We're back to Psalm 124. Psalm
124. I think most of you know that
the Lord took a dear friend of mine and preached with the gospel
home Monday. Pastor Joe Terrell preached here
two, three years ago. Joe did. If you haven't known
Joe, probably getting close to 50 years now. And you know, he
called me three or four or five times a year. We'd talk and I
knew to block off at least an hour Because we were going to
talk an hour every time he called. But pray for that family. Pray
for that family. Psalm 124. I titled this message, An If To Consider. An If To Consider. Everyone has
an if, don't we? If I had it to do over again, everybody's got an if. If only
I had not gone there, or only if only I had not said this or
done that, we all have an if. We could if ourselves to death.
But here is an if that leads us to thankfulness and worship. Thankfulness and worship. This
kind of consideration leads to a true spirit of worship. David applies this to Israel
as a nation. He applies it to himself as an
individual. And it applies to the church
throughout the ages. And it applies to every member
of the body of Christ. If the Lord had not been on our
side, this is what would happen. If you'll see in verse four,
five, and six, it starts with then, then, then. In other words,
if the Lord had not been on our side, then this is what would
happen. When we contemplate that and
we meditate on that, that leads to worship. That leads to a true
spirit of worship. That enables us to give unto
God the glory due unto His name. Because everything we have and
everything we are by the grace of God is by God. It's of God. I want to deal, in my closing
statements, I want to, closing thoughts, I want to say a few
words about where we would be, what we would be. if he were
not with the grace of God, if it had not been the Lord who
was on our side. Now, we ought to often do this
before we come to worship. We ought to think like this and
meditate like this before we come. It helps us in worship. But he says in verse one, and
he repeats it in verse two, he repeats it for emphasis. If it
had not been the Lord who was on our side, we could read it
like this. If the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say,
if, if the Lord who was on our side, if he hadn't been on our
side, when men rose up against us, we'd be in trouble. But here's
what it doesn't mean. It does not mean that if the
Lord is on our side, we won't have trouble. We won't be sick. We won't have great heartaches. It doesn't mean that. It doesn't
mean if the Lord is on our side that we will bypass all those
things. Not at all. It says in Psalm
34, 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, many, but the
Lord delivers him out of them all because he's on our side. Now the first application here
is spiritual. He speaks of his soul in this
psalm. Our soul is safe in the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All power, all authority has
been given into his hands to take care of us. Every day in
providence, God is moving and working in providence for our
good, our good. That's so, that's so. The safety
of my soul is far more important than the safety of my body. He's
speaking here of his soul in his song. It's a spiritual, it's
a spiritual song. And the trouble we suffer in
this life, for the most part, is spiritual. Now we suffer in
body, but I tell you, that affects you spiritually. That affects
you spiritually. But my soul is what's important. That's what's important. This
body's gonna go to the grave, and my soul, my spirit's gonna
go to God who gave it, it says. And what I need is spiritual.
What I need is spiritual healing. What I need is spiritual help.
It says in Colossians 3, 3, for you are dead and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. Nobody, no one, Satan cannot
touch my life. my life is hid with God in Christ
with Christ in God now believers suffer the same trouble that
is common to all men we all suffer the same trouble we live in the
same world we have the same heart heart aches and we have the same
physical aches we have that but believers suffer troubles that
are peculiar to God's children Job is a good example I know
this, I know that all my troubles and all your troubles are ordered
of God. Job said that God would perform
that which was appointed for him. He would perform it, he
will bring it to pass. God's children have special trials
designed just for them. TO CONFORM THEM TO THE IMAGE
OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. FOR YOU IT MAY BE THIS TRIAL,
FOR ME IT IS ANOTHER TRIAL. BUT WHEN IT ALL COMES TOGETHER,
IT NOT ONLY CONFORMS ME TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST, AND YOU TO THE
IMAGE OF CHRIST, IT CONFORMS THIS BODY OF BELIEVERS HERE TO
THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. IT CONFORMS THE CHURCH, AND THEN
IT CONFORMS THE CHURCH AS A WHOLE TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST. I tell
you, everything God does, He does on purpose. He does on purpose,
and He's conforming us to the image of His Son. And we are protected. We are
protected as we make our pilgrimage home. We are headed home. And God has designed, and this
is something we understand, and it's something that gives us
comfort. God has designed the way we are gonna leave this world.
