. I know for the travelers, again, you just picture this nation moving by tent. For them, the heat was an immense, immense concern.

You know that the kind of land that they lived in, if you've ever heard people talk about the land of Jerusalem when they go out there, they're like, "Oh, yeah, it's fantastic. What was it like?" "Well, it was like dry desert." It's hot. It's like desert land. So you think about the shade.

That was pivotal. The Lord says, "I provide that kind of protection for you." And I like what he says. It's, "By day and by night, there is no time in which the Lord is leaving their side." You see that? There is no time in which the Lord is not by their side.

So the Lord is their protector, their guardian. And so we move forward. It says, "The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right side. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." Verse 7 and 8. "The Lord will protect you from all evil.

He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore." Let's look once again in verse 7. He says, "The Lord will protect you from all evil." The Lord is our spiritual savior, friends. This reminds me of the passage here.

In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, it says, "No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with temptation he will provide a way of escape so that you will be able to endure it." He is going to make sure that when it comes to spiritual evil, he is going to protect you.

He is going to protect you. I sometimes cannot relate to King David, and sometimes I can. Because I'll tell you what, I feel like every single day, just a matter of fact, the previous meeting I had with the leaders, I just had to confess, I feel like I'm being attacked with lust for more money.

I feel like I'm being attacked with lust for more comfort. I feel like I'm always attacked with lust for sexual immorality, lust for all kinds of things, envy of what I see. You think we're not in spiritual warfare? Of course we are. But the Lord says, "I'm going to protect you." That pronoun there, again, it moved from the nation of Israel, "I am the keeper of Israel," to "You," "He is going to protect you." And you know what?

Oftentimes, He is going to protect you from your own desires. And I thank God for that, because there's plenty of it. I am prone to sometimes wander, like the song says. I am prone to rebellion. I am prone sometimes just to not want to do things. I just want to veg and not do the Christian life.

The Lord is going to spiritually protect us from that evil. Do you believe it? So I'm going to ask you now, when was the last time you prayed, Matthew 6.13? Right? Where He says, "And lead us not in temptation, but to deliver us from evil." Why is it that Jesus Christ teaches us to pray that?

We're supposed to be praying for spiritual protection from the Lord. And do you believe He's the one who's going to be your keeper and not yourself? I think that was the problem with me. Because I always felt like, "It's my failure. I need to fix it." So every time I failed in sin, I would have the greatest frustrations.

I would have the greatest despair. And I would sit there feeling so angry at myself. I would feel as though, "When am I going to ever get past this sin?" But for you, you have to believe it. It is God who is your keeper against all evil. You can't do it.

God can. So He says, "I will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul." And look at verse 8. It says here, "The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in." In Hebrew, that's a very common literary device. It basically uses one end of the spectrum to the next end of the spectrum.

That's called a merism. Alpha, Omega, Heaven and the Earth, from morning to dawn, all that kind of stuff. All that's saying is this. Everything. From your going out, whether you're going out from the home, from the protection of here, or when you're here. Regardless of what time, what day, or what it is, every single thing, God is guarding you.

So, again, don't ever think, "Oh, this is too trivial to pray about." Absolutely not. God is watching that. "This is too big of something. I don't even know what to ask God for." Well, ask. God is watching everything from your going out to your coming in. That is just to say every aspect of your life.

The Lord is in control. So Mike, I ask you that question again. Who are you looking to? Who do you believe is able? And it's God. The Creator. The One who is your Good Shepherd. The One who is your Good Guard. The Savior and Keeper of your soul. He is fully capable because He watches everything.

Amen? He watches everything. So before we move forward, I hope, when you hear this, that you could say with your faith, "Yes, I believe God is able. Completely capable. He is powerful." And I hope that not just by me saying it to you, but by experience of encountering God, by you actually having asked, and then feeling and knowing and experiencing and encountering the sufficient God, you would be able to say from experience, "My help comes from God." Right?

Because that's what's going to set you apart from all the other pagans. We needed help before we were saved. But as a Christian, and from you saying from experience and encountering God, "My Lord helps me." That's your testimony. Let's look further here. I'm going to read all of verse 8 again.

