Interposition. What does that
word interposition mean? If you look up in a dictionary,
it says something to the effect of someone or something coming
between two things, two objects, two persons, two groups. If your
son and your nephew got into a little scuffle and you came
in between them, you'd be interposing yourself. You'd be putting yourself
between them and telling them to calm down, calm down boys. When we saw an example of interposition
not too long ago in the scriptures, we were in Genesis 14 and it
was when Abraham was on his way back from having defeated the
King Chedor Laomer of of Elam, I think it was, and the three
kings in league with him. And he had conquered them and
was bringing back all the persons that they took from Sodom and
Gomorrah and the other cities and the riches there. And they
were told there that it was Bera, king of Sodom, went out to meet
Abram. He went out to meet him. And
then a little while longer, we're told that he said to Abram, you
take all the riches, just give me the persons. But there's a
space between there. There's a little space between
him going out and him opening his mouth to talk to Abram. What
happened? Melchizedek interposed himself,
coming with bread and wine, that heavenly bread and wine of the
Lord Jesus Christ. before that wicked man Bera,
king of Sodom, could open his mouth and entice Abram with that
very enticing offer to make him wealthy. All he had to do was
just be his man, be in league with him, and give him the persons. That's all he had to do. But
when Melchizedek interposed with the blood of Christ, with the
body and blood of Christ, Abram was strengthened. And Abram said,
nope, I don't want it. You keep your riches for yourself.
I don't want any of it. I don't want any of it. And so
that gives us a picture of interposition. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for all his people. He interposed himself. He shed His blood. He came between
Him and the just wrath of God which was against us for our
sins and our iniquities. We would justly be punished for
our sins but Christ interposed Himself. He came between us and
justice and He paid the price. And He delivered us justly from
the hands of God's justice and gave us life and salvation. This is He atoned for our sins
and we have life through Him. Now tonight I want to look at
a psalm with you that glorifies Christ who interposes Himself
and comes between us and our enemies. I'm going to look at
a psalm that glorifies Christ who comes between His people
and their enemies. And tonight that psalm is 124.
Psalm 124. This psalm is titled the Song
of Degrees of David. And that means David penned this
psalm when the Lord had delivered Israel from some great threat. Some great threat of destruction
was threatening Israel to destroy Israel and to bring them to nothing.
Now the specific danger we're never told about. We don't know
what the specific danger was. We don't know if it was the danger
of an enemy from without threatening the borders of Israel and coming
in and threatening to overthrow them and take their land and
destroy the people. We don't know if it was an enemy
from within who sought to overthrow David and to bring the people
into ruin, such as what Absalom did. But it is certain. that David understood and he
wanted the people to understand. He would sing this psalm and
sing the praise to the Lord for what he had done. He wants us
to understand that we would have been ruined had the enemy had
their way with us. We would have certainly been
destroyed had the Lord not interposed himself between his people and
their enemy and delivered the people, and I think that it doesn't
mention what it was, why he wrote this, because it transcends time. It's for the church in all ages. It's for all of us to know that
there's an enemy that would destroy us, that would bring us to utter
and absolute ruin, except the Lord Jesus Christ. has taken
it upon himself to interpose himself and to deliver us from
the destruction of our enemies. Now let's read the first five
verses. Psalm 124, beginning in verse
1. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, now may Israel say, if it had not been the Lord
who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they
had swallowed us up quick. when their wrath was kindled
against us. Then the waters had overwhelmed
us. The stream had gone over our
soul. Then the proud waters had gone
over our soul." I remember, probably a couple
decades ago now, I was sitting on an airplane. for business
or something at that time. And I had some time on my hands
and so I was thumbing through one of those airplane magazines
that are in the back of the seats. And there was a story in there
about a big wave surfer. A big wave surfer. And this man
liked to surf big waves. And he had a crew, a team that
helped him locate these giant waves. And he was accustomed
to surfing waves something the size of 25 feet or so. And that's
big. That's big. And those are things
out in the ocean. They're not crashing on the beach.
