Going to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus
chapter 15. And I begin reading with verse
one. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song
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 has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare
him in habitation. My Father is God, and I will
exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The
Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host
hath he cast into the sea. He hath chosen captains, also
are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them.
They sank 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. And 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. And with the blast of thy nostrils,
the waters were gathered together, and the floods stood upright
as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the
sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide
the spoil. My lusts shall be satisfied upon
me. I will draw my sword. My hand
shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind,
and 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? Thou stretchest
out thy right hand, The earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy
hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast
guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. That's reading down through verse
13, Exodus chapter 15. Our message this morning is three
words found in verse 11, glorious in holiness. glorious in holiness. You don't hear much preaching
on the subject of the holiness of God. You hear a lot of preaching
telling people to be holy, but for the most part, that comes
without any effectual and conscious reality that God Himself is holy. I do not claim to be worthy or
qualified to speak about God's holiness. And at the same time,
I believe with all my heart He is. He is absolutely, infinitely
holy. And I cannot ignore the subject. I believe it with all my heart.
Nobody in the world ever really gets by with anything. God is
holy. Christ put away the wages of
our sins. He did not put away the consequences
of our sins in this life. And we suffer in this life many
times due to our own disobedience to God's laws. He is glorious in holiness. Nobody violates that and gets
by. This song of Moses, it's called
here. It is in the verse we read, verse
11, glorious in holiness. It is not God's power that is
termed glorious. Though he has demonstrated great
power right here in destroying Pharaoh's army. It is not His love that is termed
glorious, though He has demonstrated great and glorious compassion
and care for the Israelites here and for you and I. But God's
glory here is defined by His holiness. The phrase is glorious
in holiness. Holiness is the peculiar glory
of God's person. Holiness is the essence of His
being. It's not just what He does, it's
what He is. He is holiness itself. God's
holiness is not something derived from anything, anywhere, or anyone. God's holiness is an essential
holiness. without which He would not be
God, and by which He alone is God. He is holy. And whatever other perfections
belong to Him, none are outside of or apart from His holiness. His sovereignty is holy sovereignty. His power is holy power. His
love is holy love. His grace is holy grace. His
justice is holy justice. His judgments are holy judgments. God does as He wills, with whom
He wills, when He wills, in whatever way He wills. He is absolutely
and infinitely holy in doing so. God's attribute, one writer
said, is the single attribute that gives meaning and worth
to all other attributes, his power, his love, his grace, his
wisdom, his immutability. All these things meet together
in his holiness. And I believe with all my heart,
the thing that is lacking in today's religious society is
not sincerity. Many are very sincere. And not commitment. Many are
very committed. There's a lot of that lacking,
but there is also a lot of it present. And it's not emotion. Many are
very emotional in their religion. But what is lacking is a true
knowledge of God's holiness. A firm conviction concerning
His holiness. and a God-given desire for His
holiness in our hearts and our personal life. Now, we hear these
silly and sacrilegious sayings. God is not the man upstairs. He's not an old Santa Claus-like
pushover. God is holy. And people say, oh, we just talk
about a God of love. His love does not violate His
holiness. Never. Never. He is not out of the loop, so
to speak, and deserves that we just acknowledge Him occasionally
and give Him a pat on the back. No, God is holy. He's the one
that didn't put you in hell last night while you slept. He's the one that woke you up.
God is holy. Now, if He is not infinitely
holy, then He is unjust to require any perfection of us, which He
does not Himself possess. God would be unjust in that.
But the truth is, He is infinitely holy. and therefore cannot approve
of us just as we are in ourselves. Somebody said, let's sing just
as I am. No, let's sing just as He is. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. First Samuel 2 and 2, the good
sister Hannah prayed, there is none holy as the Lord, for there
is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Somebody says, boy, old so-and-so
is solid as a rock. No, if this holy God lifts his
hand, old so-and-so will prove to be as full of corruption as
anybody else. Thou only art holy, Isaiah 57, 15, for thus saith
the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity, whose name is Holy,
with a capital H. What is his name? Holy. Holy. More than any other descriptive
word in all the Bible, God's name is called Holy. It's God's holiness that places
Him above men. It's His holiness that puts Him
in a class all by Himself. It's exclusive to Him. There
is no holiness apart from Him. The great gulf between God's
holiness and our unholiness is beyond comprehension. Now, we
use other terms. I have a little power in some
things, and so do you. I have a little love towards
some people, and so do you. But in myself, I have no holiness. Neither do you. Neither do you. Lord, only thou art holy. I know God said, Be ye holy,
for I am holy. How holy does He mean for us
to be in that statement? He means for us to be as holy
as He is. Be ye holy, for I am holy. But you see, God's requiring
it, and our ability to attain to it is two different things
altogether. Most of us grew up with some
religious influence and were led to believe that certain works
of religion and morality were determining factors that constitute
holiness. No, those factors constitute
religion and morality. They don't constitute holiness. But people believe you do this,
you don't do that in order to be holy. No, holiness has nothing
to do with our doing. Holiness belongs to God exclusively. All this other stuff It's the
same thing the serpent said to Eve. You shall be as God's. You can be everything God is.
