Let us turn once again to God's
Holy Word and turn into the portion we were reading in the Old Testament
in Exodus chapter 15. I'll read again the first two
verses of the chapter, Exodus 15 and verses 1 and 2. Then sang Moses, And the children of Israel, they
sung unto the Lord, and spake, 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 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. the opening words then of this
song. There are of course two songs of Moses. We have this
particular song after they'd been brought out of Egypt and
God had made a way for them through the Red Sea and destroyed their
pursuing enemies, Pharaoh and his armies. And then Moses sings
his great song of triumph. The Lord has triumphed gloriously
it says. But then Remember, after the
40 years of wilderness wanderings, when we come to the end of Deuteronomy
there in chapter 32, the gang are on the borders now of the
promised land and there's a river before them, they must go over,
they must go through the river Jordan. And there, as they are
about to enter into that land of promise, we have the other
song. Deuteronomy 32 another song of
Moses. We have two songs of Moses and
then of course in that portion that we were reading in the New
Testament in Revelation 15 we have reference to the song. There
in glory after God has defeated all his enemies the beast and the great whore
They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Well, as we come
tonight to these words at the beginning of Exodus 15, I want
really to take for my text the words that we have at the beginning
of verse 2. The words, The Lord is my strength
and song and He has become my salvation. The Lord is my strength. Literally, that is Jehovah-O-Z,
the Lord. Of course, that is the great
name that God has declared to Moses back in chapter 3, where
Moses receives his call, his commission, and God sends him
to deliver the children of Israel and Moses asks, what is he to
say when they ask who has sent him? And the Lord declares himself
as the great I Am, I Am that I Am. Well that's the name here,
we have it in the Shemilia capital letters, as is the practice in
our authorized version, this is the I Am, Jehovah. Osi, the Lord is my strength,
says Moses, and song, and He has become my salvation. It's interesting, isn't it? Because
there at verse 3, at the end of that verse, we're told the
Lord is His name. I Am is His name. But how does
I Am reveal Himself? Well, He reveals Himself in the
way in which He deals with His people. And hasn't the Lord demonstrated
something of His great strength in what He has just done at the
Red Sea, and the great deliverance that He has granted to the children
of Israel? In all their weakness, really,
they had been in bondage all those years. They were bond slaves,
subject to all the cruelty of Egypt, one of the great powers
of the ancient world. And yet God had demonstrated
his power and his strength in the manner in which he had delivered
them. What are we told previously in
that 14th chapter concerning the deliverance of the children
of Israel? The sea was before them. The
armies are pursuing them, the armies of Pharaoh. And what does Moses do? The Lord
tells him. He will fight. God Himself, the
Lord, will fight for them. In verse 13 there, in chapter
14, Moses says to the people, Fear ye not. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord which He will show to you today.
For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them
again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you.
and ye shall hold your peace." Well, God will accomplish a great
deliverance then on behalf of His people. Israel will be delivered,
and so it was. Verse 21 of that chapter, Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the
sea to go back by a strongest wind all that night, and made
the sea dry land. and the waters were divided and
the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right
hand and on their left. Oh God makes a way and he makes
that way through the Red Sea and in that hymn that we just
sang of Joseph Hart, how the hymn writer there sees it all
as a wonderful type of what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. He sang those words to him that
brought us back to God through the Red Sea of his own blood. What a remarkable thing it is
that the Lord God does by his strength, how his strength is
made perfect in weakness, how weak were the children of Israel.