God has designed it. We don't leave this world by
accident. I might die in an accident, but
it will not be an accident that I die. That's the way God purposed
to bring me home. And every child of God has that. God has purposed how he's going
to bring them home. And it's going to best serve
their good, even though you may not be able to see it. And it's
going to serve his glory. It's going to be manifested.
His grace really is sufficient. It really is sufficient. But we are protected. of our
God until he's ready to take us home. And on this journey,
on this pilgrimage, the Lord is our strength. Whether we are
lying flat on our back in bed or in the hospital, or whether
we are strong and healthy and going about our daily task, the
Lord is our strength. He's our strength. Christ said,
without me, you can do nothing. Every believer knows that. But
sometimes, sometimes we have to be reminded of it, don't we?
Sometimes He has to lay us low so we realize the Lord is our
strength. Apart from Him, we don't have
Him. We realize that if the Lord was not on our side, we would
be swallowed up. This world, this ungodly world
would swallow us up. God the creator of heaven and
earth And this is astounding That he's on our side. That's
what he says that he's on our side He's for us if and I'm gonna
read that to you at last if God be for us Who can be against
us? Sometimes sometimes it looks
like God's not for us Joe's three friends Tried to convince Joe
that God was not for him That he must have been a hypocrite
for all that to happen to him. And yet Job is the one God loved.
He was the apple of his eye. He taught Job who he is, who
God is. Job learned who God is. You want
to learn who God is? Well, it'll be more than just
reading this book. You won't learn apart from this book. But
you're also going to learn by experience who God is. It's one
thing to know and to be taught that God is sovereign. It's another
thing to experience it. It's one thing for you to learn
that God can do as He will with whom He will. But when He reaches
into your house and He does it, that's a different experience.
That's experience. That's knowing who God is. That's finding out
who God is. That's like Job said, by the
hearing of the ear I've heard of thee, but now mine eye seeth
thee and I abhor myself in sackcloth and ashes. It's amazing what
God has to do to us to bring us to that place that we might
see ourselves and abhor ourselves and repent in sackcloth and ashes. But our God is our protector.
David said in Psalm 31, 15, my times, my times. I have a time. Time to be born,
time to die. And my time is in God's hands. My time, right to the second.
I mean right to the second. My times are in his hands, and
I cannot think of any better hands for my time to be in than
God's hands. When I'm ripe for the picking,
when I'm ripe, and when you're ripe, when the fruit's ripe,
the Lord will take us. That's when he'll take us. My
times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. But if it's my time to go
and that's the way I go, then Lord, so now we'll be done. And the Lord, I said, he's our
strength. Listen to this in Hebrews 13, five and six, let your conversation
be without covetousness, talking about the dollar or whatever,
whatever, just this world, having this world and be content with
such things as you have. Well, he has said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, boldly
say, the Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. You know, when the, when the
king wanted to give Abraham, make him rich for, for, uh, he
went and got lot and all of them back, all the goods back. Abraham
said, no, no. Lest you say you made Abraham
rich. God's my God. God's my provider. You're not
going to go around, boast and say, you know, Abraham has what
he had. You know, I blessed him so much. Abraham said, you keep
what you got. God will provide. You're not
going to go say Abraham, you made Abraham rich. That belongs
to God. That glory belongs to God. And
I'm not going to let anybody else have it. And notice here
who's against us. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side when men rose up against us, our own kind. You know, I didn't really think
about this when I was younger. I don't know if I thought about
much of anything when I was younger. I didn't really think about this,
that killing each other. If you look at history, that's
history. It's a history of killing each
other. Our own kind, man against man, warring against each other,
killing each other, and I mean mutilating each other. Men, he said, would devour us. There's nothing good about the
human race, period. There's nothing good about the
human race. Man is basically good. I heard someone say that
on television. Man is basically good. No, he's
not. Listen, I'm telling you the truth. Men and women are devils with
a body. The only difference between me
and the devil by nature is that I have a body and he's just spirit,
which is a very real person, but he doesn't have a body like
I have. That's the difference. If God
would, if he would pull back his hand of restraint, that good
old grandmother would be mean as hell. That's right. Mean as could be. Only God constrains us. That's
the truth. He constrains, God constrains
the human race. The wrath of man shall praise
him and the rest he will restrain. He restrains. That's why the
gospel is so unpopular with humanity, with the unbelieving world, the
false religious world. This is why it's not popular
because it's TRUTHFUL. It's just telling the truth.
