Would you turn with me to Exodus
chapter 15? I want to read the song of Moses. Now, I just read from Revelation
chapter 15, and in heaven they sang the song of Moses. This excellent hymn is actually
sung in heaven. What a hymn. Let's begin reading
in verse 1. 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's 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. His 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. The flood
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 lust shall be satisfied upon
them. I'll draw my sword. My hand shall
destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind.
The sea covered them, and 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
has led forth the people which thou has redeemed. Thou has guided
them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. The people shall
hear and be afraid and sorrows to take hold on the habit inhabitants
of Palestine. Then the Dukes of Edom shall
be amazed, and 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. By the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as
a stone till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people
pass over which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in and
plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place,
O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the
sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord
shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went
in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and
the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them. But the
children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. We begin our worship services
with the reading of God's word. What he has to say is a whole
lot more important than what we have to say. We begin our
service with the naked reading of God's word. And then we sing
these hymns. And this is a part of worship.
Did you notice in verse one of our text, it says, then saying
Moses and the children of Israel, this song unto the Lord. That's who we're singing to unto
the Lord. And they spake saying, I will
sing unto the Lord. The singing of these hymns is
a part of worship because we're singing to him. these songs of
praise. Now we have in Exodus chapter
15 the first recorded hymn. This is written as a hymn in
the Hebrew. Now I have no doubt that Abel
Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all sang the Lord hymns
of praise. But this is the first hymn with
the words recorded for us. And this hymn is so excellent,
so glorious that it's actually sang in heaven. They sang the
song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb. And I have no doubt that this
hymn is sung even now in heaven. Now there are parts of this hymn
quoted throughout the scripture and we learn from this hymn what
a real hymn is all about. It's all about hymn. The word Lord or Jehovah occurs
12 times. In this hymn, the pronouns he,
him, thy, thou, and thee occur 33 times and you will find a
striking absence concerning anything about man. His experience, his
feelings. This is all about the Lord himself
and all the things that he has done and it is sung unto him. Now, the time that this hymn
was composed was very important. Notice the first word of verse
15 is then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song
unto the Lord. This was a true congregational
hymn. Everybody sang this hymn, but
they sang this hymn then. Look back in verse 30 of chapter
14. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that
day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. That which they feared, they
had no reason to fear. The Egyptians whom they were
so terrified by, they were all dead. And everything that you
have to fear, it's dead. Your sin, you're dead to sin. Verse 31, 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.
Then sang Moses, and the children of Israel this song unto the
Lord. The singers of this song, Moses
and the children of Israel, sing this hymn in response to what
he has done. 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 the rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now they had some
visual aids when they sang this hymn. They saw the Egyptians
dead on the shore. Everything that they were afraid
of, they had absolutely no reason to fear. It was all taken away. As a matter of fact, look at
verse 28. And the waters returned and covered the chariots. This
is chapter 14. and the waters returned and covered the chariots
and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into
the sea after them, there remain not so much as one of them. You want to know something about my sin? There remains not so much as
one of them. I have no sin before God. No wonder I sing a song of praise
to God. There's not one sin. They're
all dead on the shore. You are complete in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, this is what the blood of
Christ has done with your sins. Do you have any reason to do
anything but praise? It says, He hath triumphed gloriously. And once again, let me remind
you, there's a glaring absence of any reference to man and to
his works. He hath triumphed. Gloriously,
now the children of Israel knew they had nothing to do with this
and how powerfully he triumphed. The only contribution we make
for our salvation, if you can be said to make a contribution,
is what? Our sin. Somebody once said this, I did
the sinning, he did the saving. And isn't that the truth? You
know that's the truth. He hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider hath
he thrown into the sea. And how glorious is his salvation. Every attribute of God is magnified. I love thinking about this. Before God, right now, I stand
perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. Now the only way I
can believe that is by faith, because I can't see it. I can't
see how I'm perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, but I
believe I am. And how God is glorified in that. For somebody
like me or you to be made just like Christ, God's glorified
in that. You're not glorified. It's not
something you did, it's something he did, and every one of his
attributes are glorified in the salvation of sinners. Holiness,
justice, his sovereignty, his grace, his love, his mercy. He
hath triumphed gloriously. Look in verse two. The Lord is
my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He's
my God, and I'll prepare him a habitation, my Father's God,
and I'll exalt him. The Lord is my strength. Now notice what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say the Lord strengthened me. Now the Lord did strengthen
me. Strength is the power to do,
and any power I have is the strength he gave me, but it doesn't say
the Lord strengthened me. It says the Lord is my strength. There's a big difference. The
Lord is my strength. You know, that's better than
being strengthened. How strong is the Lord? Why,
He's omnipotent. That is my strength. The Lord
is my strength. And He Himself is my strength. Now, what strength He displayed
when the infinite became an infant? Have you ever thought of that?