No, God alone is holy. This is the thing that rocked
Isaiah's world. Good a man as you could find
anywhere. It shook him to the very core
of his being when he got a glimpse of God's holiness. when he learned that man is not
like God. That godly prophet, if you'll
go read the early chapters of Isaiah, he is declaring pending
judgment upon Israel. And he'd been pronouncing woes. Isaiah 3, 9, woe unto their soul. 3, 11, woe unto the wicked. Chapter
5 and verse 8, woe unto them. Verse 11, woe unto them. Verse 18, woe unto them. Verse 20, woe unto them. Verse
22, woe unto them. He's saying, you guys have had
it. God is sick of you. Woe unto
them. But in Isaiah chapter 6, when
he has a vision of the holiness of God, And he sees those seraphim
crying, holy, holy, holy. Then Isaiah says, no more woe
unto them. But he says, woe is me, for I
am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
thought there was something to me. But now mine eyes have seen
the king. And Isaiah was never the same.
He got a glimpse of God's holiness. He had no problem then saying,
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. He saw God holy. He sees himself in the same boat
as everybody else. We all need that. We turn our nose up at somebody
who does something unacceptable. Of course, I'm not meaning to
justify that, but we turn our noses up as if to say, I'd never
do that. I'm better than that. Well, I
want to say to us that religious pride, God hates more than what
the other fella did. See, but God is holy. God is holy. Now from this phrase
in verse 11, Glorious in holiness. I'd like to talk about two or
three things as time does not permit. You know, a preacher
is supposed to say, I want to talk about so-and-so as time
permits. I want to talk about it as time does not permit. Okay?
First, it is God's holiness that characterizes His person throughout
the scriptures. His name is called His holy name. And we already said holy is the
attribute most often mentioned in connection with God's person. Well, how much does the Bible
say about this business of God being holy? Well, God the Son
called God the Father, Holy Father. And God the Father, speaking
of the Son to Mary before He is born, said, that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And
then the infant Jesus is called the Holy Child. The Father is
holy. The Son is holy. God the Spirit
is called the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. So it's Holy Father,
Holy Son, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost. The Bible says God is holy in
all His works. He's holy in His knowledge. He's
holy in His understanding. His counsel is called the counsel
of the Holy One. His justice is called His holy
justice. And His arm of power is called
His holy arm. God's holy. What about His dwelling? Where God shows up is called
holy ground. Where He dwells is called a holy
habitation. His presence is a holy presence. His dwelling behind the veil
was called the holiest of all. His dwelling is holy. What about
His word? We call this the Holy Bible.
His word is called the Holy Scriptures. His commandments are holy commandments. His covenant is a holy covenant.
His ordinances are holy ordinances, and His promises are holy promises. God's Word is holy. What about
His servants? The angels in heaven are called
holy angels. The prophets in the Old Testament
are called holy prophets. The apostles in the New Testament
are called holy apostles. All this is in God's Word. His
servants are holy. What about his people in general?
His church is called a holy church. His elect are called holy and
beloved. His saints are called holy saints.
The brethren are called holy brethren. The church which John saw coming
down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband is called
the holy city, New Jerusalem. You see, New Jerusalem is not
a place, it's a people. It's the people of God, the Bride,
clothed in white and holy. What about His worship? Well,
the Old Testament Sabbaths were called Holy Sabbaths. The gatherings
were called Holy Convocations. God was to be worshipped in the
beauty of holiness. His sanctuary was the Holy Sanctuary. The Ark of the Covenant was the
Holy Ark. The vessels in the tabernacle
were called the Holy Vessel. The sacrifices were called Holy
Offerings. And the instruments of the music
were called Holy Instruments. Everything God does, everything
God touches, everything God has anything to do with, He declares
holy. The high priest himself was set
apart by God, sanctified and holy unto the Lord. The high
priest was anointed with the holy anointing oil. The high
priest's garments were called holy garments. The high priest's
headdress was called a holy crown, engraven with the words holiness
to the Lord. He's holy. The high priest's
coat was called the holy linen coat. And the water that he used,
and this is Numbers 5.17, was called holy water. I want to
give you that reference so you can look that up. Numbers 5.17,
holy water. Now there is no such thing now.
