Let's go back to the book of
Exodus this evening, Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15. And what I want to do is to kind
of talk to you this evening about the first 13 verses of this song
of Moses. It begins this way, and of course,
a couple of weeks ago, Three weeks ago, I guess it's been
now, I brought you a message on this great song. But it begins this way in chapter
15, verse 1. Then, then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the Lord. This is the song
of Moses, and it's the song of Israel. It is the song of Moses,
but it isn't about Moses. Moses was God's appointed servant. He was the man that God used
in a mighty way. He's the one who declared unto
Pharaoh that the children of Israel had to be released. Over
and over again he repeated to Pharaoh these words, the Lord
said, let my people go. He was faithful in setting forth
God's message. He declared the purpose of God
to the people of God. He spoke to them about the necessity
of the Passover lamb. Moses delivered unto them the
word of God regarding the lamb that must be a male of the first
year, without blemish, without spot. That lamb had to be killed,
the blood caught in a basin. The father of each family was
to take a bunch of hyssop and go outside and mark the top of
the doorpost and both sides of the doorpost and then come back
in and then roast that lamb. And the family was to eat that
lamb with unleavened bread, ready to make a journey. Moses was faithful in delivering
the word of God, but the song is not about Moses. We thank
God for God's servants. We thank God for his preachers.
The scripture says to esteem God's servants very highly. And we do that. We're thankful
for the men that God uses. Men that set forth to us the
very gospel of the free grace of God to sinners through the
doing and the dying and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Men
who tell us how God can be just and justify the ungodly. We're
thankful for these men and we do esteem them highly, but we
give them no glory. Just like this song is not to
the glory of Moses. And it's not to the glory of
Israel. Because you see, everything that
Moses did, everything that he said, and all the things that
Israel did in obedience to God, as far as taking the Lamb and
doing what God said to do, All that they did did not make them
worthy of any recognition or any declaration of greatness.
They were a sinful people. This song is not about the servant
of God. This song is not about the Israel
of God. This song of the saints is about
our Lord and what our Lord did for Israel. And it's the song
that the saints of God in heaven are singing right now. This is an amazing thing. Hold
your place here, and I know we've looked at it before, but turn
to the book of Revelation chapter 15. This is the song the saints
of God are singing. People often say, what are the
people of God in glory doing? Well, they're praising the Lord.
They're worshiping Him. I can well imagine that the Son
of God, as the saints of God are gathered around His throne
of grace, His throne of glory, the Son of God is breaking open
to those saints the Word of God, setting forth truths that are
glorious in such a way that only He can set it forth. If it was said of our Redeemer,
never a man spake like this man when he walked on this earth,
what must the saints of God be saying and thinking in glory? As they hear Him, they see Him
face to face and from His own lips, there comes forth the Word
of God flowing sweeter than honey that blesses and exalts, it blesses
His people and exalts Him. And they're singing. One of the
songs they're singing is Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, which
you sang Sunday. It's taken right out of Revelation
chapter 5. Right at the end of chapter 5
is another song. They're singing salvation to
our God and unto the Lamb. Nobody in heaven is singing about
what they did for God, how they labored for the Lord. how they've
made great sacrifices. Nobody's singing about that.