"The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and forevermore." From this time forth and forevermore. If there is a verse for you to highlight in this chapter, that's it. Underline it. Star it. Put a little arrow. Put a happy face. Whatever it is you do, He is going to keep your soul from here forth and forever.

You see, even a good parent, I look at Bia, and I'm just so proud of her and the way that she is taking care of our baby. But even on her best day, if he is fussy and he is just so hard to deal with, even the best parent on their best day, will one of these days say, "Give me a break.

I'm so glad you're home." Hand off. Because for us, our patience, our ability is so limited. What am I saying here? When the Lord God says, "I will keep you forevermore," that, my friends, is the doctrine of eternal security. It's both the perseverance of the saints, it's the permanence of your salvation.

How important is that? And how amazing is it when the Lord says, "I keep you forever." It's not like us. Even though I want to, I am so limited. But the Lord is not. He says, "Forevermore." This doctrine, guys, is so important. And we want to hear this from Jesus Himself.

Turn over to John 6. This doctrine, I think, is, I would say, in terms of our salvation, the doctrines of our salvation, this is up there. I might even say this is the most important. And you might be like, "Oh, more important than justification?" Well, if we didn't have this, I don't know about justification.

If we didn't have this, I don't know about sanctification. If we didn't have this, all the things intertwined about God's character is now all aloof. This doctrine that God can keep you forever is so crucial. And we're going to hear it from Jesus' own words. If you've ever doubted whether God can keep you to the very end, if you've ever asked yourself that question, if someone's a genuine believer and he's saved, can he ever be unsaved?

Can he ever lose his salvation? Look what Jesus says. John 6, verse 39. John 6, verse 39. "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who holds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.

And I Myself will raise him up on that last day." I bet you, for almost all of you here, we just went through the Psalms and said, "I want to convince you that God is able to protect you, that God is able to keep you." And all of you I can see nodding.

I believe all of you guys here generally believe God is powerful. But here's what else. I think a lot of you guys believe God is able, but you question whether God is willing. Because it goes against your experience. "Well, I know God is going to protect me with my physical needs, all of the things that I need to care for, and my spiritual needs, but I am struggling." A lot of times we wrestle with this idea, "I know God is fully capable, but I don't know if He's willing." Let this verse reassure you.

It says, "It is the will of My Father. It is His will that whatever is in His hands will not be lost. He Himself is going to keep you until that very last day." Let that give you peace. Let that give you reassurance. I know we experience difficulty. I know we experience that kind of weariness in which we just want to sigh because we can't do nothing about it.

But the thing is, Christ Himself says, "I lose nothing." Go over to chapter 10. Let us reemphasize this fact. John 10.27 He says this, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them from out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." So here it is. If you think ever that God is going to lose one of you, that is preponderance.

That is ridiculous. You were lost and God found you. He's never going to lose you again. Right? Not only that, but God says, "I have you in My hand." If someone were ever to try and take you, they would have to go through the entire Trinity. God and the Son are one.

They will lose nothing. None of you will fall through the cracks of His fingers. There is none of you that He is going to lose. In Hebrews, you don't have to turn there, chapter 7, it goes to this elaborate explanation that Christ is the High Priest, eternal. And so Hebrews 7, verse 24 and 25, do you know what it says?

Because He is the Priest eternal, He is able to save forever. Forever. So I'm emphasizing to you this doctrine. When God says, "I will keep you," in Psalm 121, and He says, "I'll keep you forever," He means it and it will happen just that way. Salvation is permanent. No one who is in God's fold, no one who is a member of His kingdom, will be lost.

And you can bank on that. And why is that so important? Why am I saying it is so vital to the Christian gospel? Because of this. What is the gospel? The gospel is going to say, "You, by being a sinner, you're bankrupt. You've got nothing. You can do nothing to save yourself because you're absolutely dead.

As a sinner, you are damned to judgment." So what is the gospel? "Then make yourself vulnerable to God and surrender at His feet because Christ died for you. And you can see God as your Lord. Obey Him with everything. Obey Him to the point in which you'd be willing to suffer.

