In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the significance of Gordon's Calvary, a sacred spot believed to be where Jesus was crucified. One of the men accompanying the speaker is a tourist who takes pictures and makes notes, treating it as just another ancient site. The speaker emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the signs of the times and being aware of the future that awaits the world. He encourages listeners to keep their focus on Jesus and look up, as their redemption is near. The sermon also includes a reference to Pilgrim's Progress, highlighting the danger of being too preoccupied with worldly matters and missing out on the heavenly reward.

A short but a very sweet psalm. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My 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 for evermore. The Lord and his blessings for the public reading of his own precious word. Peter Craft's psalm could be written the words of the Apostle Peter. Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. Also that wonderful promise of the prophet Isaiah. There will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is paid on thee because he trusteth in thee. We have in that verse the keeper, the keeping and the kept. The keeper of course is none other than the glorious prince of peace himself. The keeping is always in perfect peace and the kept are those whose minds are paid on him. Prayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed finding out he promised perfect peace and rest. Now there are three main thoughts upon my heart tonight in connection with this psalm. First of all we'll think of contemplation, then secondly consideration and thirdly preservation. I think first of all we have brought before us the truth of contemplation. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills and dear friends what a necessary attitude this is for today. There is a natural tendency for people to be looking down and looking around and after all we are made upright in order that we might look up. We think it's very strange if we saw a horse going along the street gazing into the heavens and yet is it any more strange that people who are made upright to look up should always be found looking down. Do you remember the words of the Lord Jesus when he said that men's hearts would be failing them for fear and for looking after the things that are coming on the earth and where must they fear? You see in that statement we have the thought of nearsightedness and when you get nearsightedness in the spiritual realm you have heart failure. Men are too short-sighted today they are looking at the things that are coming on the earth and consequently there follows that heart failure. Men's hearts are failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth. And when we think of the stockpiles of nuclear weapons and when you think of the awful future that awaits this poor old sin-stricken sick sin-stricken world I tell you where might they fear? But then the Lord Jesus went on to say you remember and when you see these things begin to come to pass look up, lift up your head for your redemption glorious night. I want you to notice what he emphasizes there when he says these things begin to come to pass. I believe that we are seeing things begin to come to pass but we won't be here to see them come to pass. Because the Lord after all is coming for his people and he's not going to allow his people to be blasted to pieces by these weapons of hell, these awful weapons of destruction which will certainly be seen in operation in a coming day. But as far as we are concerned we are exhausted by the Lord Jesus when we see the evidences of things coming, the shadow of events before us to look up and to recognize and glory in the truth that our redemption glorious night. You remember in Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan tells us of a man who could only look in one direction and that was down low. He had a muck rake in his hand and with that muck rake he was gathering in the sticks and the straws and the dust of the floor and he didn't see by his side a shining one who was offering him a celestial crown in exchange for the muck rake. Now he went on so busily engaged with his work looking downward and not beholding a shining being by his side. And then Bunyan applies the parable, so will it be he said when the things of earth are in power upon men's minds as to unite to take their hearts away from God. You would think that Bunyan was living in our day because you see all around friends the evidence of that fact. Materialism everywhere you go people are occupied with the things of this life the things of time and sense as never before in the history of the world. And all these things are uniting together to carry the hearts of men and women and boys and girls from the things that really matter the vital matters and issues of eternity. That is the reason why I say it is a very necessary aptitude. I will lift up my eyes in which direction are we looking? Two men looked through prison bars the one saw mud the other saw stars. They were both in the same position in the same circumstances in the same environment but their outlook was so vastly different one was looking down and he saw the mud the other was looking up and he saw the stars. I tell you there's enough mud in this world today we think of the mud of lawlessness and the mud of drunk taking the mud of immorality and so we could go on but I'm not going on. But why should we be occupied with this distressing state of things when we can look up and see those wonderful cheerful stars in the heavens? Haven't you been thrilled dear friends on a dark night to look into the heavens and see those parking diamonds everywhere and to be reminded of one who is beyond the stars the one who could indeed bind yes the sweet influences of pioneers and loose the band of orient the one who controls all the stars in their courses and we can look beyond the stars to that glorious one treated in heavenly splendor at the right hand of his father. That's the reason why I say it is a very very necessary attitude that we should look up. There was a firm of opticians in Dublin and they put out a very clever advertisement it goes something like this you cannot be optimistic if you've got a misty optic well isn't that true unless you've got the clear eye of faith that penetrates the darkest high right to the throne and high we cannot