This is a glorious day to come
and meet with God's people as are all days when the Lord is
privileged or when the Lord gives us the privilege of doing so.
May He grant to us an understanding of what a blessing it is to be
able to freely gather together with God's people Not all of
the saints in the earth have that privilege and are not blessed
in that fashion. And we ought often to be considerate
of those who are in places, scattered in other places in the earth
and lands and under governments that
are not friendly to the gospel of Christ. And of course our government
is not friendly to the gospel of Christ, but at least our government
at this point in time is not set against the declaration of
the gospel of Christ. That time might yet come when
it will be. And so we are blessed to be able
to meet. And we all counted a great privilege
as the Lord has blessed us. Psalm 124, another of the songs of degrees
of David, and says, 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. Blessed be the Lord who hath
not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as
a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken
and we're escaped. Our help is in the name of the
Lord, who made heaven and earth. Now, of course, as we have pointed
out in our beginning and looking at the Psalms, we believe that
the Psalms by and large are the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they are the words of Christ, but they're also the words of
the psalmist, and we can identify with the psalmist even as we,
by the grace of God, have somewhat of an identification with the
Lord, and in his understanding as it is ours, that if it had
not been the Lord who was on our side, then we would have
been swallowed up quick. There's nothing that keeps us
at the present moment from utter destruction but the Lord's mercy. And that's the only thing. You
know, at one and the same time, our nation, as Brother Al pointed
out, and as the book of Romans plainly points out, that the
judgment of God upon a nation is seen as that nation falls
into various degrees of rebellion against him. Now, the common
view is that as nations fall into rebellion against God, that
then the Lord begins to judge them. But the reality of the
matter is that the judgment of God is the very thing that causes
men to go into those places. The rise of the things that Brother
Al was speaking about there this morning, the rise of such things,
that at one time would have been embarrassing for men to have
even spoken of in public, but yet now they've become things
that are just offhandedly accepted, and a person who would speak
against such perversions is considered to be some kind of an oddball,
or he's at least filled with hate and all of those sorts of
things. And so it is that That particular
way is a sign of the judgment of God. For this cause, God gave
them up to a reprobate mind because he would show his judgment in
the earth. Now, at one and the same time, when the Lord is pleased
to show his judgment, he is also, because of his love for his people,
that judgment is tempered with mercy. Now at this point in time
we have not yet seen the wrath and judgment of God poured out
completely as he has done in times past. As we think of like
the case of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain that
were destroyed. We've not seen that extent of
things. I believe that possibly could
happen. It may happen, but at the present
time, due to the mercy of God for His people, He has held back
His hand of total destruction upon this nation. We deserve
it. See, now a lot of people don't
necessarily think that. They think that, well, America's
done so much good in the world. The Lord, He's not impressed
by the good that America's done in the world. Now, humanly speaking,
the United States probably has done as much or more good as
any other nation has in the earth. That's probably true. I wouldn't
get into any long discussion about one way or the other, but
at same time we are a wicked nation as are all nations in
the earth and the Lord certainly not impressed with anything that
we as a nation have done and he certainly does not withhold
his judgment because of any good thing supposedly that men have
done but the withholding of his judgment is always strictly on
the basis of his mercy being bestowed As he said, I will show
mercy to whom I will show mercy. And just like he had not, he
spared the city of Sodom, I mean how, did the Lord just finally
decide to destroy Sodom? Or was it not true that the sin
of Sodom had come up before his face and his destruction was
just waiting until such time as he could get his people out
of there? I mean, that was the way that it was. And so the mercy
of God does, in fact, in the present time, temper, the mercy
of God towards his people does temper the judgment that we so
richly and greatly deserve as a nation, as a people, upon the
face of the earth. If it had not been that the Lord
was on our side, Now, you know, nations like to say, well, the
Lord's on our side. You know, we go into battle and
the Lord's on our side. Well, the Lord's on the side
of the righteous, those who have been made righteous in Jesus
Christ. and they're on his side, not
because he looked at them and said, I'm going to get on their
side, but he has put them on his side. And if it had not been
that the Lord who was on our side, if it had not been that
the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us.
