Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we left the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea.

Last week I started the sermon by say it's over.

This morning, I think we start to understand our text by saying… it's over… thank you Lord, it's over.

There they were, the Israelites… they had just come through the Red Sea.

Can you imagine what that must have been like?

I have to imagine that it was a time for worship.

I have to imagine in my mind that the people were standing on the shore… and it was quiet… it was somber… with great sighs of relief.

I have to imagine that the people were looking at each other with wonder and amazement and then looking up at the cloud of pillar and saying thank you… It was a time when the people were ready for corporate worship.

God had worked and the people were safe… and they were ready to worship.

And so Moses and Miriam lead them in a song.

What we know today as the Song by the Sea.

It was a song of praise.

It was a song that would not just be heard by the Israelites… and not just be heard by that region of the world… but it would be a global song… one that would be heard around the world.

You know, the Israelites deliverance wouldn’t be a big deal if they had just outran the Egyptians… or outsmarted them.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if the Israelites had got away on their own power… their own strength.

But that’s not what happened.

What happened was incredible!

It was an amazing moment!

God took the uncontrollable… the sea… and He controlled it.

GOD had delivered the Israelites and had wiped out the Egyptians.

And so this song and the report of what had happened traveled like a shockwave through the region of the Mediterranean… that Israel's God was not a God made of stone or wood, but a God who could act… and move… and speak… with authority and power.

And so Kings would tremble… and nations would stand stiff as stone in fear and trembling, because of what God did in Egypt and at the sea.

And so the Israelites pause by the sea to sing a song.

We begin to see what God is doing.

We begin to see that God is not just working with a little nation of nomads… but He's working on a global front.

We see that He's not only working in one little region of the world in that time and space, but He’s working on a grand and global redemptive plan… and we see this in the song that we’re going to look at today.

We see that God, as He works through Israel, is doing a much bigger thing… a much greater thing.

And so this song by the sea, it is a song is a global song.

It is a song that is celebrated even today, by the Jews… and of course by us.

And I'll show you that in our text this morning.

To understand the song… and really, to understand the entire Exodus narrative… we have to understand that there's a poetic pattern in Scripture.

It's not just in our text here today, but it's all over the Old Testament Scriptures.

It goes like this… try to write these down if you can.

The pattern that we see goes like this… Distress… Cry For Help… A Divine Word… Redemption… Praise… and then Renown.

Let me say it again.

Distress… Cry For Help… A Divine Word… Redemption… Praise… and then God's Renown goes forth.

That's the pattern that we see in Exodus.

That's the whole story of Exodus right there.

They’re in distress… they’re in slavery… they’re in bondage.

They cry for help… God hears their cry… He gives them a divine word… He meets Moses at the burning bush and Moses communicates a divine word… God delivers them out of Egypt through the Red Sea… He brings them redemption… He is praised and His renown is made known in the region and around the world.

Not only is it a pattern that we see throughout the Old Testament, but it's the pattern of the Gospel, right?

I mean, let’s just stop and praise God right now for a moment… We were in distress… we were born into sin.

We cry out to God and He sends the word… in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… John 1:1… God sends the word… Jesus Christ to us.

He gives us our own Exodus from sin and death to Hope and eternal life.

And in response to that redemption, we give God praise and we spread His renown.

It's the gospel in a nutshell.

Let's look at it together.

Exodus 15… So that we can better understand the song by the sea, we need to understand 3 basic sets of information that are given as aspects of praise to God… These are aspects of renown… it’s how God is known.

Let’s start off by reading the 1st part of the song, and we’ll see the first aspect… Exodus 15 starting in verse 1…

God is a warrior and he defeats those who are opposed to Him.

You know, in a politically correct society where there is no right or wrong… this seems like a very pious song to sing, doesn't it?

But in a world where God is righteous and perfect and just… and people have sin and are rebellious and attack… it is a correct song to sing.

It is a correct image to have of God.

This is not a song that says “Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus,” this is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

This is drums banging, trumpets blasting… it’s a powerful song that God is a warrior and that He wipes out His enemies with Chuck Norris destruction.

It celebrates military muscle.

God is a warrior!

It’s a picture of strength… not a sweet and sappy God that everybody wants to show… but a powerful and authoritative God.

Music… Whom Shall I Fear

The second thing that I want you to see in the song is that God stands alone.

Look at verse 11 with me…

This section is a contrast to the words of the Israelites when they were backed into the corner.

Remember last week when Israel was backed up to the sea?

They had nowhere to go and Egypt was coming at them.

And they said, God, we’d rather be back in Egypt.

Aren’t there graves in Egypt that we can be buried in?

And so this part of the song is a contrast to when they wanted Egyptian gods… they sing out, there is no God like you!

You standalone!

And they give three descriptions… majestic in holiness… awesome in glory and working wonders.

Those descriptions set apart Yahweh from all the other gods of Egypt and every region of the land… because those gods were made out of stone… and what could do?

Absolutely nothing!

But the God of the Israelites could work… could move… He can communicate… He is holy and He works mighty wonders… and He is awesome!

Music… Awesome God

The last thing, which was precious to the Israelites, and so precious to us as believers… this is the sweeter part of the song… God leads and brings His bought one’s home.

Look at verse 13… God leads and brings His redeemed one’s, or bought one’s home.

Verse 13…

Jump down to the second part of verse 16… “(talking about His enemies)

And so, we see that God was working in the local context with the Israelites… and that He was taking them from Egypt to the Promised Land, which He would make their home and plant them… so that they were with Him in His holy dwelling.

There's multiple levels of that… He brought them to the mountain where He gave them the law… they had His presence there.

And then of course they built the tabernacle, which is later on in Exodus.

And then He ultimately brought them to Jerusalem… Mount Zion… the holy city of God… and then, they built the Temple… the dwelling place of God.

And so we see the imagery there of God's dwelling with mankind.

A safe and good place to be.

We see that it’s in a local context that God is working.

But here's, also, where it becomes a global song.

This is important… this is good for us… It's the gospel!

We all have our Exodus, our redemption as I said earlier… it's the gospel.

We are in distress… we cry out to God… and He delivers us through Jesus Christ… through His atoning work on the cross… He gives us forgiveness and He gives us hope and He gives us the promise, through the Spirit, of the Promised Land that will one day come.

The new heaven and the new earth… where it says in the book of Revelation, that God will be their God and He will dwell with them.

He will dwell among us.

And so the imagery rings true of Israel traveling through the desert in the wilderness… and isn’t that how it feels sometimes right now?

But the imagery rings true as the Israelites move to the Promised Land and eventually Jerusalem and the Temple.

So we, too, move through the journey of life and end at the Promised Land.

That’s wonderful imagery.

And so it's a local song that the Jews sang by the sea to give praise to God for His miraculous and powerful works that they just experienced.

And it's a global song where we, the redeemed saints, and the saints from all time, sing together… and look back at the sea that God has brought us through… through the attacks of the enemy, Satan… and his destructive works around us… to our ultimate ending of pain and suffering and hell and damnation… we look back, and we see what God has brought us through… and we pause to worship.

And so as we think about where this text takes us… I think it tells us a couple of things… First… We sing the song by the sea.

And no, it's not the same text that Moses and Miriam lead the Israelites in… but we gather every Sunday, and we pause from a busy life… we pause and look at what God has brought us through redemptively… and we gather together as the Saints… and we sing praise to the Father and His Son Jesus.

That's why we sing on Sunday mornings.

That's why we give praise to God.