Our Security in The Lord

 Temple Baptist Church - 12-29-2024

Psalm 124

 

Introduction.

A.  Psalm 124 is another “Song of Degrees.”  A marching Psalm to be sung by God’s people while traveling to Jerusalem on the Feast Days (Exodus 23:14-17 Unleavened Bread - Feast of Harvest – Feast of Ingathering) when all males were to appear before God in Jerusalem.  These Psalms of Degrees were to encourage the people of God as the closer they got to Jerusalem, the more dangerous their plight.

 

B.  The Psalm is Davidic.  King David knew as much as anyone who ever lived about the spiritual side of warfare.  There is a physical side but there is also a spiritual side.  We have been in Deuteronomy for quite a while: the Second (Deuter) Law (onomy).  This was the last book of Moses and was a reiteration of the Law given to Moses on Mt. Sinia.  The reasons for the book were twofold:

 

1.  To make sure that this new generation that about to cross Jordan knew what God gave to Israel through the mediation of Moses.

 

2.  To teach Israel to learn to worship before they went to war.

 

3.  Look at the beginning of verse one.  “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side!”  

 

4.  Look at the beginning of verse two.  “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side!”

 

5.  May these verses press to our hearts the truth set forth in these two verses!

 

C.  Now, look at the last four words of verse one.  “NOW may Israel say!”  Not “Israel said” but “NOW may Israel say!”  An important truth is found here in the use of the present tense instead of the past tense.  Israel should have responded in the day of trouble instead of David responding in retrospect.

 

D.  Have you ever thought what it would be like if the LORD was not on our side? What a horrible scenario!  What if the LORD was not on our side?  Our position in war with our spiritual enemies would be deplorable.  The world has no idea of what the LORD means to the child of God.  That He is with us; that He is among us; that He is for us.

 

1.  He is there to assist us.

 

2.  He is there to support us.

 

3.  He is there to supply us.

 

4.  He is there to strengthen us.

 

5.  He is there to shelter us.

 

6.  He is there to settle us.

 

7.  He is there to secure us.

 

E.  With the LORD on our side, we have nothing to fear!  No one to be afraid of!  No mountain too high to climb!  No problem too complex to figure out!  No enemy or war too big to conquer!

 

Isaiah 59:19  So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

 

F.  He is our Friend.  He is our Captain.  He is our King. He is our High Priest.  He is our Intercessor.  He is our Advocate.  He is all that we need and everything that we are not! 

 

G.  This is what this Psalm is all about.  “NOW may Israel say!”

 

1.  It is important to know that the LORD is on our side in the present instead of seeing that He was on our side in retrospect!

 

2.  Someone once said that hindsight was 20/20, but I have found that often looking back still doesn’t get the right perspective.

 

H.  It is of the utmost importance that we have a right perspective of the protection of God before we begin to war.

 

1.  There is Positional Protection - 1 John 4:15-16  Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.  (16)  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 

 

Nothing can touch us without touching Him!

 

Colossians 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

 

2.  There is Personal Protection - 1 John 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

 

“Beloved, Now are we the sons of God!”

 

3.  There is Providential Protection - Romans 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 

 

Whatever comes is ordained or allow of God.

 

J.  What if God was not on our side when men rose up against us?  Verses 2-5:

 

1.  Verse 3.  They would have “swallowed us up quick!”  You and I would have no hope in this world without the LORD on our side.  The battle would be over in a heartbeat!

 

2.  Verse 4.  The waters would have overwhelmed us both physically (overwhelmed us) and spiritually (over our soul).

 

3.  Verse 5.  “The PROUD waters had gone over our soul.”  Doubt would turn into Discouragement and Discouragement into Defeat! 

 

4.  Without the LORD on our side, the Foundation of our Faith upon which all things are built would Fail! 

 

Psalms 11:3  If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

 

K.  BUT the LORD is on our side, “NOW may Israel say!”

 

1.  Verse 6.  “Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.”  God would not allow Satan’s crowd to take His children down!  When a shepherd boy named David faced the giant, Goliath:

 

1 Samuel 17:45-47  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.  (46)  This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.  (47)  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

 

2.  Verse 7.  “Our soul escaped … and we are escaped.”  Notice with me that the LORD allowed Israel to escape spiritual destruction as well as physical destruction.

 

Ephesians 6:10-12  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  (11)  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (12)  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

3.  Verse 8.  “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”  Virtually the same wording as Psalm 121, another “’Song of Degrees:”

 

Psalms 121:1-8  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.  (2)  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.  (3)  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  (4)  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  (5)  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.  (6)  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.  (7)  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.  (8)  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

 

L.  “If it had not been the LORD” is a sobering thought.  Where would we be tonight had not the LORD been there with us and on our side.  “Nevertheless I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” is a promise that our Lord Jesus Christ will certainly keep!

 

Hebrews 13:5-6  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  (6)  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

 

M.  Our strength is not in the “arm of flesh” but our strength in the Lord God and in the power of His might!

This One Thing I Do - Part 1

Temple Baptist Church - 12-29-2024

Philippians 3:12-15; John 19:19-22

 

Introduction: 

 

A.  Soon, 2024 will be written in the History Book! 

 

1.  2024 will be another year gone, never to be again. 

