Psalm 124, 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 are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. This morning I am continuing a series of messages through the Psalms of Ascent. As I said several weeks ago when we began this series, It is possible that these songs were written for pilgrims who are on their way to the feasts and the sacrifices in Jerusalem. But whether they were or not, they do have a far greater importance than simply a set of songs written for the nation of Israel many thousands of years ago. For the fact is, we are all traveling in this life and going to the heavenly Jerusalem. So these psalms, they're marked in our version songs of degrees or songs of going up. They're written for pilgrims like us who are traveling through this life on the way to their heavenly rest. Those of us who are seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. In the cares and the worries of this life, when we're occupied with going to school or raising children or going to work every day or traveling or whatever it is that we're doing, it's easy to forget the reality of this life. This psalm is given to us that we might never forget that we are surrounded on every side by enemies who wish to destroy us. The fact is we are surrounded on every side by enemies who would succeed in destroying us if God were not on our side. So in the very first verse, David pleads with Israel to remember. Our translation says, now may Israel say. The word now is actually an exhortation. It's not speaking about a time. It's really a translation of a word that means I pray you, I beg you, I exhort you. Or even please, please may Israel say. He's pleading with the church to remember. And if God were not on our side, we would all be destroyed. As he goes on into verse 2, he's talking about us, the people of God, those on whose side the Lord is. He's contrasting that with the word men, the men who rose up against us. The word men there is a translation of the word Adam. It means fallen mankind. It means the entire world of men as they are fallen. In other words, this psalm is not speaking of a particular event in the nation of Israel. He is not speaking of a specific time when the church is in danger. He is speaking of the reality of living in a fallen world. where we would all be destroyed at any moment if God were not on our side. Go back to the very beginning, we know that God created man good, and after his own image, he created man, we read, to heartily love him, and to live with him in eternal blessedness. In other words, mankind was created to be in fellowship with God. The Bible has a word for that, that word is covenant. Man was created in covenant with God. From the very beginning, God's nature was revealed as holy. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil. In order for man, therefore, to be in covenant with God, to fellowship with God, man must be pure. For no wickedness shall ever have fellowship with God. As we know, Adam decided to serve himself and to serve his own desires. So when he ate of the fruit of the tree, he broke fellowship with God. And there was only one possibility then. He made a covenant with death, with the devil, with sin, with misery and bondage. But God promised in the Garden of Eden that he would break that covenant of death. And the time would come when he would restore a covenant of life. So from the very beginning we read in Genesis chapter 3 that God divided mankind into two, which he called the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The promise was that out of the fallen mass of mankind, out of wicked, self-serving, selfish, self-worshipping men, God would gather, preserve, and defend for himself a chosen communion. The promise was that the seed of the serpent would wage war against that communion of fellowship until the very last day when Jesus comes again. We see the reality of fallen mankind right before the flood that came upon the world in the days of Noah. The world was so wicked, they slaughtered, devoured, destroyed one another until God finally said, My spirit will not strive with them forever, their days will be 120 years. And then he sent the great flood, which destroyed all of mankind and everything that has breath. But we also read that even in those dark times, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, if God had not made a covenant of peace with Noah, Noah also would have gone down with the flood. And now we see what this psalm is speaking of. If God had not broken that covenant of death that we had all made, none of us would stand a moment. Let's look at the details. When this psalm was written, David was king over Israel. If you notice the title right under Psalm 124, it says, A Song of Degrees of David. That is also inspired scripture. So we know that this was written by David. During David's reign, enemies were vanquished, and prosperity and peace reigned in Israel. And David is reminding the church of the cause of that peace. The only reason that they enjoyed peace and tranquility and prosperity was that the Lord was for them. Our translation says that God was on our side. The Hebrew is God is for them, for us. That language is covenantal. What that means is God made a covenant with their fathers. God had made a covenant with Israel. He made them a promise. God told Abraham that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. God