be optimistic we shall be pessimistic and downright miserable because of the conditions which exist on every hand well let us look up and consider there in the heavens one who is indeed our friend and a friend that's thicker closer than a brother and behold a beauty that never fades think of a friend who never changes think of a love that is ever new think of a righteousness that is never tarnished think of a joy that's never diminished think of a glory that will never never fade away and I'll tell you the result of this contemplation will be that our hearts will be thrilled and infused and strengthened and encouraged although things are getting extremely dark and dismal at this present time I will lift up my eyes unto the hills now the mountains and hills of course in the word of god are connected to the prophecies of god are they not and I'm going to suggest just uh shall I say three of these uh hills or mountains let us think of mount sinai for instance I think mount sinai would remind us of the holiness of god in a very special way it was on that mountain remember that the law was given when god came down with all his majesty and glory and there was darkness and tempest upon the mount with the flash of the lightning and the roar of the thunder so much so that the people of israel trembled and so did joseph himself because of that awe-inspiring scene he said I do fear and exceedingly quake as the trumpet sounded louder and louder and louder and god spake in a voice I think we need to lift up our eyes to that hill or to that mountain more than we do like you who are not lingering around sinai for salvation like many are today thank god for this wonderful truth that we're saved by grace free from the lord or happy condition jesus hath bled and there is remission let us lay hold when there are so many legalists around us of this wonderful truth that christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us as it is written curse it is everyone that hangeth on a tree but the sight as we turn our eyes afresh to calvary and we see that holy cobra on that central cross crowned with thorns upon the tree silent in his agony dying crashed beneath the load of the wrath and curse of god no we're not looking away to sinai for salvation as many are but we need to look to that mountain to be reminded more and more of the holiness of the god we love sometimes i think of a living in days of liberty that's true but with that liberty often comes license and the old saying is sometimes true the familiarity breeds contempt let us not in this day of liberty which we thoroughly enjoy oh lose the sense of the fright holiness of our god i sometimes feel that we should do what paul of tarsus did and exclaim who art thou lord to sit in his presence in his stillness and gaze across to sinai and see that manifestation of his majesty glory and holiness who are thou lord my god how wonderful thou art thy majesty how bright how beautiful thy mercy sweet in depths of burning light we should always remember that we approach our thrice holy god in the peerless precious name of our lord jesus christ he was only thinking the other morning how privileged we are in our approach to god you remember when moses turned aside to see that great sight while the bush burned and was not consumed he heard the voice draw not nigh hither but up thy shoes from up thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground moses hid himself for he was afraid to look upon god now by way of contrast how privileged we are in this alabayan generation no longer is it divine prohibition draw not nigh hither but divine beseechment draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you thank god that the veil has been done away in christ we have boldness to enter into the holiest water blood of jesus by a new and living way which he has inaugurated for us through the veil that is the savior's flesh and having a high priest over the house of god we draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts crinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water we approach our thrice holy god then we need to be reminded constantly surely that we are indwelled by a spirit that is emphatically called the holy spirit what know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the holy spirit which is in you which you have of god and that you're not your own you're bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body and in your spirit which are gods and i'm sure of this that if that tremendous truth grips our hearts that the spirit of god dwells within these temples of our bodies we should be very careful as to our walk and our talk we'll be very sensitive as the spirit of god is lest we should do anything to disturb him and that hinder or quench his gracious operations within and then we should remind ourselves also should we not that we are called by wine who is holy and so we are told by people you remember but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of living because it is written be holy for i am holy we turn our eyes down to that count and are reminded of the holiness of god but let us come to the new testament and we'll think of another hill you know the hill to which i now refer it's now part of city walls and if we see the holiness of god at mansinai surely we see the redemption of god at mancalvary it's only a little hill mark you but what the hell he made the forest whence there sprung the tree on which his body hung he died upon a cross of wood yet made the hill on which it stood the cross is the central fact of the world history it's the central fact of eternity all preceding ages look forward to it all succeeding ages look back to it it'll build a very central theme and fact of eternity it's very very amazing to me that the very thing that god puts into prominence is the very thing that men are seeking to leave out today in their preaching or how we need to look across to that place called calvary gaze upon that suffering one what a sight and what a load and what a sorrow is it nothing to you oh jesus pass by hold and see if there be any sort of life unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger two men were wending their way along the dusty road to gordon's calvary called gordon's calvary because general gordon claimed it was the exact spot where our lord was crucified one had the seasoned air of a tourist now as he approached that sacred spot he took out his camera he