The Warrior-King

It's a joy to be with you this morning.

And we are in Exodus chapter 15.

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 15, verses 1 to 21.

Exodus 15:1–21

And let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Father, there is no one like you.

And we ask that this morning you would renew our sense of awe and wonder

at who you are and all that you have done for us.

So that we may truly make that profession of faith that there is no one like you.

Not only with mental assent in our heads, but from the bottom of our hearts.

Reveal your glory to us from your word.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Please stand with me for the reading of God's word from Exodus chapter 15, if you're able.

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

I'm going to read verses 1 to 21.

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him.

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 he cast into the sea,

and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

The floods cover them.

They went down into the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power.

Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries.

You send out your fury.

It consumes them like stubble.

At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up.

The floods stood up in a heap.

The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, I will pursue.

I will overtake.

I will divide the spoil.

My desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword.

My hand shall destroy them.

You blew with your wind.

The sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

You stretched out your right hand.

The earth swallowed them.

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.

You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

The peoples have heard.

They tremble.

Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed.

Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab.

All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them.

Because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone.

Till your people, O Lord, pass by.

Till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain.

The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode.

The sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

The Lord will reign forever and ever.

For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea,

the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them.

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand,

and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.

And Miriam sang to them, saying to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Many of us just celebrated Independence Day this past July 4th.

And if you went to see fireworks someplace,

you most likely heard our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

And I don't know if you've ever looked up the origin of the song on Wikipedia or not,

but the lyrics for the song come from a poem entitled Defense of Fort McHenry.

And written by lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814.

It was in the middle of the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The war was a culmination of a long-standing feud between two countries.

As the U.S. colonial settlements were expanding to the northwest,

the U.K. obviously was not happy about that,

and they opposed the territorial expansion by arming some of the Native Americans.

And they also meddled in U.S. international trade,

and at times impressed American citizens into their service as British subjects.

And because of these rising tensions,

it brought the sovereignty of the United States as a new nation into question.

And that's why some American historians call the War of 1812

the Second War of Independence.

And in August 1814, the British troops burned Washington, D.C.

And in September, the Royal Navy had formed a blockade,

and they were bombarding Fort McHenry in Baltimore all night long.

People, some people were watching and wondering whether the fort would survive the night,

whether the U.S. would survive the war.

And Francis Scott Key, who happened to be a witness on a boat,

observing what was happening in the bombing,

saw an oversized U.S. flag, the Star Spangled Banner,

fluttering in the wind, waving,

as the bomb was beginning at night.

And in the morning at dawn,

he looked again in that direction,

and he saw that

the flag was still standing

and gallantly streaming.

And from that, he was inspired to pen the poem right in that moment.

That's what he wrote.

He says,

O say,

When the smoke dissipated and the dust settled and the darkness faded as the sun peeked over the horizon,

and Francis Scott Key glimpsed the stripes and stars of the U.S. flag still flying triumphantly over the fort,

and he was awestruck.

And so he wrote this poem because just narrating and writing in prose such an event is not enough.

It doesn't adequately capture the moment.

He could only write about it in verse, in poetry, in song.

How much more, then, if that were the case in that war,

is it the case with the passage this morning,

after God's great deliverance of his people at the Exodus,

and at splitting the Red Sea,

that people are to praise the Lord in song?

We have seen in Exodus 14,

the recount of God delivering Israel.

He split the Red Sea.

He created a wall of water on either side

so that the Israelites could walk through on dry ground.

And then he routed the Egyptians with the pillar of cloud and fire,

and then he collapsed the wall of water upon the Egyptians and drowned them.

And Israel really was at the edge of disaster,

of national disaster.

Before them stood the untraversable Red Sea,

and behind them pursued this unassailable Egyptian elite army.

And people were wondering whether this fledgling nation

who had just won freedom recently would survive the onslaught.

But it says,

In the morning, the Lord God fought for them,

and when the last man and woman and child and livestock of Israel

had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground,

they turn around and look,

and they see the dead bodies of the Egyptians washing onto the shore.

They had survived.

They had actually won.

They had been saved and delivered.

