If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Psalm 124.
And we can keep our Bibles open there as we think about this Psalm,
which invites us to confident trust in God's deliverance.
So let's again hear God's word together.
If the Lord had not been on our side, let Israel say,
if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us,
they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us.
The flood would have engulfed us.
The torrent would have swept over us.
The raging waters would have swept us away.
Praise be to the Lord who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird from the fowler's snare.
The snare has been broken and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
Amen.
Boys and girls, let me talk to you for just a moment.
I want to begin with a story of something that happened to me a long, long time ago.
So when I was in university and I was playing in one of the university sports teams,
we took a trip for an away game.
So we went on a minibus and I came back on the minibus,
left the bus, started walking from home only to discover I'd left my keys on the bus
and I'd left my wallet on the bus.
And this was in the olden days before mobile phones.
So panic started to set in immediately.
And then I prayed.
And literally, literally two minutes later,
a guy from our team who lived on the other side of the city,
he happened to be driving by and he stopped and he asked what the problem was.
And he just happened to know,
the only person in the whole team who knew where the bus driver lived,
he happened to know where he lived.
And the bus driver just happened to have been a little bit lazy in returning the bus.
So he still had the bus and the keys and I could get my possessions again.
And I was happy.
And that was a narrow escape.
Grand scheme of things, no big deal.
But some 20 plus years later, I have never forgotten that lesson.
There's a number of lessons.
The lesson, God listens and God will answer our prayers.
That God cares for us in the big important stuff and in the little things of life.
And that was really good for my faith.
And I think as we come to Psalm 124,
we can all learn those lessons whatever age we are.
I imagine all of us, maybe especially if we're a bit older,
we can think about times when God intervened in our lives.
God did something.
God got involved.
It might have been a really big thing.
It might have been a really small thing.
Here's my question.
As you think about ways in your past that God intervened,
what do you do with those moments and those memories?
How can you make them work for your faith and for your trust?
And to push it one step further,
how can we make those stories work for other people's faith in God to grow too?
What we have in Psalm 124 is a story of King David's escape.
We're not told which of his many escapes it was,
but we know it's a song of ascents of David.
And David is a poet and David is a singer.
And so he turns one of these acts of God's rescue into a song.
And then he invites everyone within Israel to listen along and to sing
so that together the people of God could share his great conclusion.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
So this song is here in the Bible,
and we're thinking about it this morning,
so that you and I today,
we might remember and rejoice in God's many rescues in our lives
and ultimately the great rescue as we think about Jesus' death on the cross.
Psalm 124 is one of those Psalms that has a special place in the history of God's church.
We began saying together, Psalm 124 verse 8,
John Calvin in the church in Geneva,
when the Reformation happened,
he used that week by week as their call to worship.
Who is it that we are invited to worship together?
The God who helps us, who is our maker.
And he felt that the church needed a weekly reminder
because in his day, the church was very much under attack.
People very much wanted to shut down the message coming from Calvin's Geneva,
the message of the Reformation.
And so this Psalm became precious in that generation,
and by God's grace,
it may be precious to us too,
as this Psalm helps us to see that God delivers his church from great dangers
so that we might live with deep confidence in his redeeming love.
So we're just going to walk through the Psalm.
The first thing we're going to notice in the first couple of verses
is our great Redeemer.
Now notice the style of these verses,
and we might call it call and response.
So you have David and then a choir master beginning,
if the Lord had not been on our side.
And then it's as if the Psalm pauses
so that David can say,
sing it with me, everybody,
if the Lord had not been on our side.
This is for the whole church.
And what David invites the whole church to do
is to look back on a great deliverance that God brought
and to imagine the outcome
if God had been absent.
If the Lord had not been on our side,
how would things have been different?
And so clearly, right from the beginning of this Psalm,
for David and for the pilgrim people of God,
the Lord is introduced as their only source of hope and help.
They're not trying to reason away their rescue.
Well, yeah, actually it was because we had a great military strategy.
Nor is he taking credit for what properly belongs to God.
David is absolutely humble, doesn't want any attention,
wants it all to belong to the Lord.
And nor does he minimize the salvation
the way sometimes we can do.
We can pray and then we get an answer
and then we can begin to think,
well, would that have happened even if I didn't pray?
David doesn't go there.
He recognizes God is at work.
If the Lord had not been on our side,
defeat, destruction, disaster.
Now, Ian read for us from 2 Samuel 5,
and you can turn back there, page 309,
just to think about how this plays out
in a real life deliverance from God.
