The Song of the Saved: Singing of the Greatness of God - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

We're going to take a look at Exodus chapter 15 this morning as

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

we look at this hymn and think about what it has to teach us, even

though we can't sing it, necessarily what it has to teach

us.

But I don't know if you know, but every few years, BBC Songs of

Priyas conduct a survey to discover what what is the UK's favourite

hymn.

And in 2019, they discovered that the favorite hymn to be sung

by churches in the UK is Jerusalem by Hubert Parry, written

in 1916.

And probably the popularity of that came because it was sung at

the wedding of Prince William and Catherine.

Last year they discovered that the UK's favorite hymn to be sung

in schools was Shine, Jesus, Shine by Graham Kendrick.

And many of us will be familiar with that because of our

Youth Fellowship days.

And in the early 2010s, the favorite to be sung was Abide With

Me by Henry Francis Light.

Now, this survey wasn't based on what churches sang, so they didn't

get a list of what everybody sang.

Rather, they went out and asked what were people's favourites,

what did they want to sing?

And you'll immediately recognize with certainly Jerusalem

and Abide With Me, their hymns that are very nationalistic, with

Jerusalem specifically speaking of England's Hills and the

Mills and Abide With Me being sung annually at the FA cup final.

So these are hymns that are sung in public events or at public

events, or have a nationalistic meaning.

Whether people understand their true depth of meaning is, of

course, another discussion.

So with these hymns being known to so many, it's no surprise

to us that that's why people chose them as hymns that they want

to sing, because in the age in which we're living, it's probably

the only hymns that they know.

But we all have a favorite hymn to sing, and we like our hymns

because of what it says, or maybe because of the tune.

It evokes in us an emotion in the singing.

And of course, words and music go together because they do something

that match each other.

The strength of the music matches the strength of the words.

Or a hymn that is more thoughtful will have a gentler melody

so that we will be pulled into the deeper meaning of what we're

singing.

But the reality is we don't always stick to the same favorites.

As the years pass and as we're introduced to new songs, we begin

to like new ones over older ones that would have been our favorites.

Now let's do the Analong Presbyterian Church survey.

I'm not going to ask you what you want to Sing, because we'd be

here all day for that.

But you've had to trust me in what we sing.

And last year, the most frequently sung hymn in our services

of worship was not ask you to shout out, but in your head, what

do you think it was?

Here is Love Everlasting Praise.

Anybody get that right?

No.

That was sung 12 times, followed by this.

Maybe not so much of a surprise.

Christos, Victor, Amen and the Matchless Name of Jesus, both sung

nine times.

And all the other hymns that might be your favorites were sung

about four or five times each throughout the year.

And you know, whenever we talk about hymns, you'll automatically

think of ones you like and you might go, we haven't sung that in

a while.

I get that on a Monday morning, and then all of a sudden

it appears a few weeks later.

But Christianity is unique.

We are unique because we sing.

We are a faith that sings.

If you were to observe other faith groups in their acts of so

called worship, they don't sing.

There may be chants or someone may lead some form of rhythmic verse,

but Christianity is the only faith that sings.

So why do we do it?

Well, we sing first and foremost because the Bible gives

us the example of singing, which is our scripture passage this

morning.

And there are different hymns and songs sprinkled throughout Scripture,

with of course, the great songbook of God's people right in

the middle, the Psalms.

But secondly, as part of our worship of God, we sing praise of

his name because he is worthy of our devotion, of our focus, and

of our praise.

That's why Psalm 145:3 says, Great is the Lord, and most worthy

Psalms 145:3

of praise.

His greatness no one can fathom.

And as we look at the end of Scripture, we see in John's Revelation

multiple times the redeemed people of God and the heavenly host

singing praise of his name.

For example, Revelation 4, verse 11 tells us of what they sing,

Revelation 4:11

and it echoes what we've read in Psalm 145.

You are worthy, O Lord, our Lord and God, to receive glory and

honor and power.

For you created all things, and by your will they were created

and have their being.

And so we have been created to worship God.

And one way we do that is through singing.

