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!

Three Visible Things of God - Part 3

Temple Baptist Church - 11-19-2023

Psalm 19:7-14

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Psalm 19 is one of the most powerful chapters of the Bible answering the question: “Is there a God?” 

 

B.  The First Visible Thing that shows God is the Creation. 

 

1.  Both the heavens, which declare the glory of God, and the earth, which declare the handiwork of God, are proof positive that all that we see are designed by God!  Some like to use the words “Intelligent Design” so as to declare “a god” without recognizing the “True God!” 

 

2.  The Glory of God, the Handiwork of God, and the Knowledge of God are found in the entirety of God’s Creation.

 

C.  The Second Visible Thing that shows God is the Bible. 

 

1.  As Creation identifies perfect design which requires perfect Intelligence—i.e., God—God’s Word identifies perfect design which identifies who that intelligent God is. 

 

Psalms 40:7  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume (bulk or completion) of the book (biblion - Bible) it is written of me,

 

Hebrews 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

 

2.  In the completeness of the Bible we see the glory of Jesus Christ.  “In the volume of the book” Book – biblion: from which we get our word Bible from.  The completion of the Word of God bound complete into one book.

 

Hebrews 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume (bulk) of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

 

The Glory of God is found in its fullness or completeness of the Word of god as it identifies and glorifies Jesus Christ.

 

4.  The Handiwork of God is found in the completed Bible’s unity and perfection.

 

2 Timothy 3:16-17  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  (17)  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

 

The most amazing book in the world is the Bible that you hold in your hand.  Written over 1600 years by over 40 different human instruments who, for the most part did not know each other or what each other wrote, gave us the completed canon of Scriptures in perfect unity!

 

D.  The Third Visible Thing shows what God does to in the Saint.  The results of salvation are to be obvious to the world.  I visited with a man back in Kentucky that I had been around for years, and he said to me when I saw him, “I heard that you were different.”

 

Acts 4:13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

 

Matthew 26:73  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.

 

Romans 6:4-6  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  (6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

 

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Galatians 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

 

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

E.  Satan cannot touch our salvation as it is secured in Christ alone, but he spends considerable time trying to discourage, defile, detract, and deter God’s children.  We cannot allow Satan to destroy our testimony before the lost.

 

Matthew 5:13-16  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  (14)  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  (15)  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  (16)  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

F.  Notice in this Psalm the attributes of the saved.

 

1.  Conversion.  Verse 7.  “converting the soul” A conversion that can be seen.  Converting – turning; an about face; a completely new direction.  In the military, one command during parade marching was “To the rear march”.  To change direction in mid-stride.  That is what salvation is when true repentance is exercised.

 

1 Corinthians 6:11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

 

Colossians 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

 

2.  Wisdom.  Verse 7.  “making wise the simple”  A wisdom that is from above.  The Bible gives knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to those who heed it.

 

Proverbs 4:5  Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

 

3.  Rejoicing.  Verse 8.  “rejoicing the heart”  A rejoicing in both the good and bad times.

 

Romans 12:12  Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

 

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

 

4.  Illumination.  Verse 8.  “enlightening the eyes”  Biblical discernment as we read and understand the Bible.

 

Psalms 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

 

1 Corinthians 2:12-14  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  (13)  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  (14)  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

 

5.  Cleansing.  Verse 9.  “The fear of the LORD is clean”  A life that is different from the world.  A shining light to those around us.

 

Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  (2)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

6.  Obedience.  Verse 9.  “true and righteous”  Obeying the Word of God instead of bucking it.

 

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

 

1 Peter 1:14-15  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:  (15)  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

 

7.  Hunger.  Verse 10.  “More to be desired … sweeter also”  A desire to read, hear, and heed God’s Word.

 

Job 23:12  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

 

8.  Warning.  Verse 11.  “warned … and in keeping of them”  Bible wisdom that comes from Bible warning!

 

Proverbs 6:22-23  When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.  (23)  For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

 

9.  Reward.  Verse 11.  “there is great reward”  Seeing the blessing of this life bestowed upon the people of God.

 

Psalms 1:1-2  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  (2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 

10.  Understanding.  Verses 12-13.  “cleans thou me … Keep back … not have dominion”  Not to have or continue in bad habits or addictions.

 

Psalms 119:133  Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

 

11.  Meditation.  Verse 14.  “words of my mouth … meditation of my heart … acceptable”  Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

 

Psalms 119:97  MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

 

12.  Reliance.  Verse 14.  “O LORD, my strength and my redeemer”  Let the world know that the Lord is all we need!

 

Psalms 18:2  The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

 

Conclusion:  Three ways that you can know there is God:  Through observing God’s Creation; through reading God’s Word; and watching God’s People.