Wednesday Evening Bible Study | 9-15-21

[Music] praise the lord everybody once more and again let's thank the lord for all that he's done for us for if it had not been for his goodness and his mercy tell me where would we be if it had not been for the lord who was on my side tell me where would i be [Music] where would i be if he had not paid for the lord who was on my side tell me where would i be i wanna know where would i be kept my enemies away he let the sun shine through a cloudy day oh when he rocked me in the cradle of his arms when he knew i had been battered by the storm before [Music] the lord who was on my side tell me where would i be [Music] he let the sun shine through a cloudy day and he rocked me in the cradle of his arms oh when he knew [Music] for the lord who was on my side tell me where would i be i wanna know where would i be tell me where would i be where would i be [Music] sure words have seldom been spoken we're so grateful that the lord who is our god is on our side and it's for us and it's taking care of us watching over us looking after us and we thank that kiana today for ministering to us with that beautiful voice of hers thank you ma'am for blessing us as we begin bible study this wednesday to god be the glory for the awesome things that god continues to do in each one of our lives we're certainly grateful that we have the opportunity to gather for this midweek experience yet again to share in the experience of bible study as we look into the word of god and seek to know god's will for us god's way for us and seek to understand god's word as it applies to our lives i want to thank brother philip jones for accompanying dr kiana today she uh always blesses us in song and usually our ministry of music accompanies her but today philip jones a phenomenal pianist even a jazz pianist who has recorded many piano presentations he shares with us every now and then here at wheeler and he has blessed us by accompanying dr kiana williams today and we thank him so much for that joe was on the instrument today we thank god for him as he ministers to us uh even through the accompaniment that we hear at this moment at this moment i want to pray now as we begin bible study this wednesday i want us to focus our attention again on these songs of ascents or songs of ascents and as we remember psalm to 134 as we focus on them on those psalms throughout these weeks i want us to now uh focus our attention on this god who is on our side let's pray together pray god we love you and praise you for who you are and for all that you mean to us we thank you on this wednesday that you have given to us the gift of life presence of mind to log on to a bible study experience we might have a greater appreciation and understanding of your word today we're grateful that we have the privilege being known by you and knowing you today we're grateful that we have the opportunity to come boldly to you to make requests of you we come to you thanking you for who you are and for all that you have done for us for all that you mean to us this wednesday we're so grateful that we have the opportunity to once again look into the word of god and so we ask in the name of jesus that you'll draw in our wandering thoughts our roaming attentions let us not be distracted focus us i pray on that which you want us to hear and which you want us to know for such a time as this center us now so that we might leave bible study better than the way we came you'll have a greater appreciation understanding of your word at the end of this hour than we did when this hour began we thank you so much that you are a great god who reveals your will and way unto us through your word so help us we pray understand to have revealed to us that which you would want for us in this season of our lives for such a time as this and we give you great praise because you're a great god and we thank you that this word will find a resting place in our hearts and we will be the better as a consequence of bible study today it's in the strong and precious name of the lord jesus we prayed this prayer with great thanksgiving and expectation and all of god's people together said amen amen amen amen god bless you to god be the glory for the wonderful privilege that we have to look into the word of god today the songs of ascents um we have looked already both on sundays and wednesdays at four powerful passages of scripture uh that have with two uh three powerful passages of scripture that have helped us uh to gain an understanding or even appreciation for what these pious pilgrims would sing or say as they were making their way to worship heading up to the holy city of jerusalem songs of ascents they're moving upward i mentioned to you on multiple occasions that ascents literally means steps and so while these saints while these pilgrims while these worshipers are taking steps toward the house of god they are using their voices to give glory to god give adulation to god and sometimes make requests of god as they make their way to the house of god and so we looked at psalm 121 last week and we're going to refer to it in just a few minutes but today i want to draw draw our attention to that passage of scripture out of which that song that nakhyana has sung has come psalm 124 psalm 124 is our focus for today and as we look at psalm 124 we recognize uh these familiar words because we sing them over and over again oftentimes we sing songs in church and we don't always know that those songs have come straight from the scriptures but such is the case with the song that has been sung today and i hope you were singing right along with dr williams and as we look at the word of god today in psalm 124 we will see how the creativity of that songwriter has come straight from the words of psalm 124. i'm going to read it for you from the king james version and as i read it from the king james version listen to the word of god and receive it for your life 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 prey as a prey to their teeth our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the founders the snare