"Is the Lord on Your Side?" Psalm 124

Pastor Brian leads us through Psalm 124, a Psalm of Ascents.

Transcript

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Brian's gonna preach from Psalm 124 today, if you'd turn there. I'll also be on the screen behind me. And stand if you were able in reverence for the word of God. I'll read from Psalm 124, which is a song of ascents of David. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, had it not been for the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us, then the waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul, then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Pastor Brian, would you please come?

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Let's go to the Lord once again as we dive into his word. This is vital that we submit to him, that we cry out to him, that we realize that only he and he alone can change us and cause us to trust him. Father, we ask you to bless us in this time. That by your spirit you would impact us and change us and cause us to look to you in everything. Father, reveal to us the glory and the splendor of the gospel of Jesus Christ once again in this time. Guard my mouth and my heart to say only that which you would have for all of us to hear, and that we would all recognize the majesty of Christ our King and the help that He is. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, I'm gonna start by just saying, I love singing. I love singing of the grace of God, most importantly, of course. I love singing of the sin that was mine that's paid for by Christ. I love singing of the greatness of our God, songs like the one we just sung, In Christ alone, that speaks of the what we could call the exclusivicity of Christ. It's Christ alone and the glorious salvation of this glorious Savior. Now, I understand all of you in here may not be as excited as I am about my singing if you've stood by me on Lord's Day mornings for long. But but to sing the truths of the Word of God with the people of God, there's nothing like it in the world. I love to sing the Bible. Sing of that truth, the only truth. There's just something special about singing the written word of God together. You know, back in the 15th through 17th centuries or so, some overlap, but almost all of who we would call the Puritans at that time, or in France, you had the Huguenots, they would have sung one kind of song and one only. One genre of music, if you will, and one source from with to draw from. And that would be the Word of God. And the Psalms were the primary source that they had when they gathered together to worship in Psalm. On their Sunday morning gathering, uh, it would have simply been the psalms and a few other areas of the Bible that would have fueled their worship in song. Here's what's interesting is they would not have allowed our classic hymns that we absolutely love here to enter the doors of their church services. Those were considered contemporary songs back then, but more importantly for the Puritans, they were not scripture themselves. Now, I'll say this: the Puritans, by and large, were great. Godly, godly folks. A good model for us in so many ways today, but they weren't perfect. And I think they got this one wrong, those who did. The Bible says we need to sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to the Lord in multiple places with thanksgiving. Of course, that means songs that are robustly biblical, but one thing I think that the reason I mentioned those guys and ladies from years ago is because what we can learn or what we can draw from them is the passion that they had in the singing of the Word of God, primarily through the Psalms. They love to sing them. As I said, they would sing them when they regularly gathered for worship, but they would also use these psalms in singing, if you will, is they comforted one another with the word of God. And so one example of the singing that they would have not just in their worship service, but in times of public and intimate danger, they would sing the psalms. What do we do? In times of victory over enemies, they would sing the psalms. That one's a little easier for us, right? And it was known that at those times they would sing Psalm 124 pretty regularly. Psalm 124 is also known to be sung in Christians in that day and age as they're released from prison for the preaching of the gospel. They would come out and together open up Psalm 124 and others and just sing it out. They would joyfully sing of its truth, knowing it to be the word of God, and they're clinging to it, and it is beautiful to them. Beautiful to sing the word as those jail cell doors close behind them after spending time in there for Christ's sake, and they would come together. Can you hear them singing? Think of it. Can you hear them rejoicing in God's grace and his power, even as our government told them they were breaking the law by proclaiming Christ? They knew that their help is in the name of the Lord. Do you know this to be true of your life right now? Well, this morning we're going to track with David the Psalmist through this passage and kind of go verse by verse, spending more time on some and less time on others. And we're going to see what he's telling us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and how we can apply these things to our lives today, even though we may not have this kind of persecuting enemy. We'll talk about what he's driving at here in a lot of his descriptions, but there's a lot of principles for us to draw from about the Lord being on our side. And so to start this morning, I just want to ask you again, is God on your side? Are you on his