And as we see the people of God saved through the waters of the

Red Sea, their natural response as they look back across

the waters now flowing naturally again, is to burst into

song of what God has done.

And by the way, let me tell you two things about you.

The number of ministers who come into this pulpit and Always.

Then come back to me and talk about your singing.

Should encourage you.

You sing exceptionally well and exceptionally loudly, and that's

good.

The second thing, there's probably no greater privilege for

me than to stand here and hear you sing what you believe.

So the hymns we sing may not necessarily be your favorites, but

they will speak of a depth that we must communicate and sing

to each other as well as to God about what we believe about him

and about who we believe we are as his people.

So now, on the other side of the Red Sea, bursting into song for

what God has done, we must remember that their rescue from Egypt

was not a simple walk in the park.

The people had to trust that God would deliver them.

They fled Egypt, not knowing if the Egyptians would come after

them.

And when the Egyptians did come after them, the children of

Israel had their backs against the Red Sea.

There was nowhere for them to go.

And so they had to trust that God would make a way for them to

cross.

And he did that by dividing the waters, by ensuring that they

walked on the dry sea bed.

And even that took faith.

As they walked with water, walls of water on both sides.

And as they did one step in front of the other, they had to trust

that God would hold the waters back so that they could be saved

and not lost, as would be the outcome of the Egyptians.

And God did just that.

The people's faith was well placed because he did hold the waters

back.

And now with the pieces of chariots floating on the water, the

people look back across to the land of their enslavement.

And they sing of what God has done.

And what this song does for us is a song of praise to God that speaks

of three people.

And so this is how we're going to look at this.

We're not going to take it verse by verse, but looking at what

the song says about these three groups of people, and the first

is, it's a song of God's greatness.

So of course it's a song of God, but it's specifically about

his greatness.

And this hymn is full of who God is to the people.

Their accusations of Moses from chapter 14 are now past, and

they highly exalt the Lord for all that he has done.

As verse one commences for us.

But look at what they say of him in verse 2.

The Lord is my strength and my song.

He has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and

I will exalt him.

These are words of God's mighty act of Salvation.

The people know what they have been saved from and they know who.

They know the one who has saved them.

It is the Lord God, and He will be the focus of their praise

because they are truly alive and they are truly rescued because

of his mighty hand.

In verse three, they go on to describe God as their warrior, affirming

that he is the one who has fought for them and defeated their

foes.

But did you notice there in verse two, they also recognize him

as the God of their fathers.

So they recognize that the promises that God made to Abraham

and to Isaac and to Jacob and to Joseph are now being revealed

to them, even though it be 400 years later.

Moving through this hymn where they sing of God, in verses 68, they

speak of him and his righteous anger towards the enemies of his

people.

And if they are enemies of his people, then ultimately they're enemies

of Him.

And the words of these verses not only speak of God's majestic

power, but they also speak of his right to punish those who reject

him.

Because verse 7 says, in the greatness of your majesty, you threw

down those who opposed you.

You unleashed your burning anger.

It consumed them like stubble.

Although the people at times may have doubted if God was going

to rescue them, as demonstrated in their reaction to

Moses at the Red Sea, they now affirm that, that as the Lord's righteous

anger was against the Egyptians, and as he punished them

for their evil deeds, so his steadfast love was towards them.

As the surging waters were parted for them to pass through,

they recognized that it is the greatness of the Lord, his majesty.

And where comes their salvation, there is his wrath on

the other side.

And that wrath is the punishment for of the Egyptians.

And so verse 11 in the middle of this hymn is a crescendo of their

praise as their focus of God becomes one of comparison.

And so they sing, who among the gods is like you, O Lord, who

is like you, majestic and holiness awesome in glory, working

wonders.

So this is now their affirmation that all other objects

of worship, the so called gods, are false.

And there is only one true God.

And it is the God of their salvation, the God who they now know

as their Savior.

So this new position before God gives the people a renewed confidence

in the God of covenant promise.

They now sing of their enemies, the Philistines, Edomites,

Moabites and Canaanites, as nothing before God.