is broken and we are escaped our help is in the name of the lord who made heaven and earth amen praise god psalm 124 eight verses now i've mentioned to you likewise said in this past sunday that the songs of ascents or these psalms are usually very short in nature so this is probably one of the longer ones there are a couple more that are longer but this is one of the longer songs in our sense with eight verses comprising it and i want us to look at it because it seems to me as we look at these words that these individuals who are taking steps toward the holy city of israel understand that god has been their protector that god has been the shield for them god has been this refuge for them the ascents the ascents they're making their way up i want to call this this lesson today a song between sundays a song between sundays when we deal with the sunday experience usually before you know before the pandemic we took great joy in coming to the house of the lord and celebrating the goodness of god and recognizing that we had come through some circumstances in the past seven six or seven days that had challenged us that it perhaps overwhelmed us that had had demoralized us had drained us and depleted us and then we had to deal with the reality that the next six days monday through saturday after that sunday experience was going to be another one of those grueling weeks some people come to church knowing that when they go to work on monday they've got to deal with some deleterious situation they've got to go through some burdensome circumstance and between sundays can be difficult between celebrations can be arduous can be frustrating can be can be bring within lamentation and so these individuals as they're headed to the lord's house are singing now there their worship day was saturday that's their sabbath but as we as christians understand our worship day to be sunday every now and then we have to have this song that lifts us up that reminds us of what god has done for us reminds us of the ways god has made for us i submit that every saint ought to have a song yes you ought to have a go-to song you ought to have that song that just lingers in your heart and you have it whenever you need it you can pull it up whenever it is necessary for some it is one of the great hymns of the church whichever your hymn may be your favorite hymn for others is a great song of praise and worship whatever your praise and worship song is i don't want us to think now about the more secular songs i want us to think of the religious songs a lot of us can think about our favor so oh that's my song when it comes to uh those secular songs but i think i want us to remember that we need to have a song that speaks to us of the goodness and grandeur and glory of god maybe in some gospel song you heard the choir sing and it just keeps coming up in your spirit you can't let it go but i submit that all of us ought have our song and these pious pilgrims these saints who make their way to the holy city are taking steps and while they're stepping they're singing they're stepping and singing simultaneously because they recognize that god has been good all right now gotta remember what a sense meant a sense would like at one in the same time had four meanings we've learned this over the last couple of weeks one was the music that went up in pitch you remember that music that went up in pitch as sense was to sing that song that went up in pitch you remember but leon helped us last week to understand that as we were singing together at the top of our lesson we're marching to zion and then we took a step up a half step up and we kept singing we're marching design then we took a whole step up they understood this pitch this singing in pitch to be a that which would which would rise up and they would go higher and higher and higher as they sang their song unto the lord in addition to the song being that attention to a sense meaning that which was music that was ascending that went up in pitch we understood likewise that they would sing on the steps of the temple that before they got into the house of the lord they would sing right there in on the steps of the temple to celebrate the goodness of god and to anticipate the experience of worship that they were about to enjoy and engage they understood that it was necessary to get to the house and stand on the steps of the house to breathe and to sing and to celebrate the fact that they had made it to the house of the lord and so they sang on the steps of the temple but likewise this was that sense likewise meant that there were steps of the hebrews as they returned from captivity as they returned from captivity they were singing and when we look at psalm 124 we should be thinking about these israelites who have returned from captivity 70 years in babylonian captivity 70 years under the cruel task master known as nebuchadnezzar and all of those whom he put in place to keep the people in bondage remember these are singing people remember these are celebrating people but while they were in captivity it seemed as if their song was robbed from them was stripped from them that's why in psalm 137 it's not a psalm of a sin but i want to read it to you just so you'll understand how significant it was for them to sing and then while in captivity feel like they were unable to sing psalm 137 i've recited it many times in your hearing but i want you to hear it again as we look at these songs of ascent today psalm 137 verse 1 by the rivers of babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembered zion we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof for there they ca they that carried us away captive listen required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying sing us one of the songs of zion these are singing people celebrating people they responded the people of israel responded like this verse 4 how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land if i forget the o jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning if i do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if i prefer not jerusalem