side? Is he on your side every day? So as we've uh dove into the Psalm of Ascents, last week we saw the Lord is what? Our helper, our keeper. Praise God. Today we see that he is graciously on the side of his people in this way. Next week we get to see that he surrounds his people. Again, it is all about God. He's so, so very good to us. Do you know that? Is he on your side today? Is he on your side eternally? Let's look at our first point, our daily relief in Christ. Look at verse 1. Look at verse 1. Is God on your side? Now we love, don't we, as a people, to be surrounded with the greatest and strongest allies? In America, we love the fact that we're a great and powerful nation. We love the fact that we have weapons capable of defending, protecting, and going after others as they try to harm us as a people. We really like the fact that now, today, this can be done from far away with intercontinental ballistic missiles and highly advanced drums that keep our military out of the way in some regard. It's good to be on the side of America if you're in trouble in that way, right? But the thing is, is as David came to find out pretty quickly in his life, I want to let you know today that it doesn't matter the size of your buddy, your school, your friend that's a champion boxer or an MMA fighter, maybe. Or even if your country is the strongest military in the world, it doesn't matter if God is not on your side. Doesn't matter. I mean, think about it. With the breath of his mouth, all of America could come to ruin. With a snap of his fingers, all of our military could be rendered useless if he so chose. Without God on your side, you and I are completely vulnerable to what the world can do. And I'm gonna say something here that uh may not be the most popular. God takes sides. Yeah, that's true. It's not heresy, it's not blasphemy, it's not mean-hearted. Doesn't matter what we have done to God with our minds and how we've decided to make him into the image we like, God does take sides. I know in our current climate and our culture it says that God just loves everybody the same. No. God is love, he does love his creations, praise God. But God does take the side of his people that he loves in a unique way. His particulars separated in specific people, just ask Cain. Or anybody other than Noah and his family. Or Pharaoh. Or Goliath. And the list could definitely go on and on biblically, right? God takes the side of his people. We should look at that and go, praise God. He's on my side if you're his. And so as we go through this passage, we want to see what a blessing and a necessity it is to have God on their side. And it's not something that we get to say, okay, today, God, you're gonna have to be on my side. It's a gift of his. But he's calling us all to come to him to receive that. And so we're gonna flesh that out. But we don't know exactly contextually what David is speaking of in this Psalm when he talks about the danger Israel was in from a foreign army. No, we could go back to the time when the Israelites were in Egypt, when Pharaoh was mistreating, enslaving them. The Lord was most definitely on their side as the plagues came. You recall, some of you? Uh go back to uh read the book of Exodus if you don't remember. Um, but what or if you just haven't heard, but when all the Egyptians endured much suffering, it was obvious that the Lord was on the Israelites' side as these plagues came, so that they would be a free people. Or maybe when they left Egypt and they're headed for the promised land in the Exodus. We see that the Lord is protecting them, right? And he's protecting them from multiple things, including Pharaoh, who was going to come and chase them down. Or even when they're being attacked and harassed later on from the rear by the Amalekites, the Lord protected them. That could be what David is pointing to, and it definitely would fit into a lot of what David is saying, but I would say, and I've read different varying uh commentators on this, I think David is pointing directly here at the when the Philistines had him and his men outnumbered. Remember, Saul is the previous king and his son, David's best friend Jonathan, they're now dead, and David is finally proclaimed king by the people. He's been anointed by God, he's finally proclaimed king. The Philistines hear that David is proclaimed king and they think to themselves, now's the time. There's a new guy, and he's little. Turn with me real quick to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel chapter 5. I'm just gonna read a few verses there, but I think it's helpful to look at it. 2 Samuel 5, and I'm reading this because I think this is the context of what David is driving at. 2 Samuel 5, starting in verse 17. As I read this, remind yourself this is the word of the Lord. 2 Samuel 5, 17. It says, When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek out David. And when David heard of it, he went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephim. Then David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Don't you just love how he does that? Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand. So David came to Baal Perazim and defeated them there, and he said to the and he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters. Therefore he named that place Baal Perazim. Now when it says there in that passage in verse 18 that the Philistines had spread themselves out in the valley, what the author wants us to know here is the immense strength through sheer numbers that these people had. And yet they lost the battle against a far inferior force, the Israelites, at least it would seem. So recall, stare at that passage in 2 Samuel for a moment. Let's see. What was it about the strength of Israel that conquered the Philistines in that battle? What was it? Let's see, is it the really strong men it tells out there? Was it their amazing weaponry? Maybe it's David's tactical brilliance. There's none of that listed out there, is there? What is there for us to see how the Israelites completely crushed a superior opponent is what? Back to Psalm 124. The Lord is on their side. The Lord is on their side. That's the theme of that passage, that's the theme of our passage. The Lord fought for them. The Lord fought for them. If the Lord be for us, who could be against us, right? That's the countenance of David going into those battles. I just love that. He said, Lord, should we fight them? Should we? Will you give them into our hands? What submission to God. Will you give them into our hands? He gets it, doesn't he? He gets that a military is only as good as it is allowed to be by God. Had it not been for the Lord on our side, we would have perished. That's what David is saying. That's why I think that's the context here. Look at verse 3, back in Psalm 124. David says, if it had not been the Lord on our side when men rose up against us, we would have been swallowed alive. That is vivid imagery, isn't it? In that area, there were lions that do that kind of thing. Swallowing their prey whole. Snakes, large snakes, that would, they don't chew, do they? What do they do? They swallow whole. That's the picture, the word picture David uses to describe the predicament that they were in. Until the Lord said, I will give them into your hands. I'm on your side. He goes on to say that the enemy's anger was kindled against them like billows stoking a fire. The anger of the longtime enemy of the people of God was being kindled to a white hot fire in their bones against David and Israel. They wanted to conquer. But David reminds us here in this Psalm that since the Lord is on his side, on their side, that God's white hot love was on display in the protection of his people and deliverance, even as this flood of Philistines poured over into the valley against them. Verse 4. They would have been flooded over by the power of a greater army if it had not been for the Lord and his strength and protection. Verse 5, the raging waters of war would have swept over their lines and their lives. They would have been devastated by this far superior force had it not been for the Lord. What about your life? You see, David writes all this out in these first five verses to force the people of God to consider what it would have been like if the Lord wasn't on their side. So many times something happens in our life, and then a year later we don't even remember it, but we were begging God in that year, in that moment. He wants us to not forget the Lord is on the side of his people. He doesn't want us to ever, he doesn't want the Israelites to ever take it for granted in the fact that the Lord is with them. And so he's reminding them that if it wasn't for the Lord, they would have been swallowed whole. They would have been scorched by the fire of the enemy's anger. They would have been sunk down beneath the flood waters of the raging torment, torrent of the enemy troops. And so David's trying to reveal to those people and to us today by writing this Psalm something absolutely amazing. He is trying to remind and trying to show them and us the amazing reality that God takes the side of his people. So I encourage us today, don't ever take a step, don't ever take a breath in this life without realizing who is on your side if you're in Christ. Could you imagine living life without God on your side now if you're a Christian? When you try to be a good spouse? When you try to be a good neighbor, when you go to work, when you go to the grocery store, when you see what's going on politically or socially in our country, when somebody near you dies? Try to imagine what it would be like again without God on your side. Well, that would mean in every step you take, you would be eternally alone. You may have people around you, but eternally alone. I mean, you've heard it said probably, people often mock and joke about the fact that even though they're gonna go to hell, it's okay, cuz what? Probably heard that, right? That's a very sad statement for many reasons. One of them is that they have no idea what they're saying because companionship and community, relationship, that's a gift of God's grace. And hell, therefore, will be a place of eternal solitude no matter how many people are there or how many people they know. How can I say that? Because hell is devoid of anything good, therefore no relationships. And the worst part is that there will be no possibility for a relationship with the Lord any longer. Without the Lord, we're eternally alone, destitute, and isolated. And if you live life without turning to him, then he's actually against you. Why? He's for his people. And you've rejected that. If you're in Christ, I just encourage you today, don't let it trouble you that he's against his enemies and he's for you. Don't let that trouble you other than for those who do not know him. Let it be a comfort and an encouragement and a catalyst for your gospel proclamation. I mean, the King, the Lord, the Creator, the God of all things, the God of the entire universe who spoke it into existence, is on your side if you're in Christ. What does that do to you? I hope it does something to you right now. To think of that. Me, I mean, insignificant, deplorable Brian Hardesty. God's on my side. What did I do to deserve that?

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Nothing.