Their thinking will be, well, if he's done this to the world's

superpower, what's he going to do to all the tribes along the way.

And they knew of these tribes, of course we know God will make them

divert those tribes.

They will face them in 40 years time, but God will see them

through.

And so their confidence is that nothing is beyond God's reach.

And so the people will now need to remind themselves of this

because they will meet these people groups as they journey to

the promised land.

And it is to that land of promise that they look, as they Conclude

in verse 18, the Lord will reign forever and ever.

They trust his promises.

They trust he will give them the land of promise.

And as such he will be their God and He will reign over his people

forever.

This is a climactic conclusion and a future hope of the people.

They look beyond what and where they are in that moment and

they look to the very eternal nature of God.

And so this is a true hymn of praise, not necessarily for what

he has done, but for who he is.

And when God is the object of our praise as part of our worship

of him, then we will know deep in our hearts who he is so that like

the people who crossed the Red Sea, he will be the God of our salvation

and the God who will keep us.

And we know this now because of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished

for us on Calvary's cross.

Because the only reason that we can know God who He is, so that

we can sing praise of his name is because Jesus has made it possible

for us to know Him.

Jesus stands in our place before God's judgment so that we

can be free from the wrath that the Egyptians faced for their

disobedience against God.

And that's why the writer of Hebrews tells us what he does in

Hebrews 13 and verse 15.

It's now through Jesus, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice

of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

And yes, we confess him by telling of the gospel, but we profess

him by what we sing, by what we sing to him and to one another

of what we believe as his people.

And so what Hebrews is saying to us here is the only way we can

worship God is through Christ.

Because God's way of salvation for us is not through the waters

of the Red Sea, but it is through the risen Lord Jesus.

The Baptist Pastor John Piper is often quoted as saying mission

exists because worship doesn't.

And he's very true.

Where people are not truly worshipping God, there is a mission

field.

Because ultimately, what does God require of us to worship Him?

Now, worship is not singing.

So when we talk about someone leading worship, no, nobody Leads

worship.

God leads worship through Jesus.

We have people who lead us in praise, perhaps, but it's God who

tells us how to worship Him.

Worship is prayer.

Worship is praise.

Worship is listening to His Word and reading His Word.

Worship is fellowship.

It's all of these things that we do so that we make much of God

and who he through His Son, Jesus, and not one individual item

that outshines or we believe, overextends the other.

Worship of God is everything that we bring to him, as we will

see in a moment.

Because we can only worship God because of faith in Jesus.

And if we don't have faith in Jesus, then we're not truly worshiping

God.

We're simply going through the motions of singing hymns and songs

that we like.

And as much as I encourage believers this morning to sing heartily

because God is worthy of our praise because of Jesus, I challenge

you this morning to ask yourself, are you simply going through

the motions of being here this morning?

Are you here in body, but not in spirit?

As I was writing this, I did think, are the lights on?

But no one's home.

But I thought that might be a little bit cruel, so I'll not say

it, but whoops, I did.

You see, you can sit here, you can leave here, and it can mean absolutely

nothing to you.

That's not worship of God.

His Word alone, read, never mind preached or presented to us

in song, should be enough for our hearts to sing of who God is.

Don't get me wrong.

I am glad you're here.

But my duty is to tell you the reality of humanity before God.

And if you are not worshiping God this morning because of faith

in Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins, then it's not

worship.

You're simply going through the motions.

You see, worship of God is to be meaningful, to come from our hearts,

yes, expressed on our lips.

But it comes from a deep gratitude of God who God is to us.

Because if you're not truly worshipping God, then in the words

of John Piper, you are a mission field because you're not

worshipping, which means mission needs to exist.

And I pray day and daily for your soul to be saved by the only

one who can.

Because you are precious.

You are precious to those around you and they want you to join

them in not just praise of God here on earth, but eternal, everlasting

praise of him in heaven.

You are precious because the danger that you're in is that you'll

continue through the motions of simply turning up and singing

for the rest of your life.

Believing that simply being here is good and that's all you need

to get to heaven.

But this song of Moses tells us differently.