They're crashing way, way out in the ocean. And they located
someplace out in the South Pacific somewhere. And they went out
there. And apparently these waves are
so large and take so long to swell and grow that you have
to tug the man on the surfboard with a motorboat to get up to
the proper speed in order to catch that wave properly. Well, he caught that wave, and
this thing was massive. I don't remember if it was something
much, much, much larger than what he was accustomed to surfing. And he hit that wave, and it
wasn't long before himself and the crew realized this man is
in grave, grave danger. And they thought he was going
to die out there. But after some time, and I don't
remember all the details, but they pulled him into the boat
safe and sound. This man was alive. And he begins
to tell them. And he begins to talk excitedly
about what had happened. And the next thing that happened,
he began to weep. He began to cry. and weep because
it all hit him that he was nearly consumed by that water. He was nearly drowned and destroyed
and crushed and busted apart by that water so that this thrill-seeking,
well, very experienced surfer who knew what he was doing out
there realized, I should have been consumed and destroyed. I shouldn't be here right now
talking to you. I should be dead. I don't remember
this man ever giving glory to God for his life. But David,
the psalmist here, makes sure that we know who it is that delivers
us from certain destruction. And he gives all the glory to
God, you whose life should have been You who should be destroyed
by sin and have no life, no part, no sense, no understanding of
who the true and living God is, You that now know Him, it's because
God has delivered you. It's because God has been gracious
to you through His Starling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, believers know that. Believers are made to know that
myself, the only reason why I call upon the name of the Lord, the
only reason why I believe in Him, the only reason why I'm
here this day speaking to you is because God was gracious and
merciful to deliver me, to interpose with His Son, to come between
me and certain death and deliver me from that death. And so believers declare their
glory in the Lord. And now the psalmist says at
the end of verse two, when men rose up against us. And so here
the Lord is showing us that the character, the adversary here
of which this psalm speaks is first of men. At least as we
understand it, it's of men. Men is used to show us how great
the threat is against our lives, you that believe the Lord Jesus
Christ. You that boast in the salvation
of the Lord Jesus Christ, men of this world hate. That message. The natural, carnal man despises
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which gives God all the
glory and none of the glory to man. and you talk about that,
and you speak of what God has done, and you press that, and
you continue to give him all the glory, and you're going to
anger the carnal, natural man. And he will be your enemy. This character of man is first
called the waters. And we see a revelation where
the waters are described as peoples and nations. They're called waters
in scriptures. And then those waters, that trickling
water, becomes a stream. They're described as a stream.
And eventually, they're called the proud waters, which would
overtake us and destroy us. They grow and they increase and
it gets worse and worse, and that's true. The more you press
it, the more they press against you. We remember seeing Lot in
Sodom. All he did was mention to them
that their works were wicked. All he did was use that one word
and say, what you're doing is wicked. What you want to do to
these men in my house is wicked. And for that, they were ready
to kill him. They were ready to rip him apart
and destroy him just for speaking the truth. Just for speaking
that truth, they wanted to destroy him. And had the Lord not intervened
to save his people, they would swallow us up. And we would be
overwhelmed. And we would be overtaken. with
the proud waters. We would be destroyed. The pride
of man would rise up in us as well and we would be destroyed
and utterly fall away and be consumed as well. Now our soul,
it speaks of waters coming to the soul, going over the soul. In scripture our soul is revealed
to be most precious. The most precious thing that
we have is our soul. It's not your spouse. It's not
your children. It's not your possessions. The
most precious thing you have is your soul. Your soul. Our
Lord asks in Matthew 16, 26, for what is man profited? What
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for a soul? You could be the king of the
world, having all the riches, all the power, all the influence,
so that if anyone said to you, what are you doing? You could
say, who are you to speak to me? Guard, take that man and
put him to death. You could own the whole world
and be king of the world, and yet That, what, is that worth
your soul? So that he said there, what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? There's nothing, if the
whole world cannot be exchanged for your soul, if you can't go
to God and say, Lord, I have all this world, I'll give it
to you if you give me eternal life. He says you can't, it's
not worth it. It's not an equal balance. This
whole world does not equate to the value of your soul. your
soul. That's how precious, how valuable
your eternal soul is. And this body does not compare.
