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[0:00] I am in Exodus 15 tonight, Exodus 15 verses 1 through 21, Exodus 15 verses 1 through 21. The next few Sunday nights are going to be kind of out of sorts for us.

[0:14] We have a lot of activities coming up at the end of each year. We have Christmas decorating, we have Midland Heights coming, then we have our children with their Christmas play. A lot of things, a lot of activities going on.

[0:25] We will not have as many opportunities until we get to the very end of the year before we come back to the book of Exodus. But I think we're actually at a pretty good point here. And while we're thinking about those things, I want to remind you, and if your schedule cannot accommodate it, do not feel compelled at all, but we will have a Christmas Eve service here that night.

[0:47] We tend to keep it Christmas Eve service from 6 to 7. There is one time a year that I am very prompt, it's Christmas Eve. Okay, at 5 o'clock we'll do refreshments for those who can come early.

[0:59] You don't have to bring anything, that's kind of Carrie and I's gift, more Carrie, a gift to you guys. We'll have it here, you can come. We'll have light refreshments before.

[1:09] We'll start our service at 6, we'll end at 7, we'll be done. It'll just be a Christmas Eve service. We'll have it up here, kind of a candlelight service. So we typically attempt to try to take the Lord's Supper that night.

[1:20] It's just, to me, my favorite part of Christmas. I had to etch out some things in our schedule that we could start doing that before. And if you can't do it, that's fine, we understand. But I just wanted to kind of make that announcement to those who can, and I will continue to make that announcement.

[1:36] But we are in Exodus 15, verses 1 through 21. It's been a while since we've been here, but if you remember in Exodus 14, there's this great thing that happens, it's really an amazing thing.

[1:48] It is the crossing of the Red Sea. It is the parting of the water. It is God finally setting his people free. It is that great removal from the bonds of slavery.

[1:59] Because though they had been free on the night of the Passover, if you remember that, the next morning, Pharaoh told them to get out of his sight to leave. They were wandering around for a little bit, maybe just a couple of days, maybe a few days.

[2:13] We're not really 100% sure. But they were wandering around in the Egyptian territory. And Pharaoh decided that, well, what have I done? I've let all my slaves free. I need to go get them back. So he pursues them.

[2:23] They weren't really free from that which once bound them. They were bound to Egyptians. While they were free, theoretically, they were still in the land and Egypt was pursuing.

[2:37] Well, God finally sets them free once and for all at the Red Sea. Remember, they get stuck between the Egyptians and the water. And God tells them, so what are you doing standing here? Move forward. Moses, stretch out your staff over the waters and the sea divided.

[2:50] And it says that they crossed on dry ground. Words are very important in scripture, by the way. They didn't cross on muddy soil. They didn't cross through the murky sediment at the bottom of a river.

[3:02] I don't know how long it's been since you've waded in the river. But they crossed on dry ground. And they went through the sea. And they made their way. And then all of a sudden the Egyptians said, well, if they did it, we can do it.

[3:14] They come in. God causes the waters to come back out. And he completely delivers them once and for all. Now they're on the other side. That is that full and final deliverance. We see that in the individuals in our life.

[3:27] Maybe our testimony is much the same way. But we have this thought of God drawing us to himself. He's wooing us. He is calling us. And we see that.

[3:38] And we have a longing for God. So we begin to, maybe we begin to attend church. Maybe we begin to get more involved. And we have all these things. And we're wandering around.

[3:48] And we're not doing as much as we used to do. We're not falling the way we used to fall. But really, we haven't been completely set free until Christ comes in.

[3:58] Takes us across that great divide, which is the cross of Calvary. Sets us free. Gloriously saves us. Brings us on the other side. And now Satan can't touch us because we're in the hand of the Father.

[4:11] And that's the picture we have here. Now that which once bound them no longer has control over them. And that's this picture. Looking at the book of Exodus, we understand that we cannot rightly understand our own salvation until we understand the Exodus event.

[4:26] But now we come into the 15th chapter. The first 21 verses, kind of their response to this deliverance. And it is a song of praise.

[4:37] I want you to see this evening, the song of praise. By the way, footnote here, very first song recorded in the Bible. Now the Bible is full of songs.

[4:50] You go into the book of Judges, even the wicked book of Judges, there are songs in the book of Judges when they accomplish great tasks. I mean, even Samson sings songs, right?

[5:01] He has great riddles and he has songs. And we can't really repeat all of his songs because some of his songs were pretty crude. Samson was a pretty tough guy. And, you know, that one song he has about the man he killed with the jawbone of a donkey.

[5:14] We don't really, that was kind of a rap. He kind of broke it out old school there for a minute. And we can't really repeat that one in its original language in church. But we can because it's in scripture. But there are songs of praise and recognition.