God whom the heavens can't contain, all the fullness of the Godhead
dwelled in that little seed in Mary's womb. What strength! That's my strength. What strength
God displayed! What moral strength He displayed
when He perfectly kept God's holy law. What strength is there? He never sinned. He never even
thought of sin, never had a bad motive. What strength is there?
That's my strength right there. What strength He displayed when
He died. That's an amazing thing to me
that Jesus Christ died. He actually died. What power
it took to kill Him. That's my strength. What strength,
what power He displayed when He put away sin. Now you think
about that. My sin is not. It's not just
swept under the carpet somewhere. It's gone. It's non-existent. It's not there. It really is
gone. What strength God displayed in doing that. That's my strength.
What strength He displayed when He raised Himself up from the
dead. That's my strength. You see, this is better than
being strengthened, isn't it? You know, as far as being strengthened
goes, I believe I'm strengthened, but I sure don't feel very strong.
As a matter of fact, I feel awful weak. But this is better than
being strengthened. He Himself is my strength. That's what it said. That's good,
isn't it? Man, I'm thankful for that. He
is my strength. And what's it say next? He is
my song. He's my rejoicing. Now, what is it that makes this sinner
talking to you rejoice? It's to know that my salvation
is outside of myself. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That makes me rejoice. He himself is my song. And my heart dances and sings
to know that my salvation is him. He's my strength. He's my
song. And he's become my salvation. From what? What salvation? Salvation is from sin. Matthew
1.21 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sin. He Himself has become my salvation. He, God the Father. This is a
wonderful thing to think about. He, God the Father, is my salvation. When He willed my salvation,
you know what? I was saved. He saved us. And He called us with an holy
calling. What came first, the saving or
the calling? He saved us and He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. The will of God is so supreme that when He, if you
could even say when, I mean, His will is eternal. Words drop
to described this the way it ought
to be described, but whatever it was that he willed something,
it became history. It didn't become something that
will happen. It became something that has
happened. Now, can you explain that? No.
That's just something I believe. It's what the Bible teaches.
His will is God. The will of God is so supreme.
He, God the Son, has become my salvation. You see, when He said,
it is finished, my salvation was finished. Before I ever even
had any existence, He has become my salvation. He, God the Spirit,
has become my salvation. When He gave me life, I was dead,
dead in sins. When He gave me life, you know
what? I lived. When were you saved? When I lived.
When I lived. When He gave me life. He, God
the Spirit, has become my salvation. He, God the Father and the Trinity
of His glorious persons, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
has become my salvation. All three persons of the Godhead
are God my Savior. And look what He says next. Because
He has become my salvation, He's my God. You know that the Lord God of
glory is my personal God. That is a concept that is just
so amazing. He's my God. You know what that
means? It means He's for me. If God be for us, who could be
against us? He's my God and this is the heritage
of every believer. Now listen to me, God's your
God. You may not have much of what this world calls good, but
you've got a whole lot more than that. You've got the infinite
God as your God. He's my God. And I will prepare him and habitation. Now we realize that heaven is
thrown and earth is his footstool and we can't build him a house
that we can contain him. He said, what's the house that
you'll build me? What's the house that you'll build me? But it
is equally true that the church, every individual believer, is
the habitation of God. Do you know that the God of glory
dwells in me? If you're a believer, the God
of glory inhabits you. You are a God-bearer. That's an awesome thought, isn't
it? That God dwells in my heart. I'll prepare him and habitation." Well, I just believe this. The
Bible teaches it. We're the body of Christ. We're
the habitation of God through the Spirit. I'll prepare him
and habitation. He's my Father's God. He's the
covenant God. He's not a different God. He's
the covenant God. The same God He was to Abraham. He is to me. He was Abraham's Jehovah-Jireh,
the Lord that will provide. He's Jehovah-Jireh to me. He
was Jeremiah's Jehovah-Tekinu, the Lord our righteousness. He's
the Lord our righteousness to me. He's our Father's God, the
same God He was to our fathers. He is to us. He's the covenant
God. And I will exalt Him. Look in
verse 3. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is
his name. Now, this certainly doesn't line
up with modern effeminate religion, does it? The Lord is a man of
war. Why they would... What in the