told Abraham that the promised seed who would crush the head of the serpent would come from his loins. The fact is, if you are reading through the Old Testament, you will see some things very clearly. If God had not called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, if God had not made that promise with Abraham, if God had not made a covenant with Abraham and his seed, if God had not remembered that covenant when Israel was in bondage in Egypt, and if God had not called Israel out of Egypt, if God had not delivered them from the waters of the Red Sea, if God had not made them a nation, at the foot of Mount Sinai, then Israel would long ago have been destroyed, scattered, devoured, buried, forgotten in history. And so would each one of us. For it was from Israel that Christ would come. As you read through Scripture, some things jump out at you. Throughout history, Israel had been surrounded by enemies on every side who wished to destroy them. The promised land, the land of Canaan, was very strategically important. It was right in the middle of every single trade route. If you wanted to go from one part of the world to another, the only way to do it was through Israel. God had put them right in the middle of the world. They had been in peril by water, by thirst, by hunger, by disease, by famine. They'd been the target of every nation of the world. If God was not on their side, they would have been utterly destroyed. They would have been swallowed up alive, we read. As pray in verse 3, the word there translated quick doesn't mean fast for young people, it means alive. So in verses 1 through 5, David lists the dangers. that surround everyone who is not in covenant with God. If we are not God's people, if we are not in covenant with God, the only alternative is destruction, death, isolation, and eternal damnation. If God is not for us, we are all dead men. We're destroyed by each other, destroyed by our own sins, destroyed by the devil, and forever alienated from God. Alienated from life, from joy, from peace, from every good thing. Because the fact of this world is that we are all born under a covenant of death. We are born under the wrath and curse of God. And as the catechism says, this is how great our sin and misery is. And this psalm tells us the only way to escape damnation and eternal condemnation, we can only escape if God is for us. In other words, the only way to escape is if we are in covenant with God. But this psalm doesn't end at verse 5. When we acknowledge the desperation of our condition, when our eyes are open so that we can see the only reason that we're still alive and still worshipping God today is because God has made a covenant with us. When we see that, our only response can be praise and thanksgiving. Verse 6, blessed be the Lord. It is God who has protected us. from the enemy who seeks to destroy us. The seed of the serpent still hates the people of God. The enemy still goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Think about this past week. Why haven't we been utterly destroyed? Why haven't we been cast away from God? Why haven't we been overwhelmed by our sins? Why are we still alive and walking on this earth? Why haven't our marriages been destroyed? Why haven't our children been devoured? It's only because God has not given us as prey to their teeth. It's only because God is our continual guard and protector. The fact is, we're not omniscient, so we don't even know what God has protected us from. But God does. This is why David is pleading with the church to remember, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, we would have been devoured long ago. Yes, there are many times when life is uncomfortable. There are times when we are overwhelmed and afraid. David describes those times in verse number 7. describes those times as a bird caught in a trap. How terrified a bird must be when it's caught in a trap. The iron is too strong. His only possible future, everything that he can see, is the steel teeth of that trap surrounding him. And the only way that could possibly end is through pain and death. But then, as it says in verse 7, the end of it, the snare is broken. All of a sudden that iron snare breaks apart and the bird is free. That's our life. That's all of our lives. So God is calling us here to quit looking at the traps and quit being so afraid of the things around us. Because if we are in covenant with God, what can harm us? For God is the maker of heaven and earth. There is nothing outside His power, nothing outside of His decree. And He is in covenant with His people. He calls us His people. We are the sheep of His pasture. The only reason a sheep would be in danger from wolves and bears is if the shepherd fell asleep, or if the shepherd wasn't strong enough, or if the shepherd was caught in a wares. Can you use any of those words to describe our God? It is true that our God at times chastens us. But He doesn't chasten us as an enemy seeking to destroy us. He chastens us as a father. Chastens us as a father chastens very much loved sons and daughters. It is true that when we're under that chastening, it does not appear as if our Father loves us, but we know that by faith. The fact is, according to the psalm, outside of that covenant with peace, there is only death, only destruction, and only misery. If it were not for the Lord who was on our side, we would be