And yet as they are delivered, so their enemies are altogether
destroyed. In verse 26 of that 14th chapter,
the Lord says to Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea,
that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their
chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his
hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength, when
the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it, and
the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And then at verse 13, and Israel
saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. Oh, what a remarkable
work is that that God accomplishes. He makes distinction there is
a difference between these people just as the Lord God had said
back in chapter 11 the Lord doth put a difference between the
Egyptians and the Israelites there's a difference between
them it's interesting what he said previous to that in chapter
8 and verse 23 as God addresses himself to Pharaoh
through his servant Moses, he says, I will put a division between
thy people and my people. And the word that we have there
for division is literally, according to the margin, the word for a
redemption, I will put a redemption. The difference between thy people
and my people there be a division and does he not teach us that
great truth about God has accomplished salvation for a particular people
the great doctrine of particular redemption the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the salvation of all that the Father had given
to him in that eternal covenant And of course, remember how the
deliverance really comes ultimately in the 10th plague, where the
children of Israel are to sacrifice the Paschal Lamb, and God's going
to send his destroying angel, but the children of Israel are
to take of the blood of the sacrifice and put it upon the doorpost
and the lintels, and the destroying angel will pass over them. and
the destruction will come only into the houses of the Egyptians. The Lord does indeed put a division,
a redemption between Pharaoh's people and his own people. But as we turn now to consider
in particular the words that I announce as a text here at
the beginning of verse 2. The Lord is my strength Jehovah-Uzzi,
the Lord is my strength and song, says Moses, and He has become
my salvation. I want to consider two points. First of all, to look at the
context here of this great triumphant song. But also, in the second
place, to notice that it is a typical song. It's taken up in the New
Testament, in a sense, in that passage that we read in Revelation
15. So, dealing with these two points
for a while this evening. First of all, what we have here
is Moses rejoicing in the Lord as his strength. The Lord is
his strength. He has triumphed gloriously,
he says. and we can observe at least four
ways in which the Lord God appears for his people and what the Lord
God does for his people first of all clearly we see him as
that one who fights for them we read in verse 3 the Lord is
a man of war the Lord is his name and how he fights for the
children of Israel, how the promise that he had given is fulfilled.
There in verse 14 of that 14th chapter, the Lord shall fight
for you. This is the message that Moses is to communicate
to these fearful people. They fear, you see that they're
completely trapped, there are mountains on each side of them,
there's the Red Sea before them, there's the pursuing armies of
the Egyptians behind them, where can they go? There's no way of
escape, surely this great army is going to fall upon them and
destroy them. But no, says the Lord, He is
going to fight for them. The Lord shall fight for you
and He shall hold your peace and then how that promise is
so wonderfully fulfilled and how the Egyptians have to
acknowledge it they say there at the end of
verse 25 let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fights
us for them against the Egyptians and then at the end of that 14th
chapter Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the
Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore
and Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians
and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His
servants Moses. And would it not become known
amongst us other nations round about When the people hear, there
in verse 14 of this 15th chapter in the midst of the song, the
people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold on the
inhabitants of Palestina. Then the Dukes of Edom shall
be amazed, the mighty men of Moab. Trembling shall take hold
upon them. All the inhabitants of Canaan
shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon
them. Why? Because of the greatness
of God's arm, how the Lord fights for His people. Oh, no wonder
we have this remarkable song. Moses and the children of Israel,
they sing this song, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for
He has triumphed gloriously. But He doesn't just fight for
His people. He is that One who also is leading
them and directing them. In verse 13, Thou in Thy mercy
hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. Thou hast
guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation. It is God who is making a way
for them. It is God who is leading them
in that way. Remember how these things are
spoken of in the 107th Psalm. That speaks of God and His providential
dealings. And there in the Psalm at verse
7, He led them forth by the right way. He leads them forth by the
right way. Oh, the Lord is that One who
is able to lead His people. again in the language of the
80th Psalm. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between
the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Benassi. Stir up thy strength and come
and save us. Oh God is the one who not only
fights for his people, but he is that one who leads them. He
will lead them through all the wilderness wanderings. Doesn't
the fiery cloudy pillar go before them in the way to show them
the way? Wherein thou to go? He sends
his angel before them to lead them then in the way. These are
the things that they are rejoicing in then. All that God does, He
fights on their behalf. He appears for them against their
enemies. He leads them. and He leads them in the right
way, in a plain path. And He is the One who is their
Redeemer God, He has redeemed them. There in verse 13, Thou
hast redeemed, the people which Thou hast redeemed. Oh, they're His purchased possession,
aren't they? The end of verse 16. the people
which thou hast purchased. He has put a redemption between
Egypt and the Israelites. He has purchased the children
of Israel. He has paid a ransom price for them. And it's all,
of course, set forth in type in the Paschal Lamb, Primeval,
fulfilled ultimately in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a spiritual
fulfillment. We'll come to that we'll come
to that presently but our God is here he is fighting for his
people he is leading he is directing his people he is the one who
redeems and purchases his people he is the God who is sovereign
he reigns and he reigns over his people look at the language
later there in verse 18 the Lord shall reign forever and ever. Oh, what a comfort is that, the
sovereignty of our God. Let God be God. He is the one that reigns. And
now, all their worship clearly centers in their God. He is the one that they desire
to worship. This is their song. of praise,
they're sung of thanksgiving and what is the theme of their
worship? Why they will exalt the Lord.