And the Lord had triumphed.

And so there, as they stood in awe,

still free to worship the Lord and serve the Lord,

the Lord, just tell them that it wasn't enough.

And so they erupt in poetry and song.

It says in verse 1,

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord,

saying,

I will sing to the Lord,

for He has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.

This song can be divided up into two main parts.

First is remembering our redemption.

It has a retrospective perspective.

And then the second half is anticipating our coming.

It looks into the future.

And the main lesson of this song that it preserves for us

is that the Lord is the warrior king

who redeems us and leads us to His dwelling place.

So we're going to first look at how we should remember our redemption.

With the redemption that the Red Sea fresh on their minds,

the people of God sang in verses 1 to 3.

The Lord is my strength and my song.

This is my God, and I will praise Him.

My Father's God, and I will exalt Him.

The Lord is a man of war.

The Lord is His name.

The Lord is my strength and my song.

He has become my salvation.

That's a refrain that you hear over and over again in the Old Testament.

It's first heard here in the Exodus,

but then it's taken up again later in Psalm 118.14

and in Isaiah 12.2 as well.

And it's such an intimate and beautiful way to praise God.

The Lord is not only my strength,

someone who sustains me and saves me and keeps me going,

but He's also my song, the object of my love,

the object of my adoration and affection,

the one I delight in, the person I love to sing about.

So then we sing to the Lord, but the Lord is also our song.

We sing to Him, but we also sing of Him.

He's both our audience and the content of our song

because that's what He deserves for all that He has.

And Moses says that the Lord is my Father's God.

This is very meaningful for him because if you recall,

Moses was exposed as an infant,

an orphan picked up by the Egyptians from the Nile River

and then raised in the Egyptian court.

And God had said to him when he first called Moses in Exodus 3.6,

I am the God of your Father, singular.

And in doing that, God was connecting,

reconnecting Moses to the history of God's people

and saying, you are not an orphan,

you are not a no-name nobody,

but instead you are one of my people.

I am your God.

I'm the God of your Father.

And that's the same thing that God does for us.

He has taken spiritual orphans

and he has adopted us as his sons and daughters,

as his own, and he says, I am your God.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses

is the same God that we worship today also.

But note that Moses does not merely call Yahweh

my Father's God, but he also calls him my God.

There's an intensely personal dimension

to the profession of the song.

Notice all the first person singular pronouns

in verses one to three.

I will sing to the Lord.

The Lord is my strength and my song

and he's become my salvation.

This is my God and I will praise him.

My Father's God and I will exalt him.

What is the significance of that?

God is not an abstract idea

or a philosophical principle

or some spiritual force.

No, God is a person

whom we know and love and worship.

He is my God.

He is not only the song of God's people,

he is my song.

He's not merely a savior of the world,

he is my salvation.

There is an important aspect to worship

that is communal that people often miss,

but we also must not miss

the personal individual aspect of worship.

Do you know the Lord as your God?

Or do you know the Lord as your God?

Or do you know the Lord as your God?

When you hear of God and his love

and his saving deeds,

does your heart well up with love

and joy and gratitude for him

so that you can't help but burst into song?

Do you come to the church gathering

to worship my God

or the church's God

or to worship your God?

I hope every single one of you can say,

the Lord is my strength,

my song,

my salvation,

and my God.

Having professed that the Lord is my God,

in verse three,

it begins to describe what the Lord is like

and what he has done.

It says,

the Lord is a man of war.

The Lord is his name.

The expression man of war

is simply another way

to say that the Lord is a warrior,

which is exactly how

some other translations have it.

The CSB,

the Christian Standard Bible,

and the NIV,

New International Version,

translated that way.

And if talking about God as a warrior

makes you feel uneasy

or fidgety,

then you are likely missing

a critical aspect

of the way you perceive

and relate to God.

Yes, God is our loving Father.

Yes, God is our good shepherd.

And yes, there are other images

in Scripture that emphasize

God's tender care.

We need all of those images

and metaphors as well.

We don't want an imbalance

and only talk about God

as a warrior either.

However, we must not forget

that the Lord is a man of war.

