Song of Redemption
Exodus: Captivity to Covenant • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction: The power of song. God clearly weaves song throughout biblical history. A whole book of Bible, the Psalms, are songs sung. Songs are sang at pivotal points in the life of God’s people. Singing is commanded in Scripture.
The Scriptures are filled with songs within the narrative of the story of God that are pivotal to our understanding of praise and worship. These are songs of redemption. We don’t have time to spend time in every one, but there are principles from each song that heavily bear out in this song, and what should be sung in our own songs we sing in praise.
Songs are means by which God is praised for his saving acts. - Enns
When David sang because God delivered him from his enemies (2 Sam 22:16-20)
Judges Deborah and Barak’s song in response to victory over Sisera and Jabin of Canaan in Judges 5
Hannah’s song at the birth of Samuel in 1 Sam 2:1-10
Mary’s magnificat in Luke 1:46-55.
Zechariah’s prophecy in Luke 1:68-79.
Each of these have major themes of God’s saving acts. Over and over again, God’s people individually and corporately sing because of who God is and what He has done. They sing of redemption and salvation. They are songs of redemption. This song in Exodus 15 is no different!
CTS: Sing to the Lord who has triumphed over His enemies and saved us!
Read EXODUS 15:1-21
We sing because of...
I. Who He Is (1-3)
I. Who He Is (1-3)
Throughout this song, we are going to see the subject of the praise is not us or anything else. The subject of praise and worship by Moses and Israel is directed to their God whom just showed out. The plagues, the Passover, the crossing over of the Red Sea. Now the response of the great redemptive work of God, His victory over His enemies results in worship toward Him.
A. He is our salvation (1-2)
A. He is our salvation (1-2)
Israel recounts in the first verse the triumph of God over Pharaoh and Egypt. Total and complete. The horse and rider.
The LORD is the strength of His people, the song they sing. A reminder that we are not strong in of ourselves. We are weak and feeble, unable to save ourselves. Only the LORD was able to save Israel. Only Jesus is our strength and the song of our hearts.
Often people write love songs, defining their boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses as their song. I’m not saying love songs are wrong to listen to or enjoy, but what Israel, what the church must understand, that God himself is the greatest song of our hearts. Why? Because He has saved us. When were facing insurmountable enemies of sin, death, and Satan himself, Jesus came and became our salvation.
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
B. He is our God (2b)
B. He is our God (2b)
God is also our God. The second part of verse 2 makes this clear, that this triumphing God, Yahweh, who has shown in great cosmic power over creation, with the power of live and death, and the ability to crush his enemies without breaking a sweat, is our God. The intention of God to save is also the intention of God to be in relationship with His people. The intimacy of our God is that we were intended for this relationship.
And not only that, Moses and Israel understood that this Yahweh is also the God of their fathers. The God of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. We should be reminded of this as well. Our God, the personal God who has redeemed us for relationship with Him, is the same God of the OT. The same God of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah. The same God of the Peter, James, John, Paul, and the rest of the apostles. The same God of Athanasius, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, the Wesleys. The same God of C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer, J.I. Packer, Billy Graham, John Stott. The list can go on and on. But remember that the God of the generations is the same God whom we serve today. And as He was in relationship with them, He is in relationship with us.
C. He is a warrior (3)
C. He is a warrior (3)
And it is he who fought the battle, who saved God’s people. Moses and the Israelites didn’t lift a finger, brandish a weapon, train for battle. They stood by and watched God work. They followed the pillar of smoke and fire, and watched God part the Red Sea. ‘
You see, we don’t win the battle against Satan and the enemies of darkness. Jesus is the warrior who wins. We follow behind our King who fights on our behalf. Does that mean that we don’t battle against sin and darkness now? No, for we are at spiritual warfare. But that battle can’t be won in our own power, but only in the power of the Spirit. The spiritual disciplines that God gives us only cause us to trust and grow in trust and reliance upon God, through the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
Jesus is our warrior, the one who fights on our behalf. Praise be to Him, the Lord of Hosts.