Our Lord said in Matthew 10 28, and fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Don't worry if they're threatening
to take your body, to take your life. Don't let them have your
soul. Don't give that up. Don't trade
that in to spare your life. This is a raggedy old tent. It's
fading away. It's full of holes. Let them
take it. Let them take it. It's not worth
your soul. It's not worth turning against
the true and living God. So in this sense, is here that this hatred against
us is from men of this world. It is men who are patterned after
this world. They go according to this world's
fashions and the ways of darkness, and their hatred is for God and
his people. people who love him and love
his Savior and love his salvation and bear witness to what he has
done and it's true we see in Scripture how the hatred of the
Lord's people is worse for them and as far as men in this world
are concerned they hate them most of all so that when you
come to Nebuchadnezzar they fired up that furnace seven times more
hot because they would not bow the knee to and worship their
idol. And so they fired that thing
up seven times hotter, but the Lord intervened. And they were
willing, if the Lord didn't, they were willing to lay down
their lives. And that's what we're called to do, to not lay
down our lives there. So they threatened to take and
destroy all that would seem precious to man. And God says, he tells
us, do not fear them. They are not able to kill soul
they can't touch it they can touch the body but they can't
touch the soul and so they're fierce they're fierce the enemy
means your destruction they mean your destruction but Jehovah
is your God Almighty the El Shaddai Jehovah is your God and he has
undertaken the cause of his people to deliver their souls from eternal
ruin Now if you look at those first two verses, one more time
there, it said you'll see some italicized words if you have
a King James version and it shows you that. Those words it had
and been, they're not in there. They're not in there and the
translators gave those words to smooth it out, but it's actually
meant to be choppy. It's meant to be like that man
in the boat who was almost overwhelmed and overtaken by those waters.
They're saying, if not Jehovah, if not Jehovah, had not Jehovah
stepped in and delivered us, we'd be destroyed. They're excited.
They're excited because they see and they understand we had
almost been destroyed. It's an intense moment when you
see it, when you see how close, how near your life is to being
taken. It's an intense moment. And that's how we are. He says
in verse 6, blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey
to their teeth. That is what he's saying there.
None can harm you. None can harm you. None can touch
you except God permitted. And he's shown us here how that
whatever the Lord permits, he will not let them take your soul
who have cast all your care upon Him, and trust Him, and look
to Him for grace and mercy and help in time of need. He'll not let the enemy destroy
your soul." And there's times when we feel like it will be
over. There's times, each of you that
have any experience in the Lord, you know there's times when you
thought, this is it. This is it. I am going to be
brought down. I'm going to be destroyed. I've
turned this way when I should have turned that way, and it's
over. It's over. I'm going to be dead before too
long here. Well, the Lord shows us through
the scriptures that we're in good company. You're in good
company. You that have seen and faced
that death, but trust in the Lord and called out to the Lord
to save you, you're in good company. Paul once said in 2 Corinthians
1, verse 8 through 10, he said, for we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. that we were
pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired
even of life. We thought these idolaters are
going to destroy us. They're going to beat us. They're
going to stone us. They're going to kill us. They're
going to take our lives. We thought, surely, this is the
end. This is it. But, he says, we
had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead. so that
even if they did have their way and took our lives, we know our
God is the God who raises the dead. He gives life, life eternal. We're not trusting in the life
of this body we trust in the life giver our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Verse 10 who hath delivered us
from so great a death and doth deliver and whom we trust that
he will yet deliver us. And so more often than not we
see how the Lord delivers us and he allows those waters to
come right up so that we see so we despair of any confidence
in the flesh. That we would know that God has
done this. God has saved us. God has protected
us. God has interposed His blood
and He has determined to give me life. Not what man would do.
Not what they would do. Not what their choice is. What
God has determined. That's what it is. That we would
know and glory in the Lord. That we would know to trust Him.
That we would know, have no confidence in this flesh, believe Him. Follow
Him. Trust Him. to do whatsoever needs
to be done to deliver his people. And he does this in measure to
some in greater degree than others, but it's always for the good
of the body of his people. It's always for the good of the
body of his people so that we learn I ain't going to trust
the flesh. But I've seen how the Lord, when
you look back and you examine, you see the Lord's done this.