He is a warrior.

In the peace and security

and comfort of 21st century

United States,

it's easy for us to say,

oh, let's dispense with this talk

of God as a man of war.

That sounds so militant,

so masculine.

But for victims of injustice

and oppression,

like the Israelites

who were enslaved in Egypt

for 400 years,

the fact that the Lord

is a warrior

is not a liability

or a fearful thing.

It is a wonderful comfort.

When evil enemies

are getting their way

and enslaving God's people

and slaughtering them,

we need not only

the divine counselor,

we need a divine warrior.

It's precisely because

the Lord is a man of war

that we can be peacemakers

in this world.

We Christians are never

to repay evil for evil.

We are never to avenge ourselves,

but leave it to the wrath of God,

for it is written,

vengeance is mine.

I will repay,

says the Lord.

It's precisely because

the Lord says

He will see to justice.

Precisely because

the Lord has said,

I will fight on behalf

of the oppressed.

Precisely because

the Lord has said,

I will return to judge

the earth

and the living

and the dead

that we can rest assured,

trust in Him

and promote peace

in this world

and even suffer

unjustly in this world

because we know

He'll put it all to rights.

Verses fortified

and describe

how the Lord

is a warrior.

Pharaoh's chariots

and his host

He cast into the sea

and His chosen officers

were sunk

in the Red Sea.

The floods cover them

and they went into the depths

like a stone.

I love how,

you know,

Moses keeps rubbing in

the fact that

Pharaoh sent his

elite forces,

the chosen officers,

not just everyday infantrymen.

He sent his navy seals out

to get these Israelites

running away from

without weapons

and yet

the Lord

defeated

the strongest army

of that ancient world.

And then in verses 6 to 12,

the Israelites

transitioned

telling of God's mighty deed

to addressing

and praising God directly.

And this section

is structured

in a fascinating way.

Right in the middle of it

in verse 9

we see the enemy's

presumptuous boast.

The enemy said,

I will pursue,

I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil.

My desire shall have

its fill of them.

I will draw my sword.

My hand shall destroy them.

It's very repetitive.

A lot of I's,

the first person singular pronouns,

and the short

kind of staccato sentences

convey the enemy's

overweening sense

of pride and confidence

and egotism.

His victory to him

is a foregone conclusion.

Oh, I will do these things.

Yes.

And he expects to make

quick work of the Israelites.

But then,

that boastful statement

in the middle

is framed

by verses 6 and 12

which both mention

the right hand of God.

He says in verse 6,

Your right hand,

O Lord,

glorious in power.

Your right hand,

O Lord,

shatters the enemy.

And at the end

of the section,

verse 12 says,

You stretched out

your right hand

and the earth

swallowed them.

Now,

this is in contrast

with the enemy's hand

which was mentioned

in verse 9.

The enemy said,

My hand shall destroy them.

But instead,

it's the power

of God's right hand

that shatters him

and humbles him.

And so,

on either side

of verse 9,

the enemy's boast,

you see praises

of declarations

of God's glory

and might.

And those statements

kind of like squeeze

that middle boast

like a vice grip.

You know,

so it's a really wonderful way

to write about this.

Verse 7 speaks

of the greatness

of God's majesty.

Now,

the Lord sends out

his fury

which consumes

his enemies

like stubble.

You've seen stubble burn,

right?

It's instantly incinerated

by fire.

Poof.

Right?

And verse 11 says,

Likewise,

that the Lord

is majestic in holiness

and that he stretched

out his right hand

so that the earth

swallowed his enemies.

And then verse 8 says

that at the blast

of the Lord's nostrils,

the waters piled up,

the floods stood up

in a heap,

the deeps congealed.

And verse 10,

it matches that

and it says,

the Lord blew

with his wind,

the sea covered them,

they sank like lead

in the mighty waters.

So the boastful enemy

sinks into the sea

like lead,

like stone

that sinks instantly

to the bottom

of the ocean.

And that's how large

the gap is

between the power

of the Lord

and the power

of the enemy,

between Egypt

and the Lord.