[5:26] Very first song recorded in scripture. Exodus 15 verses 1 through 21. Right on the hills of deliverance. Remember the law of first mention? Whenever we see something mentioned for the first time in scripture, that thing must stay true to that throughout scripture.

[5:40] And that is God's original purpose for that in scripture. So songs. The very first song we have in scripture is a song of praise. A song of thanksgiving and a song of rejoicing for deliverance.

[5:53] Let's see what it says. Exodus 15 starting in verse 1. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said, I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted.

[6:05] The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him. My father's God and I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior.

[6:16] The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea. The choices of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone.

[6:28] Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your excellence, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your burning anger and it consumes them as chaff.

[6:42] At the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The flowing waters stood up like a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil.

[6:53] My desire shall be gratified against them. I will draw out my sword. My hand will destroy them. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you among the gods, O Lord?

[7:05] Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? You stretch out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. In your loving kindness, you have led the people whom you have redeemed.

[7:17] In your strength, you have guided them to your holy habitation. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed.

[7:28] The leaders of Moab, trembling, grips them. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. By the greatness of your arm, they are motionless as stone until your people pass over, O Lord.

[7:41] Until the people pass over whom you have purchased. You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance. The place, O Lord, which you have made for your dwelling. The sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

[7:54] The Lord shall reign forever and ever. For the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea. And the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea.

[8:07] Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand. And all the women went out with her with timbrels and with dancing. And Miriam answered them, Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.

[8:19] The horse and his rider he is hurled into the sea. Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for this night. And we praise you for the opportunity we have of gathering together.

[8:31] Lord, we rejoice in each chance. Every divine appointment to hear your word and to see what it has to say to us. Lord, we do pause and pray for those that have been mentioned.

[8:41] Lord, we ask that you would work mildly in every circumstance. Lord, there are a number of things on hearts and minds. Lord, people in need of your touch. Lord, we pray that even tonight you would touch us.

[8:53] God, that you would show us those things which we have to be praising you about. Those things which we have to be thankful about. God, that we would offer up a song of praise.

[9:04] Lord, lifting up your name. And Lord, as we read these words, that the truth of them would overtake us. And God, that we would be moved to a lifestyle of praise. We ask it in Jesus' name.

[9:17] Amen. It is amazing to come across scripture and to find the very first song recorded in scripture and to see it being a song of praise. Not just a praise for what good things God has done, but rather a praise for the deliverance which he has finally and completely offered.

[9:33] It is a song of praise for the work of God and the work of God alone. Because in their deliverance from the people of Egypt, the nation of Israel had nothing in which to boast.

[9:44] They were unskilled slaves who knew nothing of warfare, who knew nothing of battle, who had no strength and no might, and nothing to really rely upon. Yet God had came and miraculously set them free through a series of divine acts, which we call the ten plagues.

[10:01] God had shown himself to be the God of all gods and the Lord of all lords over every false god with a lowercase g that the Egyptians worshipped finally, even Pharaoh himself, who put himself up as God of the land.

[10:15] And after doing so, God said, Okay, now that I have shown myself so that the Egyptians will know, but also so that my people will know who I am, now it is time to lead you out of here.

[10:27] He brings them to the Red Sea again, to a place of hopelessness where there is no strength within them. They can't fight the Egyptians. Sure, they have just plundered the people. They have silver and gold. But I don't know how long it's been since you fought the choicest of charioteers with their horses and chariots by throwing coins at them.

[10:44] But they had nothing with which to do battle, and they had nothing with which to cross the sea. The only reliance they had was the man Moses, who had a hand in heaven and a hand on earth.

[10:56] Remember, we saw that mediator, that while all the people were grumbling, God calls down to Moses and says, Moses, why are you complaining? And Moses is like, I'm not complaining, but the people he was charged of was complaining. And God gave Moses the clear command.

[11:08] We've seen how these things represent Christ's work in our lives. Over and over again, the things we see in the book of Exodus, really show us the reality of our own salvation, and how we are always brought to this place of hopeless dependence upon the Lord, and how we must come to him and see how he's going to move.

[11:27] And by the way, that is a wonderful place to be. Because when you get on the other side of the Red Sea, then you get what we have here in Exodus 15, verses 1 through 21, which is praise.

[11:39] And I don't know how long it's been since you've really been able to praise the Lord. But I can dare to say that it was probably the last time you came through a situation which you didn't think you would make it through.

[11:52] Whether it be a personal struggle, a financial struggle, some event in your life, that God allowed you to come to a Red Sea, and after he parted the waters, then the praise flowed naturally. Unfortunately, in the nation of Israel, praise doesn't last long, because starting in verse 22, they start complaining.

[12:08] But isn't it just like man to praise him on one day and to complain to him on the next? It is something that we see over and over again. Like, sure, you parted the Red Sea and we walked on dry ground, but now there's no water to drink.