That's not worthy to be sung of. They're singing praises to
the triune God, to the Father who chose them, to the Son who
redeemed them, to the Spirit of God who regenerated them and
drew them in effectual powerful grace under the Son of God. They're praising the Lord. And
this song, Let me begin in verse one, you there? Revelation chapter
15. And I saw another sign, another
unusual event, something that transcends the common course
of nature. I saw another sign in heaven,
great and marvelous. Well, what is it? seven angels
having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the
wrath of God." They saw messengers of judgment that God had ordained
to pour out wrath upon the earth. And I saw, as it were, a sea
of glass mingled with fire. And them that had gotten the
victory over the beast, that's Satan, and over His image, and
over His mark, and His mark is salvation by works. His mark is salvation by free
will. His mark is salvation by the
deeds of the law. That's His mark. You don't wear
His mark, do you? Those who have His mark are going
to perish. John sees these people standing
on the sea of glass, and they have the harps of God. They're blessing the name of
God, and they sing. They sing. Oh, what must it be
to hear these people sing? Well, I'll tell you what, if
you're a believer, one of these days you're gonna find out. Because
we're gonna step out into glory, like Brother Joe Terrell did
a little more than two weeks ago, step out into glory and
just join in singing with all the saints who preceded us in
death. Well, what do they sing? The Song of Moses. That song
over there in Exodus chapter 15 that gives praise to the free
and sovereign grace of God. They sing the song of Moses,
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. And this is what
they're saying. Great and marvelous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and
worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. They're singing the song of Moses
in heaven, even right now. It's a song of praise. It's a
song of thanksgiving. I realize that we have hymns
in our hymn book that we enjoy singing that are more, more accurately
called testimony songs. And I suppose that's okay every
once in a while because we sing some of those. But I'll tell you, our mouths
need to be filled with hymns of praise and thanksgiving. You see over here in Exodus chapter
15, these are people who are fresh come from a safe passage
through the Red Sea. And they're singing praise to
the Lamb of God. Indeed, they rejoice that they
were redeemed by the blood of a Passover lamb. And the saints
of God even then looked forward, forward down through the years
when the true Passover lamb would come. Because as it says in 1
Corinthians 6, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. There's singing of covenant grace
and mercy. In fact, I've entitled this message
tonight, Sovereign Saving Mercy. That's what the saints in heaven
are singing about. And you know what? That's what
I wanna sing about, too, down here, don't you? That's what
I want. Really, our pitiful testimony, I'm thankful for what God has
done for us, but it's not worthy for us to sing about it. Sing,
oh, how I love Jesus. I tell you, let's sing about,
oh, how Jesus loves me. Let's sing about His grace. Let's
don't sing about our faithfulness. I'd say that our faithfulness
is better named unfaithfulness to our shame. Let's sing how
great is His faithfulness unto us. You see Moses and the children
of Israel, they celebrate their passage through the Red Sea.
and the destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts, and the glory
of the divine perfections that are displayed in this dual work
of God, wrath and salvation. Because you see them both. You
see them both at the Red Sea. In your mind's eye, do you see
hundreds of thousands of people standing on the far shore? God
has opened up one path, a wide path, for all of them to go through
in one night. You see those folks in your mind's
eye on the far shore? There they are. Their feet didn't
even get muddy going through the Red Sea. They're not wet. They didn't have to swim. The Lord gave them energy. Even
the oldest people were able to walk through on dry ground, and
there they stand. They stand as trophies of God's
sovereign grace and mercy. There they are. I see them, don't
you? I see them over there. And Moses said, let's break out
into singing, what do you say? And they said to Moses, well,
you're the song leader. What are we going to sing? Moses
started singing this. But while there was that group
of people who were saved, there was another group of people at
the Red Sea too. But they're all dead. Because they received the just,
just reward of their doings. They got exactly what they deserved.
You see, Israel didn't get what they deserved because they were
as sinful as the Egyptians were. But they were saved by God's
sovereign, saving mercy. The Egyptians, however, they got what they deserved. Moses then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the Lord. Stop right there. That's who they sang to. We don't
sing to one another. We're not singing to one another. I'll pay attention to whether
you're singing or not. That's up to you. And you may
sing with joy or you may sing just out of habit. But God helping
me and enabling me, I'm singing from my heart words of thanksgiving
and praise unto my God. What has He done for me? A better
question is, what has He not done for me? He's done everything
for me. He's my God. He's my Father. Christ is my elder brother. He
took on my cause in old eternity. He's my eternal surety. He's
the one who lived and bled and died for me, and He arose and
He ascended and He makes intercession for me. I want you to pray for
me, but I'm so thankful that there's somebody greater than
you and greater than me praying for me, and that's the Son of
God. He's our intercessor. Next time
you feel down and low and beat up by the world and whatever
problems you've got, remember there's one at the right hand
of God who daily, hourly, every moment makes intercession for
you. Let me ask you a question. Over there is the church office,
just two doors away. What if our Lord Jesus Christ
was in that office praying for you? And wouldn't that encourage
you? If he's that close, say, Jim,
that'd be wonderful. Hey, wait a minute, he's closer
than that. He's closer than that. He's right
there with you. He's in you. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And he's your intercessor. Boy,
I tell you, I'll put a smile on our hearts, if not on our
faces. He's our God. I'll sing unto
the Lord. Look at that next phrase in verse
one. I'll sing it to the Lord for or because he had triumphed
gloriously. He's the triumphant savior. He cannot ever lose. He triumphed gloriously. There's
not a word about his defeat. Not a word about what the Lord
wanted to do, but he couldn't do, because people wouldn't let
him do it. He's the victor. Nothing about what he attempted
to do. Nothing about, well, he got frustrated
because man wouldn't let him have his will. Nothing of that
sort. This is a song about triumph. This is a song about victory.
Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior. Forever. That which he determined in old
eternity to do, that is exactly what he does. And Isaiah 42 says
he cannot fail. He shall not fail. He carries
out his sovereign will and purpose. And here's what he did. The horse
and his rider, he threw them into the sea. Heard a preacher one time say,
well, God doesn't send anybody to hell. You send yourself to
hell by your unbelief. Oh, that's foolishness. I don't
know anybody that's gonna send themselves to hell. I tell you
what our Lord does with his enemy. He throws him into the bottomless
pit because he's a just God and he's holy. One writer had an interesting
observation on this. He said, perhaps the horse, because
it talks about the horse and his rider. He says, perhaps the
horse is the world. The horse is the world. And his
rider is the devil. And I'll tell you what, our Lord
defeated the world and the devil when he died on the cross. Oh,
blessed Victor. He conquered the enemies of his
people. And could not this also be an
allusion to our sins, which our Lord Jesus, by his death, cast
into the depths of the deepest sea? All of your enemies, all of my
enemies, are sins. far too numerous forever to name
them all. But all of our sins, our Lord
Jesus has cast them all into the depths of the sea of forgetfulness. Forgetfulness. Look at verse
two. The Lord is my strength and he's
my song. Israel had no strength against
the enemy. But who was their strength? Same
one who's your strength, the Lord. The Lord saved them out
of the hands of the Egyptians. The Lord is our salvation. Look
at this. And he has become my salvation. He's not only the savior, he
is salvation. He is the atonement. He is redemption. He is our peace. He is our life. He is our all. He is Christ himself. The Lord is our salvation. And then look what it says in
verse three. Well, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord has his name. But let
me emphasize this. The Lord is a man. Huh? What about that? The Lord is a man. And I'm persuaded
that when the Spirit of God inspired Moses to write these words, He
is having Moses look into the future to that time when the
seed of the woman will come. He's the man, Christ Jesus. The
Lord is a man. Up to this point, we know God
was a spirit, not man. He couldn't be seen, He couldn't
be touched unless He was seen and touched in His pre-incarnate
state, in a pre-incarnate state. But He is a man. He's the man
who's coming from heaven. There's the first man and the
second man. The first man was Adam. The second
man is Jesus Christ. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man, who is he? He's
the Lord from heaven. That's who he is. There was the first Adam, representative
man of all of mankind. And the last Adam, Christ Jesus,
the representative of all of his people. And he says, the Lord is a man
of war. Of war. One writer said this, Jehovah is the man or the hero
of the battle. And I like that. He's the hero
of the battle. A man was the hero of the battle. Or when was the battle fought? 2,000 years ago at the cross. And our Lord Jesus, the hero
of his people, the man Christ Jesus, he went to war with all
of the enemies of his people. And he won the war. And he said
in his dying breath, and yet with a very strong voice, It
is finished. It is finished. And his foes,
as it were, lay on the ground, defeated by the mighty King of
heaven and earth. Pilate said, behold the man. I call on you, behold the man. Behold the man. He's the Lord
of glory. Well, what has he done? Verse
4, Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains are also
drowned in the Red Sea. One commentator said, no doubt
great dignitaries went with Pharaoh. for this which would be, in the
minds of the Egyptians, the final blow against Israel. So Pharaoh
and his army, the mightiest army on the face of the earth, they're
gonna get rid of all of the Israelites once and for all, and all these
diplomats and dignitaries went with him. His chosen captains, but they're drowning in the Red
Sea. Don't you oppose the Lord. He'll
drown you in the Red Sea too. I'll tell you what, it's time
to choose upsides. That's what Moses said to Israel,
who's on the Lord's side? You better come over here and
identify with his servant. And these people I hear, he says,
You're not with us, you're against us. That's what Christ said,
wasn't it? He that is not with me is against
me. Whose side are you on? Huh? Whose side are you on? I'm asking
y'all, I'm asking you who are watching. Whose side are you
on? By the grace of God, he has put me on his side. I didn't volunteer, he chose
me. And then, look at this. In verse
five, he says, the depths have covered them, they sank. They
sank into the bottom as a stone. And once again, that's what happened
to our sins. It's like the Lord put them in
a bag and tied a millstone to them and he throwed them into
the sea and they sunk. They sunk to the bottom. Now watch verse six. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become
glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. Here is the language of salvation. Thy right hand. The right hand
in the Bible, and even in secular writings, is considered to be
the position of honor. So in this song, Moses is saying