Oh no. Christ Himself is the water of
life. He fulfilled the Old Testament
types. There's no holy water nowadays,
oh no. And in the New Testament, we,
God's people, are called with a holy calling. Everything and
everybody that God looks on in favor, He declares holy. Now this expression, glorious
in holiness, it encompasses God's character. in relation to all
his attributes and all his wonderful works to the children of men. God's holiness is his chief glory. Moses asked in Exodus 33, show
me thy glory. Well, it was then that the Lord
said to Moses, no man can see me and live. Not only are you not like me,
You can't even look at me as I am in my holiness. It's a glory
that's unapproachable, the scripture said. Now Moses did see and was
given to see all that a mortal man could bear to see. And when
he saw that and came down from the mount, the Bible says that
his face shone so that the people couldn't even look on him, had
to put a veil over his face. God is so holy, glorious in holiness. No man can see me and live. Oh, He's an awesome, holy God. Our generation knows more about
religion than all of you sitting here this morning do. We know
more about religion and less about God than any generation
in history. Now let that sink in. So what is all this to us, you
say? Well, I'm going to tell you what it is. The world we
live in will tolerate a God that's not holy. But I'm telling you,
our God will not tolerate a world that's not holy. That's what
we're talking about. That's what we're talking about. Hebrews 12, 14, without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. Not a manufactured holiness on
our part, but the holiness of him who is glorious in holiness. Now here in Exodus 15, this is
often called the song of Moses. Verse 1 said, Then sang Moses
and the children of Israel this song. They've just crossed the
Red Sea in the night on dry ground. And the next morning on the other
side here, they look back and they see the waters have come
back together and there's dead bodies floating everywhere. And
that's what they mean by this song, the horse and his rider,
Pharaoh's army, hath the Lord cast into the sea, and they're
drowned and they're destroyed. And this is a song of deliverance,
a song of victory. This is the first song recorded
in the Bible. And I want to show you something
here. Now, according to the hermeneutics and according to the law of first
mention, some of you know what that means. The first time something
is mentioned in the Bible, It establishes a principle that
you can refer back to everywhere that's mentioned in the Bible.
Now this is the first song, the first song. And the principle
here, it's a song of praise, but this is not an isolated song. It establishes as a principle.
It is the womb, one writer said, from which all remaining songs
of scripture will be born. All God's people have sang songs
of victory throughout history. And it's the same song as everyone
before. But for the generation that just
experienced it, it's a new song. It's a new song. And the principle
in this first song in Exodus reaches all the way through the
Bible to the Revelation. Revelation 14.3, talking about
the saints, and they sang, as it were, a new song. Did you hear those words, as
it were? It's not really new. It's the same song of deliverance
the saints have sang throughout history. But it's, as it were,
a new song. And then Revelation 15, 3. The first song in Exodus is one
with the last song. Look what it says. And they sing
the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. It's not two songs. The Lamb has been the deliverer
all along. All the way. It was Christ conquering
Pharaoh's army. Here's the Red Sea. There's not
two redemptions. Some people believe in the Old
Testament, people were saved by keeping the commandments and
keeping the law. No, no child of God can perfectly
keep the commandments and the law. How perfectly would they have
to keep them? As perfect as they are. Perfectly perfect. But the Old Testament saints
were delivered the same way New Testament saints are delivered.
They were delivered by looking forward to the cross by faith. To what God would do about their
sins. Not what they could do about
it, but what God would do. That's what you better be looking
at. They looked forward to the cross
just as we look back at it. See, the Bible does not say that Abraham
obeyed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. What
it says is he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. What was it he believed? He believed
God's revelation to his heart concerning his son. Did not Jesus
say, Abraham saw my day? And he rejoiced to see it. And
he was glad. So there's just one redemption.
