might please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word let us turn to the book
of Exodus chapter 15 and we'll read the second verse the book
of Exodus chapter 15 and reading verse 2 the Lord is my strength
and song and he is become my salvation he is my God and I
will prepare him an habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt
him." This was a wonderful occasion
in the history of the children of Israel. they'd been brought out of Egypt
where they'd been some 400 years and they'd come across the Red
Sea and the Egyptians had pursued them with an endeavor to take
hold of them and turn them back to Egypt but the Lord graciously
on the part of Israel and very solemnly on the part of the Egyptians,
killed them all by drowning in the Red Sea when the waters that
had been a wall to Israel came over them and covered them and
drowned them all. And so there had been a really
a wonderful and complete deliverance for Israel. And it's good to
realise that having received this wonderful deliverance that
now Moses and the children of Israel came together to sing
this song which we read together this morning in this 15th chapter
of Exodus. and truly it was a song of praise. And it's commenced by saying,
I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is able to do great
things today, as he did in those days, perhaps not in the same
miraculous way, but nonetheless we still have a great God who
still does great things. And we should realise that when
the Lord does do great things, for us individually as a church
and people and as a nation, there should be that real desire to
be able to come and to sing unto the Lord and to thank him for
his mercies. This would appear to be the first
time when a song is recorded in the Word of God by the people
of God. And what a wonderful occasion
it was. And so Moses is able to declare
this great truth. And it would be good for us today
to look at these words carefully and desire that such a song that
Moses made has an echo in our own heart. And that we don't
just go away and think, well, that was an interesting account
this morning, but that we may indeed have it applied to our
heart with the desire that we may truly be found in the same
way, in the same design. So these words, as Moses comes
and he says, the Lord is my strength. Now it's good to recognise that,
isn't it? That the Lord is our strength. We can't do things
by ourselves. We haven't got any spiritual
strength ourselves. And the reason is, of course,
that we are dead in trespasses and sins. We have no spiritual
life until the Lord gives us that life. And therefore, it's
that which God gives us, which is then His strength. And Moses
therefore says, the Lord is my strength. He'd witnessed so very
clearly the power of God in those miracles which had been accomplished
in Egypt, before the eyes of the Egyptians and Pharaoh. And
of course, they'd had no avail really, and had no real effect. There was sorrow and sadness
for short times, but it soon evaporated. And then there was
that solemn occasion when all the firstborn were slain. And
then there was indeed that agreement to let the children of Israel
go from the land of Egypt. And it wasn't anything the Israelites
could do themselves. It was the power of God. The Lord is my strength and song. And how necessary it is for us
to realize today that God is our strength. We forget sometimes,
don't we? Perhaps we often forget. And
we pursue things ourselves. We pursue our own aims, our own
ideas, and seem to forget that we need God to be with us. We
need God to bring about the deliverance. We need God to bring about the
victory. And if that is so, then the great
blessing will be that God should receive all the honour and all
the glory. And that we are able then to
come and speak in a similar way So the words that Moses speaks,
the Lord is my strength. Well, I wonder this morning,
you know, let's look into our heart. Let's see if we can say
these words with regard to our lives and especially spiritually,
but also naturally in our lives, you know, things which we felt
the Lord has helped us because he's given us of his strength.
You know, you children have taken Exams haven't you recently and
Have you always just relied upon your own ability? Have you always
only relied upon your own natural? Ability to remember the things
that you've been taught or have you relied upon the strength
of the Lord? Well, I hope the latter is true. I hope you have been dependent
on upon the Lord to give you that strength to be able to answer
questions correctly and rightly and be able to then say perhaps
when the results come out well the Lord was my strength He was
the one that enabled me to do those things and then not just
to pass on but then to be able to acknowledge like Moses did
here that the Lord is my strength. How important it is that we do
come and give glory to God. Often, you know, we ask for things
and then when we receive them, we forget who gave them to us. We forget it was the Lord. Perhaps we've been very guilty
on many occasions of forgetting to thank and to praise God Well,
may we be able to rectify all those omissions and be able to
acknowledge, yes, the Lord is my strength. And how important
it is spiritually, and how important it is naturally, and how we need
God to give us that natural strength. We can't produce it ourselves.
