An exposition of Psalm 114:1-8. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, June 27, 2010.
Introduction
Donald McCullough mourned its practice in the mid nineties. J.B. Phillips warned of its dangers in the mid sixties. Tozer railed against it in the forties. R.A. Torrey and others sounded the alarm at the turn of the century. Phillips warned that our God was too small. Torrey and company called for a return to fundamental truths. McCullough decried the “trivialization of God.” They all amount to the same thing – a pulling God down from the lofty heights to which he belongs and remaking him in our image. Listen to most of the preaching today and you will hear of a “user friendly” God. A God who is far more understanding of our weaknesses and far more sympathetic concerning our bent toward perversion. Much of today’s “Christian music” sounds more like a top 20 love song than an expression of holy adoration and reverent worship. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all suggesting that only music written 300 years ago is appropriate for worship! Neither am I suggesting that nothing worthwhile has been written in the last 30 years. I am suggesting that there has been a general loss of wonder and awe.
Oh we sing Our God is an Awesome God and I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus the Nazarene – it’s just that we are not awed and we do not stand amazed! They are merely words. We have lost the wonder. Amazing Grace has become routine. Our worship is matter of fact. We have “handled” sacred things to the point they are no longer sacred. This is why we are to cultivate a “child-like” faith. Not a childish faith – but a child-like faith. A child-like faith is the kind of faith that can look at something for an hour without loosing that sense of wonder. And child-like faith leads to glorious worship. Glorious worship does not demand bells, whistles and show-stopping music. Glorious worship is a heart matter! Our text this evening is found in the 114th Psalm.
Text: Psalm 114:1-8
This is the second in the six Psalms of the “Egyptian Hallel” (113-118).
To be sung at the three major feasts – dedication, new moon and Passover.
It is a brief Psalm but one of great significance.
Spurgeon called it “sublime.”
Derek Kinder says it recalls the Exodus, not as a familiar event from Israel’s past but rather as an “astonishing event: as startling as a clap of thunder, as shattering as an earthquake.”
As we explore the 4 stanzas of this brief hymn we discover the…
Thesis: Three marks of child-like faith.
- Stanza 1 serves to remind us that child-like faith – Rejoices in God’s deliverance of and dwelling with His people. (114:1-2)
- The second stanza reminds us that – Child-like faith celebrates God’s protection and provision. (114:3-4)
- Stanzas three and four serve to remind us that – Child-like faith trembles before God’s majesty and might. (114:5-8)
Child-like faith rejoices and celebrates but it also trembles!
The word means to twist or writhe.
It is not a “comfortable” thing.
We are far too comfortable with the holy – which would indicate and inadequate view of God and an inflated view of ourselves.
May God grant to us a child-like faith – one that:
Rejoices in God’s deliverance and his dwelling with his people;
Celebrates God’s protection and provision;
Trembles before God’s majesty and might.