Leave your hometown. Leave your family. Whatever it may be, surrender and sacrifice. All carry that cross and go to Him." Now let me tell you something. If at the end of that, He says, "But I can't promise you, I can't promise you that I'm just, you know, I can't.

I can't promise you you'll be there though." It's like, "What?" I'm going to make myself vulnerable to you, confess you as my Lord, make myself vulnerable to the Christian community, and in the end you say, "Well, you could probably lose it." It's kind of like Pastor Aaron was preaching this in the Bible studies.

Abraham was giving a lot of promises. God said, "I'm going to give you land. I will bless you with offspring. I'm going to bless the nations through you." And Abraham said, "How will I know, Lord, that you're going to do this?" Well, Abraham, I don't give out guarantees. You know?

It's all part of business. I can't give you guarantees. What is that? Could anybody take the Gospel call if there was no promise of a permanent salvation in which God guarantees? The reason why I'm emphasizing this so much, the reason why I'm pushing this, and why I'm saying it is so vital to the Christian Gospel, is because if God does not keep us, then who will?

Let me put it in another way. If you could lose your salvation, even if you took the Gospel call to surrender and sacrifice, if you could lose it, you will. Because you're a sinner, and I'm a sinner. You're fallen, I'm fallen. If you could lose it, you would. If God doesn't keep us, who's going to keep us?

There is no hope. God sanctified me. God's going to sanctify me. And God's going to glorify me. All of that, all three aspects of that, that's salvation, right? Well, am I so ridiculous to think, well, God sanctifies me, I mean, God justifies me, sanctifies me, but glorifies me in the end, I'll make sure that happens.

That's ridiculous. I'm preponderance. I cannot keep myself. If God wanted to, any moment, He says, "By forgiveness and mercy, I will not remember your transgressions." But if He wanted to, He could make a list of my transgressions so long, if it was a scroll, it would just roll right off the street and through the streets, right?

He could bring up any one of those accusations. "Mark, I saw you over here so prideful." You can't go into heaven. Actually, Satan. Satan can bring up accusations against me. "I saw you here, lusting over the world." "I saw you here, materialistic." "I saw you here, complaining and griping to God." Well, actually, if you come to think of it, you could.

Any one of you who've known me for more than a year or two could bring up accusations against me and tell me why I'm not sufficient to get into heaven, why I'm not sufficient to obtain salvation. So how would I so foolishly think I could keep myself to the very end?

If God doesn't keep me, nobody can. And for sure I can't. Right? So to me, the promise of God in Psalm 121, where He says, "I keep you forever," I cling to that with everything. That refreshes my soul. That completely satisfies me. And if I'm weary, if I'm even in sin, that revives me to think, "Oh my Lord, "You are both willing and capable to keep me." So I ask You to help me with my struggles.

And I worship You more because You keep me to the very end. I know I can't do anything. I know You can. How amazing is that? And that's why, friends, we here at Berean, we really don't hold to that Armenian theology in which they believe that the freedom of man isn't touched.

And so if a man has the freedom to believe, he also has the freedom to not believe. The problem with that is it makes sin all the more or less, you all the more greater, and God impotent. Because God says, "I have the power to keep you forever." That's true.

That is true. Guys, when I am afraid, and I have anxiety, trust me, now that I have a baby, I have all kinds of anxiety. I'm like, "Man, is our house big enough?" It's like, "Man, all of this stuff, "are we going to have enough for X, Y, and Z?" I've got all kinds of insecurities.

When you have that kind of insecurities, who do you look to? Who do you look to? I hope you can look to the Lord and say, "I can trust because I am in God's hands." Like Daniel, I can say, "Even if I burn, "I am safe in the hands of God." Regardless of circumstance, I am safe in the hand of God.

So even if it's the common struggles of man, even if it's something very trivial, even if it's something you feel like, "Well, I can take care of this on my own by hard work," because everybody experiences this kind of hardship in life. Regardless, look to the Lord and have strength.