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The enemy should be able to come and take over in every way. But yet he loves me this much. He loves you. That much. So if you're here today and you don't know him, and you haven't turned to him if he's not on your side and you're not on his side, then I want you to take some time right now, this very morning, reflect on what that means for your life and your future. Don't leave here today without having a solid answer as to why you don't think you need him on your side. What are you going to do for yourself then? And I want to challenge you, if that's you, if you're not a Christian, I challenge you, take it as a dare if you'd like. Pray to him. Pray to him. Ask him. Ask him to reveal the truth to you. Ask him with honest fervency to allow your heart to truly take in the eternal nature of the good news of Jesus Christ. Because you do need him on your side. When you come to your last breath and you're staring down at the grave, the reality of eternity. We all need him on our side. I know that we've all been through and are currently some of us going through many trials right now. Where we need him on our side. I mean, think about it when the word cancer comes from the doctor's mouth. When our children or grandchildren are struggling to make right decisions in life, let alone a decision at all. When your job or your boss seems like it's more than you can handle, when your debt is clouding all of your thoughts, when your country is in turmoil, when you are being pursued and persecuted for the faith and told that we can't worship according to the word. When people are sick, when loved ones die. When death comes knocking at your door. And he's on your side. We say to ourselves all the time, I just don't know how I would have gotten through this if the Lord wasn't on my side. What a powerful and true statement. Because the answer is you wouldn't have. You would have drowned just like that person who is grieving loss without the Lord. What I mean by that is drowning in a pool of tears, tears of despair, of fear, and of devastation. You would have been swallowed alive by sorrow. Only in the Lord can we endure the loss of something as great as the loss of a loved one and not be swallowed or drowned in a sea of misery. We need him daily, don't we? We need him daily to provide comfort and joy and relief in this life, and that is precisely what the kind and good God of heaven gives to his people in overwhelming abundance. Praise his holy name. Lean on him right now. If you are suffering without him, it doesn't have to be this way. It doesn't have to. Lean on him. Go to him. He is the God who doesn't allow you to slip from his grip. The time is now to look to him. That leads us to our second point, the eternal relief we do have in Christ. Brothers and sisters, we've got to remember something that is vastly important. That we also need the Lord on our side in an even greater way. We need him on our side spiritually and eternally. We need him to deliver us from the enemy of sin. We need him to be on our side in the fight against sin. Brothers and sisters, we have great need for him to be on our side in this. I have needed him to be on my side so desperately and still do day by day. Sin has plagued all of us, hasn't it? The whole world. From the garden down. The enemy of sin and death has engulfed us all as a flood. It would have swallowed us alive like a snake and a mouse if it weren't for the Lord being on our side. Listen briefly to Romans chapter 3, just a portion of it, and it shows us how we desperately need him. It says, there's none righteous. Not even one. There's none who understands, there's none who seeks for God. There is no fear of God before their eyes, it goes on to say. How about Ephesians 2? We just went over this not long ago, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the heir of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. How about Titus 3? For we were once foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lesson pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. We need the Lord on our side. I mean, if we just listen and agree with who we once were, who we are outside of Christ, we soon realize that the greatest enemy that will destroy us is sin. Sin seeks to swallow us alive daily as we live here on the earth. It's like a flood taking us down into the depths of total depravity. That's where we've all once been. The Bible's clear. We need the Lord on our side in this. You ask me, how is the Lord on our side in that? You say, as I hear those texts of scripture being read, the Romans 3, Ephesians 2, Titus 3, that's depressing. That's heart-wrenching. You ask, how is the Lord on our side in this fight? That's a fight even in the cosmos themselves. Prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2 says. Maybe you're thinking, why do you always talk about suffering in sin? Or the suffering of sin? How's the Lord on our side in that? Let me tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. Second member of the Trinity. God Himself came, looked on our sorry and sad condition, chose to come down to the earth and take on the same weak, frail human flesh that we carry and do what we could not do. He chose to come and he did what would be impossible for us mere humans. God in the flesh came to perfectly live out and follow the will of the Father, to be obedient, perfectly, and sinless. Jesus Christ did this as the waters began to engulf us. He came and lived the life that you and I cannot, and he did it, and he died. He died the death that you and I deserve. He took up that cross, meant to be a torture weapon, and he