The mighty winds

that piled up the waters

and split the Red Sea

is amazingly described

as due to the blast

of the Lord's nostrils.

Just imagine that.

I can't blow my nose

that loud,

but imagine just

blowing my nose.

And that's how God

defeated the Egyptians.

He just blew his nose.

It's an amazing statement

of God's power.

And this deliverance

becomes a paradigm,

a pattern

that all subsequent

deliverances of God

follow.

And so in Psalm 18,

where David is writing

about how God

delivered him

from his enemies

and from King Saul

in particular,

he says this

in verse 15,

then the channels

of the sea were seen

and the foundations

of the world

were laid bare

at your rebuke.

Oh Lord,

at the blast

of the breath

of your nostrils.

David's deliverance

didn't have anything

to do with the sea.

It didn't have anything

to do with the

splitting of the Red Sea.

It didn't have anything

to do with the blast

of the Lord's nostrils.

And yet,

David appropriates

the language

of the Exodus

and uses it

to describe

his own deliverance

in his life.

Because the Exodus

is the pattern

that subsequent

deliverances follow.

And so it is not

inappropriate then

as David did

for us to apply

this salvation

to ourselves

as well.

And I think

it's actually intended

by the New Testament

writers to be

applied that way

because we see

the way the Gospel

of Matthew

makes the connection

between the Exodus

and the life

of Jesus.

Just like Pharaoh

who ordered

all male Hebrew

children be killed,

King Herod

at the time

of Jesus' birth

seeks to kill

all male Hebrew

children in Bethlehem

because he wants

to kill Jesus,

the Messiah.

Just like Israel

which had to sojourn

in Egypt for a time,

Jesus sojourns

in Egypt

for a little while

to escape

Saul's murderous

search.

And just as Israel

had to go through

the Red Sea

which is described

in 1 Corinthians 10

as a baptism

into Moses,

so in Matthew 3,

13-17,

Jesus goes through

the waters

at baptism.

And just as Israel

right after going

through the Red Sea

goes into the wilderness,

Jesus right after

his baptism

goes straight into

the wilderness

to be tempted.

Israel wanders

the wilderness

and is tempted

for 40 years

Jesus wanders

in the wilderness

and is tempted

for 40 days.

But unlike the Israelites

who fail every single

one of their tests

in the wilderness

and grumble against God

as we'll see

in the immediately

following passage

next week

and have refused

to believe in him

and disobey him,

Jesus passes

every single test.

And so this deliverance

is ultimately

foreshadowing

and is fulfilled

by Jesus' deliverance

of redemption

of us.

In the same way

that it's later

in verse 13,

it speaks of God's people

here in the Exodus

as the redeemed.

And it's the Lord Jesus

who redeemed us.

Ephesians 1-7

says that in Christ,

we have redemption

through his blood,

the forgiveness

of our trespasses.

Jesus is the ultimate

divine warrior

who has conquered

sin and death.

Just as God

purchased Israel

from their slavery

with the blood

of the Passover lamb,

Jesus purchases us

from our slavery

to sin

with his own blood

on the cross.

And so this is ultimately,

it's fitting therefore

to apply it to ourselves.

And in the same way then,

we had an enemy

that we could not

put away in our own strength.

Egyptians that we could not

cast into the sea.

And likewise,

our sin,

the debt of it,

the weight of it,

the burden of it,

the shame of it,

was too much for us to bear.

We could not shake it off.

And yet,

it's Jesus

who through his victory

casts all of it

into the sea.

And when we remember

this great redemption,

we can't help but sing out

like verse 11,

who is like you,

O Lord.

Who is like you,

O Lord,

among the gods?

This is not to say

that there are other gods

besides Yahweh.

He is without a peer.

But there are many

false gods

that the nations

throughout the world

worship,

but none of them

is like the Lord.

Who is like you,

majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds,

doing wonders?

Moses and the Israelites

in the song

do not supply an answer

to that question

because no answer

is needed.

It's a rhetorical question

and the answer

is obvious.

There is no one,

no one like our God,

no one like the Lord

who saves with his mighty hand

and an outstretched arm.

