Tremble At God's Presence

[0:00] All right, Psalm 114. At the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, then the flint into a spring of water.

[0:38] So I love watermelons. I know a lot of people do. Holds a special place in my heart because when I played football in high school, we had practices two times a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and you would eat lunch in between.

[0:52] It'd be rough, right? And because of the workouts, I had trouble keeping my food down. So I couldn't really have a real lunch. So instead, I just ate a bunch of watermelon, which was technically food, but it's mostly just water, right?

[1:05] So it'd fill me up, it'd hydrate me, and it'd take me through the practices, which is what I needed. So I was super excited at the Kennedy Longfellow Spring Fling. Sean was there when this happened, when I got the slice of watermelon, and it was Caladrio's first bite, right?

[1:23] So I gave it to her. I raised it to her mouth, and she did it. I was so excited. I was so excited. And I was super excited. I said to Carolyn, like, oh, this Caladrio's first bite of watermelon, right?

[1:34] And she was not excited. She was not impressed. She was like, no, it's not. She's already had it. You've had it to her already. And so that's just an example of my forgetfulness, right?

[1:46] I can be very forgetful, have a bad memory. And when it comes to spiritual things, I think we all struggle with chronic forgetfulness. We tend to forget who God is.

[1:56] We tend to forget how he's been faithful to us, forget how he's been good to us. And so our passage today is a relatively short recounting of God's rescue of his people Israel from their slavery in Egypt.

[2:10] So we primarily see that God has moved powerfully in creation for the good of his people. And we can take away from the psalm for us that we, too, must remember who God is and what he's done for us so that we're strengthened for our daily life of faith.

[2:25] So first, let's talk about the Exodus, the recounting of their escape from slavery. So verse 3 talks about the sea fleeing and the Jordan turning back.

[2:37] So the sea here refers to the Red Sea. And that's when the Israelites left Egypt and God parted the Red Sea for them to leave. And Pharaoh and his armies got wiped out. And the Jordan refers to the Jordan River.

[2:49] So that's the river before the Israelites entered the Promised Land. So here it's encompassing the entirety of Israel's journey from beginning to end and through the wilderness into the Promised Land.

[3:01] Verse 4 speaks of the mountains and hills skipping like rams and lambs. So the mountains may refer to Mount Sinai where God met the Israelites and confirmed his covenant promises to them.

[3:13] So in Exodus 19, verse 18, it says that when God descended on it with fire, the whole mountain trembled violently. And the hills here may refer to the hill country of Syria and Palestine, the area where the Israelites first went in and took settlements for the Promised Land.

[3:33] Verse 8 talks about the rock and the flint turning into water. So multiple times through the wilderness journey, the Israelites cried out in thirst and God provided for them.

[3:45] And so like in Exodus 17, God commands Moses to strike the rock and he does and water comes out of the rock for the people of the dream. So God did these amazing acts in history.

[3:56] But it's not some long ago arbitrary event like if we read like in a history book or Wikipedia about Roman history, right?

[4:06] Here the point is that God did this for his very own people, his beloved people, the Israelites. It says in verse 7 that God is the God of Jacob.

[4:18] Verse 2, Judah became his sanctuary or sanctuaries can also be translated holy place. It's a, there are people who are devoted to God, set apart for God, special to him. Verse 2 also says Israel is his dominion.

[4:31] So it's God's realm of rule and reign. That's where God has authority. And so Psalm 14, 114 therefore applies to the Israelites who lived after the Exodus in the Promised Land, right?

[4:47] Very directly. But it also applies to us in a spiritual sense. In Christ we've inherited God's mighty acts. God has saved us from the land of slavery to sin.

[4:58] God has passed over us in forgiveness because of Jesus, our Passover lamb, who was slain on our behalf. Like the wandering Israelites in the wilderness, we look longingly into the promised land of heaven beyond death.

[5:12] Right? So I'm reminded of lines from the hymn on Jordan's stormy banks. If you guys are familiar with that. A few lines, it goes, On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

[5:28] All over those wild, those wide extended plains shines one eternal day. There God the sun forever reigns and scatters night away. I am bound.

[5:39] I am bound. I am bound for promised land. So there's a spiritual nourishment in the content of this psalm for us today. Additionally, we can benefit from this psalm not just from the content but by applying the principle of what's happening here.

[5:55] The principle of remembrance. God has done amazing things for you, for me, to save us through Christ Jesus. And so we need to remind ourselves and preach to ourselves what is true.

[6:07] Remember that God brought us out of sin into faith in Christ. So we became his dearly loved children. So 1 John 3, verse 1 says, See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God.

[6:23] Ephesians 5, verse 1 says, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. We belong to him. Remember that we are holy and set apart to God.

[6:34] 1 Corinthians 6 says, Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits, it's outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

[6:49] You are not your own. You are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Remember that Jesus is king. Just like God makes the mountains tremble and parts seas, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

[7:08] He rebukes and casts out demons. He makes them cry out and beg. Jesus has defeated death for us so that we're not looking ahead to a fearful end, but to a hopeful beginning into life that is truly life for us.

[7:24] 1 Corinthians 15 says, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O victory. Sorry. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Remember that God provides us with everything that we need, even water from a rock if he wants to, if he chooses to.

[7:43] 2 Peter 1, verse 3 says, His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness, everything that we need.

[7:58] Philippians 4, 19 says, And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. In Romans 8, 32, He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

[8:14] Right? So we can remember all of these promises and truths in scripture, as well as all the ways that God has delivered us, whether it's from a specific sin or providing us with a wife or children, providing us with a job.

[8:33] There are so many things that we can look back and remember God's faithfulness for us. So in terms of application, is there anything that's troubling you tonight?

[8:44] Are there burdens and worries that are heavy on your heart, heavy on your mind? So remember who God is and what he's done for you. This God, he's the same, right?

[8:57] Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So the God who did these amazing things, who overthrew Pharaoh's army and part of the waters, who sent Jesus to die on the cross for us, he's the same God today who sustains us with faith, who empowers us by his Holy Spirit, gives us everything that we need.

[9:18] And he's the same God who, going forward, will help us to persevere in faith, who will carry us through death into eternal life, will give us everything that we need. So with that, let's dive into...