turned it into a symbol of eternal salvation. He died on that cross and he willingly took what was meant for us, people who have already lost the battle against sin. The enemy had already come and defeated us. And yet the Lord fought on our side as he hung on that cross. He pulled us up out of the pit, and even more significantly, he chose to absorb every last drop of the Father's wrath that should have come to us. You see, Jesus didn't just come to save us from ourselves, the world, the flesh of the devil. That's not what he came to save us from primarily. He came to save us from the right, good, and just wrath of God. But as we know, after three days, death was proven to be no match for the author of life, was it? He rose triumphantly from the grave. He burst out of that tomb as a resurrected Lord and King. He proved himself alive to hundreds of people and then went back to the Father once again as he still intercedes for us right now, in this very moment, proving that he's on our side. And in the greatest display of hope and protection that can come for the one who so desperately needs him, that's us, that we need him on our side, this great and generous King and Savior calls us to turn from who we were, listed out in those passages that I read, and turn to him, to jump ships, so to speak, and be on his side. He does this by exerting his own power, the power of his will. He does this, and it's all because of his blood and grace that is paid for it that's now extended to us. And as we trust him, he comes to our aid and he rescues us from the pit. Oh, how it would have been if he had not been on our side, brothers and sisters. Who could stand? Who can do that? The gospel proclamation. Who can do that truth? Who can live that out? We need him to stand on our side eternally. Sin, death, and the evil one are all defeated for those who are his. That's the great victory. So that's the overarching principle of Psalm 124, and the Lord being on the side of his people. Let's look at the third point in light of that. Let's look at what the countenance of this relieved Christian should look like. Verse 6, look at verse 6. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Blessed be the Lord, our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper. The snare is broken and we have escaped. You know what that means? We should speak like David here. Gratitude should be the language of our hearts, dear Christian. He's on our side and he's done great things for us. Gratitude needs to be the language of our hearts even through the tears and the sorrow. A Christian who is known to be a complaining Christian is a contradiction. That's a sinning Christian. Why? Why can I say that? Because as we see here and so often in Scripture, Christ's name is to be blessed with our lips. Gratitude is the everlasting attitude of the Christian. I mean, think of it. How can we stand before the enemy? Alone, naked, without a single weapon, trapped in his snare, and then walk away complaining after the Lord rescues us. No. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Look at what he's done. Do you struggle with complaining or ingratitude in life? Any of us do? Preach the gospel to yourself daily. Remind yourself of what Christ has done. Blessed be the name of the Lord who has rescued me. Is he on your side? I'm a firm believer, and the reason why so many Christians live lives that are chalk full of complaints is because we neglect to reflect on a doctrine of Scripture. Multiple, but one sticks out. And that's the doctrine of total depravity. Here's what I mean. If there is good godliness somewhere in us apart from the grace of God, in contrast to what Paul has already said that I read, Romans 3, or what Psalm 14 says, if there is inherent good in us, then we get to complain, don't we? We can complain about something if things aren't going our way, our circumstances. But if all goodness comes from the Lord, there's nothing for us to complain about. Think of David. He could have spent the vast majority of this psalm just complaining, couldn't he? It's not fair what the road to the throne looked like for me, God. You anointed me. Why did it have to be like this? Many times in the Psalms he asked the Lord to crush the wicked, but that's from a righteous attitude. And most of the time when we read him in the Psalms, he's spending time either repenting or with an attitude of gratitude for the Lord on his side and lament. Read first and 2 Samuel if you want to see what it looked like for David to get there. It wasn't pretty. So he could have spent his life complaining to the Lord, just as you and I are, maybe, maybe not you. I'll say me, are prone to do here in America. But I want to remind us here today as we think of what it means to have the Lord on our side in that regard, okay, about blessing God with our lips. Blessed be the Lord God. I want us to think of something. This is something that a pastor once said, Justin Peters. He said, anything short of hell is mercy. Anything short of hell is mercy. Blessed be the Lord. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. That's what should have happened. Blessed be the Lord, we've escaped from the trap, the snare's broken, we've been set free. It's all a gift of grace. Gratitude. Blessed be the Lord. That's what the Christian's mouth needs to be used for. Reminding himself of the blessings of having God on our side. Instead of just being engulfed in the flood of sin and death, the Christian has been engulfed in the flood of God's great mercy day by day. And what way could we ask for God to be on our side more than that? Fourth point. The Christian finds relief by being on the Lord's side and everything. Look at verse 8 with me. So he says, Had it not been for the Lord, it was on our side in verse 1, and now he says, Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. This is a great verse to start your day with, by the way. This is a good verse to start a worship service with. Our help, no matter what's going on in this life, like we looked at last week, our help, in the depths of despair, even in our sin, our help is in the name of Jesus Christ, the King and Lord of all. That's it. Now with that being said, with that being said, I want us to briefly get back to the why of David, why David wrote this psalm. Now he wrote it so that God's people would sing praise and gratitude to the Lord with these words. The people no doubt sing these psalms when they were saved from the Philistines. They sang these psalms when they were cresting the hill, heading for Jerusalem in Jesus' day. And as I said last week, these are pilgrim songs for the Jews traveling to Jerusalem for the celebrations or feasts. Remember, at this time, the Romans are in charge, okay, as these pilgrims headed up the hill to celebrate the feast that God had called them to. They would feast, and as they feasted, they would, of course, remember the reason for the feast, God's great deliverance. Maybe at Passover, or maybe the feast of Purim, they would celebrate. And as they did this, they would remember their great God and how he's on their side as they labored up the hill, even though they're not free. And the singing of this psalm, this truth, didn't stop with those early pilgrims, did it? As I mentioned, the people of God have sung this for 2,000 years. The early church fathers sung this song as the threat of death came on them from religious groups and some governments. The reformers sung this psalm as the bundle of wood was lit at the base of the stake. The Puritans sang this song that is the truth of God's word, even as they were fleeing from government persecutions. And we rejoice in this psalm today because we know that God's living and active word is unchanging, just as our majestic God is. And so David is writing this so we can have a continued awareness of the danger that is out there. He wants us to have a continued awareness of the gratitude we're to have, and he wants us to also have a continued awareness of what the future holds, so that we can trust in the fact that he's always on our side. And so, brother, sister, friend, do you know right in this very moment whether or not you're on the Lord's side and whether or not he's on your side? Can you say that confidently? If not, beg him. Beg him. He's merciful. If you are his, remember this. He is perpetually, forever on your side, no matter what's going on in your life. Even if he feels immensely far away right now. I know. Keep in there. Even if you feel as though he hasn't answered your prayers, even if the difficulties of this life are just weighing you down and just pulling you low. Make no mistake. If you are in Christ, the Lord has not backed away. He is always on your side. To emphasize this, I want you to hear of a great and historical deliverance that could have only come from the Lord as we reflect upon the Lord's gift of protection and provision for his people. Listen to this. Around 500 years before the time of Christ, there was a king who ruled with utter surety. His word was never to be questioned. He had a tenants that catered to his every whim. If he wanted grapes, he got grapes. If he wanted to be fanned, all he would do is make a motion or say a word. His word was to be completely obeyed at all times, or it meant death. This king had inherited a vast kingdom, and he himself had even expanded it. Didn't matter how many lives had to be lost in the attaining of just one more city for him to rule over. Well, this king who owned most of the, or ruled most of the known world at the time, had to have people around him he could trust. He couldn't be alone to rule in this way. He's a wise king. There'd be too many people out for their freedom and his position. So this king had one man that he placed his trust in, and he elevated him to a position over any other leader other than himself. But there's a problem. Once this man got to this position, he then saw it as a way to exact vengeance. He felt as though his people had been treated wrongly many years ago, and so he wanted to seek vengeance on the people he blamed. He wanted revenge. The Israelites would be his target. And since he had the power and the king's ear and a pretty convincing lying tongue, he was able to send out a decree that all of God's people, the Israelites, were all to be killed on a certain date. All it would and it would start with this one certain Israelite who refused the bowed in knee to him. This infuriated this man who's second to the king and caused him to do this wicked thing. So think about it. If you're the Israelites, okay, you're the Israelites, and you may have guessed the account I'm referring to by now, but if you were the Israelites and all the people in a kingdom for hundreds of miles in each direction were told to kill any Israelite they see on a certain day. Meaning there's nowhere for you to hide. What would you do? A death sentence has been handed down for a whole race of people, and you're of that race. What do you do? According to David in Psalm 124, you trust God. Why? He's on my side. Mordecai, one of the king's subjects and servants who had earned a spot earlier for saving the king from a couple of assassins. He convinced the king's wife, the queen, of course, that's Esther, who just happened to be an Israelite to go before the king and save her people. Now