[12:19] We're awful thirsty. What about that water you just piled in a heap? Think maybe you could rain any of it down in our cup. And we see that God meets every need. But tonight, we're looking at this song of praise.

[12:32] And as they offer this praise hymn to him, there are a number of characteristics I want you to see, namely four, just four attributes of a true song of praise.

[12:44] Things that would resonate within our own lives, things that would be true as we come to him, and things that if we pause and stand still for just a moment, and we really see the work of God in our own lives, things that would flow naturally from our lips, it is amazing to me how reserved we are in our praise and really how we hold back.

[13:10] And I'm not one about getting carried away for getting carried away's sake. I'm not that. But I am one for allowing the Lord to lead for the Lord's sake.

[13:21] And we see this. We see this all throughout Scripture. We see it here. Moses and the sons and Miriam and the prophetess with the timbrels and the dancing around.

[13:32] We see David with the coming in of the Ark of the Covenant and dancing to an extent that his wife is even embarrassed to call him her husband. And he is girded. He's almost, he's just in nothing but his loincloth because the cloak would have gotten away of his dancing and celebrating.

[13:46] We see over and over and over again throughout Scripture this uninhibited praise. And then we look at our own lives and we're just kind of like, I don't know if I can praise him that much.

[14:01] But when we see the truth as they see them, when we see God doing these things in our lives, and when we open our spiritual eyes and sometimes our physical eyes and we realize what's going on in our life and we're no longer distracted by everything the world wants to show us and we're no longer hindered by everything Satan throws at us, but we stand amazed at the work of God in our lives, then we too will offer a song of praise.

[14:32] And it will always flow in this order. The book of Psalms, which is just really one great hymn book, right in the middle of your Bible, is if you go to the dead center of your Bible, you open it up to the book of Psalms.

[14:46] And I cannot remember exactly which psalm it is that is the absolute center of Scripture, but it lands in the book of Psalms. And that psalm is a psalm of praise. And if you go to the book of Psalms, you see that all of these are songs of praise.

[15:02] They are songs of exaltation. They are songs of lifting up his name. And it ends with a series of psalms of ascent, which would be songs which they go up the steps.

[15:14] It would be when you go into the temple, the steps of the temple on Temple Mount. I don't know if you know this or not, but even if you go there today, I haven't had the chance, and maybe someday if the Lord desires, I'll go there.

[15:25] But we'll see. If you go up on Temple Mount, the steps built going to the temple are all uneven. There are differing heights. They do not, they're not the same depth.

[15:38] And they were master builders. And they built the steps that way intentionally so that you would have to slow down as you were going up. So that you didn't even get in a rut as you were walking up the steps because you were walking into the presence of God.

[15:57] And they had these songs of ascent that as they climbed those steps, they would sing these songs. And it is the last grouping of psalms that you have in the Bible.

[16:08] And Psalm 150, the very last one, speaks of praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord. And as you're walking up these uneven steps, making sure your feet don't slip, and you're paying special attention to what you're doing, and you're paying special attention to who you're going to see, and psalms and praise come naturally.

[16:31] Oh, how lightly we run into His presence because, oh, little we think of His reality. But here we see this song of praise. Number one, I want you to see that a song of praise always, always revolves around His person, who He is, His person, the reality of the Lord.

[16:56] What a glorious thing. Praise always starts with the person of God and the person that we are adoring. Look at what it says, then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song, what, to the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, that is Yahweh, that is covenant God, to someone intentionally, not just throwing it out there, they were singing it to Him, and they said, I will sing, I will sing.

[17:21] They make this declaration, I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The very first thing they do in this song of praise is begin to focus on the person of God and the reality of who He is.

[17:36] Each time we come before the Lord and we come into His presence, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. I'm reminded Andrew Murray, which is one of the greatest men and authors from times past, wrote in the 1800s about prayer.

[17:49] If you ever want to read great works on prayer, read Andrew Murray's writings on prayer. Andrew Murray once wrote, and he was a pastor, Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, He only taught them how to pray.

[18:02] Because if you can learn how to speak with God, you will not have a problem speaking to man. And I have that written down in my office, and it's a great reminder. And when Jesus' disciples came to Him and said, Lord, teach us to pray, He started out, Our Father, which art in heaven, right?

[18:16] What did they start with? The person that they were addressing. Who He was, our Father, and where He was at, who is in heaven. And He says here, even in this song of praise that we see, praise always starts with the person that's being adored.

[18:33] That is why in your song books, and this kind of shakes us a little bit, there are two different types of songs in your song books. There are hymns, and then there are spiritual songs.

[18:48] Okay, there's a difference between a hymn and a spiritual song. Okay, holy, holy, holy, holy is a hymn. Because it's all about hymn. Pretty easy to remember.