So just to give you the background while you're turning there,
David has now been set on the throne.
God's chosen king has now been recognized
as king over Judah and over all Israel.
And now that he sits in that place,
enemies, verse 17,
they hear that David had been anointed king,
and so they went up in full force to search for him.
So these cruel enemies we meet over and over in the Old Testament,
they come on this search and destroy mission.
And so David, see his response in verse 19.
He doesn't call out the commanders of the army,
figure out what's the plan.
David inquired of the Lord,
shall I go and attack the Philistines?
Will you deliver them into my hands?
The Lord answered him,
go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines.
So he is dependent on God.
God, I'll go if you tell me to.
God, I will go if you're going to give the victory.
And look at his testimony.
After he defeats the Philistines the first time,
verse 20,
the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.
David is taking no credit.
All glory and honor belongs to God.
Now, verse 22,
notice what happens.
These Philistines who oppose God and the people of God,
they come back again.
And again, David's response is to pray.
David inquired of the Lord.
And the Lord answers,
don't go straight up,
but circle around and attack them in front of the poplar trees.
And then this,
as soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees,
move quickly,
because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you
to strike the Philistine army.
And that's what happens.
And again,
we see the battle belongs to the Lord.
Story after story of the Old Testament.
Think about the story of David as the little shepherd boy,
the teenager who goes to fight against the Philistine champion,
Goliath.
And again,
David speaks with such faith that it's evident that he is coming in the name of the Lord,
and it will be the Lord who will give that great victory.
Or go even further back.
Go back to the time of Noah.
There's another deliverance.
God saved his tiny church,
just Noah and his family from the flood of judgment.
Or go to the book of Exodus
and recognize God delivering his people from slavery in Egypt.
Or go to the story of Esther.
And think about how God raises Esther to the palace
so he can rescue Israel from the threat of extinction.
Over and over,
the Old Testament declares,
God the Lord is his people's redeemer.
And that salvation,
as we see it and experience it,
it should lead to praise.
And truly without God,
it would be game over for God's people.
And we need to recognize that's not just true of the Old Testament.
In the New Testament,
think about the number of times we see the apostles,
where various leaders,
Jewish and Roman leaders,
attack and imprison them.
And think about Peter being rescued from prison by an angel.
Think about Paul being delivered by an earthquake.
Think about the reality of the mission of the church
growing and growing rapidly,
despite all human opposition.
Go all the way to the book of Revelation
and you get this wonderful image of,
yes, the church is under fire and under attack,
but yes,
the church is protected from Satan
and from the forces of evil
by the great God of heaven.
And now,
think of Jesus.
While he walked this earth,
singing Psalm 124.
And if you know anything of the life of Jesus,
you will probably know
that he often faced anger
and hostility
and attacks from other people,
both words and actions,
and they were attempts made on his life.
And in all of his narrow escapes,
he trusted in his father
to help save him through them all.
And his greatest escape,
his most astonishing escape,
was when Jesus escaped the clutches of death,
that first Easter Sunday
in his resurrection victory,
breaking those chains of slavery
to sin and Satan for us
so that we,
through faith in Jesus,
we could be delivered.
This is why in the church,
we always think back
to the gospel events.
That's why we want our worship
to be full of God's word
and full of the gospel.
That's why Jesus gave us
the Lord's Supper and baptism,
so that we can have these physical,
visible reminders
of God's work
to rescue us through Jesus.
And every week as we gather here,
we're being reminded
that God,
through his Son,
the Lord Jesus,
he has rescued,
he has redeemed
by his life,
death,
and resurrection.
We remind ourselves
that he is still working for us now.
He continues to rescue.
He continues to redeem.
He continues to be with us
and for us.
And one day,
he'll come back.
And that rescue
and that redemption
will be complete.
And God's people
will enjoy eternal safety
and security.
And we need these constant reminders
because life is full
of constant challenges.
And that's why
we should think back
to our own narrow escapes.
We should think back
to those times
when we did see God
working for us
so that we can look back
with gratitude,
so that we can remember
personally
that God's covenant love,
it doesn't fail,
that he does care for us.
Sometimes it's through his word.
Sometimes it's the ministry
of his spirit.
Sometimes it's through
the people of God.
Sometimes it's through circumstances.
But this psalm reminds us
that we both praise
and we pray to
God who is on the throne.
God who decides the outcomes.
The God of covenant
who cannot and will not
fail his people.
And he invites each one of us
to know him
and to trust
in his
rescue.
So we have first of all
our great redeemer.
