Sermon for 9/5/21 13 Minutes - "The All—Important “If”

Psalm 124

This morning I'll be reading Psalm 124,,, and I'll read all 8 verses. And I'll be reading from the King James Version Bible. Psalm 124

Most commentaries think that David wrote this psalm. But when it was written is not known. But it was definitely written in remembrance of a time when God had saved them when destruction seemed probable,,, and no one else could have saved them.

Psalm 124 (KJV 1900) — A Song of degrees of David. 1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, Now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us: 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, When their wrath was kindled against us: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, The stream had gone over our soul: 5 Then the proud waters Had gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the LORD, Who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ----------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday we looked at James 1:17-27 and we learned that these “Words of God” that James wrote about,,, should make us ask questions pertaining to our Christian walk,,, and if it doesn’t match our talk,,, then we need to change and live as a true Christian should.

We can’t come to church on Sunday,,, going thru the motions of being a Christian,,, and then live like the world wants us to live the rest of the week.

This morning,,, we will look at Psalm 124 and use these verses to help us in our walk with God this week.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 1 and 2 say: 1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, Now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us:

If,,, the very first word,,, and it's only 2 letters,,, but,,, everything depended on that if.

It spelled the difference between deliverance and disaster.

But the Lord was there,,, and that,,, made all the difference.

Probably,,, there has never been a group of people that have had as many narrow escapes,,, as the Jews.

According to all natural laws,,, they should have been extinct long ago.

When you think of the sieges,,, the massacres,,, the gas chambers,,, the ovens,,, the bombs,,, it is a miracle they have survived.

But survive they have,,, and for that one compelling reason,,, the LORD was on their side.

Unfortunately,,, the nation has not always been willing to acknowledge that fact.

Too often they have chalked up their victories to their own cleverness and power.

But there have always been a few godly Jews,,, who realized that apart from the Lord,,, they would have been exterminated.

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Then the phrase,,, “Now may Israel say”,,, implies that a priest was leading the people in the temple courts in a liturgy of testimony.

A major crisis in the national life of the people of God had passed,,, and the first statement makes it crystal clear that only God’s help had brought them through to victory.

And he’s leading them in this liturgy to help them see that they came through this,,, because of God’s help,,, and no other reason!

Then the writer of this psalm begins to look at what might have happened if God had not been on their side when men rose up against them.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 3 says: 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, When their wrath was kindled against us:

Briefly,,, the crisis is described in graphic terms.

The attack of the enemy is shown to be like an act of swallowing,,, and their wrath is compared to fire.

He was possibly using the imagery of swallowing from Numbers 16:30 “But if the Lord brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”

And,,, Jeremiah 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out,”

The author is doing his best to paint a picture of just how terrible this could have been for them.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 4 and 5 say: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, The stream had gone over our soul: 5 Then the proud waters Had gone over our soul.

The possibility of defeat is likened to a river overflowing its banks,,, and destroying everything in it’s path,,, like the images that you may have seen of the recent flash-floods.

This time the author is possibly using the imagery of flood waters from Lamentations 3:54 “Water flooded over my head, and I thought: I’m going to die!”

Again,,, trying to show them what would have happened without God’s help.

But we see relief in the next few verses.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 6 says: 6 Blessed be the LORD, Who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Here we have the author giving praise to God for his deliverance,,, for keeping them out of the teeth of the enemy,,, and enabling them to escape.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 7 says: 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped.

This verse portrays Israel’s narrow escape from death with the image of a fragile bird that barely escapes capture in a snare.

God had intervened and had broken the trap,,, preventing the enemy from gaining the victory.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 8 says: 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

Now we see the true reason that they were allowed to escape,,, only the true God,,, the Creator of heaven and earth,,, could be so powerful and merciful for them.

Over and over,,, Israel was delivered out of the hands of their enemies.

One minute they are about to be swallowed alive,,, but then,,, the unexpected happens.

We know from scripture,,, that one time,,, God caused the enemy to quarrel among themselves,,, maybe He brought in help from other countries,,, panic over the death of a leader,,, many different things to help them overcome their struggles.

No matter what was done to help them,,, we see that it was God that delivered them.

And we can also see that they fail to give God the praise and glory for saving them like they should.

They fell short over and over,,, and God could have abandoned them,,, but He was true to His word,,, just as He is true to His word about us!

Over the years,,, the church knows that if God hadn’t stepped in and helped,,, many times,,, it could have gone under,,, but God wasn’t going to let that happen.

The same way for many of us,,, I’m very thankful for God saving me,,, I wouldn’t be here today,,, if God hadn’t helped me at the last minute,,, mostly because I almost waited too long to ask for help.

But maybe He has saved some of you as well!

We cannot make it without God’s help.

----------------------------------------------------------- “If” Ida would have been more destructive,,, would we need God more?

“No”!

But,,, like Israel did then,,, are we failing to give God the praise and glory like we should?

Because,,, we were blessed that we didn’t receive the damage that they did in Louisiana.

Now,,, I’m not going to stand up here and tell you why we received what we did,,, and they received what they did,,, because I just don’t know.

But,,, I do know that when Katrina came through,,, we needed God,,, just like they do every where that that Ida destroyed everything,,, and since Ida has come and gone,,, with hardly any damage here,,, we still need God.

The problem is,,, like the Israelites,,, we might take what God has blessed us with,,, for granted,,, and that’s something that we don’t need to do.

This psalm began with an Important “if”.

And we need to remember that “if” the storm had moved a little closer to us,,, we could be facing some of the same struggles that they are facing.

And,,, as always,,, we need to remember,,, that the important part of “if” is of course,,, God!

----------------------------------------------------------- So we need to remember these verses of Psalm 124 and be sure that we give God the praise and thanks,,, that He deserves.

And do our best,,, to remember to do this every day going forward.

Because just like the Israelites,,, if we don't remember the “ All Important “If”,,, and give God the praise and glory that He deserves,,, our future will not be near as bright.

----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------

Believer’s Bible Commentary Psalm 124: The All—Important “If”

Psalm 124: The All—Important “If”