[18:59] Okay? Come thou fount of every blessing. I'm using two of my favorites so that no one gets offended. It's a spiritual song. Because it says, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it.

[19:11] And it starts speaking about me. See, hymns are all about hymn. Holy, holy, holy. Spiritual songs, they kind of have me as a subject.

[19:22] I'm prone to wonder, Lord, I go away. Here I raise mine, Ebenezer. Now, we need both of them. Both of them are equally important. But there is a difference. Praise revolves around the person of God.

[19:37] Look at what it says. We're singing to the Lord. We're coming. It says, I will sing to the Lord. Who is he? He is highly exalted. And then he goes on, the horse and his rider, he is hurled into the sea.

[19:50] And then he begins to describe the person of his God. I don't know how you would describe your Lord. I don't know how you would describe the one you praise. But this is something that is a description of who they are praising.

[20:01] This is the person that they're adoring because it is very real. It says, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God. I will praise him. This is my father's God.

[20:12] I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior. Isn't that good? What are they doing? They're talking about attributes of God or characteristics of God which they have recently seen.

[20:25] He is my salvation. He has become my salvation. How do you know, Moses? I just walked through the Red Sea. I'm saved, aren't I? He is my savior. He has become my salvation. I didn't trust in my strength.

[20:37] I didn't trust in my staff. I trusted in him. He is my salvation. That's who he is as a person. He is my God because I'm following him. He is my father's God because his name is Lord and he is the great I am.

[20:50] He is a warrior because he is fighting my battles. He is all of these things and praise is revolving around the person of God and what he is doing for them presently at that time and how they are seeing him and my question to you and my question to me is who is he to you today?

[21:10] As we praise him and we adore him some of us need him as a savior because there's something we need him to snatch us from. Some of us need him as a warrior because we have an enemy that is fighting against us and we need him to be a warrior and I am so glad that when we come with an attitude of praise we are coming to a person who is all of these things and even then some.

[21:34] Each name of God given to us in scripture is given to us intentionally. He is Jehovah Jireh the Lord my provider. Where was that given? When Abraham had his knife raised high and Isaac was laid on the altar and he was getting ready to slay his son and God stopped him and he says he is Jehovah Jireh because in the mount of the Lord it will be provided.

[21:54] That's a picture a tight picture of the mount of the Lord's temple mount. In the temple mount it will be provided. The lamb will be provided but Abraham sacrificed a goat. Not a lamb.

[22:04] And Abraham was looking forward to the future. The lamb is Jesus Christ. He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world and in the mount of the Lord. On temple mount the lamb walked in they condemned him guilty they carried him outside and he was provided on temple mount.

[22:18] He is Jehovah Jireh. When Moses got in trouble and not Moses got in trouble but actually when Joshua got in trouble Moses was up on a hill Joshua was down there fighting a battle and Moses' arms got tired and remember he is holding up his staff and I don't know how long it has been since you held your arms over your head for any amount of time all of a sudden your arms started getting tired and it started going down so they set him on a rock and they hold his arms up for him and they have people on either side of him we have another name of God Jehovah Nisi the Lord is my banner and his banner over me as love which means that as his flag is flying above me then I cannot help but be victorious by the way it had nothing to do with the stick that Moses was holding up it had everything to do with the banner of God's presence over his people and we see these over and over and over again throughout scripture the Lord is my shepherd he is the guardian of my soul they go from Old Testament to New Testament and we see the person of God being displayed for us friend listen to me praise starts with the person we adore and I am so thankful that in each and every situation no matter what's going on no matter how difficult it may seem no matter how impossible it may appear there is the person of God to meet that

[23:39] God is not an abstract idea he is not now we know that John 4 tells us that the Lord God is spirit and he who worships him must worship in spirit and truth but the Lord God also took on flesh and dwelt him on men and we call him Emmanuel who is Jesus Christ our whole and we see over and over again the person of adoration so praise really is all about his person number two praise is about his power his power it's one thing for him to be a person but he has to be a person of power and then he begins to lay out the things which he has done he says in verse 3 the Lord is a warrior the Lord is his name and then in verse 4 he begins to transition into the power Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea and the choices of the officers are drowned in the sea the deeps cover them they went down to the depths like a stone by the way for all those who tell you that where they crossed in the Red Sea was a very shallow area of the Red Sea and they pretty much just forwarded the waters then take them to this passage and ask them how shallow water can cover chariots and they can sink like stones to the bottom because to me that I'm not a very well educated man and I just approach scripture and I read it literally and what it says