took a snap of the place he made a few notes in his glib notebook and then considered it was just another part of the ancient world he passed off a tourist at calvary how strange but not so with the other man he didn't have a notebook nor a camera but i'll tell you what he did have a new testament which he pulled out of his inside pocket and then standing there with bowed head he read and reread the story of the cross and then with a little prayer and with his eyes misted with tears and from an overflowing heart he said thank you lord for saving my soul friends there shouldn't be a day go by without turning our eyes to that place he is no longer there oh no he is now seated in heavenly splendor and glory a prince and a savior but we need to turn our eyes to calvary constantly so that our heart might still be tender with the love of christ and that our spirit might indeed be touched with the sense of all that he passed through to make us extremely grateful to him for all that he endured when i surveyed the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died with my wicked day and night camp with lust and poor contempt on all my pride we need to be reminded too that the principles of the crown have to be applied in our lives that's why we need we need to turn our eyes to the place called calvary family was crucified there you say three and millions more friends because i was crucified there too and we need to be reminded of this i have been crucified with christ nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me the life i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me god forbid that i should save in the cross of our lord jesus christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world seems to me that the teaching of the cross for the apostle paul was applied more to saints than sinners whilst we look away to the cross in order that the principles of his death might be applied in our practical life we don't look there for power of course we look up to the throne for power because there is seated the risen glorified christ and looking at him we can explain with paul i can do all things through christ who gives me power but then we'll go back to the new testament we'll think of another mount the mount of olives if at sinai we see the holiness of god if at calvary we see the redemption of god i'm going to suggest that at the mount of olives we see the glory of god what a wonderful day that will be as far as this world is concerned when he comes forth in all his power and might and his feet rest upon the mount of olives there is that tremendous earthquake and the mount is parted one part goes to the east and the other part goes to the west and then those two parts move again one to the north and the other to the south and there's a great valley between and that valley is provided for the escape of his earthly people from the nations who are seeking to exterminate them and grab their land the lord has come to fight for his people as a man of war now it will be a wonderful day for israel won't it be when they see the glory of the lord what are those wounds in thine hands those with which i was wounded in the house of my friends my lord and my god they will say he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our priest was upon him and with his stripes we are healed then he will take his rightful place upon his rightful throne his pierced hands will sway in sovereignty earth's scepter his enemies will lift of us he make it wars to cease unto the ends of the earth he breaketh the bow and spear cutteth the spear and burneth the chariot into fire he'll soon dispose of all these weapons of warfare in his day he won't need them he will consume his enemies by the breath of his mouth and this day this world will know a day that it is never known yet in its history a day of universal peace and prosperity when the knowledge of the glory of the lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea we need to be reminded of this as we turn our eyes across to that mount the mount of olives but before that we're going to be caught up are we not yes i was going to be caught up because the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout of the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ will rise first then be the god alive and remain to be caught up together with them in this house to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord therefore comfort one another with these words now i suggest that we should lift up our eyes in contemplation to these mountains many more and learn the deep lessons which god has taught us in our christian experience but now we come to the point of consideration i will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help i notice in the revised version not the modern one that there's a difference in the punctuation which seems to alter the sense a little i will lift up mine eyes under the hills and instead of a comma you have a period a full stop from whence cometh my help question mark this is the answer to the question verse two my help cometh from the lord which made heaven and earth but thomas wasn't looking for the hills for help of course not he was looking for the one who made the hills and one who was beyond the hills it seems to me that the hills and mountains unfortunately were also connected with blatant idolatry we read constantly of the high places and the groves and we think of all those deaths and young vanities set up there in defiance of the living god it seems to me that the psalmist is thinking of this i will lift up my eyes onto the hills from whence cometh my help does it come from such why they have eyes and they see not they have mouths and they speak not they have ears and they hear not they have noses and they smell not they have hands and they handle not they that like make them on my country then does my help come from such nay my help coming from the lord who made heaven and earth i think we have this thought too expressed by jerry meyers when he said in vain is salvation for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains that it is again truly our salvation is in the lord our god now here is the lesson to turn away from all preacher streams and idols and there are many idols i'm afraid among the lord people even today something that may come between their soul and the lord jesus and blood hymn of his portion it's not for me to say what these idols are but if it's for me