the Lord by his might and by his work has become glorious. And he's worthy to receive the
honor of salvation. You see, the right hand is often
used as a metaphor, as a symbol, as an image, as a representation
of omnipotence and power. Do you remember our Lord, and
we won't take the time to look at this, but in Matthew chapter
five, he said, if thy right hand offend thee, you remember what
he said? Cut it off. Cut it off. Better to cut it off than to
perish in hell. What's he talking about? The
right hand is symbolic of power and ability. And if you think
that your power and your ability is necessary to secure salvation
for you, you better cut that off. Because if you don't, if you
don't cut off that idea that this is all dependent upon you,
if you don't cut off that idea, if you don't give glory to the
Lord, thy right hand has gotten the victory. If you don't give
glory to the Lord, to His right hand, if you take glory to yourself,
my right hand, my will, my decision, my choice, you'll perish in your
sins. That's what our Lord said. He says in verse seven, in the
greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that
rose up against thee. Thou sentest forth thy wrath,
which consumed them as stubble. Who could ever withstand the
wrath of God being sent forth? We're by nature like dried up
straw. dried up grass, and his wrath
would just consume us and send us away to hell forever. Look
what he says in verse eight, and with the blast of thine nostrils,
the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as in
heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The
enemy with confidence said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My lust
shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword and my hand
will destroy them. That's what the enemy said. I
will, I will, I will, I will. In verse 10, all God had to do
was just blow. You see that? Thou didst blow
with thy wind. That's all it hit. Who knoweth the power of the
breath of God? Let me tell you something. In
the breath of God is the power of life and death. Right? Life and death. Breathe on us, poor spiritually
dead lost sinners. Breathe on me, breathe into me
the breath of life like you breathed into Adam the breath of life.
I'll tell you what, the breath of God can breathe out wrath
or breathe out life. And he's gonna get the glory.
God blew with his wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead,
verse 10, in the mighty waters. And Moses says, they're singing
now. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness? He's so holy that he can't forgive
without sacrifice. Sins got to be dealt with, and
the sins of His people were dealt with by the Christ of the cross.
He's glorious in holiness, He's fearful in praises, He is doing
wonders. He's still doing wonders, isn't
He? You're a living, breathing, walking
miracle of God's sovereign mercy. That's what you are if you're
a child of God. And he says in verse 12, thou
stretchest out thy right hand and the earth swallowed him.
I tell you what, if there's anybody here who's an unbeliever, anybody
who's watching by way of the internet or listening to this
message later on, God can stretch out his right hand and he can
cause the earth to just swallow you up. Isaiah talks about hell
opening up her mouth. ready to swallow you. There's
only one power that's keeping you alive. That's the power of
God. If you're an unbeliever, it's
only the mercy of God that keeps you out of hell. And he says this in verse 13.
And here's sovereign saving mercy. Thou and Thy mercy has led forth
the people which Thou hast redeemed. See, this is a song about sovereign
saving mercy. This is a song about redemption. He says, Thou hast guided them
in Thy strength under the holy habitation. And literally, Thou
art guiding Thy people. You redeemed your people and
then you're guiding your people. The land of promise. And I'll
tell you, He's guiding us. He's directing us. And I don't
know, your path is a different path than mine as far as our
experiences and the difficulties and all of that sort of thing
in this world. But as I've said so many times,
if there was a better path for you to be on, God would have
you on it. Let's not bicker, let's not murmur,
let's don't complain. Our God, he knows the way to
the promised land. Now there's one way, and that's
through Christ. Christ is the way. And whatever
way we're going as far as our daily pilgrimage, that's the
way God's chosen. You wouldn't fuss about that,
would you? It's a shame sometimes I do,
and I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Oft times I have to
go before God, as it were, to prostrate myself before him and
say, Lord, I am truly sorry. I wish I could rejoice more in
your will for me. And when I have an ache or a
pain, may I remember, this is from my Lord. And he doesn't make any mistakes. And he knows the way to the land of promise for me. What a glorious song this is. We're going to look a little
bit more of it next Wednesday night, if that's all right with
y'all. And if it isn't all right with you, then don't come back
because I'm going to stay on this song again next Wednesday
night, go a little bit further. And I hope that our hearts will
rejoice in the goodness of God to us through Christ. Well, let's
sing a closing song.