[24:55] I believe it I just take it it looks to me like it takes a lot of water to cover a horse and chariot and for a horse to sink like a rock it has to be more than a flowing stream okay but what is he doing here he's beginning to speak of the power he's oh yeah he wiped out Pharaoh's army yeah okay he wiped out Pharaoh's army yeah but we get this picture this kind of Charlton Heston picture of the Ten Commandments or maybe you've seen you know all the the different cartoons that are out about this but what you need to understand is that the army that was wiped out was like the elite of the elite it was the best of the best this was the army that at this time had control of all the world this was the army that at this time was the world's superpower and no one could stop them and in a moment God took care of them he's speaking of his power but he doesn't stop there he says your right hand oh lord is majestic in power and if his right hand is majestic in power then what about his whole person right your right hand is majestic in power your right hand oh lord shatters the enemy in the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rise up against you you send forth your burning anger and it consumes them as chaff what is he saying lord god you are so powerful it doesn't matter who rises up against you it doesn't matter who opposes you they will be annihilated now this is important because they are offering this song of praise and they are praising him for his power they are praising him for his authority and they are praising him for his display of might which they have just seen now there's a problem in this song okay if you do a lot of studying and you open up your bibles and you're studying exodus 15 and you decide well I'm going to read some scholars

[26:42] I'm going to get some people maybe you say to yourself you know I don't really trust Billy Joe all that much I want to check him which by the way I completely you know I encourage that it says that the greatest church ever described in the book of Acts was the one who listened to Paul and then went home nightly and studied what Paul said to make sure that what Paul was saying was accurate and my opinion is that if they had to check out Paul's words then you better be checking out mine okay I wasn't blinded on Damascus Road I didn't spend three years in Arabia though I did hang out ten years in Normandy I mean might as well be in the wilderness of Arabia but you know I tell the story that one day I was down there in the office and I'm a very people person oriented individual and God put me in a seminary down there in Normandy where there were no people one day I was down there and I just studied Adrian Rogers once said and I'm kind of on a tangent but it's okay Adrian Rogers once said that the best education a pastor could get would be sitting behind the desk of his pastor's office and I'm with that

[27:44] I'm not against formal education I've taken some and I really wish I was taking more but I remember one day in particular I was down there and man I was so bonkers I just needed to talk to somebody and I could call Carrie he didn't have real good cell phone service down there and didn't even really have good telephone lines down there because they were all staticky nothing against the phone company I knew about it when I worked for them too but anyway I said you know what I'm going to walk out of my office and I'm going to walk until I meet somebody that's just the determinant I said I'm not coming back to this office until I find somebody to talk to I walked over a mile and I finally made it to the store and the person I found lived in Wartrace and I went I talked to him shared the gospel with him as much as I could I knew him he knew me actually we coached the ball together I turned around and I walked over a mile back to church and didn't see anything other than a goat and a dog but that's Normandy but you had time to think in Normandy you had time to do those things and that's okay it's good but anyhow check what

[28:51] I'm saying and if you go and you say okay I'm going to test and see and you're studying Exodus 15 you're studying this story then you'll come across these different Bible scholars and you'll open up commentaries and they're going to kind of go back and forth about who wrote this song and you may be thinking what does it matter just to be honest with you in eternity we're not going to argue about who wrote this song we're just not we may sing this song but we're not going to be arguing about who wrote it because we know that Moses or we kind of basically know that Moses wrote the Pentateuch the first five books of the Bible but there's a problem they read this and again you have to pardon me for my simplicity but this is just the way I think some people say well he wrote this and he looked in advance because if you go down to like verse it is 14 still speaking of the power of God by the way so I'm not completely off track because he speaks of the power that God has displayed against the Egyptians he just took care of them right but now this power is important because God's not just powerful once just newsflash

[29:55] God's not just powerful in your past he's also powerful in your present and he's powerful in your future okay and the reason you praise him for the power in the past is so that you can acknowledge his power he has over your future and this is what he does right here in verse 14 it says the peoples have heard they trembled anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia the chiefs of Edom were dismayed and the leaders of Moab trembling grips them all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away now this is where Bible scholars go wait a minute wait a minute let's put ourselves in a position here we kind of got to build this for you they've just left Egypt they've just crossed the Red Sea they know God's leading them to Canaan but they haven't even made it off the banks of the Red Sea how do they know that these four people groups are doing this how do they know that the inhabitants of Philistia are trembling how do they know that Edom is dismayed how do they know Moab is trembling how do they know that Canaanites are melting away there's no way they know that some Bible scholars will say well they were looking into the future and knew what God was going to do