let me tell you, this could have been a death sentence for her. No one goes before the king without being summoned, not even his wife. But the Lord was on her side. As she approaches the king, he holds out his scepter and he receives her. And he tells her to ask for almost anything she wishes. Well, as this historical account goes on, we see that the tables are turned on Haman, that evil man who was second to the king. And let me tell you, if you're one of God's people and he is on your side, it usually isn't just that you're barely saved by the skin of your teeth by God, right? He goes so much further for the sake of his own glory. This man Haman, who wanted all the Israelites killed and specifically to have Mordecai publicly hanged, was stopped dead in his tracks. And get this, he was hanged by the very gallows that he had built in order to hang Mordecai from, and the people were saved. Brothers and sisters, there are countless biblical accounts just like this. Like Joseph, son of Jacob, Elijah on Mount Carmel, Jesus in the resurrection, or even all the way down through church history. If the Lord is on your side, you have nothing to fear. The snare of eternal death around you is broken. There's nothing on the earth that can defeat you nor enslave you, not even Satan himself. I mean, that devouring lion that prowls around cannot and will not be able to devour us if we're in Christ. God will always deliver you at precisely the right time, even if it doesn't seem that way. Think about it. Did Joseph always feel as though the Lord was fighting for him? As he's in the pit? As he's sold by his brothers, as he's jailed? Did Elijah always trust the Lord is fighting for him? No. He fled hundreds of miles away from his responsibilities as the Lord's prophet. Did the Israelites living under Haman's decree think that the Lord was fighting for them all the time? Think about that. You're an Israelite, you hear this decree go out, I got, you know, however many days, and then on this certain date, all my neighbors are going to come lynching me. Did they go, it's alright? I'm good. God will take care of it, no problem. I kind of doubt it. I don't know. It may not seem like he's fighting for you right now in this difficult moment, Christian. But I can assure you that he is. Not because I just want to smile big and say nice things, slick back my hair. But his word assures us that. He is. That's what we have to cling to. And please know this. In our comfort-driven culture, please know that even if he doesn't seem to protect you physically or even emotionally, even if it seems as though he has stopped fighting for you because you're sick or even dying, then reflect on the cross. And know, as you do, that the Lord is fighting for you perfectly as he's calling you home to be by his side. He is a warrior who fights for his people. Jesus is always on offense, never on defense. Even on the cross, he was attacking the root of sin and death for his people, even as he gave up his own life. He went to battle for us and he always will. Our help is truly in the name of the Lord, the name revealed to us, the name that is precious to us. In that name we have victory. Blessed be the name of the Lord. One final note as we finish today. I briefly mentioned the feast of Puram. Do you know what that feast is? As I've said, the Israelites would pilgrimage to Jerusalem, climbing the hill to the city, singing Psalm 124 and others to celebrate feasts like Purim. Puram was a celebration to commemorate their deliverance from the schemes of a man named Haman. The man who wanted to kill all the Israelites that we just discussed. You see, what those feasts represent is the proof that the Lord is on the side of his people. That's why they're singing those up the hill. As they went to partake of that feast, they would have undoubtedly been singing Psalm 124. How about you? Do you sing Psalm 124 or things like it? Do you remind yourself of the beauty of the Lord's grace to you as he's on your side? Even closer to our generation, something wonderful happened in London about eight decades ago. Sudden, this is a true story. Sudden and spontaneous singing of Psalm 124 occurred in the English Parliament. That's their Congress, so to speak, okay? That's their law-making branch of politicians. Okay, forget what you know about London right now. Eight decades ago, Psalm 124 was just robustly sung by pretty much all in attendance spontaneously at the end of World War II and after Holland's liberation from the Nazis in 1945. Now, if that can take place in a governmental place like that, let this be our song. Let it be the song of the Christian. When trows are upon us, or when victory is made clear to us by the hand of the Lord. Why?

unknown 47:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Because he's on our side. No matter what's going on in your life, dear Christian, I encourage you to live a life of holy gratitude, knowing that heaven is the reward of having Christ on your side. Be still, my soul. The Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend. Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Father, we thank you for the truth of your word to us this morning. We thank you that as we worship right now, we know confidently that you are with us and that you are on our side. We do not deserve this. We do not earn this. It is by your grace alone. And we thank you for it. Father, be glorified in our worship. As we recall to mind the great and magnificent mercy of the King. And as we come before the table, the communion table, recall to mind how you are so prevalently on our side in it all. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.