above my chief joy they want to get to the house they want to get to the holy city they want to get to the place where they can experience god all the more remember o lord the children of edom in the day of jerusalem who said raise it raise it even to the foundation thereof oh daughter of babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us they're literally saying to god god we want you to get our captors back just like they got us we want you to take them out like they have robbed us from our homeland then they close in verse 9 happy shall he be he that taketh and dashes the little ones against the stone one of the roughest verses in all of the scriptures especially all of the psalms because they're literally asking for the demise of their captors children now we don't like that kind of language and we shouldn't because we're not those kinds of people who want the demise of our enemies children but it speaks to the pathos it speaks to the experience of what captivity did to them it speaks to the pain the hurt of what captivity did to them and they speak out of their pain they speak out of their heart i've told you over and over again i love the psalms because it speaks to us about the entirety the breath of human emotion everything we humans encounter endure much of it is written for us in the psalms the highs of life and the lows of life the joys of life and the sorrows of life right if you're talking about a song you you understand joy and pain it's like sunshine okay i said keep a church song my phone joy and pain like sunshine and red and so all of the emotions of life are written to for us in the psalms and so when you think about these israelite people and the captivity that they are enduring psalm 137 reminds us that they who were always singing have been robbed of their song they feel as if they have nothing to sing about they feel as if they have nothing to celebrate and the bible helps us to understand that they told their captors how in the world you think we're going to sing us the lord's song in a strange land but we all have to i submit keep our song and sometimes that song has to be sung between sundays and as you're making your way back these captive captives are coming out of captivity and they are all singing together now the fourth thing about a sense is that it is the steps of the pilgrims singing on their way to worship and what we see in psalm 124 as we get back to it is that these pilgrims are all singing together they're on their way to worship and they're singing together we're going to look at it in just a moment we look at the context of this psalm but they are beginning to sing together catch now the songs of our sense music that goes up in pitch we did that last week the songs of the saints that sung on the temple steps we understand that when they get to the lord's house after the exasperating and exaggerate and and exhausting week that they have had or the times they have been away from the temple they sing right there on the steps of the temple then they're also singing because they're coming out of captivity as they take their steps out of captivity and then they're singing as they make their way to worship that's what i want us to think about those last two i want us to think about those last two during this this study today if it had not been the lord who was on our side now may israel say what one will look for a moment at the context of psalm 124 the context of psalm 124 but to understand it you must see the songs of ascents as a collective as a collective if i were to have started at 1 20 you will hear how out of distress the psalmist sings out of distress the psalmist cried unto the lord out of distress the psalmist made inquiry of the lord and the lord heard him all right psalm 121 is what we dealt with last week remember i will lift up my eyes to the heels where does my help come from my help comes from the lord who made heaven and earth it is an individual song one individual who is calling back out to another individual so it is very individualistic psalm of one individual who understands that his help comes from the lord the maker of heaven and earth and then the priest or someone at the temple speaks back to that individual and says the lord is your keeper the lord is your shade upon your right hand the sun will not smite thee by day nor the moon by night the lord will preserve you from all evil the lord will preserve your soul the lord will preserve your going out and you're coming in from this time forth even forevermore psalm 121 reminds us of the protection of god was that our lesson last week it was the call and response of god's providential protection of providential protection and when you look at psalm 124 it should be thought of in light of psalm 121 because the themes are the same the protection of god the protection of god is consistently revealed and it is not just in psalm 121 but likewise in psalm 123 you will recall that on the first sunday of this month we looked at psalm 123 it is intentional that we are looking at these psalms in this kind of clustering i know we're going out of order and you got to try to keep up with me but it is intentional because when you look at psalms 121 and 123 they kind of lead us towards psalm 124 psalm 123 reminds us of the look up again of psalm 121. remember i lift it unto thee i lift up my eyes says 123 oh thou that dwellest in the heavens i understand you are the one who knows how to have mercy on me so the request is made have mercy on us o god have mercy on us o lord have mercy our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease he's talking about captors talking about those babylonians who are scorning them reviling them constantly beating up against them and now when you get to psalm 124 it is as if they are coming out of that pain out of that pathos out of that frustrating reality and now they can testify about what the lord has done and who the lord has been for them here it is if it had not been the lord who was on our side now may israel say this is no longer an individual song or individual as psalmer that's