world is that supposed to mean? But this is God's character,
a man of war. He has declared war against all
opposition to himself. You see, he's holy. He's holy. He's just, he's righteous, and
his righteousness demands that he declares war against all opposition
to himself. You see, Pharaoh was opposed
to the Lord. That's why he was thrown into
the sea. Pharaoh was the Lord's enemy. And if you're the Lord's
enemy, you are in trouble because he is a man of war and he will
not tolerate any opposition. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
19. This is one of the high points of Scripture, I think, this description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a man of war. Verse 11, Revelation 19. John says, And I saw heaven opened,
and behold, a wide horse, and he that sat upon him was called
faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and 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 shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." And that's
exactly what he did on the cross. He treaded the winepress of the
wrath of God and he was raised again. He swallowed it up to
where there was nothing left. Verse 16, And he hath on his
vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord
of lords. The Lord is a man of war. And that's beautiful in his people's
eyes. Isn't the Lord beautiful? Even as a man of war, he is glorious
in his person. Jehovah is his name, Jehovah
Jesus. Now here's the result of him
being a man of war. Look in verse four, Pharaoh's
chariots and his host. 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." That's
the results of the Lord being a man of war. Verse six, "'Thy
right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power. Thy right
hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.'" Now you'll
notice Moses is not apologizing for the wrath of God, is he?
He calls Pharaoh the enemy. Pharaoh was rising up against
him. In the greatness, verse seven, in the greatness of thine
excellency, thou has overthrown them that rose up against thee.
Thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. Not poor Pharaoh. That's not
the attitude, not poor old Pharaoh. Look what happened to him. No,
he's God's enemy. And God must destroy all those who are in
opposition to his son. Do you believe that? Do you agree
with this? If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha. Do you agree with
that? I mean, when you hear that, does your heart say, amen? Yes,
sir, that's the way it ought to be. The Lord is a man of war. Verse eight. And with the blast
of thy nostrils, The waters were gathered together, the flood
stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in
the heart of the sea." Several of the men were talking about
this last week after the service. How high do you reckon those
walls were? I don't know how deep. I saw
the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston, 50 years ago, and only
looked like it was 30 or 40 feet high, and I just assume that's
probably about how high it was, but no, I think maybe it was
a lot higher than that. I mean, the blast of his nostrils
hit the ocean, the walls of the water go up, and there they go
on dry land. Verse nine, the enemy said, Pharaoh,
I will pursue you. 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. Now what's the outstanding phrase
in that verse of the enemy? I will. Remember somebody else
who talked like that? Turn with me to a moment from
Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. Beginning in verse 12, How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou
cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou
has said in thy heart, I will. ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mountain of the congregation in the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High. This is the essence of sin. Here's
what I'm going to do. And they were enemies of the
Lord. I will. And here's the end of
all of the Lord's enemies. Verse 10, Thou didst blow with
thy wind The sea covered them, and they sank as lead in the
mighty waters." Here is the end of man's opposition to God. It says in verse 11, Who is like
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who can be compared to
thee? You know one of the glorious things about the Lord is this.
Any comparison I make of Him with anything or anybody is derogatory
because there's nobody he can be compared with. He's so glorious
that even an attempt to compare him with something or someone
else only brings his character down. You see, he's glorious
in holiness. Now, what's that word holiness
mean? He's glorious glorious in holiness. Now there's two
aspects of holiness that I need to understand if I'm going to
understand what it means. First, it means separate. Other. Other. God is other. Do you know what
that means? That means He's not like me and
you. That means he's not like anybody that we can imagine or
anything that we can imagine. He is separate. He is other. What is holiness? It's God's
absolute moral purity. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of blackness above thy phallus."
