We'll be looking at Exodus chapter
15 tonight. But I first want you to turn
with me to Revelation chapter 15, if you would. Exodus 15 will
be our text. In the 15th chapter of Exodus,
we have the first actual hymn, the first song of worship. a
composition of praise recorded in the scripture. Look here in
Revelation chapter 15 with me, verse 3. We're told, or John
tells us, and they sing the song of Moses. the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Now, the song of Moses, the song
that Moses and the people of Israel sung in Exodus chapter
15, you can go ahead and be turning there with me, was so glorious,
so glorious that John tells us in Revelation 15 that it's sung
among the host of heaven. Notice that there was no honor
or praise given to Moses. He's simply referred to as the
servant of God. Just the servant of God. This
hymn, this song, is said to be the song of the Lamb. It's all
about Jesus Christ. I think we figured out by now
that the scripture is all about Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb
of God, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
this is a song that sings forth, John said, the great and marvelous
works of the Lord God Almighty. We say this all the time, salvation
is of the Lord, redemption is a work of grace done by God's
mighty power. It's not at all about what we
do for God, for we can do nothing that would at all cause God to
be mindful of us. Salvation has everything to do
with what Christ has done for us. This is a song that speaks
and declares God's holy justice and God's holy truth. John says,
just and true are God's ways. He says, Jesus Christ is the
king of his saints. That's certainly true. He is
my king. Now, Exodus chapter 15 and verse
one, we read, then sang Moses and the children of Israel this
song unto the Lord. This was a song sung unto the
Lord. This was a song of worship, a
song of praise, and a song of thanksgiving. And when we sing
the hymns that we sing here in our services, we must always
be conscious and remember that we're singing them unto the Lord.
We're not singing them to one another, even though we benefit
and profit from them. But we're singing unto the Lord.
And we're admonished in the Scriptures to make a joyful noise. Where? Unto the Lord. That's who we
make a joyful noise to. And I'll use this time to tell
those of you that don't sing out loud because you're conscientious
of your voice, the Scripture says make a joyful noise. It
doesn't say you have to be on key. Make a joyful noise, but
make it unto the Lord. That's who we're singing to.
We are making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Paul said in Ephesians
chapter five, verse 19, he says, speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord, to the Lord. Can you imagine how this
must have sounded hundreds and thousands of men and women and
children sung these words at the shore of the Red Sea. I can
only imagine how glorious it must have sounded. But even more
glorious is this song sung in heaven by the saints. What a
day that'll be. Now the first words of this song
tell us the reason for Israel's singing. It says, I'll sing unto
the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his
rider hath he, God, thrown into the sea. And can you imagine
how effective the triumphant power of the Lord was made to
Israel? He had certainly provided some
visual aid with this lesson. You know, a lot of times teachers
use, with children, use visual aids. It's a great tool to show
what a visual aid Israel had here. The very thing that Israel
feared the most lay dead upon the seashore right
in front of them. And there remained not so much,
the scripture says in the previous chapter, as much as one of them,
not one. Friends, the sin that so easily
besets us is all put away. There remains not one. We talked about that last time. The Lord had triumphant gloriously
in both the executing of His judgment against His enemy and
also in the executing of His mercy and His grace to His people. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea, Moses writes, but his people crossed
by safely through the wrath and the judgment and the justice
of God on dry ground, as pictured by the Red Sea. That's what the
Red Sea pictures, the wrath and judgment and justice of God in
which Egypt was destroyed. The first hymn of scripture here
has been rightly referred to as the song of redemption, and
it is most certainly that. It proceeded from the hearts
and the mouths of those who had been redeemed. Did you notice
the first word of the song is then. Then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the Lord. When did they
sing it? When was this song sung? Well,
if you look back here, just a couple of verses in chapter 14, verse
30, we see that this was when the Lord saved Israel that day
out of the hand of the Egyptian. 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 servant Moses. And it was then
that Moses and the children of Israel sung unto the Lord. Now, while in their slavery,
we're told that they sighed. They sighed by reason of their
bondage, and they cried. They cried, and God heard their
groaning. But now their sighing has turned
to singing, and their groans have turned to praising. And they're no longer occupied
with themselves. They're occupied with the Lord.
And it was upon their deliverance that Moses and the children of
Israel Children of Israel sang this song unto the Lord. What did they sing about? Their
song was entirely about Jehovah. They not only sang unto the Lord,
but they sang about the Lord. They said nothing of their selves.