There is no one

like our God

who is merciful

and gracious

and compassionate

and abounding

in steadfast love

and faithfulness.

There is no one

like our God

who gave his only son,

Jesus,

to redeem us

from our sins.

And after remembering

our redemption

in verses 1 to 12,

we turn to anticipating

our homecoming

in verses 13 to 18.

Again and again

throughout the book of Exodus,

whenever God reiterates

his promise

to bring Israel

out of Egypt,

he also promises

to bring them

into the promised land,

canon.

And that's what

the second half

of the song speaks of,

how God would lead them

into the promised land

and ultimately

to the mountain of God,

God's dwelling place.

But interestingly,

even things,

even though

this hasn't happened yet,

God has not yet led them

into the promised land,

verse 13 speaks of it

like it's already happened.

He says,

you have led

in your steadfast love

the people

whom you have redeemed.

you have guided them

by your strength

to your holy abode.

We know from verse 17

that this hasn't happened yet.

God's going to lead them

into the promised land.

But verse 13

is using what

Hebrew grammarians

call the prophetic perfect.

Past tense is used

to describe something

that will happen

in the future,

that is prophesied

of in the future,

to convey the definiteness,

the certainty

of its fulfillment.

Because the Lord

has decreed it,

it's as good as done.

You can count on it.

It's as if you have

already entered

the promised land.

And so he says

in verses 14 to 16,

the peoples have heard,

they tremble.

Pangs have seized

the inhabitants

of Philistia.

Now are the chiefs

of Edom dismayed?

The trembling seizes

the leaders of Moab.

All the inhabitants

of Canaan

have melted away.

Terror and dread

fall upon them

because of the greatness

of your arm.

They are still

as a stone

till your people,

O Lord,

pass by,

till the people

pass by

whom you have

purchased.

Again,

it's using

the prophetic perfect.

News travel fast,

but not that fast.

But it's as

it's done.

All the nations

that lie between Israel

and the promised land,

they have heard

of the greatness

of the Lord's deliverance,

his right hand,

his strong arm.

And their courage

will melt away.

They will writhe in pain

and they will fall,

the terror and dread

will fall upon them.

They'll be paralyzed

like stone.

It still is stone,

just like the Egyptians

were at the Red Sea.

And we see the fulfillment

of this prophecy

in Joshua 2.9

where Rahab,

the resident of Jericho,

says this to the

Israelite spies.

I know that the Lord

has given you the land

and that the fear of you

has fallen upon us

and that all the inhabitants

of the land

melt away before you.

Exactly as this prophecy

is said.

Passing through

these nations,

the Lord will bring Israel

into the promised land

and verses 17-18

tell us why God

is doing that.

It says,

you will bring them in

and plant them

on your own mountain.

The place,

O Lord,

which you have made

for your abode.

The sanctuary,

O Lord,

which your hands

have established.

The Lord will reign

forever and ever.

This is the wonderful thing

about our God.

God is not

someone who saves

sinful,

dirty,

wicked people

and then keeps them

in isolation

and quarantine

somewhere far away

while he dwells

on high on a lofty mountain,

safe from our defilement.

The Lord saves us

and he sanctifies us

and he cleanses us

and his design

in saving us

and this has been

his design

from the very beginning

of creation

is to have fellowship

with us,

to dwell with us,

to make us make a home

with us

in his family

so that he can reign

over us

in his gracious

lordship,

kingship.

And this bringing

of Israel

into the land of Canaan

is also a pattern

that points

to our ultimate deliverance

into our heavenly kingdom.

Hebrews 11, 10 to 16

tell us

that the patriarchs

live by faith

in the land of Canaan,

looking forward

to the city

that has foundations

whose designer

and builder

is God

desiring a better country

that is a heavenly one.

That's what

the Israelites

being led

into the promised land

points to.

All of God's saints,

all of us

being led

into his heavenly kingdom

and ultimately

to the new heavens

and the new earth.

We Christians

are still sojourners

on earth.

We are pilgrims

in a foreign land

but we are journeying

toward our homeland,

our father's land,

his house,

our heavenly city.