sent it is a communal one this is everybody coming together to celebrate the goodness of the lord everybody's coming together so the original speaker of psalm 124 verse 1 says if it had not been the lord who was on our side communal celebration and then he says everybody ought to sing it together now may israel say everybody ought to testify to this because this is a communal celebration this is a communal thanksgiving god's been good to all of us god's been good to all of us and so he calls the entire community to celebrate the goodness of god he does not want anyone to feel left out when we gather for worship and we're on our way back to the lord's church when we gather for worship we will be able as a community to say if it had not been the lord who was on our side when we gather together as a community we'll all be able to say it together that's why verse 2 repeats the refrain if it had not been the lord on our side now don't miss this because when you understand the content or the context of the sit of the psalm you will see that this is a refrain that has been repeated in multiple psalms you'll remember i've said to you before that there are several recurring refrains or themes that move through the entirety of the psalter the psalter is the collection of psalms 1 through 150. the psalter has a recurring refrain over and over again you'll hear some of the same things this one psalmist borrows from another or the psalmist will repeat what the psalmist said in one psalm in another psalm let's look at it psalm 94 psalm 94 psalm 94 i want to read just verse 17 of psalm 94. let's see if we've heard this this kind of refrain before here it is unless the lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence the imagery is that there would have been death for the psalmist had the lord not been on the psalmist's side had the lord not been there to help the psalmist out he would have just gone on to his death that's psalm 94 verse 17. let's look at psalm 118 and verse 6 psalm 118 verse 6 and you'll see the same refrain i wish i could read all of psalm 118 it's such a powerful song we love it i love it but in psalm 118 verse 6 the psalmist says the lord is on my side you see it i will not fear what can man do unto me the lord is on my side i will not fear what can man do to me now listen again to psalm 124 verses 1 and 2 if it had not been the lord who was on our side now may israel save it had not been the lord who was on our side when men rose up against us psalm 118 says what can man do to me i've got the lord on my side the lord takes my part the lord is with me remember now what these israelites have always understood was that they were the apple of god's eye they knew they were god's chosen people they had to go through a hard season a rough season where they didn't even feel like singing but they always knew that they had a god who had chosen them as his very own and so when they when they underst when we understand the context of psalm 124 when we were connected to psalm 120 and 121 and 123 we understand that when these israelites all come together they are doing nothing but testifying and having a praise party about what god has done as they are making their way to corporate worship while they're making their way to corporate worship they are testifying lord have mercy if it hadn't been the lord between sundays keeping me if it hadn't been the lord since the last time we worshiped holding me together if it hadn't been the lord holding my mind and holding my tongue while i was dealing with these frustrating realities and individuals i don't know what would have happened all right don't know how things would have gone now we look at the context i want us to take a gander at the syntax i want us to look at how the psalmist puts these words together i'm going to slowly again read the psalm so you can see how the psalmist has put the words of the psalm together 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 people 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 hold up watch that watch what happens here he starts verses one and two with if it had if it had not been the lord who was on our side if it had not been the lord who was on our side verses three four and five all begin with the word then if it hadn't been for the lord then this would have happened and then that would have happened and then the other would have happened but because the lord was on our side we did not have to experience this watch in the midst of the harsh reality of our lives they're going through it they've been in captivity they can't deny that they can't deny the existential reality that life had been tough that life had been rough that the circumstance was not something that they would have wanted to deal with they can't deny that they've been in a pandemic for nearly 19 months they can't deny that loved ones have died they can't deny that a virus is in the world we cannot deny that all the harsh realities of life are all around us we can't deny that we were in danger and some of us were very very nervous uh monday night when the storm came through of this region of our of our world we can't deny that reality but if it hadn't been the lord who was for us hadn't been the lord who was on our side hadn't been the lord who was with us then this would have happened and then that could have happened and then this might have taken us out but we had the lord on our side all right so it is all about how god has protected how god has provided between sundays between worship days between the last time the saints got together they are reflecting and rehearsing the great grace and the mercy and the favor the kindness the love of the lord that has been displayed in their lives now what what most scholars suggest is that that first line of verses one and two should read something like this if god had not been for us if god had not been for us when you read it from that perspective and then you read verses 3 4 5 that starts with then this would have happened then that would have happened then the other would have happened the hebrew writer the hebrew