Let's open our Bibles together in this afternoon service back to the Psalms of Ascent. This time we're making our way to Psalm 124. We've been making our way in our evening services, now we could say also our afternoon services to these Psalms of Ascent or Songs of Degree. We find our way to Psalm 124. We'll be answering a question as we go to it in Psalm 124. The question is, who's on your side? Now I want to begin by reading Psalm 124, then we'll look at it. I think you'll be encouraged and affirmed. But if the Lord is on your side, it makes all the difference in the world. This is a psalm about the radical difference it makes to have the Lord on your side. When the Lord is on your side, all things are possible. Victory is secure. You can triumphantly live against every opposition. But there is an opposite side to this, like the Psalms before it. Psalm 124 gives a lesson by way of comparison and contrast. If you were with us last Sunday night, we mentioned how contrast can help us see, and here we see the contrast as well. And if the Lord is on your side, you have all the things that we just mentioned. The Lord is not on your side, all your efforts will fail. The Lord is not on your side, victory can never be attained, and you will never be triumphant, and you will succumb to opposition. Everything hinges on whether or not God is on your side. If you're gonna use comparison and contrast to teach, that may help some of you. Some of you may be more of the math-inclined people. I'm not that group, but we can use a biblical math equation. God plus one equals a majority. That's basically what this Psalm is saying. There are two sides to this important question, though. If all the world is against me, but the Lord is for me, I can and I will stand victoriously. If all the world is with me, all my friends and peers support me, but God is not on my side, then no matter what I do, it will be in vain. Everything hinges on if God is on your side. And there are just eight verses, let's read them together. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel may 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 overthrown 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 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 psalm is a mystery of what ifs. Ever played the game of what ifs? What if this happened, what if it didn't? Perhaps the best what if question or answer I've ever heard. A gentleman jokingly said, well, if your parents didn't have kids, the odds are you won't either. That's an interesting if to consider. Some of you are not yet awake from your lunch and you didn't get it right away. It can be interesting to play the game of what if, can't it? What if you had been born in a different time period in history? You ever thought about that? What if? I know some of you like to think you're an old soul, but what if you'd been born in a different time period? What if you were born into a different family? That would be an interesting thing to think about. What if you were born in a different country altogether? Or raised in a different school? What if the major injury in life didn't happen? Or if you did have? What if you didn't meet that certain person? All of these things that just kinda, you can let your imagination run wild, which can be helpful or not, depending on how far you let it go. Psalm 124 asks, what if? And the key word in this section is the word if. In fact, the psalmist imagines what like would be like if God was not there to protect him. Now, this is a tiny word, if, with big implications. And Psalm 124 invites us to use our imagination. What if God is not on your side? What would that look like? And what if God is on your side? What would that look like? All that is to say, you had better have God on your side. Now, this is a clear and unmistakable point from Psalm 124. This is a worship psalm that testifies of the ultimate difference it makes in your life if God is on your side. But I want you to notice who wrote this psalm. I know sometimes we'll say, well, we don't know who wrote the Psalms of Ascent. We have indicated that in this series. Other times we know precisely who did. This is one we know who wrote it. In your Bibles, you'll see the inscription, a song of degrees of, or a psalm of ascent of, David. David is the author of this particular psalm of ascent. And it is written regarding the effect that David experienced regarding having God on his side. Now we don't know exactly when David wrote this psalm, but we can make a pretty strong and informed, educated guess. There was a time in David's life when he and those who were with him were in great danger. There were certainly many of these times, but there was certainly a mounting one. This was probably, most commentators suggest, and I would agree with them, that this was probably written at the time when the Philistine army was coming up against David. And the Philistines had defeated at that point the armies of Israel. They had killed Saul and Jonathan, his son, in the battlefield. And now the Philistines were set out to capture David, the apparent heir to the throne. You remember, it's at this point that David is running with his mighty men. And the Philistines had spread out in large numbers in the valley of Rephidim to hunt David down like prey. And if they could capture David, they were there to destroy