Many of you

have experienced

what it's like

to travel

to a foreign country

and to feel

like an outsider.

If you're traveling

for like a few days

for fun,

you know,

I mean,

it doesn't really bother you

but if you're there

and you're trying

to fit in

and you're trying

to live there,

it could be very

alienating

and isolating

when no one

speaks the language

you speak,

no one dresses

the way you dress,

no one eats

the stuff you eat

and you don't know

how to get anywhere

and you're lost

all the time.

That's,

in some way,

that's the life

of pilgrims,

the life of Christians

here on earth

because our purposes

and priorities

are set by the Lord

and because of that,

it's at odds

with the purposes

and priorities

of the world,

the sinful world.

Satan,

the prince of this world

still has power

over the people

who are living in sin

and he opposes us.

He fights against us.

His desire

is to do

what the enemy says

in verse 9,

I will pursue,

I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil,

my desire shall have

its fill of them,

I will draw my sword

and my hand

shall destroy them.

He's seeking

to destroy us

but the Lord

has defeated

our enemy.

He has overthrown

the prince of the world

through his death

and resurrection.

The Lord has redeemed us

and he will

lead us

home.

And that homecoming

is gonna be glorious.

Instantly,

we will be fully known,

fully loved.

we will know

this is what

we've been waiting for.

And it is for that reason

we gather together

for worship,

week in and week out

and we sing our hearts

out to the Lord,

remembering our redemption

and anticipating

our homecoming.

at the end of this passage

in verses 19 to 21,

the lyrical reprise

of the song

of the redeemed

and the Lord's

deliverance of Israel

is again

recounted

in prose

in verse 19

and then in song

in verse 20 to 21,

it says,

then Miriam the prophetess,

the sister of Aaron,

took a tambourine

in her hand

and all the women

went out after her

with tambourines

and dancing

and Miriam sang to them,

sing to the Lord

for he has triumphed

gloriously.

The horse and his rider

he has thrown

into the sea.

So you could tell

this is not just

a one-time rendition

of the song.

They sang it once

and now they're done

and let's start marching.

No, they're celebrating

again and again

after the entire

congregation of Israel

has sung.

Here comes the choir

and the dance troupe

and they repeat

the song again

and it's not uncommon

in the Old Testament

for the woman

to welcome

and celebrate

the men

who are returning

victorious from war

with tambourines

and dances.

We see that in Judges 1134

when Jephthah returns home

from defeating

the Ammonites

and we see it in

1 Samuel 18-17

when King Saul

and David return

from defeating

the Philistines.

It says the woman

came out of all

the cities of Israel

singing and dancing

to meet King Saul

with tambourines,

with songs of joy

and with musical instruments.

The same thing

is happening here

with one notable difference.

The women are not praising

or welcoming the men.

They're praising the Lord,

the warrior king

because the men

didn't do any fighting

but the Lord

fought our battle for us.

Did you notice that

in the entirety

of this song

that not even Moses

is mentioned?

Moses' name

is not mentioned once

in this entire song

but again

and again

I will sing

to the Lord.

The Lord

is my strength

and my song.

The Lord

is a man of war.

The Lord

is his name.

Your right hand,

O Lord,

glorious in power.

Your right hand,

O Lord,

shatters the enemy

who is like you,

O Lord,

among the gods.

The Lord will reign

forever and ever.

This song

is an unabashed,

unbridled,

irrepressible overflow

of enthusiasm

for Yahweh,

the Lord alone.

It's all about him

and all glory is to him

and that's going to be

what it's like

at the end of our days,

brothers and sisters.

brothers.

No one's going to be

talking about Sean.

No one's going to be

talking about you.

No one's going to be

talking about John Piper.

No one's going to be

talking about any

of these people

but we will

sing about the Lord.

Can't wait.

And it says,

we have a picture of that

actually in Revelation 15,

two to four.

after the wrath

and judgment of God,

God's people,

it says,

harps of God

in their hands,

they sing the song

of Moses.

Isn't that amazing?

This song's going to be sung

but not

exactly as it is

because then what follows

is this.