This is it. So don't paint that kind of picture
of humanity. That's what it is. That's what
it is. David said men they would have
consumed us when they rose up against us and then he says then he uses
here in the next three verses a hypothetical then this is how
he's it's like it's hypothetical because he knows the lord is
on their side he knows that it's so but if he were not on our
side then this is what would happen They had swallowed us
up quick when their wrath was kindled against us. Why would their wrath be kindled
against them? Why would their wrath be kindled
against God's people? You're a peaceful people. You
pray for peace. You forgive your neighbor. You're
good to your neighbor. They hate God. They hate God. We see here the ravenous appetite
of ungodly men and women. Swallow us up quick. Swallow
us up, listen, without chewing. That's what he's talking about.
Swallow us up whole. You know, we give our dog treats,
you know, not only dog treats, things off our plate. And I always
say, he doesn't even taste it. He just goes, bam, he swallows
it. I said, you know, you'd think you'd want to chew it a little
bit, but he doesn't. It just, I mean,
it is gone that fast. David said, that's what men would
do to us if God were not on our side. They would swallow us up
whole. That's how fast they would devour
us. Don't make the mistake of thinking
that the world is your friend. It's not. It's not. If it's an
enemy of God, it's your enemy too. It's your enemy. And notice what the world is
likened to in this song. In verse 4, it's likened to floodwaters. In verse 6, it's likened to a
beast eating its prey. In verse 6, it's likened to a
fowler setting traps. And all of these are under the
power of darkness. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, we would be devoured whole. Completely whole. Then the waters,
he said here, waters, plural, waters, had overwhelmed us. That means they had just overtaken
us, submerged in trouble. And the stream had gone over
our soul like a dam breaking. You know, a flood is one of the
most destructive things on earth, isn't it? That's how God destroyed
this world once, a flood. He did with the flood. And no
man can stand before a flood. And he's saying here that men,
the wrath of men, the hatred of men for God and for his church
is like a flood. You know, if you go over in Revelation,
I just, I don't remember exactly where it's at, but the dragon
sent out a flood after the woman and God put her in the wilderness
and hid her and protected her. Tried to drown her with a flood.
The flood just sweeps everything in its path. It doesn't discriminate. It just
sweeps everything away. The troubles in this life are
like floodwaters at times, aren't they? Drowning in trouble from within
and without. And some of them are what I call
life changers. Not everybody goes through, not
every believer's taken through that kind of a trial, but some
are. You know, Bonnie's, Terrell's
gone through a life changer. And that church has gone through
a life changer. They'll never see things like they did before.
There are things that come along that God, like Joe. I assure you, when that trial,
when Joe went through that trial, When it was over, he never looked
at things the same way again. There are some trials that are
that are really life changers. You'll never look at anything
the same again. And then he says in verse five,
and then here's another thing, the proud waters. This is not
just men in general. These are the I think of the
Pharisees. They're proud, proud men. Proud waters gone over our soul. The proud and arrogance of men
would overwhelm us. It overwhelmed us. I think when
I was in school, I think of one kid. There's one kid in my mind.
They're bullies. There were some bullies in school,
two or three bullies come to my mind. Bullies irritate me. But they
bullied that kid to death. He was just a little fella. I
mean, he wasn't very big in high school. He probably didn't weigh
110 pounds. And they would beat up on him. I mean, that's the arrogance
of men. They pick on the weak. They pick
on the sheep. They know God's sheep are gentle.