God hates sin because God is holy. Now, how holy is God? The only way I can answer that
question, the only way you and I can get even a glimpse of that
is by going to the cross. You want to know how holy God
is? You see His darling Son, the Son of His love, the Son
in whom His soul delighted. And when sin was found upon his
son, God killed him. That's how holy God is. How holy
is the Lord Jesus Christ? He would rather die and be separated
from His Father than to let sin go unpunished. He would rather
die than let sin just be swept under the carpet. How holy is
the Holy Spirit? He's so holy that He will not
save apart from this holy gospel. He is glorious in holiness. Holiness is the beauty of every
one of his attributes. His love is a holy love. His
wrath is a holy wrath. His power is a holy power. His sovereignty is a holy sovereignty. His justice is a holy justice. His wisdom is a holy wisdom. He is Glorious in holiness. Fearful in praises. You know what I'm saying about
the Lord right now? It makes you scared of Him, doesn't
it? And when you praise Him, you do so in fear. In fear and
trembling. Rejoice with trembling. He's
fearful in praises even when we praise Him. We're scared of
Him. He's God. Who will not fear Him? Who will
not tremble in His presence? Who will not be afraid of Him?
He's the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is what?
The fear of the Lord. He's fearful and praises even
as we praise Him where we're reminded of the awesome majesty
of his person, and we bow down. We bow down. You don't bow down
to just a mere man, do you? I mean, you put your britches
on just like I do. I'm not afraid of a man in that
sense. I mean, his breath is in his nostrils. I assure him,
pray to the Lord. Even in my praises, we fear him. He's fearful in praises, doing
wonders. And he goes on to speak of the
wonders that he did. Verse 11, Thou stretchest out
Thy right hand, and the earth swallowed them. Thou, in Thy
mercy, hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. I believe
Moses believed in particular redemption, didn't he? Look at
the way he speaks. Thou hast, of Thy mercy, led
forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them
in Thy strength under Thy holy habitation. It was His strength
that guided us into His holy habitation, Christ Jesus. Now,
here's another one of those mysteries of the Gospel that we're just
amazed by. We're His habitation. He inhabits us. He's our habitation. Christ Jesus is where we live.
We are in Him. We dwell in Him. That's where
we're at. He's our habitation. Christ in me, me in Christ. That's the believer's security.
Verse 14, the people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take
hold on the inhabitants of Palestine. He's talking about God's providence
now and bringing them into the providence land. All the inhabitants
of the lands that are going to be afraid of them. 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. By the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as
a stone. Till thy people pass over, Lord, till the people pass
over which thou hast purchased. Everything is working together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Everything is working together
for your good. Isn't it wonderful when you believe
that? It doesn't do you much good when you're feeling bad
and somebody says, now, you know, everything works together for
good. Well, you know that. But boy, when the Lord brings
it in power to you and you realize this is the truth, you rejoice,
don't you? Verse 17, thou shalt bring them
in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the
place, O Lord, which thou has made for thee to dwell in, thy
sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. Christ
Jesus is the sanctuary we live in. We have a sanctuary. We have
a hiding place. We have a holy place that we
live in. The Lord Jesus Christ, I am in him. And that's my security. How secure is he? That's how
secure I am. How saved is he? That's how saved
I am. He's the sanctuary. He's the
holy place. The Lord, verse 18, the Lord
shall reign forever and ever. That's another way of saying
he's sovereign. That's what reign means. What
does the sovereignty of God mean? It means he reigns. The definition
is in the word sovereign. He reigns. He reigns, he has
a will. He has the power to make sure
His will comes to pass and He does in fact make sure His will
to come to pass. He doeth according to His will,
not so much He has the right to do according to His will,
He does His will. In the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, What doest thou? Verse 19, for the horse of Pharaoh
went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea.
And the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them.
But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the
sea. And Marian, that's Moses' sister and Aaron's sister, the
prophetess, the sister of Aaron, she took a timbrel in her hand
and all the women went out. with their timbrels and with
dances. And what did they have to say? And Miriam answered.
Here's her response. She just repeats the song. Sing
ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea. Now this is a great hymn,
isn't it? This is the greatest of all hymns. Great hymns go hand in hand with
a great God. One of the reasons modern hymns
are so pathetic is they match up to the God that's preached.
But great hymns magnify a great God and this hymn truly is worthy
of God. May the Lord God give us the
grace to sing this hymn from the depths of our hearts to Him. Can you sing He hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my
song. He's my God and I'll prepare
Him a habitation. My Father's God and I'll exalt
Him. The Lord is a man of warning.
Can you sing this song and rejoice in the words? Let's pray together.