Old Testament and new. That's in Christ Jesus. There's
not two families. Old Testament saints and New
Testament saints. No, there's one family of God. All with one
and the same Father. God the Father. all with one
and the same mother, the Holy Ghost. A fellow told me a while
back, the Holy Ghost wasn't in the Old Testament. I asked him,
what Bible did you read that out of, mister? Uh-uh. If you would, go back to the
very beginning. Who was it? Genesis 1-2, that moved upon
the face of the waters. It was the Spirit of God. moved upon the deep. And it's
that same Holy Ghost that moved upon this great deep, which was
without form, and void, and lifeless. But He quickened it. There's
not two families. Oh no. Oh no. There's not two
Israels. And I'm sure I'll cross somebody
right here. A lot of people today believe God is still committed
to Old Testament national Israel and that he's also got a spiritual
Israel. No, there's just one. Old Testament
Israel, that nation was a type of God's people. Everybody back there wasn't God's
people. Anybody knows that, you can read the Old Testament. But
as a type, God committed himself to prosper, protect, and provide
for them in spite of themselves. And that's the way he had to
do it most of the time, was in spite of them. And he preserved a remnant until
he brought his son into the world through the lineage of Abraham. And when Christ came, that type
was fulfilled. It had served its purpose, like
all the rest of the Old Testament types. You see, when Christ came,
that was the end of the Old Testament economy, order, the sacrificial
system, the animal sacrifices. We don't do that anymore. Why?
Christ is the Lamb of God. He's come and died and ended
all that. When Christ came, that old Aaronic
priesthood was fulfilled. Christ is our great high priest.
We don't have to go to any fellow with his collar turned backwards
and say, would you get a message to God for me? No, no, no. There's
one living right in here, and I can crawl off somewhere and
talk to God myself. So with the coming of Christ,
that ended. Christ is our great high priest
who represents us in the presence of God continually. And when
Christ came, that Old Testament type called Israel ceased to
be. And he told them in Matthew 24,
even his disciples, they were so proud of that temple and all
their religious order. And he told them, he said, before
this generation passes, all this beautiful temple and all this
you want me to look at, everything you're so proud of, there won't
be one stone left upon another. It's history. And guess what? Before that generation passed,
in 30-something years, 70 A.D., it happened and was scattered
and been scattered ever since. That's why Paul said in Romans
2.28, he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. God's Israel has nothing to do
with nationality, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. Y'all sure are quiet, and I'm
glad. Listen. John chapter 8. A crowd said to Christ repeatedly,
they said it more than once, about three times I think, we
be Abraham's seed. How come you're talking to us
about being free? We've never been in bondage to any man. What
a lie that was. They were in bondage to Egypt,
Babylon, they've probably been in bondage most of their history.
We be Abraham's seed. And he said, I know you are after
the flesh. I know that. But he said, if
you were really Abraham's children, you'd believe me. He did. He did. He never wanted to kill
me. He loved me. He longed for my
coming. You fellows want rid of me. Abraham's
not your father. But he said, I'll tell you who
is. John 8.44, you're of your father the devil, and the lust
of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning.
And he says to this crowd, you're disliking. You're not going to
stop until you're murderers. And you've killed me. And they
didn't. He was right. He was right. We'll
talk about the seed of Abraham. Paul said in Romans 9, He said,
now don't forget about Ishmael. Abraham's his pappy too. But just because they're seed
of Abraham, Romans 9-7, they're not all children of Abraham,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That's God's children.
You see, not every young'un Abraham brought into this world was a
miraculous work of God. But Isaac was. Old Abe was 100
years old. And Sarah and Adi, that was God. It was a miracle. That's who
God's children are. Oh, yes. Not everybody that plays religion
is God's child. It's only those who are born
spiritually. like Isaac was born physically,
an absolute miracle of God and impossible any other way. So there's not two Israels. Paul
made that so clear in Ephesians 2 that with the coming of Christ
God hath broken down the middle wall of petition between Jew and Gentile and hath
made of twain, that is of the two, one body, the church, one
new man. So there's not two redemptions,
there's not two families of God, there's not two Israelites, and
there's not two songs. The song of Moses is the song
of the bleeding Lamb. The deliverance in Exodus 15
is the deliverance of the Lamb who loved us and washed us from
our sins. in his own blood. Well, I've
got another thought but I'm just going to mention it and I'll
stop. The holiness of God has great
effects on humanity. We could never exhaust this thought. To put it simply, with the reprobate, those who
do not believe, those who perish in their sins and go to hell.
Just a glimpse of the holiness of God strikes fear in the heart. But it's fear with no hope. It's
fear with no help. Because there's no faith. No
faith. The world around us Claims they
don't fear God. They live like they don't fear
God. But they don't want you to talk about Him. They don't
want to hear about it. There's something. Somebody said,
well, I'm an atheist. I don't believe it. I don't believe
it. I believe when it comes time for you to turn your toes up
and kick the bucket, you're going to do like everybody else and
say, oh, God. Wicked men in the Old Testament.