The Lord can so easily remove our strength. He can so easily
take it away. And then we realised that we
were dependent upon our own ability, our own solutions. It was all
then to know and to come to that time when the Lord appeared. And the Lord did that for which
we could not do. You know, Israel, they couldn't
deliver themselves from Egypt. They couldn't have opened the
Red Sea so that dry land appeared. It was God that did it. And in
the same way, we need God to do those things for us which
we can't do for ourselves. But may God give us that true
faith to believe. You see, when we pray to God,
we must come believing. that he is their God who is able
to do such things. Well, the children of Israel
prayed to the Lord and the Lord sent the Deliverer in the person
of Moses and Aaron to lead and to direct the Israelites. And so God indeed was with them. And so here we're able to Read
these words, the Lord is my strength and song. There was a follow-up
when the Lord granted the deliverance. That knowledge, the strength,
and there was that song of praise unto Almighty God. Oh my friends,
how lacking today praise is to God. How so easily we accept
things and fail to acknowledge that it's God that's done it.
And it's good to sing unto the Lord. People do sing, don't they? When they're joyful. And they
sing. My friends, do we have reason
to be joyful? Do we not have reason then to
sing unto the Lord? Well, here was the evidence of
it in Moses' day. The Lord is my strength and song. Then he goes on to describe a
very important aspect. He said, and he is, become my
salvation. God it was that delivered them. God it was that appeared for
them. In the same way, you and I in
a spiritual sense need to be able to come and say, He has
become my salvation. He is the one that has come to
me. He is the one that has given
me that earnest prayer that the Lord will look upon me. He is
the one who has directed me to His great and glorious work of
salvation. We're blessed to have the Bible,
and no doubt we've all read the Bible, or at least part of it.
Perhaps you younger ones haven't read it all, but do try and read
it all. But there in the Word of God,
we see there the way of salvation so gloriously set forth. And so Moses said, he has become
my salvation. And of course, Moses had been
wonderfully privileged to be the one that had directed Israel
how to install and how to keep the Passover. It was indeed a
most important thing to do. And in that Passover, what did
it so clearly illustrate, what did it so clearly show? It set forth the Lord Jesus Christ
as the only Saviour. the only way of salvation. It's good to read that account
carefully, because Israel were told to carry out the instructions
accurately and carefully. They weren't to be casual. They
were to carry out those instructions precisely as Moses gave to them. and the centre of that occasion
was the slaying of that lamb, the taking of the blood of the
slain lamb and putting it on the doorpost and the lintels,
and then partaking of the lamb as it was roast in the fire. And the picture we have there
is that there's no safety unless you and I are under the blood.
That means unless you and I are under the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then there's also the great blessing of feeding
upon Christ as the Israelites were to feed upon that lamb roast
in the fire. And there we have the picture
of the suffering Christ, roast as it were, in the wrath of God. So we have a very beautiful picture
in the Passover. which sets before us the wonder
of salvation. Now, it was the natural salvation
to Israel, because unless they were safe inside those dwellings
and had passed under that doorway with the blood over it, there
was no safety. And so it is today. The salvation
of God, my friends, is only to those for whom Christ has died. those for whom Christ has shed
his precious blood. And it cannot just be a theatrical
understanding and a theatrical statement. It must be something
that you and I, by the grace of God, enter into. And we rejoice
in, and we praise God for it, and we sing of the wonder of
it. He has become my salvation. Well again this morning my friends,
can we say that? Can we say the Lord Jesus Christ
has become my salvation? There's all my hope. I've had
to give up all the hope in myself, all the good things I did or
am doing, I realise in actual fact there's nothing perfect
in them, sin is with them, sin is mixed with all we do and I
need a great and glorious salvation. I need to know that the Lamb
of God, the Lamb was a typical thing taken in the Passover.
I need to know the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ has died
for me. That he was crucified upon Calvary's
cross to atone for my sins. It will become, and it must become,
a very personal consideration, something that we're really,
really concerned about, and concerned that we may be able to exclaim
in the same way that Moses did, yes, this great and glorious
God, this great and glorious Lord is become my salvation. Well, how do you answer this
morning? Can you say that? And you know
if you can, you'll be humble before God. You'll bless God
for his grace. The unmerited favor of God which
has come upon you, which has shown you your need of salvation
and directed you to the Lord Jesus Christ and all the glory
will come unto your God and you will desire surely to thank him,
surely to praise him, surely to sing of his great goodness
toward you. And so Moses says, and he is,
become my salvation. Yes, to realize the wonderful
personal blessing of this, to know that you and I have an interest,
a personal interest in the in the saving death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, if we are under the blood,
we are eternally safe. And so he says, he has become
my salvation. And then he says, he is my God. He is my God. How important it
is that we're able to again say that. so that God is not something
abstract. But God is the true God and by
his grace we can humbly say, like Moses, like the children
of God, from our heart, because of a personal evidence, a personal
testimony, a personal knowledge that the Lord has looked upon
us The Lord has shown us His mercy, the Lord has shown us
His favour, He's directed us into the love of Christ, so that
we're able to come and say very gloriously and yet very humbly,
He is my God. My friends, what a mercy it is.
