A Great Salvation
Psalms 114
August 8, 2021
As we saw last week, we have entered the segment of Psalms
Known as “The Hallel” – It means “The Praise”
• It was the special group of Psalms that looked back on the Exodus from Egypt,
• Which was the pinnacle event in Jewish history,
• And it was the group of Psalms that was sung during the Passover each year.
Again:
Mark 14:26 “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
The songs were meant TO GIVE PERSPECTIVE
To the great salvation which God performed
On behalf of His people by delivering them from Egypt.
Last week was a perfect introduction to this segment as we looked at Psalms 113 and were asked to ponder the question, “Who is like the LORD?”
• We learned that it is actually beneath God to even behold things in heaven,
much less things in earth.
That blew David’s mind.
• Who is this God that would so humble Himself so as to even notice these
slaves?
• And why would this God take the time to turn these poor slaves into princes or
these barren women into joyful women?
• What kind of a God does that?
It is indeed praiseworthy!
We of course read that Psalm through a gospel lens
And we are blown away that not only did God behold things on earth, but He actually took on flesh and dwelled among us.
• He subjected Himself to the Law…
• He faced our temptation…
• He subjected Himself to suffering…
• He clothed Himself in our sin…
• He submitted even to death…
What kind of a God does that?
ONLY OUR GOD.
And so we wholeheartedly agreed with David’s assessment last week that God is worthy of continual and unhindered praise.
Psalms 113:1-4 “Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.”
But Psalms 113 was just the opening act.
TONIGHT we move forward in the progression
And actually examine the act by which God actually saved them.
WE LOOK AT THE EXODUS.
We love Psalms 114 because it DOES NOT LOOK at the Exodus in the typical familiar way.
• It is not a narrative.
• If anything, it is a taunt or a boast.
It is the objective of David to get the reader
To consider the awesome saving power of God.
What God did for them was anything but routine.
What God did for them was utterly amazing.
God put on a powerful display when He delivered them from Egypt.
Often we read as Moses remembers the Exodus and Moses always describes it the same way.
God brought us out of Egypt with “a mighty hand”
Deuteronomy 26:6-8 “And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. ‘Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;”
DAVID’S OBJECTIVE is to make sure that you understand
Just what a mighty salvation it was that God performed for his people.
• So after Psalms 113 focused on Humility of God to consider His people.
• Psalms 114 focuses on the Power of God to completely save them.
Let’s break this Psalm down into 3 points tonight.
#1 GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION
Psalms 114:1-2
Well this is a topic we never get tired of.
We absolutely love the concept of GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.
Concerning Israel we think back to Genesis.
• We see after Noah that the world is starting to repopulate but all the people spoke the same language.
• At Babel God divided and separated the people into distinct nations and people groups.
• He did this so that He might choose among them.
• That event of separating the peoples occurred in the Genesis 11.
In Genesis 12 God makes His choice.
• There is a pagan, idol worshiping, money seeker named Abram, and God
chose him to be His own.
• And God promised also that He would make Abram’s descendants great and
that they would be God’s people.
Neither Abram nor Israel
Was chosen because of their greatness or majesty.
In fact, they were specifically chosen because they weren’t great or mighty.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
It is the same point Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 1
• When he points out that in the church there is “not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble”
But God chose Israel and thus God chose to save them.
And that is where David picks up in the story.
• He picks up with the great salvation of God;
• The day God delivered them from Egypt with a mighty hand.
(1-2) “When Israel went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”
• We remember when Israel entered Egypt.
• There was only 70 of them, and they were the family of Jacob.
EGYPT HOWEVER SERVED AS THE INCUBATOR
Where God would take this small family
And turn them into a nation that numbered like the sand of the seashore.
And now that Israel has grown, God is leading that family back out.
But it is the sovereign favor of God toward Israel
That here has David captivated.
For again, God did an amazing thing for them.
“Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”
That nation became the RECIPIENTS OF THE PRESENCE of God,
That nation became the REPRESENTATIVES OF THE KINGDOM of God.
Of all the nations in the world, God chose to dwell among them.
Of all the nations of the world, God chose to rule them.
They would be His people and He would be their God.
It was God’s sovereign election again put on display.
• He chose this people.
• He dwelled among this people.