Now men have risen up against us, maybe not individually. We might not have been persecuted
in an individual way for the cause of Christ. But you can
be sure that men have risen up against the gospel of Christ.
They hate the gospel of Christ. How do we know that? Because
they're in rebellion against the Word of God. Just in thinking
of those things that were mentioned here this morning in Brother
Al's message. And if it had not been that the
Lord was on our side when men rose up against us, that is,
we would be overwhelmed in the present time, dear brethren.
Just like those men gathered around the doors of Lot's house
in Sodom, if it had not been that the Lord was on his side,
they would have destroyed him. They would have come in among
him, in his household. And so it is. uh... 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 now that word quick
there means living now we think of it as quick as something is
quick it takes place quickly and there's some truth in that
also we would have been swallowed up quickly but we would have
been swallowed up living that is they would have snuffed us
out just like the uh... when Dathan and Abiram were swallowed
up quick by the Lord. Now they were swallowed up quickly,
but what it means is they were swallowed up while they were
living. The earth opened up and they
were swallowed up. And so it is that that same would
have happened to us when the wrath of men was kindled against
us. Now we see the wrath of man In
the judgment of God, as men are turned over to reprobate minds,
we see the wrath of men against the people of God, how it's slowly,
gradually, bit by bit, coming to pass. And apart from a miracle, I don't
think that things can continue on in our nation and that God's
people will have free course to openly worship him as free
men, apart from a miracle. If the Lord had not been on our
side, it'd already have occurred. But by the grace of God, he has
blessed his people, and he has withheld his hand of destruction. when their wrath was kindled
against us, then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had
gone over our soul, we'd be swept away. I mean, how could we stand? I mean, you know, one of the
things that has stood the test of time as far as our nation
is concerned and one of the mercies that God has set forth in our
nation is some of the constitutional rights and stuff that have been
given us and thus far those things have held off the ravening wolves
that would have already destroyed the people of God. Now the power,
our hope, and our trust is not in the Constitution. You know,
the Constitution, it doesn't have any power at all. Because
men are the ones who are the interpreters of the Constitution,
and men are the ones who set it forth. And so if God removes
his hand, then the Constitution will be gone out the window,
and it won't make any difference about all those things. The Constitution's
not our hope. Government is not our hope. If
it had not been that the Lord had been on our side, we'd already
been destroyed. And so, as we look at this, even
as the Lord, you see, they would have destroyed Christ when he
first came in. Herod set out to destroy him
right away, did he not? If it had not been that the Lord
was on his side, he would have done that. I mean, they killed
all the babies, or a bunch of them at least, that was about
that age. And if it had not been that the
Lord had a purpose in sending His Son into the world to die
for sinners, and that had to occur if the Lord had not been
on our side. we'd been swallowed up. I mean,
think of it from a human standpoint. If any of those times when men
would have destroyed the Lord Jesus Christ, if they had succeeded
in that, and he had not, now we know this is hypothetical
reason, couldn't have occurred, but humanly speaking, if it had,
what would we do? I mean, if we did not have a
Redeemer, where would we stand? What would we say? If we did
not have the hope that we have in the word of God as being the
truth of God, how could we stand against the evil? Because when
the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord will lift up a standard
against him. And the standard which we look
to is the cross of Christ and the preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. That is that place whereon we
stand. And I believe apart from a miracle
of grace and mercy that this nation is going to see a day
when the preaching of the gospel of Christ is going to be at least
attempted to be destroyed. I don't think it can ever be
because you see the Lord can raise up stones from the ground
to praise Him and He will always have a witness in the earth and
men will always praise Him. It might be even unto death But
the Lord will raise up a standard against that. If the Lord had
not been with us, though, we should surely have perished.