The Lord's done this. And you can imagine when they
came through Asia and despaired of life and yet were delivered,
you can imagine Paul and his companions saying, if not Jehovah,
if not the Lord, if not our Father, if not the Lord Jesus Christ,
if he didn't do this, but he did. He did. And here we are. here we are he brought us through
he provided for us he he brought us through that that valley of
the shadow of death and gave us life and so it is that when
our God rises up he drives the enemy back they come in forcefully
and fierce and fiercely because they would destroy you they despise
you they hate you because you love the Lord and you give glory
to him and they come in but the Lord rises up for his people
and he drives them back. As Isaiah says in Isaiah 59 verse
19 in the second half he said when the enemy shall come in
like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. Reminds me when I was a little
boy I would watch you know in TV he had very limited channels
and so I watched a lot of older movies and I remember all those
times where the army would come in and they'd storm that castle
when they got in those gates and they broke that thing down
they were in there was no getting him out but there was one movie
I remember I don't remember what it was but they got in there
and it looked like all was lost but they rallied and they drove
him right back out and that's what the Lord does He raises
the standard, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by that
standard, by that ensign, he drives back the enemy, drives
him out, drives him out from your midst, drives him out from
your own heart, the enemy of our heart and his flesh. The
Lord is able to deliver his people lest we should be destroyed and
consumed by those waters. Let me bring your attention to
two more metaphors that the psalmist gives us here. Let's go to verse
6 again. Blessed be the Lord who hath
not given us as a prey to their teeth. So here Israel, the Israel
of God, is likened to a helpless prey. Imagine a little lamb or
a little sheep and they're ready to be devoured by The teeth,
the teeth of a ravenous beast that would rip them apart and
destroy them. And here, by this, we begin to
see the character of the one behind those men. We begin to
see those, that it's not just those men, but they're under,
they've been taken captive. They're going the course of this
world, the course of the way of the wicked, and they're doing
his bidding, and the hatred that he has for us is in them. They're
doing the lusts of their father, just as they would do to Christ.
And our Lord tells us of their father that he was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And so
this is the one of whom Peter warns us, saying, Be sober, be
vigilant, for your adversary the devil goeth as a roaring
lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. That's our enemy. That's what's going on here.
But remember, the Lord has not given you his beloved people. For whom Christ laid down his
life, he's not given you to be a prey to be destroyed and plucked
out of the hand of God and lost forever. He has your soul in
His hand. You're His precious possession. You're His inheritance. And so
He won't lose you, though the enemy comes against you. Second,
in verse 7, our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of
the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are
escaped. Now here, our precious soul is
likened to a bird. And in this context, we see that
the bird is weak. The bird is weak. This bird is
fooled. This bird is tricked into the
trap. It's taken in the snare, and
it's rather easy It's rather easy for that bird to be taken
and ensnared by the fowler. How come? Well, the fowler knows
the birds. He studies the birds. He knows
exactly the birds. He knows these birds hop along
the ground. These birds are looking for worms. And these birds here
are looking for seed. And these birds here like fruit.
And he knows the birds. He knows what ensnares them and
what entraps them and what lures them into his snare so that he
knows the best way to catch each particular bird. You know, we
see this, right? Some birds are attracted to the
decoys of other birds that look like them but are fake. Some
birds are attracted to the duck whistle that sounds just like
them, right? A lot of ducks are taken just because people put
out decoys and they blow that whistle and that attracts them
and they come down and they're taken in the snare and they lose
their lives. And I know that there's other
birds that are brought near. Michelle and I have some bird
feeders and we put out some good high-end bird food. It's got
good seed and it's got bigger seeds and sunflower seeds and
other kinds of seeds and it's got little fruit bits and interesting
things that different birds find tasty. And so they're brought
in by the dainties. And if you want to get them closer,
I just put a little bit out on the deck, and I can see them
come right on up to the glass outside my door. And you can
just lower them right in if you want them. And so, just like
that, the fowler knows what attracts us. He knows what catches our
eye and what interests us, and he puts it out. He sets it out
for the trap. And I have chickens, and I used
to have a net over the chickens. I was worried about hawks, although
that net's down, and they're not interested in them, thankfully.