They know God's sheep are forgiving. They know that. They know that. He says here, the proud waters
have gone over our souls. The proud and arrogance of men
would overwhelm our souls. And what he's showing here when
he says this, gone over our souls, it's a spiritual warfare. He's
speaking here of a spiritual warfare. And this is what he's talking
about. If the Lord had not been on our side, we would spiritually
be drowning. We would spiritually drown. But he comes in verse 6. If the
Lord had not been on our side, the waters would overwhelm us,
the proud waters would go over our soul, but blessed be the
Lord, blessed be Jehovah, blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he's talking about,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who he's talking about,
who has not given us as a prey to their teeth, like the wild
beast. Man's like a beast. Man is like
a beast. He said, you've not given us
as a prey to their teeth. I'm so glad we are in the hand
of Christ. I'm so glad we've been turned
over to him. This is what he said. And this is the father's
will, which has sent me that of all what you have given me,
I should lose nothing. I should raise it up again at
the last day. Our hope Our hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's our hope. Our hope is
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he's not giving us over to the
prey or to those who would prey upon us. I read this in 1 Samuel 7 this
week, and then it just hit me. Then Samuel took a stone and
set it between Mizpah and Shin, and called the name of it Ebenezer,
saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Hither by thy grace we have come. A feeble folk, aren't we? We're
like the, what is it, the Cones among the rocks? We're a feeble
folk, but we abide in the rock Christ Jesus, and we're safe
in the shepherd's fold. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed
be the Lord Jesus Christ, who's not given us as a prey to their
teeth. Our soul, he says in verse 7,
our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers,
many, plural. There are many fowlers out there
setting traps for you, Satan at the head of them. The snare
is broken and we are escaped. Our soul, listen to that. I mean, what language? Our soul
is escaped. showing our spiritual deliverance
from being what? Captives. We've escaped, but
that says to me, I was a captive. The Fowler got me. He got me. He got me in the Garden of Eden.
And he got me the day I was born. But the Lord has set us free. The Lord has set us free. We've
been delivered by the power of God. It says the snare is broken. I didn't slip out of the trap.
I didn't find a loophole in the trap, in the net. There wasn't
a loophole in the net that I can crawl out of. He said the snare
is broken, broken by the power of God. You know, you know, Satan
had us. Satan has. Everyone who does
not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone who does not
believe on him, love him, they are under the power of Satan.
That's the truth. It's not like, it's not like
that. They don't even know it. They don't even know it. They're
under, they're, they're captives. They're captives of Satan. That's why they won't believe. Unless the Lord breaks that now,
unless he breaks that power, they'll stay that way. They'll
die that way. And they'll perish under God's
wrath that way. But to those whom the Lord has
saved, He's broken that snare of the fowler. He's broken it
by His power. He's done so by the blood and
righteousness of Christ. He set the captive free. He says,
we have escaped. We've escaped. We are made new by the work of
the Holy Spirit. We've been delivered by power,
by blood, and by a new creation. By a new creation in Christ. Listen here at these couple verses
of scripture in Romans 6, 14. For sin shall not have dominion
over you at one time. You know sin at one time reigned
as a king in your heart. It reigned in your heart as a
king. Some it led into self-righteousness. Some it led into just out and
out sin. But now sin, that sin nature sits as a king in the
heart of the unbeliever. It's a king. It rules them. It rules their thoughts. It rules
their thoughts. It rules what they do. It rules
where they go. It just, it's like the dog to
its master. When he whistles, here they come.
You know, it's like the drunk that sobers up and he says, I'm
not going to do that again. And the next thing you know, when
it whistles, here he comes. He runs back to the bar. I tell you, it takes Christ to
break the power of cancelled sins. It takes Christ to do that. Sins shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, you're under grace.
The law has been satisfied. As far as the law is concerned,
there's no charge against you. You're under God's grace. but
you're under. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation.
Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. You
love what you once hated and you hate what you once loved. And let me say something here
about this fowler when he sets the net. This is just words of
warning for us. First of all, when the fowler
sets the net, he conceals it, doesn't he? He conceals the net. He entices the unsuspecting bird
with good food. That bird doesn't suspect a thing.