These 18 or 19 verses here, they don't mention themselves. It's
all concerning Him. And the word Lord, L-O-R-D, capital,
occurs like 12 times in 18 verses here. And then the pronouns he,
him, thy, thou, and thee are found as many as 33 times in
these few verses. I was thinking to myself how
different that is from most modern hymns today. Men and women, boys
and girls, love to sing about how much they love Jesus. They
love to sing about streets of gold and pearly gates, yet seldom,
seldom is anything mentioned in song of the great and marvelous
work of redemption that Christ has done for sinners. We ought
to sing what we preach. And this is such a worshipful
song. Look at verse two. Out of the
abundance of their hearts, look at what they sing. They sing,
the Lord is my strength and my song. And he's become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare
him a habitation, my Father's God, meaning Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and I will exalt him. You see, the theme of this song
is what the Lord has done for them. That's what preaching the
gospel is. It's telling sinners what God
has done. He's done for the sinner what
the sinner could not do for himself. I never grow tired of hearing
that. Because I have to be perfect
in order to be accepted. And I can't do it. I cannot provide
what God requires. But Christ did. And He did it
for me. He's done for the sinner what
the sinner could never do. And there are parts of this hymn
that are quoted throughout the scripture. It's truly a hymn
about Him. And it's sung unto him. It's
sung unto the Lord. And it's about the Lord Jesus
Christ. I think that's very important
for us to understand. And then Moses and the people
of Israel sung, the Lord is my strength. Now I'd have you notice
here that it doesn't say the Lord strengthens me, even though
he does. What strength we have is of the
Lord, from the Lord. But it says here that the Lord
is my strength. And that's a big difference.
The Lord is omnipotent, and the Lord is sovereign, and He Himself
is my strength. You think about that. No doubt
that He strengthens me, but that kind of just fails in comparison
to Him being my strength. What strength my Lord displayed
when He perfectly kept the law in my place. And that's now my
strength. What strength Christ displayed
when he died and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
that's now my strength. It took great omnipotence. It
took the almighty power of God to satisfy the holy justice of
God. This was the strength that it
took to dot every I and cross every T of the law and fulfill
it. Only God's hand could do so.
But by our union with Christ, now hear me and rejoice, sing
unto the Lord that this is now our strength. The Lord is my
strength. The Lord is my strength. Is the
Lord your strength? The law no longer has any claim
on those that are made one with Christ. For by his strength,
God remains just and justifies the chosen sinner. That's my
strength. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthened me. What strength the Lord displayed
when he raised himself from the dead. That's my strength. It's better than being strengthened.
Christ himself is my strength. And notice that in that same
sentence it says, and he's my song. The Lord is my strength
and my song. He is the one whom we rejoice
over. He is the one that we love to
sing about. You know, I love to sing Jesus
paid it all. Do you know why? Because He did.
He paid it all. Every, every sin He paid for. I love to sing Christ the solid
rock. You know why? Because He is.
He's that solid rock on which we stand. All other ground is
sinking sand. I love to sing, my faith has
found a resting place, because it has. It's enough that Jesus
died and that he died for me. I love to sing, abide with me,
because he is. And I love to sing and consider
why he would love me, a sinner undone. I love to think about
why he should care. Why should he care? Do you know
why? because all my iniquities on
Him were laid. He nailed them all to the tree.
He paid the ransom for me. Oh, I'd love to sing about that.
I love to sing about the rock of ages. I love to sing of Christ
who is God's amazing grace. I love to sing how great thou
art because He is truly great. He is my strength and my song. This connection of strength and
song is very apparent throughout the scriptures. Divine strength
and spiritual song always go together. Nehemiah said, the
joy of the Lord is my strength. And he, Noah, I mean, excuse
me, Moses, Moses and the people of God saying, he is become my
salvation. You see that in verse two. Now
Paul writing to Timothy said this, he said, God hath saved
us. And it called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now, which came first, the saving
or the calling? Did you notice the order here?
God hath saved us and called us. That's what he said, Paul
said in 2 Timothy 1.9. Was life given before the call? You better believe it was. It
had to be before a dead sinner could hear. Can a dead man hear
the Savior's call? No. Not until he's given life. by the divine intervention and
revelation of God, I see that there is salvation in no other
than Jesus Christ, who is God. And he has become my salvation. Again, verse two, he is my God. He must be my God. I must acknowledge
him as my God, the only God. The true and living God. The
God that accomplished redemption for me from start to finish.