• He made this people His kingdom.
We remember the covenant struck at Sinai.
Exodus 19:3-6 “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
God was doing for them what He had not done for anyone.
I know the world tries to twist this around and say, “Well what a mean God that He did not choose everyone.”
On the contrary,
• Every man alive had the testimony of creation.
• Every man alive was a recipient of God’s common grace.
• God would have rejected none who called on Him.
BUT NONE CALLED ON HIM.
And Israel wouldn’t have called on Him either, if He had not chosen them.
This is an act of tremendous grace.
God chose to save an insignificant people.
• They are the poor people in the dust David spoke of in Psalms 113.
• They are that barren woman God blessed.
But God did far more than just dwell among them and rule them.
GOD SAVED THEM!
He saved them according to His own sovereign prerogative.
He saved them because He chose to save them.
God’s Sovereign Election.
#2 GOD’S SAVING POWER
Psalms 114:3-6
It is the familiar story but told with magnificent drama!
“The sea looked and fled; The Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs.”
The picture is given that when God showed up
Even creation fled from Him.
Indeed the book of the Revelation says that in the end it will all flee from Him again.
• Instead of saying “God parted the sea”, David says, “The sea looked and fled”
• Instead of saying “God parted the Jordan”, David says, “The Jordan turned back”
• Instead of saying “God shook the mountains”, David says, “The mountains skipped like rams”
It is the same story, but told from a unique perspective.
It is told in this manner so you will behold the awesome power of God
• Next to God the sea is powerless.
• Next to God the Jordan is nothing.
• Next to God the mountains have no resilience.
It was actually a little embarrassing
How pathetic the sea, rivers, and mountains looked before God.
It even inspired a taunt from David.
(5-6) “What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?”
It almost sounds like Elijah mocking those 450 prophets of Baal.
• What’s the matter?
• What happened that you just tucked tail and ran like that?
If creation could speak, no doubt it would say,
“Did you not see Him? We could not stand before Him!”
It is meant here by David to make the point that
God’s salvation of Israel was not “a barely salvation”
It was not a “by the skin of their teeth” salvation.
• God thoroughly saved.
• God overwhelmingly saved.
• God saved in grand and mighty fashion.
• It wasn’t even close.
• It was without a doubt.
He blew back the sea, He halted the river, He shook the mountains.
NOTHING that threatened Israel was able to stand in God’s way.
• He humbled Egypt and then He humbled the sea.
• He humbled Pharaoh and He humbled the Jordan.
• He humbled the mountains and He humbled the hills.
God overwhelmingly saved Israel.
It wasn’t an acceptable salvation, it was a mighty salvation!
And as Israel sang this song every Passover
• You can almost hear their boasts
• And see their chests swell
• As they sang of the overwhelming and totally complete salvation that God worked on their behalf.
It was a song of boasting.
It was a song of boasting in the Lord.
God’s Sovereign Election
God’s Saving Power
#3 GOD’S SOBERING PROMISE
Psalms 114:7-8
And now as Israel has contemplated the overwhelming defeat of their enemies
AND the extreme power of their God to save.
The song leads the redeemed
To sing a song of warning to their enemies.
• They sing this verse loud so that all the world can hear.
• They sing this song boldly so that anyone who would attempt to enslave Israel again might know exactly who they are dealing with.
They sang, “Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, Before the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.”
It was a song in which by all intents and purposes the children of Israel
Would sing to the neighboring nations like the Philistines or the Moabites
And say, “Do you want some?”
Anybody else here want to tangle with the God of Israel?
If I were you, I’D LEAVE US ALONE, because we’ve got
“A sea scaring, river halting, mountain shaking God.”
And, oh by the way, NOTHING CAN STOP HIM from accomplishing His purposes.
• He can turn “the rock into a pool of water” if He needs to.
• He can turn “the flint into a fountain of water.”
In short, nothing could stop God from saving His people
And nothing can stop God from finishing what He started.
It is a boisterous song of confidence
In the great and perfect salvation of the God of Israel.
And it was sung each year as the commemorated the Passover.
But as we said, we don’t sing it remembering the Passover.
The last time Jesus took the Passover,
He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”
It’s not about the Exodus anymore.
It’s about Jesus now.