And then right in the middle
of the psalm,
David reminds us
of our
great
dangers.
All the way from verse 3
to verse 7.
But before we get into our text,
let's
step back in time
for a moment.
Edinburgh
1582.
The date is
September
the 4th.
John
Jury
was a gospel
preacher
who has been
imprisoned
and banished
for faithfully
proclaiming the word
of God.
But now
on September
the 4th,
1582,
he's back.
And down at
Netherbo,
which is not too far
away from here,
he was met by
200 friends
and supporters.
And they then
walked up
in procession
on Sunday morning
up the high street
to St. Giles Cathedral.
So we know where we are.
We're at St. Giles Cathedral
on the Royal Mile.
And by that point,
the crowd had swelled
to around about
2,000 people.
And while
enemy soldiers
watched on,
wondering what
they should do
about John,
Judy,
and a little bit
fearful about
this growing mob
within the city,
you know what
the crowd did?
The crowd sang.
Guess what?
Sam.
They sang
Psalm 124,
four-part harmony,
and the testimony
was that that
was more terrifying
than any mere
mob riot
the soldiers
might have
suspected.
The reality
that we find
in the Bible,
the reality
we meet in life
and in the Christian
life,
is that life
is full of
hazard and
difficulty
and sometimes
menace.
We've been
thinking about
on Sunday evenings
that Jesus
prepared his
disciples for that
as he sent
them for mission.
He'd say,
listen,
they hated me,
they're going
to hate you too.
I'm going to
send you out
like a sheep
among wolves.
So we shouldn't
be surprised.
And Psalm 124
stands as a
reminder in song
that we should
be alert,
that we should
know the situation,
we should know
the times that
we live in,
that spiritually
we're in a war
zone,
but also
that we should
know the solution
and the security
that comes from
our great
God.
So Psalm 124,
as David
composes it,
and then as we
sing it,
it doesn't
hide the
dangers from
us.
It doesn't
suggest that
following God
in the way of
faith,
that following
Jesus is easy
and leads to
peace and
comfort and
everyone welcoming
us and say,
this is wonderful.
Rather,
he gives very
graphic,
mental pictures
to capture our
imagination and
to work on our
hearts to
recognize that,
yes,
these things may
come,
but there is a
God who delivers
and who gives
the final
outcome.
If the Lord
had not been
on our side,
truly the church
would be done
for.
Look at the
four pictures.
Boys and
girls,
look at these
pictures.
You'll recognize
some of these.
The first one
we find in
verse 3.
If the Lord
had not been
on our side
when people
attacked us,
they would
have swallowed
us alive.
Now,
when I read
that,
I was thinking
of some kind
of lurking
predator.
I was imagining
a snake
curled up
in a dark
corner
waiting
for the
unsuspecting
mouse.
And then,
when the
strike comes,
the mouse
is swallowed
whole.
And the
idea of
Psalm 124
is that by
ourselves,
we are
outmatched
by our
spiritual
enemies
if the
Lord had
not been
on our
side.
Picture
two.
If the
Lord had
not been
on our
side,
verse 4,
the flood
would have
engulfed
us,
the torrent
would have
swept over
us,
the raging
waters
would have
swept us
away.
Picture
a raging
flood.
Maybe
some of
us,
we still
remember
those
Christmas
day images
of the
tsunami
that struck
back in
2004.
Maybe
we've seen
firsthand
the power
of a
river as
it bursts
its banks
and swept
through a
city or
a town.
And again,
the idea
here is
that if
the Lord
had not
been on
the side
of his
people,
they and
we would
be
overwhelmed
and
overcome.
come.
Picture
number
three
is of
a
savage
beast.
Verse
six,
praise
be to
the
Lord
who
has
not
let
us
be
torn
by
their
teeth.
Now,
I'm
going to
confess
the first
time I
read that
my mind
went to
our
little
dog.
Because
you know
with dogs
when they
have dog
toys,
their
instinct
is to
get it
in their
mouth
and shake
it all
about as
if they're
being truly
ferocious.
That's
their instinct.
But that
wouldn't be
particularly
terrifying.
Instead,
perhaps,
we can
think of
an
orca.
Imagine
an
orca.
You know
those horrible
scenes where
you see an
orca playing
with a
seal.
It's
managed to
grab one
and it
flings it
up in the
air and
it's just
playing
with it.
Or maybe
think of
a lion.
And now
that it's
tracked down
a gazelle
and it's
struck.
And it's
ready to
savage.
The idea
again is
that we
would have
been trapped
if the
Lord had
not been
on our
side.