[30:59] I can kind of go with that some people say well somebody other than Moses wrote this song and this is proof that he wrote that somebody other than him wrote this song because it speaks of things yet to come now here's my very simple answer to this okay just want to hear it to be very simple we Moses didn't write the book of Exodus right after they got out of the water on the Red Sea they wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years and that's where he wrote the Pentateuch 40 years after crossing the Red Sea you kind of learn what everybody else in the land's doing and I think they sang this song talking about the power of God then but by the time Moses penned the song in the book of Exodus he had other things to speak of the power of God too oh by the way since we've been wandering for 40 years you ought to see what's going on with the Moabites you ought to see what's going on with the Canaanites you ought to see what's going on with the Enamites you ought to see what's going on with all the people around them the Philistine people Philistines you ought to see what's happening there his power has not failed us even 40 years later and he writes it knowing these things he's saying it then he added the songs nothing wrong with adding a verse or a stanza to a song nothing as a matter of fact John

[32:18] Newton's Amazing Grace was much longer than what we sing in our books today the original song of John Newton I think it was like 11 stanzas long and we're like wow that would take forever you ought to think just as I am is a long song to sing you want to sing all 11 stanzas of Amazing Grace that's a whole lot longer song than what we sing today and we've kind of taken a wave and now Chris Tomlin added some of it back into my chains are gone a lot of that not the chorus but a lot of the verses are in the original there's nothing wrong with adding to that because it reminds us of what's going on but we see here this song of praise not only is around his person but also his power his power presently and his power in the future and friend listen to me God is a God of power whoever raises rises up against him he has no problem he did it with the Egyptians and he did it with all these other nations as well his person is power number three this song of praise revolves around his purpose his purpose we praise him for his purpose

[33:20] God is a God of purpose he is a God of intentionality God does things intentional I like that I don't know about you but I love that about the creator it says that he set the stars in the sky and the moon and the sun and the seasons on purpose it says in the book of Genesis in the creation of count that God set the moon and the sun and the stars in the sky to be a testimony to his greatness to set a calendar for seasons he established seasons and he established a way to dictate time think if there was no sun think if there was no moon you know why in all of eternity when we've been there ten thousand years and we've only just begun you know why we won't know that because there'll be no rising and setting of the sun it would drive me crazy to live and I know there are people that do it I know in Alaska they have those periods of long darkness they have those periods of long daylight and that would drive me bonkers I mean you would lose track of time because God set something in the sky to help us tell time how many of us now that time is changing about five o'clock I start getting tired I'm about ready to knock it out about five and I look down and I'm like wait a minute it's only 5 15 I don't necessarily need to go put the stretches on and chill yet I still got stuff to do right I mean but it's it's seasonal it tells us these things God puts it there on purpose why because he would eventually establish times of worship and man needed to have a way to tell time to know when to worship when to celebrate the

[35:03] Passover when to how do they determine why does Easter change every year why is Easter not like Christmas why is Easter not like Thanksgiving why doesn't it fall on every day because Easter wasn't set by an established church Easter was set by the Lord right that celebration of Easter and Passover Easter is determined by the Passover events and the Passover event is dictated by the moon when the nation of Israel celebrates the Passover is a certain number of days after a certain phase of the moon the seasons that God set in the sky so that you would know it's time to worship everything God does he does intentionally which means that when he sets you free he has a purpose for it when he led the nation of Israel across the Red Sea he didn't just do it so they could say man that was pretty cool I can't wait to tell somebody about that he didn't just do it so that a great book could be written that we walked across on dry land I mean that story only lasts for a little while and then it gets kind of old because somebody else has a cool story God has a purpose and when we praise him and we come to him with praise we praise him according to his purposes because look at what it says it says in verse 11 who is like you among the gods oh lord who is like you majestic in holiness awesome in praise working wonders you stretched out your right hand to earth swallow them in your loving kindness here we go you have led the people whom you have redeemed in your strength you have guided them to your holy habitation now skip over these verses that were kind of troublesome we've already answered look at verse 16 and following terror and dread fall upon them by the greatness of your arm they are motionless as stone look at this until your people pass over oh lord that's another pass over another crossing of the

[36:49] Jordan River until the people pass over whom you have purchased again here's this purchasing this redemption this you belong to me God didn't redeem them you I mean there may be some things you buy for no apparent reason other than just to have it I've kind of reached the point that I don't buy something unless I need it or unless you know it may be sometimes that need may just be enjoyment I'm not saying that's wrong but you know I don't just buy it just to leave it setting but he has a purpose he says in verse 17 here it is you will will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance the place oh lord which you have made for your dwelling the sanctuary oh lord which your hands have established the lord shall reign forever and ever here's the purpose God delivered them from the captivity of Egypt to bring them to the place of his presence God chose at that time to dwell among men in a place an established place the mount of the Lord he had told Abraham in the mount of the Lord it will be provided he had shown him this mountain and this is it that mountain is shown over and over throughout scripture and we see it over and over and it's the holy habitation of God it is the place of his presence now that's God limiting himself in the Old