And just as Psalms 113 gave us a picture of THE INCARNATION,
Psalms 114 gives us a picture of the overwhelming, powerful and perfect salvation of Jesus.
And tonight I want to make sure that you see it.
Tonight I want you to understand
Just how great the salvation is which Christ brought for you,
And I want you to be able to sing with confidence in the God who saves.
So let’s look at this Psalm again, but this time look at Jesus.
Again we started with: GOD’S SOVEREIGN ELECTION.
• Namely we noted that God had chosen Israel and chosen to save them.
• And that God did for them what He did for no one.
(2) “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.”
In short, they were His temple and they were His kingdom.
And is that not who the church is today?
1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
We are the temple.
God dwells in us.
And are we not also His kingdom?
Colossians 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”
That passage we read about Israel at Sinai where God offered them the chance to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…
Peter applies that truth to the church.
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.”
In short, we are the people God has chosen.
We have been elected by God.
And again, that is not some sort of slant by which we accuse God.
None of us would have chosen God on our own.
And we know He has never rejected a single person
Who ever called on the name of the Lord.
No one ever called upon Him and God said, “I’m sorry, you’re not chosen.”
But the truth is that
No one ever called on God unless they were chosen.
It is He who regenerated their hearts and caused them to seek Him.
We, the church, now enjoy the reality that God chose to save us.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
JUST LIKE ISRAEL,
The only reason we are saved is because God chose to save us.
And just like Israel, we have a mighty salvation.
We read verses 3-6 and we saw: GOD’S SAVING POWER.
David spoke of God overwhelmingly conquering every foe and every obstacle.
• The sea fled
• The river turned around
• The mountains skipped
It was a powerful salvation and I want you to know church
THAT IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF SALVATION CHRIST WON FOR US.
• He didn’t barely save…
• He didn’t temporarily save…
• He didn’t potentially save…
• He overwhelmingly and totally and permanently saved…
And it wasn’t even close.
And I want you to understand that.
• When the writer of Hebrews talked about salvation, he called it “so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3)
• Peter said it was such a magnificent spectacle that it even caught the gaze of angels who “longed to look” at these things. (1 Peter 1:10-12)
It was more powerful and more impressive
Even than the parting of the Red Sea.
Hopefully you remember Romans 7
Where we get a picture of Paul going into all-out battle with sin and losing.
“The thing I want to do I don’t do, instead I do the very thing I hate”
Ultimately Paul said:
Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
You might as well hear the children of Israel right there
Standing before the Red Sea
Realizing that on their own they have no hope of survival.
They had no ability to turn back the sea and they surely couldn’t cross it.
They were trapped too.
But just as the children of Israel saw God’s great salvation, so did Paul.
Romans 7:25-8:4 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. 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.”
Paul said that Jesus stepped in and saved Him!
And notice what he said:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
What did Paul ask? “who will set me free from the body of this death?”
His answer: JESUS!
HOW?
“For what the Law could not do, weak at 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”
• He killed our enemy!
• The Law couldn’t do it, but Christ did it!
We just got back from Sequoia National Park and Yosemite.
They have BEARS UP THERE.
And they constantly tell you the main rule about dealing with bears.
“Don’t leave food in your tent or in your car, it will attract bears.”
NOW, SUPPOSE
• You decide to go camping in Yosemite and for food you smoke a brisket and you leave it in the tent with you while you sleep.
That’s what we call sin.
• And in the middle of the night a bear rips into your tent and jumps on top of you because he is hungry.
Now, at that moment in order to save your life,
• Your wife jumps up, runs to the car, grabs the paperwork they gave you at the entry gate
• And runs back into the tent and reads you these words,
• “Don’t leave food in your tent or in your car, it will attract bears.”
Good advice but utterly impotent at that moment to save you.
Now, that’s the Law, and that’s human effort.
It only helps if you obey it before hand, but once you’ve fallen into sin it won’t save you, it will only point out that you were a disobedient fool.
What do you need at that moment?
• You need someone stronger than the bear.
• You need that stronger person to enter your battle against the bear.
• You need that stronger person to set you free from the bear and kill the bear.
LET ME READ IT AGAIN.