But look
at how
verse 6
begins.
Praise
be to
the Lord
who has
not let
us be
torn by
their
teeth.
And then
the last
picture is
the picture
of the
captured
bird.
We have
escaped like
a bird from
the fowler's
snare.
The snare
has been
broken and
we have
escaped.
So the
unsuspecting
bird walking
through the
woods all
of a sudden
triggers the
trap and
maybe the
net falls or
maybe the
noose tightens
around its
leg.
And the
inevitable
is that the
hunter is
going to
come and
that bird is
heading for
the cooking
pot.
And again
it's the
idea of
being helpless
and hopeless
if the Lord
was not on
the side of
his people.
But what
does it
say?
The snare
has been
broken and
we have
escaped and
that breaking
and that
escaping and
that rescue
doesn't come
from the
birds.
It doesn't
come from
the people
of God.
It comes
from the
rescuer.
It's a
wonderful
reality that
in the
darkest of
dangers
God ensures
that his
church is
protected.
You
might ask
David,
why are you
telling us
this four
times over?
We got it
with the
first image.
Well maybe
it's because
there are so
many dangers
and so many
threats.
And maybe
it's a reminder
that there is a
great need
always for the
people of God
to be alert.
Remember
Peter's
warning.
you have
an enemy,
the devil,
and he
prowls around
like a
roaring lion
seeking
someone to
devour.
So we need
to look
and be
alert.
But it's
also a
reminder that
we need to
live our
days looking
with faith
to God,
his people's
great deliverer
and rescuer.
Martin Luther
was another
reformer.
He was
another who
loved this
psalm.
He often
felt that
the world
was against
him.
He often
felt spiritual
oppression as
he sought
to communicate
the truths
of the
gospel.
And that
led him to
compose a
version of
Psalm 124.
We sometimes
sing it,
a mighty
fortress is
our God.
And just
to say
at a
practical
level,
whether we're
thinking of
Martin Luther
composing a
hymn or
whether we're
thinking about
the people of
God singing
as they
recognize a
great deliverance.
I wonder if
we understand
in our
day to
day the
wisdom and
the goodness
of answering
our fears
with songs
of faith.
It does our
hearts good
to sing,
to remind
ourselves of
what we know
to be true
in God's
word.
This remains
the hope for
the church in
every age,
including
ours.
we have
a Lord
God who
delivers.
Christopher
Ash,
he has a
nice little
sentence,
he says,
the life
of faith
consists of
many narrow
escapes,
all of them
undergirded
by one
very big
escape.
The point
is this,
our faith
is in
the Lord
God,
the one
who sent
his own
son to
be our
true king
and to
be our
savior.
To
acknowledge
that by
nature,
because of
our sin,
because of
our rebellion,
because of
our pride,
we should
be swallowed
up and
we should
be swept
away,
we should
be savaged
because what
we deserve
is God's
judgment.
But by
God's
grace,
he sends
his son
and Jesus
faces down
death in
our place
as our
representative
and Jesus
defeats the
power of
death.
He robs it
of its power
and victory.
He secures
deliverance for
all who
trust in
him.
And that
great event,
the great
event of
the gospel,
God's
salvation of
us through
Jesus,
that becomes
the solid
rock
foundation
that we
build on.
That's
our source
of safety
and security
when the
storms come.
And that's
our security
when the
storm of
God's
final judgment
comes.
We will
stand when
we stand
on the
truths of
Jesus and
his word.
So that
trusting in
the Lord
Jesus,
just like the
singers of
Psalm 124
back then,
we can
look any
trouble,
any danger
square in
the eye and
say, since
God is
for us,
who can be
against us?
In all of
these things,
we are more
than conquerors
through Jesus
who loved
us.
we can
say with
faith,
I am
convinced
that
nothing in
all creation,
no opposition,
no trauma,
no disappointment,
no sin,
nothing will
be able to
separate us
from the
love of God
that is in
Christ Jesus.
The great
answer to
our great
danger is
our great
redeemer.
And that
takes us
finally to
verse 8
and our
great
confidence.
It closes
with this
wonderful
statement of
faith.
Our
help
collectively
as the
church,
our
help
is in
the name
of the
Lord,
the maker
of heaven
and earth.
Now,
we've
already
met
this
statement
of
faith
on the
pilgrim
journey.
Psalm
121
verse 2,
my help
comes from
the Lord,
the maker
of heaven
and earth.
And here
again,
David invites
us to
look back
after a
danger
has
passed
with a
real sense
of gratitude.