understood hebrews understood this to have been written in this syntax if god had not been for us understanding by that very statement that their reality reveals that god has been for us that's the good news of the text that no matter how rough and ragged the circumstances have been god had been for us for the community god was with us god was providing for us god was making ways for us we've been testifying over these last months of how god has blessed our church in the midst of the burden of this pandemic we've been talking about how god has prospered us in the midst of the peril of this pandemic we came to a church meeting a few weeks ago and all we had was good news except that we're in a pandemic because god has been for us if god had not been for us then this would have happened and that would have happened and the other would have happened could have happened could have taken us out but god has been for us and that's good news every single day of the week and between sundays we can look at our life circumstances and say we had to deal with that there was this diagnosis we had to deal with this it was this pain in the body we had to deal with this this financial distress we had to deal with this this family issue we had to deal with this this job circumstance but god has been for us all right and we always have to remember that god is for us i want to read this from dr eugene peterson's message translation i want to read just those first of five verses listen to how he puts it if god hadn't been for us all together now israel sing out if god hadn't been for us when everyone went against us we would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger swept away by the flood of rage drowned in the torrent we would have lost our lives in the wild raging waters if god hadn't been for us all of this madness would have happened to us but the good news is god has been for us god has been on our side that syntax is necessary to appreciate all the poetic injections into this psalm these eight verses these eight verses are injected with poetic wonder with with the beauty of poetry that's why we read the psalms most of the time from the king james version because of their poetic nature now listen when you listen to the syntax then you have a greater appreciation for what is next and that is the imagery in the psalm and there is much imagery in the psalm it is not just a song if it had nothing that's not just what psalm 124 is about that's a beautiful uh uh a takeaway from the psalm but you've got to read how this psalmist thinks of the captors the enemy those who tried to defeat them only problem was they had god on their side only issue only only challenge was the enemy could not beat god because god was on their side listen to the imagery that is given to us in verses three through seven then they meaning the enemy 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 has not given us as prey to their teeth this is the imagery our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped as you catch the imagery listen to the imagery again we've got the imagery of those who would have swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us we have the imagery of waters overwhelming us and going over our souls verse six we have the imagery as of us being as prey to their teeth and then we have the imagery as our soul escaping as a bird out of the snare of the fowler listen to how the psalmist describes the challenges of the captors the challenges of captivity they describe first of all the enemy as ferocious the enemy has ferocious now you got to catch this because what happens when they describe the enemy as ferocious is the projections of all of our fears and all of us have fears all of us have these hang-ups in life and we have something that is a phobia for us and what the what the enemy is projected as what the enemy is portrayed as the imagery of the enemy is that this is the one that that is that is the sum total of all of our fears it is the construction of all that might hurt us the enemy is perceived as total evil yeah it's the evil that comes into life and between sundays we have these fears that consume us don't we between sundays we have con this construction of the things that might hurt us driving just driving in the car and car accident happens out of nowhere just dealing with rough realities of life that this pain shows up this morning that i didn't have last evening and all of these these evils around us the evil of racism and sexism and classism and ageism all these evils are around us and the enemy is portrayed as this ferocious one who swallows us up it's almost like of the leviathan or the sea monster that swallows us up alive and swallows us up whole it is the picture of the dragon we know dragons are not real but there's that perception in our minds that this dragon can swallow us up can take us out total evil and what the psalmist portrays for us when they think about the protection of god the keeping power of god from 121 god is a keeper god is the keeper god is the one who helps us 124 and god is the one who holds on to us that is the one to whom we can look according to 123 that god has kept us from the enemy that could have swallowed us up the ferocious enemy so when we see in verse 3 the enemy is portrayed what we see in verse 3 is that the enemy is portrayed as that which is ferocious this is some imagery that has been used over and over again for these captors while in captivity turn to jeremiah chapter 51 jeremiah 51 there's always so much more behind the scenes of a psalm or behind the scene of a text that we always have to unpack to get his full to have a full appreciation for all that is going on psalm 51 i'm sorry isaiah 51 i'm sorry jeremiah chapter 51 verse 34 and then i'll also read verse 35. listen to the imagery see if you can catch it the same imagery that is in psalm 124 nebuchadnezzar have you heard that name the king of babylon had devoured me hath devoured me he hath crushed me he hath made me an empty vessel he have swallowed me up like a dragon he have filled his belly with my delicacies