Belshazzar, boy, pitched that party. Saw a handwriting on the
wall. You better believe he knew there
was something bigger than him. He thought he was Mr. Big. He
knew there was something. But it was to no avail. Called
in old Daniel and said, what does this mean? He said, it means
you're through, bud. It's over for you tonight. And
that night he was slain. and dropped into hell. We could
talk about Herod in the New Testament, the book of Acts chapter 12.
Mr. Big put on his royal apparel,
gave a great oration, a State of the Union address to tell
everybody what a good shape the country was in. And the people
praised him and said, wow, this is not just a man, this is the
voice of a God. The Bible said God smote him
and worms eat him. He dropped into hell. That's
the unregenerate. That's those who perish in their
sins. But on the other side, there is God's children. And
God's done some more smiting. But He didn't smite the sinner.
He didn't smite the guilty one. Isaiah 53, we did esteem Him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Christ put our judgment
on His Son. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And we could talk about men who've
had a glimpse of this holiness. Simon Peter, you remember this?
Luke chapter 5. The Lord had used his boat to
preach out to them. We got through. He said, come
on, let's go out in the deep water and catch some fish. Peter
said, ah, I don't think so. He said, we've tried it all night.
He said, it hasn't done no good. But he said, nevertheless, at
thy word, since it's you, we'll give it a whirl. And they began to cast the nets
and began to catch fish. And they filled Peter's boat.
Couldn't hold no more. And he said, they called the
partnership. That was James and John, sons of Zebedee. Fill their
boat up. And I started to say something
clicked with Peter. No, it wasn't something clicked.
We'll do anything to explain God away. It wasn't something
clicked. It was a sovereign work of God
and grace that gave Simon Peter a glimpse of the fact that he
was standing in the presence of holy God. And you know what he said? He
didn't say, thank you for the help. We appreciate the great
care. No, he didn't say that. He said, Depart from me, O Lord,
for I am a sinful man. There's something about a glimpse
of the holiness of God. Though it strikes fear, it also
sparks faith. And it stirs a fondness. Lord,
I know I'm not worthy. Depart from me. You don't want
anything to do with a character like me. You're so holy and I'm
so unholy. But at the same time, it makes
a person want to be with him and follow him. And that's how
it happened with Peter. That's how it happened with Paul.
That's how it happened with all God's children. That's how it
happened with me. And if you're God's child, that's
how it happened with you. Acts chapter 8. You need to read that story about
Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. He's reading from the book of
Isaiah. Didn't know what he was reading, kind of like me sometimes.
Didn't know what he was reading. Philip come along and said, you
know what you're reading? He said, how can I? Except some men guide
me and tell me. And so Philip, beginning at the
same scripture, Isaiah 53, preached unto him, Jesus. Told him this
is all about Christ, the Son of God, that's coming to die
for our sin. Isaiah told him that. I mean,
Philip told him that. That this is what Isaiah was
writing about more than 700 years before Christ was born. And so
the Ethiopian believed. He believed. It's not our business
to make anybody believe. The reason it's not our business
to make anybody believe is because we can't make anybody believe.
It's our business to tell them, to tell them about one whom God
sent that died for us. So, Philip never said, and I
know y'all are ready to go, but give me just another couple of
minutes. Philip said, now he never said, we're going to stop
this chariot and we're going to get out. What I'm going to do is I'm going
to get up here and you stand back there and I'm going to sing. And if you believe, I want you
to come forward. He didn't do that. He didn't
do that. He didn't do any of that. He didn't tell the fellow anything
about what to do or not do. But just riding along, Philip
never mentioned anything about being baptized, joining church,
nothing. Just riding along, and the fellow
said, hey, there's water. What's to hinder me from being
baptized? Philip said, Oh, no, it's too
early. You haven't proved yourself. No, he didn't say anything like
that. What he said to him was, if thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. Let's get at it. And that's what
we say this morning. We've got a baptism back here
that we don't use nearly often enough. It hadn't been wet lately. And I'm ready for it to be wet
when the Lord is ready. You see? And so if you believe
this message, if you believe this gospel of who Christ is,
how holy God is, and that He so loved a wretch like you enough
to send His Son to die and then send His Spirit to work in your
heart and cause you to believe Him. Do you believe this morning?
Do you believe with all thine heart? You say, well, I hope
I do. Well, let me ask you this. Can
anybody talk you out of believing? Could anybody talk you out of
believing? Not if the Lord let you believe.
Not if He planted saving faith in your heart. You're a believer. And you ought to be baptized
and make it known to us. Let me be known. And we'll start
filling her up and do it.