Then proud mortars had gone over our soul. And pride, you see,
the pride of man, the pride of man's act that caused him to
disregard the word of God and say, yes, there are more than
two genders. Now the scripture says male and
female created he them. The world says, well, that's
not good enough for us. Well, that's antiquated. There's
something, you know, we're in a more enlightened society. No,
we manifest in our society the total rebellion that men have
against the word of God in such things. Now, you know, I don't
claim to know all the psychological answers or whatever to all this
stuff. But I know this, that it's a manifestation of the judgment
of God upon us when these things become acceptable in our society
and in the minds of men, which they have. Blessed be the Lord,
who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. See, there's
a, they're gnashed on them with their teeth. I mean, that's,
When they fell upon Stephen, they weren't content just to
stone him, they just hated him. They gnashed upon him with their
teeth as a prey. Our soul is escaped as a bird
out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we are
escaped. How did we escape? You see, a bird doesn't have
any power. I remember my daddy, he used to set quail traps and
he would get some quail. He always said he'd rather do
it that way than he had to shoot them because he didn't have to
pick the shot out of them. But I can remember him setting
those traps and those quail would go in there and they couldn't
get out. I mean, once they got in there,
they were in there. Unless somebody let them out,
they wouldn't get out. And that's what he says here.
Our souls escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers.
The snare is broken. See, how did we get out? We didn't
figure out a way to get out. No, the snare was broken. The
trap was destroyed. If it had not been that the Lord
was on our side, you see, we'd be as those birds in the snare
of the fowler. We couldn't get out. There's
no escape. But we are escaped. And why are
we escaped? Our help is in the name of the
Lord, who made heaven and earth. We shall escape. Now we might
not escape the persecution of this world in a physical sense,
but they cannot destroy us. It doesn't matter. They may kill
the body. The Lord said, don't worry about those that can kill
the body. Men can kill your body. Somebody
can take a gun out and shoot you. Sure they can. Now the Lord
can cause the gun to misfire. They can't do it apart from the
will and purpose of Almighty God. But men have the power to
take other men's lives in that sense. But oh, don't fear Him who is
able to destroy the body. But fear Him who is able to destroy
both body and soul in hell. Who is that? That's the Lord,
the Father. Fear Him. You see, the fear of
the Lord's the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord's the beginning
of knowledge. And we are those who have lost, as a nation, our
fear of God, because we don't have any regard to the Word of
God. Oh, that the Lord might help
us, that He might show us that our help is in the name of the
Lord who made heaven and earth. Now, if he made it, it's his
to do with as he sees fit, is it not? What can men say? You know, men treat the world
as if the Lord made it. I mean, some people think of
it as the Lord made it, but then he kind of left it up to men
to do with as they see fit. No, it's the Lord's world. And
He's the one that sets the rules. And He's the one that orders
all things to come to pass according to the good pleasure of His will.
And He'll have glory. And He will deliver His people.
Our help is in the Lord. Then do we rejoice, dear brethren.
Our rejoicing's not in men. It's not in the governments of
the earth. It's not in friends and family. But our help's in the Lord. May
He give us grace this day to flee to Him. Well, it is a blessing
to be here and thankfully that we can continue to meet and we
will continue to meet by the grace of God in spite of whatever
occurs. And if they tell us one day we
can't meet, We'll continue to meet. And so, you know, the government
doesn't tell you when to meet. I mean, it's just like with this
thing with the COVID stuff. I mean, you know, that's a real
thing. It's a pestilence sent by the hand of God. And, you
know, I don't consider it to be anything less. I don't consider
it to be anything to be trifled with. they take all the precautions
that uh... is reasonable but the writer
of hebrews tells us forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together as you see the manner of some is some people are going
to do that i don't sit in judgment of them i mean i tell a fellow
you know do whatever you think you need to do but you know we're
going to meet i'm going to meet if i have to come down there
by myself You know, may the Lord give us a resolve, because He's
our help. Our help's not in men, it's not
in the vaccine, it's not in the mask, it's not in the mandates,
it's not in all these things, but it's in the Lord. May the
Lord give us grace.