he has cast me out the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon babylon they're asking god to get them back that's the humanity the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon babylon shall the inhabitant of zion say and my blood upon the inhabitants of chaldea shall jerusalem say these are they who are saying now that their captor who is nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon has devoured them he's seen as ferocious he is seen as the projection of all of our fears the one who is total evil the one who only seeks to hurt us and jeremiah 50 51 talks about the same people that psalm 124 is is talking about and when you understand the imagery of the in the enemy as ferocious then in the very next verse we understand the enemy as flood the enemy as flood listen again to verse four and five verses four and five then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul then the proud waters had gone over our soul the enemy is seen as flood what is flood sudden disaster sudden disaster that that i'm flooded out and we've seen this all too often in these last several weeks haven't we as a her as a consequence of hurricane ida we've seen persons flooded out we were nervous many of us because monday the the report was we could have been flooded out as a consequence of nicholas coming through uh this way and when the psalmist writes in verses four and five the whole picture is the water overwhelming this one the water overweight listen to how it how it goes the stream verse 4 last part of it had gone over our soul the proud waters had gone over our soul don't miss that over our soul nephesh is the word for soul and nephesh literally means the breathing part of an individual some of you heard me have heard me teach this before the breathing part of the individual and what the psalmist is saying is that these waters could have taken my breath could have snuffed me out sudden disaster an immediate taking of of everything that is the life that is within me that which gives me life and productivity and positivity that which keeps me going right and the psalmist says if it hadn't been the lord who was on my side my enemy the captor nebuchadnezzar all those in babylon could have snuffed out my life what god was for us god was with us he could have taken us out but the lord would not let it be he would not allow it to go down like this and you will recognize in this in the prophets of prophecies of jeremiah and isaiah that these continual reflections and imageries are given to us just as we saw the enemy as ferocious in in jeremiah chapter 51 we see the enemy as flood in isaiah chapter 43. let's go there isaiah chapter 43 isaiah chapter 43 let's look at what the word of god says in verses 1 and 2. i read verse 1 simply because it's a beautiful verse and then verse 2 is the key verse verse 1 but now thus saith the lord that created thee o jacob and he that formed thee o israel god's people fear not for i have redeemed thee i got you back i got you back i didn't let the enemy take you out i got you back i have called thee by name why thou art mine hallelujah here's verse 2 when thou passest through the waters i will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walketh through the fire thou shall not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee verse 3 for i am the lord thy god the holy one of israel thy savior i gave egypt for thy ransom ethiopia and sheba for thee if i had time i deal with those those african nations there but i don't have the time to deal with that but he says listen i understand that what you were going through felt like going through the waters passing through the flood passing through the rivers but i want you to know that even while you're going through them god is speaking to the same people as psalm 124 represents even while you're going through them that flood that water that river will not overtake you when you pass through the waters they shall not overtake you you will not experience that sudden disaster that flood can bring upon people all right you will not have to experience that because i am your god i am with you if it hadn't been the lord on our side we could have experienced sudden disaster if it hadn't been the lord on our side the enemy would have been like a flood taking us over if it hadn't been the lord who was on our side the enemy would have been so ferocious in our situation that the enemy's ferocity would have taken us out completely swallowed us up whole but the graciousness of our god was upon each and every one of us look at the imagery the enemy enemy as flood the enemy as as as as ferocious but now look at the people as prey listen how the psalmist provides information as to how the people would feel blessed be the lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth they were trying to come at us with their ferocity but the lord would not let us be prey we're still the proud people of god we're the people of god god is our god god is for us god is on our side god is our help god is our protector and he would not let us be pray in their teeth oh bless his name but also the imagery is the people as prisoner the very next verse uses the imagery as the people of the people as prisoner look at how the text describes um the people of god our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers as the snare is broken and we are escaped look god has given to them the opportunity to experience the reality that um they were not held so tightly by the enemy that god wouldn't let them get away all right the picture is them as a bird in this trap that has been set by fowlers those who would trap birds those who would trap animals and the god who is with them the god who is for them would not let them be like trapped birds now this is interesting because they've had to endure the entirety of the season of captivity but god still and when they get on the other side of it between when they get when they start testifying when they're making their way to church he said god didn't let us stay stuck we had to endure a season of stuckness but god