[38:15] Testament so that man can approach him but his whole purpose in setting them free was to bring them to where he was at his whole purpose for leading them across the Red Sea for taking them across the wilderness of the desert his whole purpose for bringing them was so that he may bring them into not just the promised land but bring them into his presence friend listen to me God's whole purpose for redeeming you for saving you and for setting you free is not so that you could get goosebumps every time you think about it not so that you could just get excited about how much you've been forgiven God's whole purpose for setting you free was to bring you where he is at his whole purpose for delivering you his whole purpose for breaking the chains which once held you captive his whole purpose for forgiving all those mess ups his whole purpose for covering your sin his whole purpose for giving you a credit of righteousness is so that you could be in his sanctuary and you could hang out with him again praise is not really about us it's about him he saved us so that we could be where he is at he is a jealous God for the Lord our

[39:30] God is a jealous God he is a consuming fire Deuteronomy 424 told you this morning that's one of my favorites that's it God is jealous I know it sounds bad we think jealousy is a bad thing jealousy is not necessarily a bad thing there is a such a thing as holy jealousy every time I do pre-marriage counseling and even marriage counseling I tell spouses you better be jealous for your spouse and I know I kind of put Carrie on the spot this morning kind of said it in a jokingly manner and she corrected me when I left and so you know all those things but there's nothing wrong with being jealous over your spouse for the two have become one flesh they're no longer two now they are one they've been joined together God is a jealous God God wants us in his presence and he wants us in his presence so much he reaches across the great divide God called our faults and our sins and he sets us free and he graciously leads us so that we could be with him and he's surrounded I mean just think about this greatness of God and it's not belittling God at all he is surrounded by myriads and myriads and myriads of angels angels that would do his beckoning call angels that have to do everything he commanded them to or they fall like the stars of heaven when a third of the angels rebelled he kicked them out not a problem just get out of here leave me alone go Satan go guys I got enough he doesn't necessarily need us for what we can do for him whatever God wants to be done by the way it is already being done it tells us throughout scripture that his angels have charge over us that is a pretty cool thing thinking if you think about it that God has assigned an angel to each and every believer it is the thing that you see it tells us in the book of revelations John bows down to an angel and that angel says don't bow down to me for I am your servant God has taken his angels his servants and given them the assignment of watch over that mine's probably been very busy and can't wait till I get there okay that's just the way I see it and you have chargeability you're like oh man I really want him you know some of them are easy this guy's a little crazy he puts himself in predicaments he doesn't really need to be in sorry but anyway so we have angels that are given charge over us God doesn't necessarily want us for what we can do for him he just wants us with him and that's great and that leads us to praise it doesn't lead us to burden so Jesus says come to me you who are weary take my yoke upon you for my burden is light and I will give you rest now that yoke that's like a thing that you harness around a horse or a mule right you know like you mean I got a yoke up with Jesus yes because he just wants you to be there with him he'll do the work he'll do all the work but he just wants you to be with him yesterday Kylie said well I'm gonna take a lady that's our German shepherd a big 94 pound German shepherd so I'm gonna take lady for a walk that's okay now somebody like oh

[42:25] I bet that dog's vicious you got to understand lady okay if lady's barking she's probably hurting and she's just kind of one of those she's got more gray in her than she has and she said I'll take brading too okay lady we don't worry about lady I said we're brading I don't know so I kind of have this collar I don't even really keep a collar on lady anymore so I just kind of choke collar and Kylie's like you're gonna put a choke collar on lady I was like listen lady's not gonna pull hard enough to even know she got choke collar on she is not she's very well broken dog so she just walks up sticks her head in it and we look out on the road and there's lady and holding this big long leash that I made for a horse a long time ago Kylie's holding it and then Braden's on the other end and Kylie's like I got both of them it's like exactly right ladies leading everybody ladies doing all the work and Braden thinks he's doing something fun but really he's just holding on to a rope that's keeping you close and I don't worry about anything that's kind of the picture we have with yoking up with Jesus right he's the one doing all the work he just wants us to be there with him while he does it doesn't necessarily want us for what we can do for him he just wants us period just wants us God's purpose for redeeming you as he wants you if that doesn't lead you to praise I don't know what will because I know me and the thought that

[43:42] God just wants me to hang out with him that's wow blows my mind so we see those three things his person his power his purpose that's what praise revolves around now I want to give you one more final thing who is involved in this praise his people his people it has been said that Christ did more for women's rights than anyone else throughout history the equality of women and it is true when you read scripture and you see what the Bible teaches about the dignity and the equality of all mankind Christ did more for the equality of mankind across spectrums across nationalities and even across racial not just race but genders than anyone else throughout all of history Christ did more to level the playing field among humankind but it's not just because that's found in the New Testament see God's been doing that all along God created them Adam and Eve he created them very distinct he formed man out of the dust of the earth and then he put man to sleep and created a woman took time and then he gave the woman to man and that's when we're going to have problems I ain't been given to no man you know we kind of get a little carried away right here and have this thing of submissiveness it gets really controversial and not trying to go there right here but I want you to see this look at his people look at who it is who's praising him it starts in verse 1 of 15 then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord that is all the men who have just been delivered the