But also, if you are afraid because perhaps you're in sin, perhaps you've been discouraged because of your own sin. Young people often ask me, "Man, this is going to be a lifetime struggle. "When am I going to ever overcome sin?" I have good news and bad news. Good news is the Holy God, when you spend more time with Him, you will sin less frequently.

The bad news is when you spend more time with the Holy God, your sin looks really, really bad, and you feel really, really bad. So I have actually seen this kind of tendency in growing Christians, or people who've been Christians for a very long time. They know how bad sin is, but they fail.

When they fail, they fail again to look to God for help. Do you know what happens when an individual who sees the depth of their sin, who feels the guilt but has a difficult time looking to the Lord, that's when despair, discouragement, and a desire to quit starts to settle in.

Does that make sense? You need, especially if you've been Christian for some time, and you're wrestling with some kind of sin, you need to go to the Lord who says, "I am the one who protects you from evil and evil within you. The sins that are within you, I deal with and clean you and protect you." You need to go to the Lord with that and find that kind of strength.

The Lord will give me strength to overcome sin. The Lord will be there, present, right hand, right there, readily available. And there are some of you, there are some of you, I don't doubt, that have questioned whether you are a believer or not. Right? I'm pretty sure there are.

There are some of you who have failed in some way or another where you believe, "I don't think God is going to approve of me. How in the world is God going to receive me? How in the world is God going to accept me?" Now, I'm not going to say, "Oh, the Lord keeps everybody and saves everybody." But this is what I'm going to say.

The Lord is sovereign. The Lord is sovereign. Furthermore, His forgiveness when He gives it is His prerogative. What am I saying? Because the Lord is our keeper, He says, "Anybody who confesses and repents in genuineness, I forgive." That forgiveness is His prerogative. So for you to sit there and say, "Oh, the Lord is not going to approve me.

Oh, He's not going to receive me. I'd rather just spend my life outside of the church, outside of His realm." His forgiveness is His prerogative to give. If He says, "Your sin," and says, "I can forgive that," then He can forgive that. So the question for you is not sitting there reconciling, "Oh, what's my responsibility?

What's His responsibility? Is He going to receive me? Is He not going to receive me?" and all of this. The question for you is, can you come to a point where you humble yourself and repent? Can you come to a point where you humble yourself and say, "God, I need you desperately." For any of you who are sitting there wrestling, anytime someone preaches, "Oh, God keeps you to the very end.

He's the one who's working in you. He's the one who's convicting you. He's the one who's got the Spirit in you. And He's the one fully controlling you to the very end." You want to ask all those questions of, "Well, what's the reconciliation here between my responsibility and the Lord's sovereignty?" I just want to tell you guys, "Shh.

Put that off until later." The issue here isn't whether you want to reconcile your responsibility and His responsibility. The issue here is God just told you that He is willing and capable of keeping you. Will you apply that in faith? Will you apply that in faith? Please turn back over to Psalms.

And again, these are songs of ascent, so if you ever have time, start reading from Psalm 120 and go 15 chapters forward. But I want to show you Psalm 123. It is the spiritual thought as we move from fears and failures to the thought and belief that God is supreme, that God will keep us.

We go to Psalm 123. "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God until He is gracious to us.

Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us." I pray for you guys that today as you leave, you would be all the more assured in faith, "My God is able to help me. My God is willing to help me." And that belief, I hope it empowers your prayer life.

If you are struggling with giving God worship through the week, I hope this empowers your prayer life. For you can go to Him with everything. "Lord, this is not too small in your eyes. I can go to you for help. Lord, this is not too big for you to deal with.

I don't even know how to ask for help here, God. I just need you to intervene." Let this rejuvenate and empower your prayer life through this week. And that you can go to God and say, "Lord, be gracious to me. As a servant who is watchfully waiting for the master to say, 'Come,' or the masters to say, 'Here,' I want you guys to say, 'I look and lift my eyes to the Lord.'" Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, there are times in our Christian walk where all we can do is tell you, "Lord, I believe. Thank you so much." These are one of those moments when we know that our eternal security is in your hands. And so when you promise, "I am your keeper to the very end,"