David, even to make a public mockery of the Israelite throne in the destruction of David. David was in real danger. He was in more danger than any of us here could possibly fathom, but David was in real danger. And yet in the middle of this danger, he acknowledges, God is on your side. And because God is on your side, it mattered not to David how large the number of Philistines were that were out there to try to get him. If God was on David's side, the victory would always belong to David because David was on the side of victory. Just ask Goliath how that worked out. God is bigger than the Philistines. God is stronger than the Philistines. God is greater than the Philistines. And thus David stood victorious. And so tonight we'd like to consider what it is like to have God on your side. If God is on your side, it makes a difference. It makes a difference in your marriage to have God on your side. If God is on your side, it makes a difference in your home with your children. If God is on your side, it makes a difference in your schooling. If God is on your side, it makes a difference in your work. If God is on your side, it makes a difference in your relationship. Nothing is bigger, greater, and stronger than having God on your side. Now this psalm divides easily into two halves. You probably already caught it as we were reading it. In verses one through five, God not on your side. In verse six through eight, God on your side. It's a very simple outline today, and the reason is there's only two points. And the reason there's only two points is there's not a third side, is there? Either God is on your side, or God is not on your side. There is no third option, so there is no third point in today's sermon. And I want you to please note, still by way of introduction, verse one. If it had not been that the Lord was on your side, would you please note, as we begin our sermon, God takes sides. There is a side on which God stands, and there is a side on which God does not stand. God is not a neutral God. God is, friend, a discriminating God. So you had better be sure you're on the right side. There is no third point today, there is no other army you could join. You are either on God's side or you are not on God's sides, but God does take sides. So let's start with the side opposed to God. What if God is not on your side? We see that in verses one through five. And the psalmist really begins with a negative perspective. What would it look like without God with us and without God for us? And we begin verse one, David says, if it had not been the Lord who was on your side. And what David is seeking to paint is a picture of what it would look like if God was not there. What would it be like if we tried to build without God? What would it be like if we tried to defend without God? What would it be like if we tried to plant without God? If we had gone through all the activity that we're used to going through, but God was not there, what would it look like? And at the end of verse 1, he then adds a chorus. Let Israel now say, This is probably used in a worship context. This is probably something the worship leader would say as a prompt. I know sometimes in churches they'll have responsive readings. I'm in favor of those. I feel like sometimes they can be forced. Other times they can be ignored. If you were gonna read this in corporate worship, this would indicate probably a responsive reading would be suggested here. The leader is going to introduce something and it's gonna be a prompt of sorts. And we know from canticles down through history that this is often how songs were sung. You know, in Christmas carols, you'll hear them sing, fa la la la la. Well, why do they sing fa la la la? Well, because not everybody knew the chorus, not everybody knew the words, and history tells us that they wanted to have something that the crowd could communicate with them. And so here, the guy is going to repeat a phrase that he expects the congregation to repeat. He wants them to join in worship. Isn't that interesting? All the way back in the Old Testament, when it comes to songs, the expectation is that it's not for the few, but for the many. God wants his people to join in this worship. So there's a prompt followed by a response. Let Israel now say, everybody should be joining together if it had not been the Lord who was on your side. Maybe we could practice that for a moment. It is an afternoon. I can pretend to be, just for a moment, the guy prompting you. I'll read verse one, and then you'll read verse two. Can we do that together? I'll read verse one. If it had not been the Lord who was on your side, now may Israel say. Now let's do it together. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us. Now, of course, there's a continuation there, but you can understand what is going on. I like to let my imagination run and think, how did they sing this? We know it was in song form. How did they sing this? And we have some musicians here that could put that to chorus. I think that'd be pretty fun to do. But the restatement is for emphasis. This is repeated to etch into our thinking how the imagination is to run. What is it like, and he adds for emphasis, when men rose up against us? Now God's people will face opposition. We live in opposition. We will face this. These men probably again refer to the Philistines, but most certainly These men refer to enemies of God. So verse 1 and 2, in essence, is all a setup for verses 3 through 5. And you will notice that verse 3, 4, and 5 all begin with the same word, then. And that's because this is a cause and effect that is going on here. Verses 1 and 2 is a setup. Here's the cause. And verses 3 through 5 now is the effect. And the word then indicates what is going on. Had the Lord not been on our side, then this would have happened. And verse 3, 4, and 5 is a hypothetical. And I hope you understand that. Because the Lord is on people's, his people's side. But David wanted the people of God, us, to consider what would it be like if we had gone out on our own? What would it look like? Here's the cause, here's the effect. And he says, well, if God had not been on our side, you would have been devoured. Look at verse three, then, meaning the result. They, referring to the man who rose up against us, mentioned in verse two, had swallowed up us quick. And the idea is that they would have swallowed us alive. The image here is of an animal swallowing or devouring his prey. The enemy that David faced was fierce and ravenous. The enemy was an animal-like. And if God had not intervened on David's behalf, then David and God's people literally would have been devoured alive by their foes. They would have been swallowed whole. They would have been utterly devastated. He says in verse three, when the wrath was kindled against us, Not only were they strong in their ability, but their hearts waxed hot. They really wanted this to happen. This clearly indicates, left to themselves, God's people would have been soundly defeated. Left to themselves, they would have been routed. They would have been outmaneuvered. We pause and recognize the same is true for us as well. left to yourself, to your own ingenuity, to your own smarts, to your own resources, to your own efforts, you would have been defeated every single time. It does good for us to consider what it would be like if you were having to do this by yourself. What it would be like if you went to work every day by yourself. What it would be like if you went to school by yourself. What would it be like if you tried to build your marriage on your own? Think about that because that is the cause that many are doing. We live in a culture that promotes the self-made man. How's he doing, David? David says he's gonna get absolutely devoured. Not only is he gonna get devoured, if God had not been on your side, you would have drowned. In verse four, he continues the same thought, but he expands the metaphor. Now from being devoured to being drowned. Verse four, then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream had gone over our soul. The proud waters had gone over our soul. The image here is someone who is being overwhelmed by a mighty current or a raging river. The picture here is of a flash flood that overspills its banks, envelopes the surrounding countrysides, and rolls up everything into its wake. Now we need to ask ourselves some important Bible study questions, if you don't mind us asking. Are these waters literal, or are these waters figurative? In other words, did they escape a real physical drowning, waters, or did they escape a metaphorical drowning? Now I have to tell you that when I think of this, what I think is we're talking about figuratively. Now I want you to understand something because I want to help you when you're reading the Psalms. We are to interpret the Bible literally at every point. I'm gonna restate that because it's worth emphasizing. We are to interpret the Bible literally at every point. But the Bible employs figures of speech. For example, we do not believe that Jesus was literally a board made out of wood with a handle on it when he said, I am the door. That is a figure of speech. Rather, when he says, I am the door, Christ is saying that he is the only access to the Father. That is the literal interpretation of the figurative metaphor that's being used here. That's what he meant. We are to interpret the figure of speech, but we are to believe that figure of speech and its interpretation literally. And we are doing the same here. And the reason I wanna pause here, because it'll help you, I hope, in your Bible reading. I'd like to give you three reasons why this is a figure of speech used here in this verse, drowning. Number one, it's context. Context always rules. Context is king in interpreting any piece of scripture. Verse three is clearly using devouring in a figurative way. He says, they would have swallowed us up alive. Is David talking about cannibals? I do not believe that David is referring to the Philistines being cannibalistic. He was saying, if you could use figures of speech, if it had not been the Lord on our side, they would have eaten us for lunch. They would have gobbled us up. Verse four and five then continues a figurative way, because the context already suggested that. Not only it's context, but it's wording. Notice it says, the stream would have swept over our soul. Not over our body, but over our soul. He's not talking about a body drowning, he's talking about a soul drowning. He's talking about his inner person drowning, not with literal water, but with the mounting pressure of the world, like a raging current of rising tidewater. It's wording. and its consistency. This is a metaphor