[45:30] Moses and the sons of Israel every man that has just been delivered from sins captivity every man began to sing sing this song but it doesn't stop there now go to the end verse 20 Miriam the prophetess we don't need to get bent out of shape about that we don't need to get carried away about this okay there are prophetesses in the book of Judges there are prophetesses that we find even in the New Testament in the book of Acts God has always chosen to speak through all of his people that does not I'm not talking about offices in the church we're just speaking talking about how God speaks to his people Miriam the prophetess Aaron's sister look at this took the timbrel in her hand that's a musical instrument kind of like a tambourine probably a little bell and now look at this and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing and Miriam answered them sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted the horse and his rider he is hurled into the sea so in verse 1 we find Moses and all the sons and then down here in verses 20 and 21 we find Miriam and all the daughters what do you see all the men who have been delivered are singing and and all of the women who have been delivered are singing his people are everyone that's been delivered God didn't just accept the praise of the men he didn't exclude the ladies though culturally that would have been accepted in that time but rather praise was received by all who were delivered the men and the women and they sang this great chorus together the men would have been singing the main lines and Miriam and the daughters would have been repeating these stanzas and would have been joining in with them and making this song come together as one great song of praise because it is his people those whoever has been delivered are the people who sing his praise which means praise praise isn't reserved just for the few not for the gifted not for the those who feel like they have extraordinary talents praise is for all those who have been delivered I'll stand right here on the front row and I'll sing as loud as I possibly can without thinking I'll lose my voice when I'm preaching and sometimes

[48:18] I'll mess up I messed up tonight but I'm a messed up fallible human being and I know I've been delivered which means I need to praise him it's not just for those who have a great voice thankful for that you may not want to stand too close to me because my may not be that good sometimes but that's okay I'm gonna praise him I'm gonna praise him it's for all of his people let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this night God I thank you that we have an opportunity to open up your word and to look at this great song of praise I pray that our lives would be that a testimony of your greatness oh God a flowing of praise for all you've done Lord would you remind us again of the work that you have accomplished in our life and draw us closer to you each and every day and we ask it in the sweet name of Jesus amen we're gonna be singing I surrender all in 275 and yes I would appreciate y'all's prayers um this is the second well I had laryngitis a week ago that was the second time this year I've had it um and then this weekend I came down with another cold so I do feel like I'm like under attack it's unusual for me to even be sick and for me to have it like four times in a year um it's very unusual but um some other prayer requests while Billy Joe was preaching I was thinking about um I have a a close friend who adopted a girl and um she's 17 and she ran away last night and they found her today with a 20 year old so you can imagine the devastation in that family today so if you could I'm not going to say their name because it's a very personal matter but be praying for them God knows who they are and they really need it right now and then also there was a wreck apparently somewhere near here um today I'm not really sure where but it was actually I just found out before I came to church that it was a lady from Normandy her name was Lynn Bell she's an older lady that I went to church with out there she was in that wreck and taken to Vanderbilt so if you could remember her as well in your prayers today but we're going to stand and sing 275 all to Jesus I surrender all to him I freely give I will ever love and trust him in his presence of God he's daily live I surrender all I surrender all I surrender all all to thee my blessed sinner I surrender all all to Jesus I surrender all

[51:41] All to Jesus I surrender, make me Savior, holy Thou.

[51:52] Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, truly know that Thou art mine.

[52:03] I surrender all, I surrender all.

[52:14] All to name Thy blessed Savior, I surrender all.

[52:25] All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee.

[52:37] Fill me with Thy love and power, let Thy blessing fall on me.

[52:48] I surrender all, I surrender all.

[53:00] All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all. Amen.

[53:11] Well, thank you guys so much. Anything, please be sure to believe in here tonight. All right. I saw a student flip over this afternoon, and his mother is going to have a girlfriend.

[53:24] Okay. I don't know her first name, but this is Nelson Flipoff. Okay. Okay. What do you want to ask?

[53:34] I remember all the people that are incarcerated, because Shannon and I had a lovely experience today. I just remember these many women who have fallen into the wrong tracks and keep doing it.

[53:46] Thank you. Any words?ふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふふ Father, as we pray to go outside these doors here tonight, Father, I just pray that each one of us humble ourselves before you.

[54:28] And Father, we follow your guide, follow your will, and Father, in everything we think, say, and do, Father, may you receive all of honor, glory, and praise for everything. Father, I just ask that you lead God in our direction in all that we do.

[54:42] Forgive us for what we do. We thank you, Jesus Christ, precious. Amen. Thank you, God. Thank you.

[55:21] Thank you.

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