If you and I can say that, but how needful it is. central requirements of the truth
of God. They're not just something to
be passed over. They're not something to think,
well, I suppose that's true and well, I suppose I should be more
concerned and perhaps one day I'll think about it more seriously. My friends, we don't know when
we're going to die. And we must be able to say before
we die, He is my God. And if you and I were to die
today, it wouldn't be then a question of, well, I'll think about it
when I'm older, because the time of grace would
have passed. While you and I are in time,
there's hope. when we're outside of time, there
is no hope. And so how necessary it is that
you and I are blessed to pursue the narrow way, as the hymn writer
says, till him I view. Till we by faith view the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Saviour, And we are then able to claim
and are able to say, He is my God. My God. My friends, what a blessing it
is if we can say that. And if we can, is there not great
reason why you and I should not sing the song? Sing unto the
Lord, for He is good, for He is great. for his mercy endureth
forever. He is my God because he's come
to me, because he's dealt with me, because he's found me, just
like he found Jacob in that waste town in wilderness. The Lord
found him. Has God found you? Has he come to you? He knows where you live. He knows
where you are. as God found you out, as He found you and called you
to call upon His name, and have you had the comfortable
evidence, the comfortable witness that the Lord has heard your
prayer. And one of the indications of
that is this, that the Lord gives you a real desire for this, and
the Lord takes away hardness of heart and rebellion and gives
you that grace to fall down before your God, praying that he will
look upon you, praying he will be gracious to you, praying that
he will have mercy upon you. And if the Lord has blessed you
with that evidence, then I believe we can humbly say, yes, this
God is my God, this God has been gracious to me, this God has
come to me, and I can say He is my God. And how humbling such
a statement is, to be able to declare it from our heart. not
just an acknowledgement with our lips, but coming from our
heart, the realisation, the wonder of it, that the great God, the
ruler of the universe, we might say has taken trouble to come
to us where we are. Hasn't just pushed us aside,
hasn't passed us by. There are many, many in the world
today, the Lord passes by. I wonder if it's a bit like it
was in the case of Zacchaeus. The Lord came where Zacchaeus
was. Zacchaeus was up a tree. The Lord came where he was, and
he stood still. He looked up. What did he say? Zacchaeus, come down, for today
I must abide at thy house. Perhaps you've been up a tree.
What a blessing if God's come and said to you, come down. Come
down from that high place. Come down. Come down. And I will come and
abide with you. Abide at your house where you
are. Well, Zacchaeus was able to say,
wasn't he, my God. What a mercy then, if you and
I today are able to reconnect such an occasion in our life,
when as it were we were up a tree and God came and said, come down. We're going to leave our high
opinion of ourselves. We're going to leave it behind
and come down. The Lord brings a favour like
that to his church. What a mercy it is. Here was Moses on this auspicious
occasion. Wonderful day, wasn't it? When
Israel came and brought this song before their God. It would
be a glorious and an auspicious day when we come like that and
are able to praise our God and to say with Moses, yes, the Lord
is my strength and song and has become my salvation. He is my God. And then he says,
and I will prepare him habitation they think well that's a rather
strange statement well it is a rather strange statement isn't
it because we can't really prepare a temple or a tabernacle for
God I mean that's just beyond our ability but I believe it
means this when he says I will prepare him and habitation the
desire that God will come and dwell in our hearts that the Lord may abide with
us. Now, of course, we cannot actually
prepare it ourselves, but I believe the Lord gives us grace and gives
us a desire and gives us a concern that the Lord will come and abide
with us, that he will come and dwell with us, so that in one
sense there is this preparing for our God and habitation. a place in our heart. We may
have to ask ourselves, is there room in my heart for God? Is there room? What's in your
heart today? Is your heart filled with all
the things of the world? All the amusements? All the things
which are so prevalent today? All the things in the sporting
world? They all occupied your heart.
Is your heart full with them? Maybe this morning you come to
the chapel and your heart's full with the things of the world.