• “For what the Law (the rule about food) could not do,
• weak as it was through the flesh, (because you didn’t listen)
• God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (God dressed Jesus up as a human)
• and as an offering for sin, (Jesus took your place as bear food)
• He condemned sin in the flesh, (Jesus killed the bear)
• so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” (Jesus set you free)
And what Jesus did, He did totally and perfectly.
In fact, listen to the promise of Jesus.
John 8:31-36 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus doesn’t set people free and leave them as slaves at the same time.
• When Jesus saves you, you are saved.
• When Jesus frees you, you are free.
• When Jesus delivers you, you are delivered.
• When Jesus kills your enemy, he is dead.
IT IS A TOTAL AND PERFECT SALVATION.
Only Jesus didn’t save us from Egypt.
Jesus saved us from SIN and from DEATH.
1 Corinthians 15:20-25 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.”
Christ is conquering it all.
IN FACT, Jesus’ VICTORY over sin and death IS SO COMPLETE
Paul closes 1 Corinthians 15 just like David.
• We heard David taunting the sea.
• We heard David taunting the river.
• We heard David taunting the mountains.
Where’d you go?
Now listen to Paul in light of Jesus’ salvation.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is a total victory!
It is a complete victory!
We’ve talked about it many times before.
On the cross Jesus didn’t POTENTIALLY atone for sin,
He ACTUALLY atoned for sin.
• We saw the sky go black, which was a picture of “The Day of the LORD” wrath.
• God’s judgment arrived at the cross.
• But God’s judgment wasn’t poured out on the Jews who condemned Him.
• And God’s judgment wasn’t poured out on the Romans who crucified Him.
• On that day God’s judgment was poured out on Christ.
• Christ was the One crying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
• He was actually bearing the wrath of God on sin.
• He was actually paying the debt we created.
• And on that cross He paid it all.
• He paid it perfectly, He paid it totally, He paid it permanently.
And when He finished paying it, He said, “It is finished!”
DONE!
And what happened?
• The temple veil tore from top to bottom – ACCESS GRANTED (sin is defeated)
• Tombs were opened and the dead were raised – DEATH DEFEATED
On the cross Jesus totally conquered sin and death.
• Sin fled from Him.
• Death fled from Him.
• He made a mockery of them both.
And we now join with David and Paul
And we stick our chests out with Elijah and we boast,
Not of what we did, but of the mighty work which Christ did.
We throw off sin as that which no longer is our master.
We laugh in the face of death as that which cannot hold us.
We see what Jesus did on the cross.
It was SAVING POWER!
We see His Sovereign Election
We see His Saving Power
We also see HIS SOBERING PROMISE
We heard David actually warn the nations around
Not to try and undo what God had done.
David would sing, “Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, Before the God of Jacob, Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.”
David warned the other nations
That nothing could stop God from finishing what He started.
And listen to Paul reassure you of the same.
He told the Philippians
Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
But for Paul’s greatest testimony of this we look again at Romans 8.
Romans 8:28-30 “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 started in election ends in glory…every time.
There is no semblance of God starting something that He does not finish.
• He doesn’t predestine most of those He foreknew, He predestines all of them.
• And He doesn’t call most of those He predestines, He calls them all.
• He doesn’t justify most of those He calls, He justifies them all.
• He doesn’t glorify most of those He justifies, He glorifies them all.
Nothing and no one can stop the saving plan of God.
It is Jesus who would say:
John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”
He chose to save them and they will be saved.
BUT WHAT IF we face tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?
Because those things happen.
What then?
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Even if we face those things…
• Even if the nations of the world come against us…
• Even if we face drought and famine…
Well in those situations
Our God will just bring water from a rock
And deliver us safely home.
His salvation is no joke.
His salvation is no empty promise.
Those whom Christ saves He saves totally and permanently.
And we sing Psalms 114 to celebrate that.
Christian, let me remind you of the greatness of your salvation!
Christ saves perfectly.
He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
• You are no longer a slave to sin.
• You no longer need to fear death.
• There is no danger that Christ will fail you.
You have been saved with a great salvation!
• Israel sang this song in memory of the Exodus…
• Christ sang this song on His way to the garden and ultimately the cross…
• We sing this song boasting in what He did for us there…
Sin and death fled!
Christ saved us with a mighty salvation!