IS JESUS THE SONG OF OUR HEARTS? DOES THE RHYTHM OF HIS SONG DEFINE OUR TEMPO, EVERY STEP IN LINE WITH JESUS? Do the songs we sing and the lives we live, the songs of our hearts, display the glories of who God is? Do our songs and praises point to the greatness of our Savior, the better Moses, the Passover Lamb, the Great I Am, Jesus Christ? Sing of His glories church!
II. What He’s Done (4-12)
II. What He’s Done (4-12)
A. He shatters the Enemy (4-10)
A. He shatters the Enemy (4-10)
But what has God done to bring this salvation? He shattered the enemies. He shattered Pharaoh and Egypt. He continued to show over and over again that the wiley serpent, that ol Devil that He would crush Him. God makes war over the great Enemy Satan, and He continually wins that battle.
Chariots, officers, and every part of Pharaoh and his army are under water. The seed of the serpent is in the grave. Into the depths like a stone.
The power of God on display, showing the futility of a “god” like Pharaoh, who is not really a god at all. His hand shatters the enemy.
The majesty of God, overwhelming presence and power, overthrows the adversary. His fury against evil and sin consumes his enemies. The God of justice and majesty reigns forth and crushes.
The water congeal into two walls by his breath, that chaos of water at the control of the Creator of it, used to drown His enemies and our enemies.
In pride, he shows that merely his breath caused the waters to part and to come over his enemies, and they sank.
Jesus our Savior has broken and shattered the enemies of sin and death, in grace and mercy saved those that have rebelled against Him. The ultimate enemy is Satan, the tempter that tempted us to become like god. Yet Jesus came to crush sin, crush the grave, and put sin and death in the grave himself. It is in Christ that our Enemy is defeated, the head of the serpent has been crushed at the cross of Christ.
Is not Christ the life? And yet Christ hung on the cross. Is not Christ life? And yet Christ was dead. But in Christ’s death, death died. Life dead slew death; the fullness of life swallowed up death; death was absorbed in the body of Christ.
Augustine of Hippo
Praise Jesus for what He has done for us!
B. He shatters idolatry (11-12)
B. He shatters idolatry (11-12)
And who is like this God? No one. This is a hypothetical question. The power of these so called Egyptian gods were seen as nothing. Israel has been raised in the idolatrous culture, and God himself clearly shows that these gods hold no candle to him. What they will see, as Israel will learn, is that these so called ‘gods’ don’t even exist.
God shows us the futility of worship of idols. There is nothing in this world worthy of our praise. Nothing in this world that is majestic and set apart like He is. Nothing in this world that is awesome in glorious deeds, deeds that save us and redeem us. Nothing in this world can do the wonders that God has done and will continue to do. No one can hold out their hand and simply cause his enemies to be swallowed up.
Our praises should be directed not to anyone or anything else than to God himself, for there is none like Him!
III. What He Will Do (13-18)
III. What He Will Do (13-18)
A. He will lead His people home (13-17)
A. He will lead His people home (13-17)
With steadfast love (13) This is the hesed of the Lord, the word where we get agape love in the New Testament. It is the steadfast, sacrificial love of God for His people. It has led to our redemption. The blood bought people of God are led and guided. The basis of what God will do is based on his steadfast love that He shows to us. If He loves us, we can trust Him and what He will do.
The cross ensures us that whatever we go through and wherever He takes us, it is in His love that we stand. It is the overwhelming love and grace of God that will lead us to our final destination.
He will lead and guide (13) And this love ensures that we are guided. God promised to be with His people, lead and guide them to the place he intended to take them. This guidance would be instrumental and needed. His presence was necessary for them to be set apart, and also, for the Lord to be their defender on the journey. This love of guidance is a promise not just for Israel but for the church today.