He leads
the people
of God
into
confident
trust
as they
sing.
After all,
the one
who is
on the
side
of his
church
and his
people,
the one
who provides
help,
is none
other than
our almighty
maker,
the creator
of heaven
and earth.
He made
all things
and right
now he
sustains
all things
and even
now he
is directing
all things
to his
intended
purpose
and outcome
and we
can
trust
him.
Notice
our help
is in
the name
of the
Lord,
all
block
capitals.
We'll keep
saying this,
that is
the personal
covenant
name of
God.
And just
as in
the ancient
Near East
when a
great king
entered into
a covenant
treaty with
a lesser
nation,
there was
an agreement
on both
sides.
So the
great king
would say
to the
lesser
king,
you are
to show
me
loyalty
and
honour
and
if
you
do,
I
will
offer
you
protection
and
security.
Maybe we
think of
it a little
bit like
the allies
in World
War I.
You know
when Austria
decided they
were going
to wage
war on
Serbia,
the allies
stood with
Serbia.
The great
king will
stand for
the lesser
in time
of war.
God
says I
will stand
for my
people in
all dangers.
And so
confident faith
begins here.
As we
understand our
maker is our
father in
heaven, is the
one who has
entered into
covenant with
us, he will
defend us, he
cannot break
his promises.
Our
confidence is
in Jesus who
said I will
build my
church and
the gates of
hell will not
prevail against
it.
God's people
in all
times, including
our time, can
confidently say
our help is
in the name
of the Lord,
the maker of
heaven and
earth.
The psalm says
to us, yes,
there will be
suffering.
And yes, there
will even be
martyrs.
Think Nigeria,
think Yemen,
think North
Korea.
God's people
but for the
church, for the
church as a
whole, for the
church for
eternity, it
will survive, it
will grow and
in the end we
will be delivered
and glorified.
And so David
presents for us
the wisdom and
humility of faith
as he gratefully
looks away from
himself to look
to his great
God in utter
dependence, to
rejoice totally
in his
redemption,
inviting us to
be honest enough
to say, if
Jesus was not my
Lord and my
Savior, there is
no way I could
follow God, there
is no way I could
be good enough for
God, there is no
way I could hope to
stand before his
judgment seat and
be welcomed into
his kingdom.
freedom.
So as we close,
can you and I, can
we sing this song?
Can we sing it
personally?
Can we look back
and say, God has
worked for me.
God has delivered
me when I was
helpless and
hopeless.
He delivered me
there at the cross
and he continues to
be for me today.
If so, then be
glad.
Sing for joy and
give him glory and
share those stories
to encourage one
another to keep
walking with Jesus.
But if this isn't
your personal
experience, then the
word of God would
say, this then is
your greatest need.
that you would
ask Jesus to
deliver you from
your sin, to be
your savior.
And there is the
promise in the
Bible that if we
ask him with faith,
if we turn from
sin to trust in
him, then he
will do it.
Well, may Psalm
124 be precious
to us as we think
about this rhythm
that every week we
would be learning to
look back with
thankfulness and
joy.
God sent Jesus
for me to
face the attacks
of the evil one
for me, to be
overwhelmed under
the flood of God's
judgment in my
place, to be in
the teeth of lions
on the cross for
me, to enter into
death, to secure my
salvation.
may we find
ourselves looking
back to that great
rescue as we
also look forward to
final rescue, to
Jesus returning to
make everything new,
to bring perfect
justice and security
and joy so we
might live today with
confident trust, not
in ourselves, not in
our strategies, not in
our successes, but
looking to Jesus
saying our help
is in the name of
the Lord, the
maker of heaven
and earth.
Let's pray together
briefly.
Lord, we thank you
that the Bible is so
full of rescue and
redemption stories.
it's so full of
encouragements as we
see your people in
need, crying out to
you and you being
patient and kind and
faithful and answering
and delivering in
power so that your
people might live with
security and in praise
of your name.
And Lord, we thank you
that all of those small
acts of deliverance
point us to the
ultimate salvation, the
ultimate rescue of
the Lord Jesus through
his death and
resurrection.
May we find
ourselves often
returning back to
the truths of the
gospel, to give us
hope in your covenant
love and to
recognize our help
that comes from the
Lord, the maker of
heaven and earth.
May you help us to
live today with
confident trust as we
look forward to that
coming deliverance when
Jesus returns.
help us, give us
confidence and hope,
not in ourselves, but
in Jesus.
We pray in his name.
Amen.