If a bird got in through the side fence, because it was a
little wider, if I came around the corner and I startled that
bird, that bird would fly up and try and get away and would
bounce off the net over and over and over again until I calmed
down and let it fly away. get itself and fly out the side
again safely. But had I had a net, you could
just throw that net over there and ensnare them. And they'd
be trapped in that net and unable to get out. And so the Fowler
knows how to tempt us and ensnare us and entrap us. And so we need,
Salve, we need the Lord to come in and to undo that trap, to
set us free, to deliver us from the snare of the Fowler. We don't
have the wisdom. We're not able. Paul did say
we're not unaware of his tricks. We're not unaware of how he works. We're not ignorant of his devices. But you'd be excused if you didn't
recognize that same wisdom that Paul expressed in our day because
we fall for the snares far too often than we'd care to admit
to one another. And so we see just how easy we
can be taken in the snare. And so the snare comes in many
forms, and its intended end is to destroy us. But thanks be
to God that that intended end purpose for that fowler is frustrated,
and the Lord has destroyed him. And they're not able to come
in unto your soul and to destroy you. Our Lord does marvelously
in saving his people. Sometimes it's through the interposition
of the gospel word to remind you again of what Christ has
done, to show you again your inheritance. Sometimes he refreshes
us with his spirit under that word, or sometimes he brings
comfort from a brother or sister who loves you and shows you that
love and kindness and reminds you of the grace and the mercy
of God. Sometimes, when we're being taken
away by folly, the Lord brings a trial at the right time, some
hardship, some difficulty, some affliction that turns us away
from that snare. And though it seems hard to the
flesh, yet it's good. It's good for the body, because
the Lord meant it and He means it for your good and your salvation. And so He's able to deliver us
from the snares. Why? Well, as Paul said, God
is faithful. God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able
to bear it. And so the point is, What our
God is showing us is that the blood of Christ has redeemed
us from all danger, in all things, in our salvation from the first
to the last. Before we ever knew, our God
had provided for us in His darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's for His sake that we have
life. It's for His sake that God takes
such tender, careful care of each one of you. and does not
let you be destroyed by the enemy that would destroy you. He provides
and protects. He has fellowship with you. He comforts you. He provides
for you in all your needs. This he does for Christ's sake.
And that's because Christ came. He stood in the place of his
people as our substitute. He bore the wrath of God that
was our due. He satisfied God so that we go
free. We go free. We should have been
destroyed by the wrath of God, but we go free for Christ's sake. Look with me for a moment over
in Psalm 69. Psalm 69. In this language here,
we're just going to read the first two verses, and this is
spoken of Christ. Here we see how that he enters
into the same waters that we go into. We cry out, God, save
me, help me. Well, so our Savior says it.
Save me, verse one, save me, O God, for the waters are come
in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. That's because Christ laid down
his life as the sin atoning sacrifice for his people. Those waters
came in unto his soul. Those waters overflowed him so
that you and I can say what the psalmist says in verse 4 and
5 of Psalm 124, then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream
had gone over our soul. If God didn't save us, then the
proud waters had gone over our soul. But they didn't. You aren't
consumed because Christ bore that wrath in your place. You
that believe Him, He bore the wrath of God to put away your
sin, to put away that just wrath of God, which would have taken
your life forever and destroyed you justly under the wrath of
God. But He paid the debt. He died
our death and paid the debt we owed to give us life. to give
us liberty, to set us free from the snare. And so now all those
benefits continue, not only life eternal, but he provides for
us in this life here, when the devil would consume us, when
the men who are under that spell of the devil would consume you.
Christ provides. He provides. He gives salvation,
life, and liberty. Such trust have we through Christ
to God. He is all our salvation, brethren,
all our salvation. And so the psalmist encourages
our hearts with verse 8, Psalm 124, verse 8. Our help is in
the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Well, we know
who that is, don't we? John 1, 1, in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In
verse 3 of that chapter, all things were made by Him and without
Him was not anything made that was made. He's the Creator. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our confidence. Our confidence
is Jesus. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Son of Man who came in the likeness of this flesh because
He loves us. We are His people given to Him
by the Father. and he laid down his life to
give us life and deliver us from all the snares and all the things
that would take us so that we have life and liberty, joy and
rejoicing in him. Wherefore, Peter says in 1 Peter
4, 19, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the
keeping of their souls to him and well-doing as unto a faithful
creator. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your heart, brethren. You rejoice. You rejoice. You're not ensnared. You're delivered
from the fowler. You trust the Lord. You keep
your eye on Christ. You look to him. He's your great
God and Savior. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you.
We thank you, Lord, for your salvation, abundantly, freely
provided, and your darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord we're
ignorant in this flesh we don't have any sense of the preciousness
of our soul but Lord you do and you took it upon yourself to
provide for us in everything Lord that we should have life
and liberty and in you with you forever and ever to all eternity
lord we thank you for this grace and this salvation lord continue
to exalt christ in our hearts and before our eyes lord we thank
you we don't we're not asking for trouble but lord when it
does come and when you purpose it and you bring it lord we pray
that you would continue to show us the very truth of these words
of what christ has done in delivering his people and providing for
your people and keeping us safe and protected in our god lord
that it would be good for all your people and all your body
that we would know the true and living God, and rejoice in Him,
and not this flesh, but in our God alone. It's in Christ's name
that we pray and give thanks. Amen.