What If?

Intro: What If.....?

Genesis 15 has the same type of rejoicing that we find in this Psalm of David. Another year gone will make many ask the question, “What if..?”

I guess it is a part of life for us to ask questions like “what if..?”

Many times we tend to think of what could have been. But also, we may think of Why it has not been. But there is a “what if” in our text that should make us all think! WHAT IF IT HAD NOT BEEN FOR THE LORD ON OUR SIDE?

Jehovah - "the existing one" held to be so sacred that it was never pronounced except by the high priest on the great Day of Atonement, when he entered into the most holy place. The psalmist puts these feelings into words with deep feelings that we would have trouble expressing. If it had not been for Jehovah, Where would we be?

- This Short Psalm contains

- An Acknowledgment of Favour - vs. 1-5

- An Act of Worship - vs. 6-7

- An Announcement of Confidence - 8

- In this Psalm you find the answer to the Past - “The Lord was on our side.”

-You find the answer for the Present - “The Snare is broken” - freedom is available.

- And the answer for the Future - “Our help is in the name of the Lord”

We must notice the implied:

I. The Attention of the Lord - If it had not been for what He has done!

A. The Lord Examined our Despair - Ps 102:19 "For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;"

B. He Embraced our Dilemma - Heb 2:17 "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

C. He was Emptied for our Deliverance - 2Co 8:9 "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

II. The Awareness of our Possibilities - if not for the Lord, we would have been:

A. Doomed - vs. 1-2 (Some would have been on other’s sides - Egypt, Babylon)

1. Alienated from God

Psalms 10:4 "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

2. Barricaded from Hope - Ephesians 2:12 "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"

B. Devoured - vs. 3 -

1. Sought Out By the Enemy (Eat alive - quick means alive)

Job 1:7 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

2. Swallowed by the Enemy The Adversary is hungry (swallowed)

1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

C. Defeated (36 Men died) - God was not on their side! Vs. 4

1. The Way of Defeat (Disobedience - Message preached recently)

Joshua 7:10 "And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff."

2. The Weariness of Defeat

Joshua 7:12 "Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee,"

D. Disappointed - vs. 5 Ecclesiastes 2:11 "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Without God, all is Worthless

III. The Answer of our Provision -Since there is a GOD in WHOM WE can TRUST:

A. We can find Pardon instead of Doomed - vs. 6 Micah 7:18 "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."