swallowed up alive, and overwhelmed by the flood of judgment. But here's the problem. You can ask anyone you meet, just about everyone would say, yeah, God's on my side. Cain believed that God was on his side. Esau believed that. Ishmael believed that. During Jesus' day, the Pharisees believed that. In fact, if you look down through history, you will see that Nebuchadnezzar believed that God was on his side, so did Pharaoh, so did Ben-Hadad, so did Sihon, so did Og. Why would Pharaoh have ridden his chariots right through the middle of the Red Sea? Because he believed that God was on his side. Because mankind has a problem that they inherited from Adam. The problem is this, they believe something that isn't true. Naturally speaking, we always believe that God is on our side. And we believe that God is on our side because deep down inside we are sincere, loving, strong, wise, and kind people. We don't have one shred of evidence to back up that belief, but we still believe it. We will say, oh yeah, sometimes I mess up. Usually we only say that if we get caught. But we'll say that. If we say we're sorry, if we offer a big enough sacrifice, then God will forgive and forget, because that's God's job. In fact, we even say, to err is human, but to forgive, divine. In fact, that belief is so deeply ingrained in us, and so deeply held by us, that unless we are born again, we don't even question it. It's how we think about everything. Basically, we're pretty good people. But that belief will separate us forever from God. For God is still holy. Our sins did not change God's nature. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And one unchangeable fact of history is God cannot dwell with sinful men. God cannot be on the side of sinful men, for that would be to deny himself, and nothing that ever defiles will ever enter into heaven. God will never say, well, I guess that's good enough. To even think that way is to completely misunderstand God, and misunderstand the nature of sin. In order to understand the nature of God and the nature of our sin, Isaiah uses an example that we cleaned up a lot in English. We translated the Hebrew, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That's cleaned up a lot. What Isaiah actually said was, all of our best righteousness is a menstrual cloth. A used menstrual cloth. If you kids don't know what that is, you can ask your parents at home. When we offer our good works to God, saying this is really good and I'm really sincere, it's the exact same thing as if you had wrapped up a used menstrual cloth and gave it to one of your children for Christmas. What message are you actually sending if that's what you do? It's saying, I hate you, children. I despise you and I want you to be gone. Imagine you woke up Christmas morning, rushed in to open up your presents and found in your present a used menstrual cloth. What message would you receive? And yet we continually offer our works to God and say, look, I'm a pretty good guy. But when we think we've done something to earn God's favor, it's exactly like taking a used maxi pad and wrapping it up as a gift. Those aren't my words, by the way, those are Isaiah's words. The fact is, nothing says, I hate you, more than that. And how much more do our pretenses and our good works say, I hate you, to a holy and a righteous God? Cain pretended love and service to God until God rejected him, then his true colors came out. And so also the world. All this talk about love and peace and friendship and harmony, until the law comes and men are exposed for what they really are. And then we act like men, biting, devouring, lashing out at each other. The nation of Israel was taught the nature of God at the foot of Mount Sinai. The fact is we are filthy, defiled, and polluted sinners, and nothing unclean will ever come before God. Once we know that, we're at the first step towards wisdom. Because then we need to look for righteousness that isn't ours. For God demands perfect righteousness, not pretense, and certainly not filthy menstrual cloths. God demands that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. He demands that we love our neighbors as ourselves. For God to be on our side, Sinai taught us, we must be perfect throughout and wholly conformable to divine law. We think to ourselves, yeah, I love my neighbor the same way I love myself. I respond to you the same way Jesus responded to the rich man. Do you really? Sell everything you have and give it to your neighbor. When Jesus said that, the disciples got the message. And said, who then can be saved? Remember Jesus' answer? With men. It is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. What we need in order to be in a covenant of peace with God is to have our covenant with death broken. For God told Adam, the day you eat of the fruit, you will surely die. That's the covenant with death. Adam ate and he died. We all died. The only way for that covenant with death to be broken is by death. Someone must bear the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin. Someone must be forsaken by God, despised by men. Someone must be given as prey to the teeth of the enemy and must be overthrown by the flood of judgment. And the only one who can do that is the one who is a true and righteous man. For one who is also a sinner cannot save others. But he also must be true God, for no creature can sustain the