to say the dearest idol i have no idea that i will be help me to carry from his throne and worship only thee now see what will be the result it will save us from many a smear and many a headache and many a sin speaking about headaches reminds me of a woman who went to the doctor she complained that she was getting a series of headaches well the doctor examined her and didn't find anything seriously wrong because he came to the conclusion it must have been her eyes so he advised her to go and see an optician she went the optician he examined her too and then he asked a very strange question he said where do you live she said i live in foot and such a street now how far can you see from your front windows well doctor she said the street is rather narrow and we can just see the walls of the houses on the other side of the street father he said in that district isn't there an houses oh yes there is an attic we only keep lumber and empty trunks and so on thirty thousand that we use the room but he said what i'm getting at is this how far can you see from the attic window oh now you say that yeah we can look across the roofs of the houses on the other side of the street and we can see the hills in the distance ah he said that's what i want to know and i'm going to prescribe that you sit at your attic window every morning for half an hour and do nothing but look at those hills she was rather indignant because she didn't see any connection with that prescription and with her trouble she said doctor i'm a busy housewife i can't afford to spend such time in idleness madam he said if you want any help you must carry out my instructions and much more he said after the first week i want you to increase the time to one hour well it was a very reluctant patient that sat at the attic window the next morning but she didn't find it quite so far as she expected and as she continued she began to notice something she began to feel that she was not quite as tense and then she felt a little more relaxed then her eyes seemed to be getting stronger so finally her headaches disappeared and she went back to the optician and said doctor i'm completely cured he said i thought so actually he said there's nothing wrong with you at all your trouble was that you need to be completely relaxed you are over tensed he said i knew that if i could impose that rest upon you day by day it would have the necessary effect sometimes feels for him that we suffer unconsciously from many a spiritual headache and sometimes we carry troubles that perhaps may never exist i've had many troubles at the muck though most of which have never happened and i really bother you that we should completely relax in god's presence and we can relax by lifting up our eyes and going beyond the hills and looking by faith into the lovely face of our lord and savior jesus christ god is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will i not fear it's wonderful to know that we have a friend who's near us all the time one upon whom we can call in deepest trouble one who said lo i am with you always even unto the ends of the age dear brother was visiting his wife in the hospital the other day and the don went announcing that the visitor's time was over so he began to take his leave and looking at his wife very tenderly he said well my dear i have to leave you but he said i promise i won't forsake you you see dear friends the lord has promised never to leave us nor forsake us for he has said i will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the lord is my helper i will not fear what can man do unto me through further contemplation consideration now therefore the preservation and this seems to be the theme of all the following verses it runs right through the psalms at the very end we might ask these three questions well first of all we'll say what does he keep what is mentioned here first well in verse three he will not prophesy foot to be moved so it's the foot that is kept first in this psalm for why this because of its tendency to stray that's the reason and when the foot takes the false step others follow and usually there's a lot of trouble that follows too i remember when i was visiting the man of walt he had joined along the sea front one night i don't know what happened because it really happened so quickly but i slipped and fell and i went headlong on the ground fortunately i didn't hurt myself i was a little shaken up and what was it it was just a little pebble under my foot it was the foot that slipped but the whole man went down with it that's the point and how many have taken one false step and the whole testimony has been ruined thereby please dear friends if i'd have had a friend near me at that time i was walking alone and i could have grabbed him i'd have been safe yes i'm afraid when we get in a backslidden condition we we forget uh the nearness of our heavenly companion let us see that we're living so near to him that if we do stumble we'll be able to put our hand out and put it into his and say like peter of old lord save me save me he shall not suffer thy foot to be moved if we are walking in communion with himself without a thing between you know the old country and i don't know whether you have it in this country we have a very serious disease among capital called foot and mouth disease it begins with a foot and it spreads to the mouth very serious sometimes thousands of cattle have to be destroyed and i'm going to suggest that there is a foot mouth disease in the spiritual sense among christians they begin with a foot and it spreads to the mouth they get away from the law they get in a backslidden condition and then watch the mouth they begin to find fault with this and that and the other thing begin to criticize their brothers and their sisters only expressing their backslidden condition the disease has spread from the foot to the mouth rottenness true of peter alas alas it recorded that he followed the lord afar off he began with a foot and he wasn't very long before he spread to the mouth he denied his lord with oaths and curses is this peter that he began with his foot when he followed the lord afar off oh let us live near to the good shepherd so that if we have a tendency to strain the meadow we'll be near enough for him to put his cook around our foot and bring it back into the line of his will in conformity with his word then there'll be no stumbling friends in the days of the puritans the father and