You haven't really been listening because you've been thinking
the things which have occurred yesterday or in the past week or the things
which are coming upon you in the coming week. The things of
the world. Is there any room in your heart
for the Lord? Or is your heart full with the
things of the world? Now, you see the gracious words,
here are these. And I will prepare him an habitation,
a place where the Lord may dwell. Well, my friends, what a blessing
it is. If you and I have a true desire,
the Lord will come and dwell with us. He'll come and he will
abide with us. And the desire is that it might
be so, that we're willing therefore to shove out all those things
of the poor world which fill up our heart, so there's no room
for our God. Surely that's a preparing, isn't
it? Getting rid of the many temptations,
the many things which perhaps crowd into our minds. so that
we're able to have that right space for our God. Well, here
then, Moses says, and I will prepare him an habitation. Well, may our concern be that
there is room in our heart for our God, and that our prayer
is that our God will come and dwell with us. I hope we desire that one day
we should go and to dwell with him in glory. But equally our desire should
be that the Lord would come and dwell with us on the earth, so
that we are truly united to our blessed and glorious Saviour.
And he is with us. He is close by us. He is indeed
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well my friends today may we
be able to trace out that there is room in our heart for our
Savior and more blessedly that he is dwelling within us and
we have the evidence that Christ is formed in us the hope of glory. So he says and I will prepare
him and habitation then he says my father's God well Moses was
blessed with godly parents. Perhaps we've been blessed with
godly parents, perhaps we haven't. But anyway, the fact is that
Moses was able to say, my father's God. And of course he could look
back to his fathers, his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
so forth. He could look back couldn't he?
and see the great blessing which emanated from God. Be able then
to say, yes, my father's God. Well, it's a blessing. We can
look back and see that we are following those who have gone
before, those who have been blessed with the grace of God, those
who testified the Lord is theirs, those who've given that praise
to God, those perhaps who've sung the song of some other God
for his great mercy and favour in delivering them and being
with them and blessing them so that we today are following those
who are now in glory. Those who have trodden this path
in this world, those who have endured light temptations that
we face, but those who have conquered through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are able to say, yes, we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. I will prepare him in habitation,
my father's God. And then he comes and says, I
will exalt him. It's a gracious, real, living
desire that Moses had. And he says, I will. Many times
we read of God's will in the Word of God and how thankful
we are for it. And here we have a word by Moses
with a desire in his heart to come and be able to say, I will
exalt him. Well, that really gives to us
the evidence of the true work of God in our hearts. Because
I believe if God's work is there, our real concern will be to exalt
his great and holy name. Because he is so, so worthy to
receive honour and glory, as we realise the great price that
was paid for our redemption. He is suffering death, the wonder
of it. preciousness of his shed blood
and to desire therefore to truly from our heart exalt this great
and glorious Saviour. How needful then, how necessary
it is, what an evidence it is, That we are born again in the
Spirit of God and we possess these blessings that we've gone
through this morning. The Lord's our strength and song.
He's our salvation. He's our God. And that we desire
to repair and habitation for Him. And He is our Father's God. With all those evidences, my
friends, if we have those evidences, surely is not our heart bursting? to come and acknowledge and to
say, yes, I will exalt this great and glorious God for all that
He's done for me. He wonderfully blessed Israel of
old. And my friends, by His grace,
they say, yes, and He's blessed me. And I desire now to come
and say, I will exalt Him. Now, beware. of the old devil. Beware of him going about, my friends.
He wants you and me to never speak a word. He wants us never
to exalt the Lord. But by belief, where there is
the true grace of God in our hearts, where we have truly been
blessed indeed. There will be that within us
which will burst forth and we shall have to exalt his great
and holy name. And what a pleasure it is. And
what a joy it is. And what a favour it is. and
how thankful we are that we're able to come and exalt his name. In another place in the Word
we read this, and let us exalt his name together. There's a
drawing together. The true Church of God desire
that, that his name may be exalted. Well, my friends, this morning
do we have the evidence in our heart of the Lord's gracious
work And therefore that real concern in our breast, in our
heart, in our innermost being, that we desire to exalt the Lord
and to be able to say a word like this, I will exalt him. I pray there may be some this
morning with this burning desire, this burning desire to come with
such word as this, and be able to say from your heart, concern
that God may have the glory, I will exhort him. He is worthy, this great and
glorious savior, who's given us the word of truth, the word
of God, for our instruction, for our encouragement. So if
the Lord has been gracious, has come, has delivered us, has brought
us out of Egypt, brought us out of spiritual Egypt, brought us
into the marvelous light of the everlasting gospel. Can we not
come, may we not come, like Moses here this morning and be able
to say, for the glory of God, the Lord is my strength and song
and he is become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise
him And I will prepare an habitation, my Father's God, and I will exhort
Him. Blessed be God. Amen.