They sing the song

of Moses,

the servant of God,

and the song

of the Lamb

saying,

great and amazing

are your deeds,

O Lord,

God the Almighty.

Just and true

are your ways,

O King of the nations,

who will not fear,

O Lord,

and glorify your name

for you alone

are holy.

All nations will come

and worship you

for your righteous acts

have been revealed.

The song of Moses,

it's a reference

to this song

in Exodus 15.

That song of Moses

is fulfilled

by the song

of the Lamb

and we're going

to sing that song

for eternity.

And until that day,

in this present day,

we sing,

remembering God's redemption,

anticipating our homecoming.

And that's why

Miriam's response

in verse 21.

In verse 1,

it says,

I will sing to the Lord.

Verse 21,

it's changed to an imperative.

Sing to the Lord.

It's an instruction

to future generations.

Sing this song

again and again.

Sing to the Lord

of how he has delivered you.

Remember that.

And the people of God

have not stopped

singing since then.

And I will talk about that

briefly as I close.

As Christians,

we're so familiar

with the experience

of gathering together

and singing songs

that we forget

what an odd thing it is

that we do.

I remember four years ago

that a non-Christian neighbor

that visited

our worship service

a few times,

she was eating with us

at our home

and then she asked me,

why do you guys

sing on Sundays?

And I was kind of

taken aback

by the question

because

I'd taken our time

of singing

for granted,

but the experience

was so foreign

and surreal to her

that she kept commenting

on how beautiful

and special it is

that Christians

gather together

to sing together

among other things.

That's when I realized

what a unique experience

our musical worship time is.

People don't normally

do that kind of thing.

Yeah,

you might go to Fenway Park

and sing

Take Me Out to the Ball Game,

but people who go

to Fenway Park

are not going over there

to sing.

They go over there

to watch a baseball game,

so a lot of people

actually don't sing.

Similarly,

you know,

some people go to concerts

and they sing along,

but people buy concert tickets

to hear the band,

not some tone-deaf stranger

blaring out the songs

behind them

with jumbled-up lyrics.

In certain moments,

they might invite you

along,

but most of the time,

the song is probably

going to be in a key

that's too high

for you to sing.

They're going to rap

at a speed

that you probably

can't follow,

and they're definitely

not going to project

the lyrics for you

on the screen

because those songs

are written

not to be sung by you,

but to be performed

by the artist.

But when we gather,

we sing songs

that were written

for us to sing along to

in keys that we can reach,

and the band's volume

is not overwhelming

intentionally

because the intention

is for all of us

to sing together to God

and to one another.

The band does not perform.

They lead us in song.

It really is a peculiar thing

that we do together

on Sundays,

but why do we do it?

Because we can't help

but sing of how great God is

and how wondrous

it is what he has done

for us.

I did a quick research

on Google

for songs entitled

How Can I Keep

From Singing

or I Can't Help But Sing,

any song kind of

along those lines.

I'm aware of only

four songs

in the English language

with titles like that

or similar to that.

How Can I Keep

From Singing?

And every single one

of them

is a Christian worship song

because it is Christians

who can't keep

from singing.

And one of my favorites

is this one

by Robert Lowry

from the 1800s.

It says,

What though my joys

and comforts die,

the Lord my Savior liveth.

What though the darkness

gather round,

songs in the night

he giveth.

No storm can shake

my inmost calm

while to that refuge

clinging.

Since Christ is Lord

of heaven and earth,

how can I keep

from singing?

Here's why the people

of God have been singing

from the very beginning.

Here's why we have

never stopped singing.

Because we cannot

keep from singing

when we think of

how glorious

and gracious

our God is.

Let's pray together.

Oh God,

it is true

as we sing sometimes

when we think

about the Lord,

we can't help

but shout

hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

Lord,

when we think

about you,

Father,

all we have

is love.

When we think

about you,

all we have

is gratefulness.

When we think

about you,

all we have

is worship,

all reverence.

and it is

the greatest,

the deepest

desire of our hearts

to see every

person in the world

worship you

because you are

worthy of it.

Fill our hearts

with the songs

of the redeemed

this morning.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.