son arranged to meet in a certain place at a certain time they lived at a distance and when they did so the son said he was a christian like his father dad he said i had wonderful traveling mercies all along the way my horse stumbled three times and i was thrown to the ground he said yes here i am i'm hurt very good my boy said his father and i also had traveling mercies all along the way he said because my horse never stumbled once the lesson that he was teaching his boy was this it was good to be saved in stumbling but it's far better to be saved from stumbling and that's what jude said now unto him that is able to keep you from falling or from stumbling and to present you forth before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy for the wise god our savior the glory and majesty dominion and power both now and forever more amen he will not suffer thy foot to be moved if we're in living touch with himself oh then when he keeps why in verses three and four here the keepers they will not slumber behold here the keepers israel shall neither slumber nor sleep so he keeps us a note there is an eye that never shuts beneath the wing of night there is an ear that never shuts when things young beams of light why even a has been known to ghostly on duty but the lord jesus never will his eye is upon us continually and why then should i ever care for me since god since fucking god is mine he watches all the night and day and tells me mine his eyes what he keeps when he keeps how he keeps that's fine the lord is thy keeper the lord is thy shade upon thy right hand he keeps in perfect peace and security and i love this expression he is thy shade upon my right hand all right in the bahamas and the formidable education for the nineties we're very glad a little bit of shade and how is shade caused by by something coming between ourselves and the sun that's simple isn't it and don't just have the thought here the lord comes with three nights and all opposing circumstances he makes them first and then he becomes in that sense our shade all that he wants us to do is not only to commit to all our circumstances into his hand but to enjoy the shade so we can say i sat underneath his shadow with great delight and his truth was sweet unto my taste i run that expression with regard to the keeping power of our god concerning his people israel he said that he keeped them as the apple of his eye a very lovely expression the apple of the eyes i know it's a pupil and i suppose the pupil is one of the most sensitive parts of the body what does it mean it means that our god is extremely sensitive as to our deeds and our afflictions and our sorrows and our troubles he's intensely interested in them friends what is you know what happens when somebody gets into the eye a foreign object or how it begins to inflame begins to smart and then the tears begin to flow protection of course protection from the foreign object lest it should do any damage to the eye the tears begin begin to flow because of the forgiveness of the eye i couldn't help but think of the lord jesus with his heart of compassion when he went to those two dear sisters in their bereavement mary and martha where have you laid him lord come and say jesus wept all those tears we find an ocean of sympathy in those tears liquid sorrow but doesn't it show us how that the lord was entering right into their circumstances he was extremely sensitive with regard to their name and the tears were beginning to flow we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but one who is tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin i think that is a great comfort the soul passing through the veil of sorrows and through affliction and adversity to know that there is one who is personally interested in all things very sensitive to the needs of those who are passing through a testing time he keeps them as the apple of his eye never close and there's just one more thought you know this the psalm ends the lord shall keep it's the same word right through the psalm by going out and i coming in from this time forth and even forever more seems to me we've got the whole work day here brought before us by going out by coming in we go out of the door in the morning if it's a day's responsibility we come in to the door of life but between our going out and our coming in oh how many dangers seen and unseen have we passed through but we are in the midst shall i say of a circumference of power and thank god as the mountains around about jerusalem so the lord is around about his people and henceforth even forever more and you remember that when paul's javelins were being thrown around the david of all it is recorded in that chapter that he acted wisely very wisely and more wisely and there's one verse that always appeals to me in that chapter therefore did all israel and judah love david because he went out and came in among them now probably if that had been myself i would have gone out and stayed out and with all those javelins being aimed at my heart but david recognized that the lord was his shade upon his right hand and he recognized too that the same power that guided that stone unerringly to the forehead of the giant could just as easily turn aside the javelin's ends in front so he not only went out but he came in he realized the preserving and protecting power of his god i often think of some when a little bit of testing comes in the assemblies this is my experience elsewhere a little bit of testing comes it may be a very trivial thing they go out and they stay out god damn that they might know what it is when trouble arises in any sense not only to go out but to come in and continue well with the lord because we'll be protected until troubling days are done let us pray oh god our father we thank you for our meditation tonight this street and your very lovely son we pray that we may go forth encouraged that our outlook might be exceedingly bright although the outlook is getting very very dark and black may we be very conscious of the nearness and presence of our lord jesus and grant that when we feel the heat and burden of the day we may so enjoy his companionship as to also enjoy the shade of his preserving care sitting underneath his shadow with great delight feasting upon himself and enjoying for the full the things of the lord we ask these mercies as we give thee thanks again for the ministry of thy word tonight in the name of the lord jesus christ amen