Jesus Christ is God. The one whom I have offended
is the very one that has redeemed me by the sacrifice of Himself. The very God that was once angry
with me is the same God that with His own blood washed me
clean and made me whole. No wonder, Paul said, and no
wonder the child of God can say, if He is for me, who can be against
me? Who can lay anything to my charge? Who can condemn me? The very
one whose justice has been offended is the same one who satisfied
His justice and now pleads my cause before the throne of God's
grace. Who's gonna condemn me? Who can
be against me? Who can condemn me? Who can lay
anything to my charge? Do you see what Moses is telling
us in this song? Do you see what the people of
Israel are singing? The Lord is my strength and my
song. All believers sing it from their
own heart. He's their only strength. We
can do all things through him. Notice they also sung, the Lord
has become my salvation. They now saw that God was their
deliverer. You know, they didn't see it
when they were making bricks. They didn't see that the Lord
was their deliverer when they were flogged with the whip. They
didn't see the Lord was their salvation even during the plagues
upon Egypt. But they saw it now. And they
visibly saw their enemies laying there dead on the seashore. And
they say, the Lord has become my salvation. Only God could
do the things that was done for them. And dear sinner, only God
can do for you what's required of you. Notice they sung here,
he is my God. A God of judgment and also a
God of mercy. A God of justice and yet also
a God of grace. And it won't help me for God
to be your God. He must be my God. And I must
trust Him as such. I must believe His Word. I must
bow to His Lordship. And I don't make Him Lord. I
bow to Him as Lord. There's a big difference. and
Moses and the people of God sung. Notice this, verse two, they
sung, and I will prepare him an habitation. I got to thinking
about that some today, and I just kind of got a bit overwhelmed.
I don't mean emotional, I just kind of got lost in the thought
of it. Do you know what the word habitation here means? Well, yeah, it means dwelling
place. But it comes from a Hebrew word
that refers to a beautiful home. Proverbs 14 verse 1 says, every
wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down
with their hands. And I know firsthand that many
of you ladies here tonight, you keep a beautiful home. My wife
keeps a beautiful home. And it's her honor as a wife
to do so. It's not easy. The job is never
done. You ladies have the most unappreciated
job in the world, I think. But how much more should we,
seriously, the bride of Christ, the church of God, how much more
should we make an effort to prepare Christ, our heavenly husband,
a habitation Beautiful home in which to dwell. Yes, we can only
do that with Christ as our strength. We can only accomplish that with
Him being our salvation, by Him being our God. I understand that. Paul said in Galatians 2.20,
he said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We sing that hymn, Christ
liveth in me, because He does. And I know that's so hard for
us to wrap our minds and heads around. But Paul said, I live
in this body, in this flesh, the life that I now live in this
flesh, in this body, in this dwelling place. He said, I live
by the faith of the Son of God. Not faith in the Son of God,
but faith of the Son of God. You see, his faith is my faith. Think about that. His life is
my life. His righteousness is my righteousness
because He and I are now one. That's how I can stand unblameable
and unreprovable in God's sight. Paul said, therefore if there
be any man, where? In Christ. He's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself. How? By Jesus Christ. Christ is the head. We're the
body. There's no life in the body if it's separated from the
head. Christ in you is the hope of
God. No hope of redemption apart from
Christ. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse
22, I won't turn you there, Paul said this. He said that in Christ
we are builded together for an habitation of God through the
Spirit. This habitation, this dwelling
place, this beautiful home is the work of God the Spirit. It's
not a work done by us, but it's a work, a supernatural work. It's a spiritual work of grace
in the sinner's heart by the Spirit of God. And all I'm telling
you, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. What a beautiful
habitation. Moses and the people sung, this
is my father's God. This is Abraham's God. This is Isaac's God. This is
Jacob's God. This is the God that our forefathers
told us about. This is the God that promised
us redemption. This is our God and we exalt
him. And that's what we do in our
singing. And that's what we do in our preaching. We exalt him. I had a friend recently tell
me that he attended the church and that he was so excited because
they were very vocal in their so-called worship, raised hands,
clapped hands, the whole nine yards. And he said, I'm coming
to your church pretty soon. And I said, well, I'm going to
tell you something. It really, what we do here seems
boring to the religious world, doesn't it? But it's the most
glorious thing to think that God Himself would die for sinners like us. That He would fulfill God's law
perfectly in our place. and that He would give us His
perfect righteousness. And all we sing, we sing from
our hearts that salvation is of the Lord. Look at what they sing in verse
3. They sing, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. Now, that doesn't line up very
well with what modern day religions, with modern day's religious view
of the Lord Jesus, does it? He's a man of war? Why, He loves
everybody and everything. You know, He's a man of war. What Christ preached today is
portrayed as passive. He's one who will not infringe
upon man's free will in order to save him. And let me just
tell you right now what you already know. If He doesn't infringe
upon your so-called free will, you will never be saved. You'll
be forever lost. You'll die in your sin. The Lord
Jesus is a man of war. And this is the character of
a holy and just God. Yes, loved, no doubt, he's a
God of love. But he's also a man of war when
it comes to his holy justice. You see, he's declared war against
all opposition to him. Anything that's opposed to him,
he's at war. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. His law must be honored. His
justice must be appeased. He can by no means clear the
guilty. He's a man of war. And if you're
his enemy, you're in serious trouble. Just ask Pharaoh. Well, I'm sorry, you can't. You
can't ask him. God drowned him in the sea of
his wrath and judged Now, hold your place here again. Turn with
me again to Revelation, this time chapter 19. Revelation chapter
19, verse 11. John said, and I saw heaven opened,
and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge
and what? Make war. His eyes were as a
flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had
a name written that no man knew but he himself. and he was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word
of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that
with it he should smite the nations, and he should rule them with
a rod of iron. and he treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Oh, listen to me,
that's what our Lord did on Calvary's cross. The winepress of God's
fierceness and wrath and judgment and justice was inflicted upon
our Savior until every single sin of all the elect throughout
all time was put away and God said, enough. Only a holy God
could pay the price of holy justice. That's how I know that I can
be saved by none other than Jesus Christ, who's God. Because only
God can pay and satisfy the price of holy justice. For a man to
think that he can do something to save himself is blasphemy,
really. Look back and, well, let's see. No, right here in verse 16. And
he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, does that sound like the
little mamsy-pamsy Jesus men preach about today? No, sir.