didn't let us stay stuck oh child of god when you look at your life like that when you reflect upon your life i know that when you're in it you feel like psalm 137 you want god to get them you want god to make sure that their children get got you want everything that can possibly be heaped upon your enemy but when you come on the other side of it you ought to have a disposition transition you ought to have a transition in your disposition that literally says god got me out god got me out i don't have time to deal with the enemies now god got me out i don't have time to be consistently ruminating on what happened yesterday and last year and last month god got us out god got me out and so when you come to the conclusion of psalm 124 verses 6 7 and 8 what is happening in verses 6 7 and 8 is simply the climax of the psalm the climax of the psalm in verses 6 7 and 8 give to us a picture of celebration liberation and dedication i'm gonna deal with it individually so you don't have to put all on the screen at one time but the climax of the psalm begins with celebration and then talks about liberation we just talk a little bit about that i'm just gonna review it and then dedication look at the celebration that the psalmists uh are using in verse six when they recognize that the lord had been on their side and human beings couldn't do anything to them they tried to swallow them up couldn't they tried to overtake them take their life out suddenly but couldn't they try to do all this stuff to them and couldn't because god was on their side verse 6 says blessed be the lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth bless me here is the celebration when you are on the other side of that situation that almost took you out that you thought you never get liberated from your song ought to be a song of celebration when you're making your way to worship when you're coming back to church when you're headed into the house of the lord you ought to be celebrating the fact that god has been so good listen to the one line in psalm 124 verse 6 8 blessed be the lord blessed be the lord that right there speaks of the appreciation the thanksgiving that is within the psalmist's life and the entire community's life notice this is not just an individual song this is everybody singing together and everybody says blessed be the lord oh bless his holy name bless his high name bless his wonderful name bless his worthy name everybody sings blessed be the lord and all of us together church family have the opportunity even the responsibility when we get to the place where we recognize what god has done for us how god has helped us how god has kept us our recurring refrain as an entire community ought to be blessed be the lord blessed be the lord all of us should be singing that song of celebration together why because of the liberation that god has given i mentioned to you that they used to be the bird that was caught in the fowler's trap but god wouldn't let it be so they used to be stuck in a place where it seemed as if they were they would pray in the teeth of their captors but god said not so look at the liberation that they all have whenever god has freed you from some situation that has held you captive had you bound you ought thank god that god is a god of emancipation liberation right we're able to fast forward to the new testament we remind ourselves over and over again that the reason jesus came into the world was to liberate us and whom the son sets free come on it's free indeed the liberation that god gives to us shall should never be overlooked never be thought of as some trite or some unnecessary thing it is a powerful expression of the god who is for us who is on our side the god who is helping us the god who is holding us let me close now when i tell you not simply about celebration and liberation but i love verse 8 because verse 8 is a picture of dedication of dedication here it is this sums up the entirety of the journey of these israelite people as they are making their way to the holy city of jerusalem and they have come out of captivity they're stepping making steps toward the place where they can as a community celebrate god glorify god magnify god worship god here's what they say our help is in the name of the lord who made heaven and earth now that may seem like just a nice conclusion to the psalm but you've got to unpack the dedication that is there our help is in the name of the lord you have told you've been taught over and over again church haven't you that name and nature is synonymous in scripture that there's a sin there there's this this commitment to name and nature being congruent one with another and they're saying that this god of ours who has helped us who has liberated us who has pulled us out who has been on our side his name has helped us his nature is that he's liberator his nature is that he is save your protector you heard me read in isaiah chapter 43 that god says i am the lord your god i'm your savior i'm the one who is for you the one who can help you when no one else can help you when nothing else can help you and what we see here is the dedication of god to always be whom god always has been all right god is who god is and is and will always be who god has been we recognize that in in malachi chapter 3 god says i am the lord i change not and i'm committed to you my people i'm dedicated to you remember now these are god's chosen people god has stamped them as his people the people of promise the people to whom he has committed the people to whom he is connected and even though they had to go through captivity that did not change god's god-ness in their circumstance that god has always been god church hear me just because we go through these rough realities does not mean that god is not for us does not mean that god is not on our side it could mean that god is teaching us it could mean that god is growing us that god is developing us that god is maturing us and some of the circumstances in life that we want to throw back into the face of god is god saying no no no i got my hand on you you don't see it from this vantage