Anticipating Worship: The Favor of God
Psalms 124
May 8, 2022
Tonight we return to Psalms and specifically this group of Psalms
That share the distinct subheading “A Song of Ascents”
Psalms 120-134
• They were not all written at the same time.
• They were not all written by the same author.
• But they were all arranged together and became the unofficial hymn book of the Israelites as they traveled to Jerusalem to worship.
We’ve already seen things like
• The lament of God’s people as they live in a world of liars.
• The contemplation of a dangerous journey and how God will safely deliver.
• The utter joy of entering the gates of the city.
• The fellowship of suffering that occurs among the saints.
LAST TIME the Psalmist entered the city and immediately delivered his most pressing request to God and that was for God to “be gracious”.
Namely for God to grant him relief from the contempt and scoffing
That he felt daily at the hands of those who are at ease.
Of course it wasn’t long before he realized that he was not alone in this suffering, but that it was characteristic of God’s people everywhere.
And so his song which began as a singular request for himself
Quickly turned into a corporate request for all of God’s people.
We realized that in corporate worship we enjoy the fellowship of suffering
• To be able to see that you are not alone in your suffering is encouraging.
• To be able to see how others have completed the suffering you are currently
in is encouraging.
• To be able to see that your suffering is the same that the prophets and
apostles experienced is encouraging.
• To be able to see how your suffering strengthens others is encouraging.
All of these are benefits of corporate worship.
WELL TONIGHT WE LOOK AT ANOTHER.
One might say that Psalms 124 is THE FLIP SIDE of Psalms 123.
Psalms 123 finds fellowship in suffering.
Psalms 124 finds fellowship in salvation.
• The Psalmist has anticipated going to Jerusalem
• The Psalmist has contemplated the journey
• The Psalmist has entered the city
• The Psalmist has lifted his request to God
NOW IT IS TIME TO SING!
“Let Israel now say”
And this is a marvelous reminder.
• As great as fellowship is…
• As great as it is to be in this safe-haven away from the vileness of the world…
• As great as it is to be with people who share common faith…
WE ARE NOT HERE MERELY FOR FELLOWSHIP.
WE COME TO WORSHIP.
Malachi 1:6 “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’”
Psalms 105:2 “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.”
We think of that conversation Jesus had with the Woman At The Well:
John 4:19-24 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Worship, worship, worship, worship
That is what we gather to do.
We come to contemplate the glories of God, for the height of our worship is directly PROPORTIONAL to the depth of our understanding.
We come to contemplate our own frailty and weakness, for the filth of our depravity ILLUMINES the beauty of God’s grace.
We come to contemplate what God has done for us…
AND WE RESPOND WITH WORSHIP!
In John 4 we are told to worship “in spirit and in truth”
“Spirit” – That is to say there ought to be some emotion involved.
• The inner man should be driven and motivated to see God glorified.
“Truth” – As opposed to hypocrisy.
• We are not here to put on a show for pretense.
This isn’t a talent show
This isn’t our time to shine
This is a time in which we come to give God what God desires.
We come to glorify Him.
We come to honor Him.
Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”
There we see both words and meditation.
That is the equivalent of spirit and truth.
• If the meditation of the heart is not right then the words don’t matter.
• And if the meditation of the heart is right then the words can’t be restrained.
When Paul spoke of one who is filled with the Spirit he described them like this:
Ephesians 5:18-20 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”
And so it is only fitting to read what the Psalmist says in
verse 1, “Let Israel now say,”
There are many things you might choose to ignore in this life.
There may be many events where you sit on the sidelines.
But worship should never be one of them.
• It takes no talent to worship God.
• It takes no experience to worship God.
• It takes only an awareness of what He has done and a heart which desires to honor Him for it.
The Psalmist has arrived and it is time for the worship to begin.
They open with a song.
And we ask, “What is the first song they sing?”
If we were charged with naming the song that the congregation sings
We might name it: “God is On Our Side”
It is certainly something that
Every single one of the redeemed should be able to agree on.
We are here…
We are among the redeemed…
AND FOR ONLY ONE REASON.
GOD IS ON OUR SIDE.
Into our mind pops that famous passage in the book of Romans:
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
And I remind you again,
That this is NOT a universal reality.
Everyone in the world cannot say that God is on their side.
This is a special reality.
Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”
We are talking about those who are foreknown, predestined,
called, justified, and one day glorified.
And Paul took all of those realities,
Which are true in the life of every believer,
And said, “What then shall we say to these things?”
How in the world should we respond to such glorious truths as these?
And Paul says, we should say this: “If God is for us, who is against us?”
That is the content of this opening song as well.
“Had it not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say, “Had it not been the LORD who was on our side…”
It is a song intended to cause God’s children to consider
What the absence of God’s favor
Would have looked like in their lives.
We know that God is for us.
He has proven that through redemption.
But have you ever considered your life if He weren’t?
It’s sort of like that old Christmas movie “It’s A Wonderful Life” where George Bailey gets the chance to look at life if he had never been born.
Well stop for a second and imagine your life if God was not for you.