that you will find placed all throughout the Psalms. Think about it. Psalm 32, verse 6. That's a metaphor. He's using the same one. Psalm 69, verse 1. Psalm 69, verse 15. Therefore, coming back to Psalm 124, when we read verses four and five, what is David saying? Here's what David is saying. I was at one of the most difficult junctures of my life. I was surrounded by great difficulty. It was like raging waters of an overflowing river in which I was being consumed and being pulled under. Friends, this speaks to how suddenly our troubles and trials come upon us. They can come on us like a flash flood. They can pull us out to the ocean like a riptide. They can crash down on us like a tsunami. And we are pulled into it, we are swept away, we are unable to hang on to this place, and our circumstances will quickly become out of our control. We are carried away in such a way that we fear for our own soul. And if it hadn't been for the Lord on our side, what would have happened? The Lord is not on your side, you're on your own. And if you're on your own, you will be devoured, you will surely drown. Without God on your side, you will be devoured by doubts. Without God on your side, you will drown in your sorrow. You ever heard someone say when they find themselves in a difficulty, I just don't know how people can go through trials without the Lord. How true that is. I don't know how anybody can go through any kind of trial without God on their side. John 15, Jesus would say in verse five, without me, you can do nothing. Well, a little bit, I can do a little bit. No, you, no. Without God on your side. Friend, who's on your side? If the Lord is on your side, that makes all the difference in the world. So what does it look like if God is on your side? That's our second main point. And it's our only other point. Because there's no other side, is there? There's only two sides. And notice how the contrast begins. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as prey to their teeth. I notice that because what a contrast is here. You see the contrast? Earlier he had said, if the Lord was not on our side, we have been eaten alive. Now he says that the Lord has not allowed them to eat them alive. He's gonna use his same analogy here. And you see the difference even in the tone as we come to verse six. Verse one through five is a sense of desperation. You are being swallowed alive, you're being devoured, you're getting pulled down, you're drowning, desperation. Verses six through eight, there's a sense of delight, emphasized with the word blessed. And here the psalmist moves from what might have happened, if the Lord was not on your side, to what actually did happen. God not only delivers you from potential harms, that's what verse one through five were all about, but he also delivers you from present harms, that's what verses six through eight are all about. And notice, before we get into these at length, there are some repetitions here. Twice he speaks of escaping, and twice he mentions the snare. And there are some lessons about who our God is, as well as some lessons about who we are if we keep falling into snares and traps. But if God is on your side, he will deliver you. The enemy was cunningly, cunning, and he has cunningly sprung a trap. Verse six, blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us his 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. Most varieties of birds are really defenseless creatures. Other than their ability to fly, many and most varieties of birds don't have ability to fend off a predator's attack. And so the bird catcher, or fowler, would devise a trap of some sort, sometimes a snare, sometimes a pit, usually a net, and it will catch the bird. And once he's caught the bird, the bird is not going to have a way to use its teeth or claws or something else to get out of that net. It can't get out. Once it's been caught, he needs someone else to open that or break that net. And that's exactly how God delivered his people. He foiled the fowler, if you will. The psalmist's words for us, as if it were not for the Lord, we would still be in the cage. The fowler would still have us. But Yahweh has always been in the setting free business. That's who he is. The snare is broken, verse seven. We have escaped. And again, this is a familiar imagery in the Psalms. Psalm 91 verse three says, surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. Psalm 25 verse 15, mine eyes are ever toward the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. That's the idea. But unbelievers are still like naive birds trapped by a fowler. They're easily susceptible, they're willful to go into the bait that he has set before them, and let's be honest, believers are too. If God has to set us free, it's because we keep getting trapped somewhere. Thank God Satan cannot lure a believer to eternal destruction. God always makes a way of escape. Is this not what Paul said? There has no temptation taken you, but such is common demand. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with each temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. If God is on your side, he will also protect you. What a powerful change, verse eight. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. That kind of trumps everything. This verse connects back to the opening verse of 1 and 2. I will lift up mine eyes into the hills from whence comes my help, Psalm 121. Remember this Psalm? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Remember in Psalm 121, when we looked at it, we recognized why is he looking up to the hills? Well, not just because of their geographical location, but because of what happened on those hills. If you're reading the book of 2 Chronicles, you come to discover that Josiah, when he finally begins the revival process of turning the hearts of the people back towards God, the first thing he does is he pulls down the high places. Why? Because on these hills are where they would put their false deities, their false gods. That's where they would worship their false gods. And the psalmist would say in Psalm 121, I look to the hills, where does my help come from? Not from your false gods. My help comes from the God who made all of this. That's what he's saying here. I'm going to be entrapped, but where does my help come from? It doesn't come from anything else but the guy who made everything. As you trace the psalm, it's interesting to note its progression, though. Verse 1-5, the psalmist encourages all of Israel to affirm the difference that God makes. Everybody sing this together in verse 1-5, basically. In verse six and seven, the psalmist gives praise to his deliverance, and then in verse eight, the psalmist testifies that the Lord was there to protect us the whole time. He never left. It's been told that the early American Indians, who had a practice of training their young braves on the night of their boy's 13th birthday, After learning as the 13-year-old boy how to hunt and scout and fish and track, there was one final test for some of them up in the more New England areas. David Brainerd writes about this test. He says, the boys were placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. They'd never been out there before, and now as a 13-year-old boy, they were placed in a dense forest. And they would actually blindfold the young boy and bring him out into the dense forest, and he would have no familiarity with his surroundings, and that would be the final test into adulthood. And they would traipse him through the thick woods, and the boy would be understandably terrified. Every time a twig snapped, he would visualize some predator coming for him, a wild animal ready to pounce. He would have to stay there all night in darkness, and then the sun would come up, and as the sun would come up, looking around, the boy would see, in the distance, a figure who had been standing there the whole time. His dad would never leave. To the utter astonishment of the boy, he would come to discover, if he had stayed with courage, he would come to discover that all along, just a few feet away, was his trained, ready, prepared dad to protect him. How like us we are. The climax of the whole psalm is found in verse eight, our help is in the name of the Lord. In other words, in the darkest of the night, when you're fearful, every time a twig breaks, if you just took a moment to look up, you'd realize God never left. He's always been there. So let's play what if. What if God was not there to protect us? What if God was not there to deliver us? What if God was not able to help us? What if God didn't care? When I look back, I see so many places where I would be in a disastrous position if it had not been for the Lord. You probably could do that as well. Have you ever traced the fingerprints of God in your own life by what if? What if this hadn't happened or what if this did happen? But I have discovered that since I am not, since I can be on God's side, there is nothing, nothing that can separate me from the love of God which is in ours through Christ Jesus. Love the gospel songwriter, Blind Fanny Crosby, which said, all the way my Savior leads me. What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? When she gets to heaven and looks back on her life, this will be her song through endless ages. Jesus led me all the way. Psalmist invites us to use our imaginations by asking two questions. What if God is not on your side? Or maybe some of this room who have not had God on your side. Would you come to the other side? What if God is on your side? When the psalmist thinks about what would happen if God had not been on his side, he returns the answer given in Psalm 121. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Friend, there are only two sides, either God's or you're not on God's. Would you come to God's side? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your word, for the services that we could have both this morning and again now this afternoon. and the truths that are housed from 2 Timothy and now from the Psalms of ascent. Lord, there may be some in this room that need to acknowledge that they are not on God's side. May today they come to you. Others need to be reminded with a healthy rejoicing and praise. May God, with you on their side, it makes all the difference in the world. As we close out our services together today, the instruments are gonna play just a song of invitation. Would you respond as God has spoken to you? Lord, we thank you so much for the privilege to come and study your word, to memorialize those, our heroes, who have given us the freedom to study the word that we studied together. Lord, as we depart, may we go through encouraged from your word as well.