burden of God's wrath against sin. Go back to Israel. We know that Israel broke that covenant with God. They broke it over and over again. Eventually, God divorced them. They were given over to their enemies, to famine, to pestilence, to sword and to death. They found out that what David said in Psalm 124 was true. God was not on their side. Therefore, they were given over as prey to the teeth of their enemies. The waters of judgment overwhelmed them. For God gave the conditions of the covenant on Mount Sinai. If you want the blessings of the covenant, you have to do these things and you will live. But, Moses also said, cursed is everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. God gave those conditions, not to teach Israel how hard to work to come before God, for that was impossible for Israel. It's still impossible today. Life will never come by the law. No, Israel could never have kept the commandments of God, for they were children of Adam, and God demands perfection. But God gave the conditions of the covenant in Mount Sinai, pointing to the day that one would come, born of Mary, born under the law, that he might take the curse of the law upon himself. And all the curses of the broken covenant, he took on himself. He cried out on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God was not on his side, and he was given over as prey to the teeth of the enemy. The floodwaters of judgment overwhelmed him. He was alienated from God, but as the Bible said, he was stricken and smitten for our iniquities. It wasn't for his sin that he became an outcast and was considered a criminal and a slave, for he kept the covenant perfectly. And that perfect record of covenant keeping, that perfect righteousness, was put on our account so that we might truly say, God is on our side. After Israel had broken that covenant, God promised that he would make a new covenant. He promised he would make a covenant that would not be broken, that would actually wipe away sin from the record of God's judgment, and would actually bring righteousness. Read what Jeremiah says in chapter 31. He says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law on their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. That was the new covenant that was promised. The new covenant where the conditions didn't change, The law was still the law, God was still holy, but there would come one who would keep the law perfectly, who would keep the covenant perfectly, who would take the curses of the broken covenant upon himself. That was what was promised. The night that Jesus was betrayed, the night that he was handed over to the enemy to be crucified, he sat with his disciples at the table. He didn't come to an altar, for the only sacrifice for sin would be offered on a cross the next day. He sat at a table, a symbol of a fellowship meal, a symbol of fellowship and peace. Think of it, He, the true and eternal God, the God that we despised, the God that we rejected, the God that we hated, the God that had every right to cast us into eternal hell forever. sits down at a table and dines with us. He takes the bread and he broke it. He gave it to them and he said, take this, eat it. This is my body which is broken for you. After that we read, he took the cup and he said, this cup is the New Testament or New Covenant in my blood. The crucifixion of Christ was the fulfillment of the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31. The new covenant that was about to be made on the cross, signified by the bread and the wine. The conditions were the same, cursed is everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. But this is what was new. Jesus was about to take that whole curse upon himself, and he kept the demands of the covenant perfectly, so that we might live. And now, because the new covenant is inaugurated by the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ broken and shed for us, God is on our side. Since Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, we can now say with Paul, if God before us, who can be against us? And thus we see the fulfillment of this psalm. If you do not know Christ, if you are still offering the works of your hands, be assured that God is not on your side and the curses of this broken covenant will come upon you. either in this life or in the life to come. But if we are in Christ by faith, then God is for us. And nothing can ever change that. Neither death, nor tribulation, nor famine, nor peril, nor want, nor sword. We will never be given as prey to the enemies of God. The floodwaters of judgment will not go over our soul. The raging waters will not destroy us. because our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you have broken the covenant that we have made with death and that you have called us into a new covenant, a covenant of peace, of fellowship, of life. You've called us into union with Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit And so the curses of the covenant have already been fulfilled that we might receive the blessings of the covenant forever. We thank you for that. We pray, Father, that you will cause us again and again each day to turn away from our sins and the works of our hands and come more and more to know you, to walk in newness of life. To say with confidence and with joy, our help is in the name of the Lord. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.