That is what the Psalmist is asking the congregation to contemplate.
Furthermore,
Imagine if everyone had been on your side except the LORD.
As if to say:
Had it been anyone else (and not the LORD) who was on our side how might things have turned out?
If it had been anyone else…
If He had not been there…
Where would we be right now?
What is the song Leo likes to sing:
“Had it not been for a place called Mount Calvary,
Had it not been for the old rugged cross,
Had it not been for a man called Jesus,
Then forever my soul would be lost”
THAT IS THIS PSALM.
In this Psalm there are 4 truths which are considered.
As we said a moment ago, we contemplate our depravity and weakness and need for God and we contemplate who God is and what He has done.
And the more we understand the higher our worship.
Well let’s look together tonight at the 4 things this congregation considered
As they sought to be begin their worship.
#1 THE FURY OF THE ENEMY
Psalms 124:3b
We certainly will look at all the verses,
But FIRST just fix your gaze on the second line of verse 3.
“When their anger was kindled against us;”
The simple point to understand is that
Israel is called recognize the hatred they had at the hands of the world.
We remember that famous chapter of Ezekiel 16 where Israel is compared to a discarded baby.
Ezekiel 16:1-5 “Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. “As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. “No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.”
• Do we not remember the hatred of the Hebrews in the land of Egypt?
• Do we not remember Balak hiring Balaam to curse the Israelites?
There should be no notion in the minds of Israel
That they were loved by the world.
They were hated, they’ve always been hated.
And here they are told to contemplate
What enduring that hatred would be like
If God was not there to love them.
THINK ABOUT THAT.
We know we are promised hatred in the world.
• The world doesn’t appreciate our moral compass.
• The world doesn’t like our desire for what is right and true.
• We are hated, we are despised.
And no one is saying that this hatred is an easy thing or a pleasant thing, but we always enjoy the benefit even in our rejection of knowing that while the world is against us, at least God is for us.
Could you imagine if He didn’t?
Could you imagine if He was on their side instead of ours?
Contemplate for a moment the fury of the enemy.
Contemplate the fury of Satan,
• Whose only objective is steal, kill, and destroy.
• This one who only wants to enslave you.
• This one who seeks your destruction.
How do you face such fury if God is not on your side?
What if God was just indifferent to such hatred?
But that is not all they are called to contemplate.
#2 THE FIERCENESS OF THE ENEMY
Psalms 124:3-5
Now we see their relentless attack.
The end of verse 2 says, “When men rose up against us…”
Not “IF” men rose up.
And the Psalmist takes a moment to recount that onslaught
And just how ruthless and fierce the enemy was.
• “They would have swallowed us alive…”
• “The waters would have engulfed us…”
• “The stream would have swept over our soul;”
• “The raging waters would have swept over our soul.”
It’s a title wave.
One right after another.
• Relentless…
• Powerful…
• Deadly…
The enemy just pounded Israel and pounded Israel and pounded Israel.
Egyptians and Moabites and Ammonites and Philistines and Assyrians and Babylonians and Greeks and Romans and Germans and Russians and Palestinians…
And on and on and on and on.
It is a constant onslaught.
It is a constant attack.
They are filled with hate
And their objective is to absolutely steam roll Israel.
How was Israel going to deliver themselves from Egypt?
How was Israel going to defeat the Philistines?
How was Israel going to resist the Moabites?
How was Israel going to ever leave Babylon?
It was an enemy who hated them and who was incredibly fierce.
And then we consider a 3rd thing.
#3 THE FRAILTY WE DEMONSTRATE
Psalms 124:3-5
It is not expressly mentioned but it is implied.
• We were not match for our enemy.
• We could not stand up to the Goliath that mocked us.
• The Iron curtain of Egypt would forever enslave us.
We were hated and we could not deliver ourselves.
We were relentless attacked and there was nothing we could do about it.
Our enemy had walked right up to our front door
And demanded permission to take our lives.
And they had the power to do it.
NOW CONTEMPLATE THAT.
• The Satan who seeks only to kill you because he hates you.
• The relentless measure with which he will attack.
• And he wants you!
And you weren’t even able to put up a good fight.
He desired to cull you out of the herd and eat you for breakfast.
That roaring lion seeks whom he may devour
And he determines that will be you.
AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.
That is what the Psalmist wants Israel to sing.
Satan demanded for you and you had no power to resist.
You have to stop there for a moment and ponder that
Before you are ready for the next point.
You have to see that you were his prey.
And you had no more chance against him than a baby antelope in the wilderness has against the king of beasts.
CONSIDER THAT.
And then consider this 4th thing.
#4 THE FAVOR OF GOD
Psalms 124:6-8
“Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.”
Satan demanded permission to have you,
AND GOD SAID “NO!”
The enemy wanted to devour you and God refused.
• He intervened.
• He was for you.
• He showed you favor.
Our Sunday school class is studying Zechariah which is an incredibly encouraging Old Testament prophet.
Zechariah 8:7-8 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.’”
Zechariah 8:14-15 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!”
The whole difference is found in God’s favor.
It is the one thing that sets us apart from the rest of the world.