 

2.  2025 is a New Year.  While its pages are clean, its prospect is good because God will be on His throne ruling and we will be in His hand.  The old saying: “I know Who holds tomorrow and I know Who holds my hand!” 

 

3.  2025’s “pen” is filled with fresh ink and ready for us to begin writing.  I want to look at both aspects that we are facing:

 

4.  The Old Year that will soon be history and The New Year which will be history to be written.

B.  Our lives for 2024 will soon be a superscription written over us, a history written to be seen and read of men!  Facing the uncertainty with certainty should be the theme of the New Year.  None of us know what tomorrow will bring, so there is uncertainty concerning the New Year.

 

C.  When Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS,” he had it written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 

 

John 19:19-22  And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.  (20)  This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.  (21)  Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.  (22)  Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

 

D.  The chief priests wanted Pilate to change what he had written.  But, once Pilate had written it, it was already there for all to see and read and so it was.  Try to re-write it all you want, but all that you have written has been there for all to read.

 

E.  Whew!  I am glad to get this one behind me.  “What I Have Written I have written.”  The key word “I” is found twice in the phrase.  It is “I” that have written, not what someone said that I have written or have written about me.  The pages of 2024 will be filled, and the year closed.  Thank the Lord!!

 

1.  Most of our years are basically uneventful for the most part and we cannot even remember what we did during that year. 

 

2.  Other years are never to be forgotten ones, and this was one of them. 

 

a)  Barbara and I lost a sister and brother in one month. 

 

b)  Hurricane Helene literally “uprooted” our county and our property will never be the same. 

 

c)  But, thank God, an election was won by the right person and we see a glimmer of hope for America.

 

3.  Many of you have had a hard year also.  It was a year never to be forgotten and, the Lord willing, never to be repeated.

 

F.  Paul tells us several things that will help us to make 2025 a good year and a successful year.

 

Philippians 3:13-15  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  (14)  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (15)  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

 

1.  Forgetting those things which are behind.

 

2.  Reaching forth unto those things which are before.

 

3.  Let us therefore … be thus minded.

 

G.  I did not get everything that I wanted last year and probably will not get all that I want this year, but I will face this new year with the hope of God in my heart and my eyes upon Him.  Aren’t you glad that you do not know what you will face in 2025? 

 

H. The past can do one of two things:  it can either haunt you or it can help you!  Which one applies to you is your choice. I have often heard that history not studied is a history that may be repeated.  We need to make right choices this coming year to maintain both our Christian testimony and influence.

 

J.  This morning, we need to put last year in its proper perspective.  That perspective is this:  last year is history and we cannot change it.  I want to give you two things that will help you to face the New Year in the right way.  I will try to keep this as simple as possible.

 

1.  Put The Past In The Past! 

 

2.  Put The Future In The Present!

 

K.  Let us look at the first thing this morning.  Put the Past in the Past! Forgetting those things that you cannot change and changing the things that can be changed!

 

L.  In the Past we Find:

 

1. Past failures not to be repeated.  You blew it at times.  I blew it at times.  I was not always a good Christian this past year.  May the Lord help me to be a better Christian in 2025.

 

Psalms 51:7-13  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13  Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

 

2. Past victories not to be forgotten but placed in a proper perspective.  There were times when you were a good Christian last year.  You grew up in the Lord and were blessed and rewarded for it.

 

3. Forget your disappointments!  NO ONE gets everything that they want!  There were times when the enemy got the upper hand.  There were times when you had to do without some things.  There were times when you did not understand and probably still do not understand.  God never said to understand; He said to trust.

 

4.  Forget your hurt and forgive those who hurt you.  Hurt always turns to anger and anger to bitterness if not dealt with properly.  Forgiveness of our enemies is as much for our sake as it is for their sake.

 

Hebrews 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

 

Matthew 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

 

Be Thankful!

 

1. God was good to us this past year!  He will be good to us in the coming year.

 

Psalms 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

 

Lamentations 3:22-23  It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

 

2. God’s grace was sufficient this past year!  His grace will be sufficient in the coming year.

 

2 Corinthians 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

 

1 Peter 4:10  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

 

2 Corinthians 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

 

3. God’s strength was made perfect in our weakness last year!  His strength will be there in the coming year.

 

Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

 

Ephesians 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

 

4. God’s presence was with us last year!  He will be there this next year.

 

Hebrews 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  (This verse became a real reality to my family this past year!)

 

Isaiah 49:15  Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

 

5. God’s promises were made sure to us when we needed them last year!  We can rely upon them in the coming year.

 

2 Corinthians 1:20  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.  (You can rely upon God’s Word!)

 

6. Last year is history and next year will be history soon!  “And it came to pass!”

Next year is just “future history.”  Let’s make 2025 a great year, facing it with the hope of Christ and grace of God!

 

Psalms 90:9  For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.  (Face the New Year with hope and trust instead of doubt and fear.  The Lord will be the same tomorrow as He was yesterday and today!)