We are promised the guidance of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. How does He guide us? By driving us to the Bible, the Word of the Lord itself. He drives us by conviction and discernment. He drives us to prayer. He reminds us and empowers us to live on the path, the journey of exiles headed to our eternal abode.
The nations will tremble at the people who God is present with (14-16) And on the way, the enemies of God will tremble. It may not seem like it for some. But the overall response, from God’s birds-eye view of all of time is that the nations tremble at the thought of God going against them. They may not recognize it at first, but when all is said and done, the evildoers and those that rebel against God will face the judgement of God, and His people will be the testimony of His presence in the final judgement. They will face what they have done to inflict pain and suffering upon the saints of God.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the church should exemplify that in their lives and through their worship!
He will bring us to the home of His presence (13,17)
And that final place, the “rest” that God promises is with Him. His holy abode. The tabernacle and temple were the symbols of this presence. This is where God would meet with His people. Now, in Christ, who is the greater temple, we meet with God. His presence is with us, but we have not entered His holy abode quite yet, the fullness of His presence. That will come at the end, the place where he will pen His sheep and that His people will rest forever more, the place of Psalm 23.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks.
His goal is to bring his redeemed home. His dwelling is called holy because that is where the Holy One himself dwells, and his redeemed will live with him. A more emotive word would be needed here, “homestead.” It is used of the place where a shepherd lives (Jer 33:12) and where he keeps [pens] his sheep. (2 Sam 7:8)
- J.A. Motyer
We praise our Lord because we know we are going home. Have you ever been away from home a long time? I spent my college years away from home. I would get to come home sometimes twice a year, but some years just once when I was working over the summer. Not being able to go home for a year was tough, and that longing was there. We are not home yet, church, yet our God has promised to guide us and lead us there, through the heartaches, the troubles, the valleys, the darkness. But through all of it, we are called to praise the One who leads, who defeats sin and death, and has promised us His presence forevermore in the new heavens and the new earth.
B. He will rule and reign forever (18)
B. He will rule and reign forever (18)
And this final verse of the song puts a capstone on that what came before. Moses and Israel knew that this redemption, this salvation, the defeat of the enemies of God, His work, His power, and everything that has been praised thus far is for the one express purpose of God that the nations would recognize His rule and reign. God is king over all the earth. He is the Creator, the Sustainer, and he will redeem it all in totality in Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the express end of this reign. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords will rule and reign forever. That’s why we will rest. And that’s why we sing now. We sing the song of the one of whom is worthy. We will sing the song of Moses and sing the Song of the Lamb:
2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And 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!
4 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.”
This is why we sing. This is what we sing about. Our God rules and reigns now, and will forevermore!
CONCLUSION: Everyone sings! (1, 19-21)
CONCLUSION: Everyone sings! (1, 19-21)
So as we conclude this morning, there is a little section here at the end that reiterates the same song. Miriam, the sister of Moses and a prophetess, leads the women in song, tambourine, and dancing. And I know that we as Baptist don’t like that word there, but it’ll be ok. Dancing is in the Bible ;). And they sang the refrain again. In other words, let me apply this. Everyone sang.
So why do we sing? Colossians 3:16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
It encourages one another. And it is directed to God.
Singing, then, has two audiences. Christians sing to each other, reminding each other about God’s character and work in Christ, but they also sing to the Lord as a way of offering praise to him.
Klyne Snodgrass
Men, women, children, and everyone inbetween. The whole nation sings. And in response to this message today, we are have shifted the majority of our singing to after the sermon. So, as the blood bought people of God, the church, can I ask you something? Do you have something to sing about this morning? And I know, some of you might say “I can’t sing.” That’s ok. There’s nothing in the Bible that makes that a requirement. All its says is sing. So, can I encourage you today, to sing with all your heart the greatness of our Savior and what He has done for us. We will do that with two songs.
At Calvary, reminding us of what Jesus has done for us.
How Great Thou Art, reminding us of, well, how great He is!
So, let’s sing loud the praises of our King who is our salvation!