GOD IS FOR US.
What was it that saw Abraham blessed? God was for him.
What was it that saw Isaac blessed? God was for him.
What about Jacob?
What about Moses?
What about David?
Do you see that none of those men
Had really anything going for them except God?
They would have all been chewed up and spit out by this world
If God had not maintained His favor toward them.
Right out of the gate Pharaoh would have killed Abram and stolen Sarai to be his own wife, but God said, “No”
Genesis 12:17 “But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”
Abimelech would have killed Abram and stolen Sarah as well, but God said, “No”
Genesis 20:3 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”
Pharaoh would have destroyed Israel and the Red Sea would have gobbled them up, but God said, “No”
Exodus 14:27-28 “So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.”
Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel, but God said, “No”
Numbers 23:11-12 “Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!” He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
The King of Assyria would have destroyed Jerusalem, but God said, “No”
2 Kings 19:35-37 “Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.”
Haman would have annihilated the Jews in Babylon, but God said, “No”
Esther 7:10 “So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.”
You are getting the idea.
It was fury…
It was a fierce enemy…
It was a frail people…
Their end was all but certain, but God said, “NO!”
“Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.”
THE PSALMIST CONTINUES.
“Our soul escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped.”
Such a picture!
We weren’t hated in hiding… We weren’t just on the run…
We had been caught.
• We were ensnared.
• We were enslaved.
• It was over!
And God broke the trap!
God released us from the snare!
And we return to the words of verse 1
“Had it not been the LORD who was on our side,”
If it had been anyone else other than God we would have been destroyed.
• We would have been swallowed alive.
• We would have been engulfed by the waters.
• We would have been swept over.
• We would have been torn by their teeth.
But God saw fit for us to escape!
And the song ends with A GREAT DECLARATION!
(8) “Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”
(our only help)
And what a mighty Helper!
• If it wasn’t for God…
• If He hadn’t been for us…
• We don’t even want to think about what might have happened!
And this is the opening song of the worship in Jerusalem.
All God’s people are called to congregate together
And in unison they are called to contemplate their fate apart from God
And then praise Him for being on their side!
“Blessed be the LORD” is what they are to sing!
He is for us and He has saved us.
And we certainly understand this.
Often in the Old Testament, the enemies of Israel are pictures of our great enemy which is sin.
• We think of Goliath as the sin which would kill us where it not for Jesus our
David who slays the giant and sets us free.
So when the Psalmist sings of their enemies
We think also of our pitiful condition.
Each of us was enslaved by sin and none of us could do a thing about it.
We all were forced to sing: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
And then we see that Jesus is on our side!
Jesus stopped sin in its tracks!
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
We talked about this a few weeks ago with the youth,
But do you see that we had an enemy we could not stop?
• That enemy was sin which results in death
• And it had us square in its jaws.
• Sure, we had the Law,
• But having the Law doesn’t help once you’ve been caught.
With the youth we likened it to being in African and having been given a field guide which says never run from a lion.
• Well, you see a lion, you run, and it pounces on you and is about to kill you.
• So you pull out your field manual where you read again, “Don’t run from the lion.”
A lot of good that does you now.
His fury is real…
He is certainly fierce…
And you are frail…
And then out of nowhere Jesus shows up.
He slides in between you and the lion and He kills the lion.
You are released from its grasp and set free.
And we would say, “Had it not been Jesus who was on our side,” Let the church now say, “Had it not been Jesus who was on our side when sin rose up against us. It would have swallowed us alive!”
But blessed be Jesus who has not given us to be torn by its teeth! Our soul escaped!
DO YOU SEE THAT?
God is for us!
Jesus is for us!
And this is the first song sung at the corporate worship.
WHY CORPORATELY?
Because we are not alone in redemption.
God didn’t redeem just a person, God has redeemed a people.
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
Here as we talk about the blessing of corporate worship
I’m NOT going to tell you anything here about your benefit.
Certainly they are many.
BUT LISTEN, IT IS UNFATHOMABLE TO ME
That anyone could escape the snare of the trapper
And then not feel compelled to join the other escapees
In thanking the one who saved them.
Luke 17:14-19 “When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
That is the sort of story that should be presented to any who claim to be believers but who do not feel the need to participate in corporate worship.
Are we to assume that some day in glory that only a few of the saints will actually show up to surround the throne of Jesus to praise Him for redemption?
Well it is today too.
• Do you not remember the fury of your enemy?
• Do you not remember how fierce he was?
• Do you not remember how helpless you were?
• Do you not remember your certain doom and judgment?
• And do you not remember that it was Christ who entered your battle and set you free?
• Do you not remember His deliverance of you?
How can you not now gather with the saints to worship Him
As He deserves and as He desires?
So now, as you anticipate corporate worship each week.
• We anticipate a place of sanctuary from a world of liars.
• We anticipate God bringing us safely to His kingdom.
• We anticipate the joy of arriving to a place of redemption.
• We anticipate the fellowship of the saints who know our struggles.
But we also anticipate that sacred moment when lift our voices in praise to God to acknowledge how weak we are and how great He is!