No, sir, it doesn't. when it comes to defending his
people, and when it comes to putting away the sin of his elect,
he's a man of war. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. Now, back in Exodus chapter 15,
we see the result of that very thing in the very next verse. Verse four, look at it with me.
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea, and
his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them.
They sink into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord,
is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. I immediately think about that
verse, none can stay his hand. None can say unto him, what doest
thou? Moses, he's not making any excuses
here for God's actions. He's simply declaring what God
has the right to do as God. God's servants make no excuses
for God. Whatsoever the Lord please, that
did He in heaven and in earth and in all deep places, and He
still does. God doesn't only do that which
is right. Friends, everything is right
that God does. Verse seven, and in the greatness
of thine excellency, thou hast overthrown them. You've overthrown
them that rose up against thee. Thou sentest forth thy wrath,
which consumed them as stubble. You know, when I read that, that
thou hast thrown over them that rose up against thee, well, they'd
rose up against Israel, hadn't they? Oh, you rise up against
God's people. You've rose up against God. And look at this, verse eight.
And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together.
The flood stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed
in the heart of the sea. Oh, I'm telling you, the parting
of the Red Sea was no task for God. Just a blast of his nostrils. Just a little from his nostrils. Oh, my, the water's divided.
I did a little research on the places mentioned in the book
of Exodus where Israel was encamped. And I've got some copies of old
maps and stuff. And if you follow the names of
the cities that it mentions and where they camped, I'm fairly
confident that the place where Israel crossed the Red Sea, and
I don't know, and nobody knows for sure, but the best I can
tell, it was where a lot of the old writers think they crossed,
was about 12 to 15 miles across. And anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000
feet deep. But that was no task for just
the nostril of God. Verse nine says, the enemy said,
I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My lust
shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword. My hand
shall destroy them. You notice the language here,
I will, Pharaoh said I will, I will, I will. I remember someone
else who said similar things to that. How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer? For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of
the congregation. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I'll be like the Most High. And God says, no,
you won't. For this same purpose, God raised
Pharaoh up that he might show his power in him. God simply
with the blast of his nostrils divided the water. Look at verse
10. Thou didst blow with thy wind,
the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Now here is the end of man's
opposition to God. And then after all this, we're
told, they ask God this, who is like
unto thee? Who is like unto Thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You know, I was
thinking any comparison of God made with anything or anybody
is derogatory. Because there's nothing to compare
Him unto. Human words just can't express
the holiness of God Almighty. He's glorious in holiness. Holiness
means separate. God is separate. God is other. God is not like me or you. And
that's the problem with men today. They think God is altogether
one likened to themselves. How holy is God? Well, He's glorious
in holiness. How holy is He? Well, I tell
you where you can get just a little glimpse of how holy He is. On
the cross. God is so holy that when your
sin was put upon His darling Son, God killed Him. That's how
holy He is. He's glorious and holy. How holy
is Christ our Lord? Well, Christ is so holy that
he would rather be separated from God than to have sin go
unpunished. He would rather die than allow
God's law and justice to be compromised. Christ is the only one who can
and will satisfy justice and at the same time justify sin. He's the only just God and Savior. He's a just God and a Savior.
And that's why I sing unto Him. That's why I sing about Him.
With the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 3 verse 26, I'll use His words. I declare,
I say unto you at this time, I declare unto you His righteousness. That's what we do when we preach.
We declare the righteousness of Christ. It's Christ's righteousness
that we endeavor to preach. It's because of Christ's righteousness
that God can remain just and the justifier of him which believes
in Christ. Do you believe Christ is your
only redemption? Keep on singing. Keep on singing. The psalmist said, I'll sing
unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully with me. Sing
unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness. Oh, we ought to sing when we
think about His holiness, because His holiness should have condemned
us and sent us to hell. But because of our Lord and Savior,
He satisfied the justice of God and gave us His perfect righteousness.
And therefore, we stand holy before God. The most amazing
thing a sinner's ever heard.