Here at the end of verse 2, He is my God, I will prepare Him
an habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. All this
is real worship, this is true worship. And true worship is
always God-centered, of course it is. No different today. among so many who would call
themselves Christians, where their worship is man-centered. They want to do those things
that will be attractive to men. And they really indulge in what
can only be described as carnal or fleshly worship. They bring
in novelties to make the service interesting and exciting. It's
not really a service of worship at all. It's a poor attempt at
entertainment. That's what it really amounts
to, because it is man-worship. True worship must center in the
Lord God Himself. God is a spirit. They that worship
Him, says Christ, must worship Him in spirit and in truth, for
the Father seeketh such to worship Him. we are to worship God in spirit,
we are to put aside then the things of the flesh that is will
worship when men do what's pleasing to themselves. No, God is a spirit
and is to be worshipped in spirit but is also to be worshipped
in truth. It is his word that is to guide
us and direct us in all our worship of him. How important it is,
friends, that we recognize what this song is all about. It's
about God, the one who has triumphed so gloriously over all his enemies. And so different, as I said,
to what we hear of so much in our day. No seriousness in the
worship of God. no real recognition of the dreadful
nature of man's sin and the need for one to be the mediator that
we cannot rush presumptuously into God's presence. We need
that fear of the Lord in our hearts. We need to recognize
God's absolute sovereignty in the way of salvation. We're to
worship Him. I will exalt Him. Oh, we have
here then a great song of triumph as Moses and the children of
Israel rejoice in what their God has done. What has God done? Well, He has destroyed His enemies
and they rejoice in that, the destruction of the Egyptians,
the horse and his rider at His throne into the sea. And again at verse 4, Pharaoh's
chariots and his hosts hath he cast into the sea. His chosen
captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have
covered them. They sank into the bottom as
a stone. And what do we see here? In the
destruction of their enemies we see something of the just
judgments of God. Here is God acting in accordance
with His justice. Verse 10, Thou didst blow with
Thy wind, the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty
waters. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord
among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? In the wonders
that God is doing, we see something of the glory of His holiness.
He's a just God, and His ways are right and equitable. What
was it that Pharaoh had done? Well, remember back in the opening
chapter, very first chapter of this book of Exodus, we read
of the dreadful cruelty of Pharaoh. Now as the Hebrews were increasing
in number, He sets out to destroy the Hebrews and all those male
children who were born to the Hebrew women, they were to be
cast into the river Nile. And the river becomes such a
bloody river. Destruction. And as God is a just God, so
He deals with the Egyptians in a just manner. Do they seek to
destroy all the firstborn of the Hebrews? Well, when we come
to the tenth plague, the last plague, the Passover, what do
we see God doing? He destroys all the firstborn
of the Egyptians. When the destroying angel comes,
he passes over those houses of the Hebrews who are sheltering
under the blood of the Paschal Lamb, or the angel does not bring
any destruction there, the destruction comes into the houses of the
Egyptians, and that's just. It's God dealing with them. That's
the tenth of the plagues, but when we go back to the very first
plague, What does God do in the first plague? He turns all the
water into blood. All the river Nile, all the delta
of the Nile, all those riverlets, everywhere, blood. They had made
the Nile a bloody river. And here is God, He is dealing
with them. And He's dealing with them in
the way of strict justice. And it's a demonstration. that
He is indeed the Holy One. He destroys His enemies. But
then as He destroys His enemies, what does He do? He delivers.
He delivers His own elect people. Oh, that's the wonder of it.