He uses its appetite against itself. Satan knows your appetite. He knows mine. And he'll use
it against you. David walks out on the balcony
and there's Bathsheba, a good looking woman, bathing. He set the trap and David fell
for it. He didn't see it. He didn't see
Satan do that. He didn't see any of that going
on. He just walked out there on that balcony and looked out
there like, hmm, Now, it would have been all right if he just
went, hmm, and then turned around and walked back in. But he didn't. He kept standing there. He kept
standing there. And it got him. The bird was
caught in the snare of the fowler, Samson and Delilah. You see, it's usually a net of
pleasure. that we get trapped in. Usually
it is. Satan knows our weakness much
better than we do. He's the arch-fowler. And it'll be set in one of three
ways. Here's a warning. When the fowler sets the net,
there's one of three ways it's going to happen. The lust of
the flesh, The lust of the eyes with a pride of life. It's going
to come at you. One of those three ways. And
he says in first John 2 16, that's not of the father, but of the
world, the world. You can look at all the advertisements. I mean, what does a half dressed
woman have to do with a car? But that's what they put on,
you know, advertise the hot rod. All these advertisements, they
go after your nature. I mean, they make some of these
things like washing clothes with Tide look like a vacation or
something. They know your nature. Satan
is subtle. I'm telling you, and I'm more
aware of this now than ever, in every angle of life, everywhere
you turn, he's trying to entice you. Every angle, every time
you turn on the radio, every time you turn on the television,
you go to college, and it doesn't matter what's going on, he's
after you. If it had not been the Lord on
our side, he'd get us. he did Adam let me give you some
well let me read this first he says in verse 8 here's the conclusion
David brings he draws this thing to a conclusion here in his meditation
and writing being led of the Spirit of God of course our help
is in the name of the Lord in who he is who made heaven and
earth our help is in who our God is he starts with the Creator
Who made all things? Who does the scripture say made
all things? All things were made by Him and for Him, Jesus Christ. He's our God. 2 Chronicles 32,
7 and 8, I read this this week and it fits here. Be strong and
courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria,
nor for all the multitude that is with him. Would there be more
with us than with him? With him is an arm of flesh,
but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. Stick that on your refrigerator.
Next time you are anxious and worrisome, stick that on your
refrigerator. 2 Chronicles 32, seven and eight. And the people
rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. You
reckon we could rest ourselves upon the word of God? it will
sure relieve our anxieties. Now let me have some closing
thoughts here. If the Lord had not been on our side, here's
what wouldn't be. Here's what would be. There wouldn't
be a nation called Israel. Israel would never have left
Egypt. That's what David's thinking of. And they would never have
left Babylon. And all their enemies would have
prevailed against them. And if the Lord were not on our
side, let's bring it to our time. We wouldn't have a Savior, would
we? We would be like the angels of hell. No Savior. No hope. The church would have been swallowed
up. Nero would have done it if the Lord had not been on our
side. Catholicism would have done it. Arminianism would do
it. All the other isms would do it if the Lord were not on
our side. The church would fall. She would fall. You know, the
scripture says in Matthew 24, 24, that they'll come preaching
another gospel, another Christ, the Lord says, they'll be preaching
another Christ. He said, and if it were possible,
they would deceive the very elect. There's only one reason, only
one reason why it's not possible. God is on our side. He will not
let it happen. As individual believers, we'd
be swallowed up by our sins. by Satan and ungodly men. If
he were not on our side, some of us would be in Arminianism,
some of us would be in jail, some of us would be in the grave,
if the Lord was not on our side. If I had not gone to my parents'
house that Sunday morning, I would not have heard the gospel. I
wouldn't be standing here preaching the gospel. I might be religious, but I wouldn't
be saved. If the Lord was not on my side, I would not be saved. I don't know what I'd be, but
he wouldn't be saved. This is like, this is one of
those messages that we could almost sit around the table with
one another and each one say, well, if the Lord hadn't been
on my side back in 19, you know, we all have a story. If the Lord
had not been on our side. Aren't you glad the Lord's on
our side? My soul. Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. Let me read
that. I've got to read this, and I'll
close. Well, let me find Romans. Romans chapter 8. Look in verse
31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth, it's
God that justified them. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died for them, yea, rather that's risen again for
them. Who is even at the right hand of God for them, making
intercession for them. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall a sinful thought do that?
Shall a sinful action do that? It didn't, David, did it? And
that was bad. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? As it's written,
for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. That's how we're accounted. Now
in all these things, all these things, we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature. Now I think you covered it all,
don't you? Shall be able to separate us
from the, I love this, the love of God. He said the love of Christ,
now he's talking about the love of God, because it's one and
the same, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Matthew 1.23,
Behold, a virgin shall be with a child, and shall bring forth
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. It could have easily been written
God against us, but when he wrote it, God with us. If it had not been the Lord on
our side, go home and think about that personally. Go home and think about it.