Because the second thing, or the second people that we see is

a song of the destruction of the Egyptians.

Because they went through the motions of religion, they worshiped

their deities, they did not worship the one true God.

And how many times throughout this song are the Egyptians mentioned?

It begins for us in verse 4.

Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.

The best of Pharaoh's officers are drawn in the Red Sea.

And verse five continues by saying that the waters covered them

and brought them to the depths of.

Now, this is not a floating over the Egyptians kind of thing.

This is the reality of those who don't truly worship God for who

he truly is.

And this is told in verse nine, as the people sing of the boasting

of the Egyptians, trusting in their own strength, in their own

efforts, in their own weaponry to subdue the children of Israel.

Because there they sing, the enemy boasted, I will pursue, I will

overtake them.

I will divide the spoils, I will gorge myself on them and I will

draw my sword and my hand will destroy.

You can almost see this in a movie.

The Egyptians champing at the bit across the plains of the Red

Sea, singing these very words, we're gonna get them.

We're the strength, we're the might.

What a boast.

But how false and shallow it is.

Because similarly today we can easily say, I believe in God and

Jesus, I'm a Christian, I'll be okay because of my good deeds

and kindness.

But this is false and it's as shall as anything the Egyptians may

have believed.

Because the devil believes in God and Jesus and he will not be

saved.

And none of our good works and kindness is ever pure enough to save

us.

We boast in ourselves because we think that simply saying we are

Christians is enough.

It isn't.

A Christian is someone who follows Jesus every day of their

lives, where every moment is one of worship of God.

And you might be going now, hold on a minute.

How can you do that?

If my workmates heard me sing Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven,

as I did my job well, I would be a laughingstock.

Well, this worship is not always singing, praying or reading.

Remember, worship is the completeness of what we do before

God and its constituent parts.

What?

Worship day and daily.

Every moment of every day is how we live out the values and the

commands of God.

We treat humanity as souls needing salvation because God gave

his own son for that salvation.

We respect the authorities over us through honest business practices,

paying taxes and working hard for our employers.

We are kind to our employees and we celebrate in the good of others

and not in their downfall.

This is what God calls us to.

So, as Romans 12:1 tells us, everything we do, from the cleaning

Romans 12:1

of the toilets and mopping up the floor to the hardest business

decisions that will ever have to be made, we do a spiritual worship

of God.

Paul tells us, therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's

mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing

to God.

This is your spiritual act of worship.

Worship of God is about offering ourselves and everything

we do to Him.

It's about offering our hearts in prayer and praise.

It's about offering our minds in the study and reading of His Word.

It's about offering the actions of our hands in doing a good

job, in being honest and trustworthy.

This is what marks Christians as His people.

Not simply saying, we're Christians, but worshipping him every

moment of every day.

To be here on a Sunday and simply live like the rest of the

world during the week is not true faith, nor is it true Christianity.

It is the boastful pride of the Egyptians, where we think that

we can simply take the name of God and His salvation to suit us

rather than have any meaning.

If we don't take him seriously, if we don't worship him

truly, then we will face the same punishment as the Egyptians

did, as the Philistines did, as the Edomites, Moabites and Canaanites

did.

We will indeed, as the song says, tremble and fear, as our ultimate

rejection of God, will be in our eternal punishment, lost forever

in hell.

That's why Miriam sings at the end of this, particularly in the

last two lines of verse 21, sing to the Lord, for He is highly

exalted.

But she then goes on to say, the horse and its rider he has hurled

into the sea, lost forever.

But there's a third group who are sung off in this song.

This is where we finish this morning.

Because this is a song of the greatness of God, but it's also of

the destruction of the Egyptians.

But it's a song of the very people of God.

This is not just a song that is sung by them, but this is a song

about them.

God's whole rescue has been for his glory and for their good.

It hasn't been simply about freeing a people from slavery.

It's been about freeing them so that they can worship him, the

God of their salvation.

And we see this in verse 17, you will bring them in and plant

them on the mountain of your inheritance.

The place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling.

The sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established because of the

Lord's salvation, demonstrated to them through their deliverance

from Egypt and through the waters of the Red Sea.

They can look beyond their current situation to the fulfillment

of the promises of God and the land that he promised to Abraham.

And so for these people as they sing this, there is a renewed

trust in God.

And that is what worship demonstrates.

Today, when Christians gather for morning and evening worship,

it shouldn't be a choice.

Not only does scripture tell us to meet together, it also warns

us about not meeting together.

I said earlier that the Christian faith is the only faith

that sings.

But we are also the only faith that meets with like minded people

who for one day in the week, get away from the weight and sin

of the world to be together in one voice, in one heart and one spirit.

And I hope that coming to church on a Sunday is not a decision

you have to make.

I hope you want to be here because of what it means to you and

what it demonstrates to others about what you believe.

We may not agree on everything in life, be that politics, faith

or social commentary, but we were never made to be replicas of

each other.

Rather, in worship we become like Christ as we grow, as his people.

Worship of God is not about you alone.

Yes, the people sung of their individual salvation, but they sang

of the salvation of God's people because they had gone through

it together.

And we meet week by week to encourage one another, to bless one

another and to show the world who it really is that is worthy of

our worship.

As Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25 says, Let us not give up

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us

encourage one another.

And all the more, as you see the day approaching, you see what

meeting together is supposed to be.

It's supposed to be an encouragement.

It's not to be missed.

It's not to think that something else is better because

it's not something that comes for a moment and then disappears.

What we do here, week by week is what will last for eternity.

Now, I'm sorry, you'll not be sitting in these pews and you'll

not be sitting in the CM pew every week in eternity.

But what we do in our worship of singing, of prayer, of reading

his word, of understanding, and of our worship throughout the

week and the offering of our hands demonstrating who we are is

what will last.

And that's why we come together.

That's why we worship God for who he is and not who we are.

The people rescued through the waters of the Red Sea, truly sung

of God and His goodness.

They looked back at the One who would rescue them so that they

could worship Him.

And my duty this morning is to inform you that that is still what

God requires of us, to worship him fully.

And the only way we can do that is by knowing Jesus as our Savior.

That's why we sing the hymns we sing.

That's why we read the passages we read.

And if this has made you sit uncomfortable in your pew this morning,

then that's not me.

That is the work of the Holy Spirit, and you must pay attention

to that, because that's God at work.

Do not ignore him, but allow him to work in you and through you

so that you truly can be saved for his glory and the greatness and

the goodness of eternity with Him.

If you know Christ, worship well, it seems to have been a bit

of a habit over the past two weeks, but I'll say it again.

We're going to finish with two great songs that allow you to express

what the children of Israel express and what we believe today

so that it will truly be the anthem of our hearts as we go through

this week and we worship God well in all that we do.

But if you're sitting uncomfortable because you're now

questioning, am I truly worshipping God?

Well, pay attention, because Christ is inviting you to know him

so that this very day next week you can be back and you can

worship truly and believe the words we sing and hear as your testimony

of faith because of what the Lord has done.

Our God, and let no one tell you differently, is truly a great

God who calls each of us to worship Him.

Him through the weeping of the night and through the joy of the

morning, so that, yes, he will bring you through whatever red sea

you need to cross, and he will hold back the waters so you will

not be swallowed up and you will land safe on the shores of his

salvation for all eternity.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, we continue in worship, in prayer as we continue

to make much of who you are to us and through this hymn, often overlooked

or possibly even very little heard of, but yet it challenges us

to our core of who we are to be as we worship you.

For this is not light stuff.

This is heavy stuff.

It's weighty stuff, because it's of you.

But Father, in our trust of you and in our worship of you, comes

the likeness, because you bear our burden and you share our grief.

So that indeed through the waters we will pass, trusting step

by step in faith that you will hold back the waters so that we may

sing songs of rejoicing and praise who you are.

So, Father, speak to us.

And may we be receptive to the work of your Holy Spirit that does

make us shift in our pews so that we can be right with you and

know you for all eternity.

And this we pray in Jesus name.

Amen.