The Lord is my strength and song and He is become my salvation. Oh, He's my salvation. He's dealing with them in the
way of mercy. Verse 13, Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the
people which Thou hast redeemed. And again there at the end of
verse 16, all the people of the Lord pass over. Why? He has purchased them. Now the people which He has purchased
for Himself, now His special possession now, And it's interesting,
it's interesting what we read there in verse 13, we referred
to it just now, but look at what's actually said, Thou in thy mercy
hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed, thou hast
guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. Now it doesn't say here, it doesn't
speak in the future tense as if God's going to do something
for them. although it speaks of God leading them and guiding
them into his holy habitation. That's the land of promise. That's
the land that he had spoken of to Abraham and to Isaac and to
Jacob, and he's not yet brought them into the possession of that,
and yet, what we have here, you see, is what is normally termed
the prophetic perfect. It's what God has purposed to
do, but He is so sure and certain to accomplish what He has purposed
that it is spoken of as if it was already done. Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth
the people which Thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in Thy
strength unto Thy holy habitation. O the wonder of God and His purpose
to His people! No one can frustrate that purpose
of God. He will accomplish in them all
His goodwill and pleasure. Shall I bring to the birth, He
says, and not cause to bring forth? Shall I cause to bring
forth and shut up the womb? No, God's works with His people
can never be aborted. They're always accomplished.
How Paul reminds the Philippians of that blessed truth, being
confident, he says. being confident of this very
thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Oh friends, what a comfort if
God begins with us. He will accomplish in us all
His good will and pleasure. He will triumph gloriously. As Moses says here in the song,
I will sing unto the Lord. He hath triumphed gloriously
He destroys his enemies and he saves his people. I will build my church, says
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against him. The Lord accomplishes in all
his goodwill and pleasure. It is a great song of triumph
that we have here. But we remember that there's
a spiritual significance also. We know that they're not all
Israel, they're not of Israel. And he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart. It's not something that's physical really,
it's something that's spiritual. it's of the hearts it's what the Lord does in the
hearts of his people and Israel in the Old Testament they are
but atypical people and so not surprisingly we come to the New
Testament and we can turn to that other portion of scripture
that we were reading there right at the end of scripture in the
book of the Revelation in that 15th chapter and how interesting
it is because the the imagery, the language, and it's often
the case, of course, in the book of the Revelation, the language
employed is rooted back in the Old Testament. What do we read here in Revelation?
In chapter 15 and verses 2 and 3, John says, I saw, as it were,
a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the
victory over the beast and over his image, and over his mark,
and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having
the harps of God, and they sing the song of Moses, the servant
of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous
are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. Now remember what we have back
in the song. in Exodus 15 and verse 11 who
is like unto thee doing wonders says Moses who is like unto this
God who does wonders well here we read of God's works great
and marvellous great and marvellous are thy works and what are the
works of God? well they are works of justice
and their works of mercy. What does God do? God condemns
the wicked. God condemns the wicked. We read
of it time and again here in this mysterious book of the Revelation. There in chapter 18 and verse
20, Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets,
for God hath avenged you on her. And again, in the 19th chapter,
in chapter 19 and verse 2, True and righteous are his judgments,
for he hath judged the great whore. which did corrupt the
earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his
servants at her hand." And again they said, Alleluia, and the
smoke rose up forever and ever. God will judge all his enemies,
the beast, as we have it here in chapter 15, the great whore,
as we have it there in chapter 19, all his enemies. there is
that one who goes forth conquering and to conquer even him who is
king of kings and lord of lords the triumphs of the gospel ultimately
but God deals injustice with his enemies, he destroys them
now it's interesting those words that I referred to just now in
chapter 18 And verse 20, Rejoice over her,
thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged
you on her. And there's a sermon by Jonathan
Edwards. I don't know if you've all heard
of Jonathan Edwards. He was of course a minister there
in New England in the 19th century. contemporary with George Whitfield.
Many times Whitfield would go over to New England and there
was great awakening amongst the New England colonies as there
was great awakening and revival here in England. And Jonathan
Edwards was the minister there at Northampton in Massachusetts
and in fact he wrote a book, I think it's still in print,
you may have read it some of you, A Narrative of Surprising
Conversions. I remember reading that Many,
many years ago in my early experience, quite remarkable account of what
God did in a time of great awakening, but Edwards preached some remarkable
sermons. One of them was called Sinners
in the Hand of an Angry God. Sinners in the Hand of an Angry
God. Must have been fearful. The sermon
is on record in his works. I've read the sermon through.
