Sermon Tone Analysis
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It is becoming increasingly common for those who call themselves “progressives” to warn Christians that they are on “the wrong side of history.”
They don’t call themselves “Progressives” for nothing, they view everything in the past, especially our Judeo-Christian heritage as backwards and out-of-date.
They see Secular Humanism as moving history forward to bigger and better things.
While it is still debatable whether or not their agenda is “progress”, most would agree that they seem to be winning.
For many American Christians it seems like we have awakened from a deep sleep to find ourselves in a strange land!
What we are experiencing is what the children of Israel must have experienced in Egypt.
When they first arrived in Egypt, they enjoyed a favored status.
Joseph their brother, was viceroy of Egypt.
The children of Israel were given the best land to live in and there they prospered and multiplied!
Then the “dream” ended, and they woke up to a nightmare!
A Pharaoh who did not “remember” Joseph came to power and they were enslaved for 400 years!
This is the historical situation our Psalm this morning opens with.
The “house of Jacob” was dwelling among “a people of strange language.”
This means more than the fact that Israel spoke Hebrew and the Egyptians spoke Egyptian, it means they were speaking from two different hearts.
Our words are more than mere phonics, they are mirrors into our hearts.
Jesus once said,
Philip Ross in his commentary on Psalm 114 writes, “Israel lived under a double oppression; yes physical, but also spiritual.
They live, not just under the crack of the whip, but also the lash of the tongue.
Little wonder the people ‘groaned’ and cried to God for rescue.
God heard.
God remembered his covenant.
God saw.
God knew (Exod.
2: 24– 5).
How does he see?
How does he know?
He sees and he knows because he is there with them.
‘Judah was his sanctuary, Israel his dominion’ (v.
2).
Judah, Israel, the house of Jacob, are all ways of speaking of God’s people.
Pharaoh sits on his throne and extends his dominion, but where is the God of Psalm 113, who dwells on high?
He is making himself low, establishing a sanctuary for himself among the poor Israelites, seemingly allowing Israel—‘ his dominion’— to come under the dominion of a genocidal tyrant.
He sees.
He knows.
They groan.
And does his Spirit not groan with them?”
You see, the burning question every person needs to ask is not: “Is history on my side?” but rather: “Is God on my side?”
The great truth of Psalm 114 is this: God is on the side of His People!
The God Who is on the Side of His People
The Exodus story did not begin with Moses or even Joseph, it began with Abraham.
God came to Abram a second time in order make a covenant with him, having instructed Abram to prepare the sacrifices for the cutting of a covenant, a deep darkness fell and...
Do you see the significance of this?
The oppression and suffering of the children of Israel in Egypt was not a surprise to God, it was all a part of His plan.
God had ordained His people’s pain, but more importantly, we learn from Psalm 114, that because God had made Israel his sanctuary and dominion, he was ordaining His own pain!
This is seen most clearly in the second great redemptive event of recorded in the Bible—the Cross.
As with the Exodus, the Cross was no surprise to God, it was all a part of His plan.
Twice in the book of Acts, God makes this point clear.
First Acts 2:23:
Secondly, Acts 4:27-28:
History is in God’s hands and God is on the side of His people!
Both the Exodus and the Cross teach us that God is not a God who hears and sees from afar, but He is a God who hears and sees “up close and personal.”
In the Incarnation Jesus took on our flesh and blood.
During His life He took on the burden of perfect obedience to the Law.
On the Cross, He took our sin and guilt.
In His death, He tasted death for each of us.
In His resurrection He gave us an indestructible life and finally, in His ascension, He shares with us His glory!
The next section of Psalm 114 teaches us that God is so determined to deliver His people that He will move heaven and earth!
The God Who Moves Heaven and Earth
Let us refresh our memories as to what these four verses say.
What a beautiful and vivid way of reminding us of the power of God.
The psalmist is of course referring to the parting of the Red Sea, the damming up of the Jordan River and the earthquakes at Mount Sinai.
The psalmist personalized these events, not only because it is poetically beautiful, but more importantly he is speaking against the personal, human oppressor of His people.
In the story of the Exodus, Pharaoh and his people had hardened their hearts against God and God’s people.
Moses, when he wrote the book of Exodus, goes to great lengths to show that what was really going on was a war between the false gods of the Egyptians and the true God of Israel.
There are really only two types of people in this world, those who worship the Creator and those who worship the created things (including man himself).
In the Seven Plagues, God defeated the seven “nature gods” of Egypt.
At the Red Sea, God defeated Pharaoh, who imagined himself to be a god.
This war was still going on at the time of Jesus, in Acts 4:27, which I read from earlier, it says “there gathered together against Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.”
Don’t you see, the whole world was going against Jesus.
I can imagine them saying to Jesus and His disciples, “Get with the program, you are on the wrong side of history.”
But how wrong they were.
When God delivered His people through Jesus, heaven and earth were moved once again!
At the moment Jesus died, Matthew records:
And then when He was resurrected:
The Cross will not be the last time God moves heaven and earth to deliver His people.
In the book of Revelation, we read:
This brings to the final two verses of this psalm.
These verses ask us the most important question that can be asked:
Are You on the Right Side of HIS Story?
Today we have seen the power of a God who will move heaven and earth to redeem His people.
Today we hear the pundits accusing Christians of being “on the wrong side of history.”
Those who say such things are as blind as Pharaoh was.
History is in God’s hands and to be on the wrong side of God is to be on the wrong side of history!
If you remember, I said at the beginning of this series on the Psalms that Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 are the keys to unlocking all the other Psalms.
Let me read from Psalm 2:11-12 again.
These two verses teach us that each of us has a choice, we can either worship and serve Jesus with fear and trembling or we can tremble with fear when Christ comes to judge the world.
This judgement is closer than you think.
In the book of Hebrews, we read these sobering words:
When we look at the great span of history, even the youngest amongst us will die soon.
What is 70, 80 or even 100 years?
It is a blink of the eye.
Someday soon you will close your eyes in death, when you opening them again will you face Heaven or Hell?
Let us pray.
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