point but when you get on the other side of it you'll be singing this song between sundays if it had not been the lord who was on my side you'll be singing this song of testify of to the nature of god despite the nature of your grievance right the nature of god has not shifted despite the nature of your grievousness and all of our grievances shift all of our grievances fluctuate one for one it's a sickness for another it's a son or daughter for another it's a spouse all of us have grievances all of us have but the nature of god is the same in every one of those situations the nature of god does not change and god is developing us because god is dedicated to us god is dedicated to us so you must see you must experience the dedication of god in this psalm and when you understand the dedication of god then you then you see that this god who is dedicated to you is not just the one who is involved in the affairs of human beings but it's the same god watch who made heaven and earth there's a reason why the psalmist uses this kind of language because he wants everybody in the community everybody who's singing to know we're talking about a powerful strong amazing creative god we're not just talking about some deity that does not have the ability or the authority to effectuate change in one's life he says we can sing this song because our god who helps us our god who's dedicated to us our god is the same god who made heaven and earth when you recognize god as that god when you recognize him as that big god and when you recognize god as the god who has created everything out of nothing the one who speaks and things change who speaks and things come to be who speaks and the reality is shifted when you think about that god come on genesis 1 this is the god who said let there be and it was this is the god who simply spoke and circumstances shifted and there's a reason why these psalmists these israelites choose to say that this is our god who made heaven and earth if he could make heaven and earth surely he can heal your body if he can make heaven and earth surely he can pay your bills if he can make heaven and earth with a word surely he can rescue your sons and daughters if he can make heaven and earth through his word surely he can bring a pandemic to its termination if he can make heaven and earth surely he can bring us back to the place where we want to worship him if he can make heaven and earth there is absolutely nothing he cannot do god is dedicated to us and we have to remember over and over again and we have to rehearse over and over again who this god is and we have to do it in community notice they are all singing together when that psalmist in verse 1 says if it had not been the lord who was on our side he says let everybody sing it together let everybody shout it together let everybody rehearse it together you remember that song this new new praise and verse isn't that really new anymore how great is our god then the next line is sing with me how great is our god we want everybody to sing it all we'll see how great how great is our god this song of community this song that is sung between sundays for us christian worshipers this song reminds us that god is for us that god is on our side that god is our help that god is our protection that god is our provider and so we sing with joy if it had not been for the lord on our side where would we be where would we be oh we can appreciate the creativity of this psalmist now because this psalmist is reminding us that he kept our enemies away even when they were right upon us they were still held at bay that's why i like psalm 27 it says the lord lifts my head up above my enemies round about they're right there but i still got the upper hand i still have the opportunity to be held in a place where although they're trying they still can't get at me they're right here but they cannot overpower me he kept my enemies away he let the sun shine through a cloudy day oh my friends have you ever seen the sun just peek through the clouds and give you that glimmer of hope that you needed just in the nick of time he kept my enemies away he let the sun shine through a cloud of day he rocked me in the cradle of his arm oh my goodness when you thought you had no one to hold on to you no one to keep you no one to bless you the lord held on to you and rocked you in the cradle of his arms oh what a beautiful picture that's to the person who has to deal with the fact that loved one has gone on and you thought you wouldn't be able to live without that loved one and the lord holds you and rocks you that's for that one who is lonely and feels as if no one in the world cares no one in the world is anywhere around to assist them the lord rocks you in the cradle of his arm when you when he knew you had been battered by the storm oh oh i wish i had you on a sunday to preach this thing because it reminds us that no matter what the torrent of life has brought to us no matter what the tumult of life has given to us god has been right there holding us helping us keeping us protecting us and when you recognize that you can testify with the psalmist come on everybody let's sing it together if it had not been the lord on our side where would i be where would i be i'm glad i don't have to know it i'm glad i don't have to have the answer to that because the truth of the matter is that throughout all my life's journey the lord has been on my side not just me alone all our life journey the lord has been on our side so go ahead and keep singing now keep singing your song between sundays so that when we get together all sunday we'll all sing together and celebrate the goodness of our god the lord bless you and keep you lord make his face to shine upon you the lord lift the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace henceforth now and forever in jesus name amen now tell me where would i be [Music]

Channel: Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church

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Id: PlV3JpS8_bE

Length: 59min 3sec (3543 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021