But what a theme that the man is taking up! But that wasn't
the only occasion. Those words in Revelation 18.20
were the occasion of another sermon that Edwards preached.
And he bore this title, The End of the Wicked Contemplated by
the Righteous. The End of the Wicked Contemplated
by the Righteous. and it's no occasion of grief
to the righteous. They rejoice. They rejoice in
the way in which God deals with the wicked. The words of that
verse, Rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and
prophets. They rejoice. Just as Moses and
the children of Israel rejoice over the destruction of all the
Egyptians, so there's joy in heaven at the end it's hard to
contemplate to conceive really and yet we know there is nothing
of sadness nothing of sorrow in heaven but there's a rejoicing
in God and all that God is in all his glorious attributes And He is that One who is a holy
God and a righteous God and a just God. And so, all His judgments
are holy and righteous and just. But then also, there is mercy. As I said when
we were looking at the actual passage back in Exodus 15, there's
not only God's judgment upon the Egyptians, God makes a difference,
a division. And He deals in mercy with the
children of Israel, all that He does for them, fighting for
them, leading, guiding, redeeming,
reigning over them. And so, here we read how they
sing, here in chapter 15 and verse 3 of Exodus. They sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and
marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints. Well, what do they rejoice in?
Well, they rejoice in God's works. We were recently looking at those
words in Psalm 85. Remember how there at verse 10
we see something of the harmonizing of all the blessed attributes
of God. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. How remarkable is the work that
Christ accomplished here upon the earth. Because in that work
we see that God is a just God and yet He's a Saviour. and He
saves His people in His justice He can by no means clear the
guilt but such is the wonder of what Christ has done that
all the attributes even God's justice and God's holiness and
God's righteousness are all on the side of the sinner or we
should tremble when we think of what we are as sinners before
a God who is so holy who can by no means clear the guilt a
voice too pure to behold iniquity, a God who cannot look upon sin.
And yet what does John say there in the closing words of that
opening chapter of his first epistle? If we confess our sins,
he says, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Though he doesn't say If we confess our sins, He is
merciful and gracious to forgive us our sins. He is that. He's
a merciful God. He's a gracious God. But He doesn't
say that, does He? He says He is faithful and just.
He is just in the forgiving of the sins of His people. He is
a just God and He is a justifier of all them that believe in Jesus. Oh, we read of another song,
don't we, back in chapter 5 here. In verse 9, they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof, for Thou art slain, and hast redeemed us to God by
Thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Thou the Lamb, you see, is all the glory. in Immanuel's land. All we have read of Moses. Moses
is a remarkable character, of course. He is there, isn't he,
in the catalogue of the faithful in Hebrews 11. He turns his back upon all the riches of Egypt, he identifies himself
with the children of Israel, we made mention of him this morning,
the meekest of men, the saved man, and yet associated with
the law of God. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. All the wonder of it,
it's the song of It's a song of Moses, yes, but it's also
the song of the Lamb. And what do we see in Moses?
We don't only see law, but we see so much there in the books
of Moses that are a prefiguring of what would come in the fullness
of the time with Christ. Of course, Leviticus is the third
book of Moses. And Leviticus is full of typology. All those various feasts and all those sacrifices. Are they not typical? Are they
not prefiguring? Are they not a shadow of good
things to come? Fulfilled ultimately in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, that song where we began
there in the opening verses of that 15th chapter of Exodus. Then sang Moses. And the children
of Israel, they sung unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will
sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse
and his rider he hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my
strength, O Jehovah, O Zion, the strength of His people, the
great I am that I am, the Lord is my
strength and song and He has become my salvation, He is my
God, or can we say that tonight, of this God, He is my God, and
I will prepare Him an habitation, My Father's God, and I will exalt
His name. Oh, the Lord is His name. I am
the Lord, He says. I change not, therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. The Lord be pleased then to bless
His word to us tonight. Amen.