Series:
Exodus
Title: The
Horse and Rider Destroyed
Text:
Exodus 15: 1
Date:
July 15, 2018
Place:
SGBC, NJ
Exodus 15: 1: Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the
LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed
gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Our text is
a song of praise to our great God and Savior. Those God saved that day mention
God’s name in this song twenty-four times. Each time they give God all the
glory for their salvation.
Proposition: Those God has saved sing songs which give all praise to
our God, because the work of salvation is entirely his.
If you
wonder why there are certain songs that we never sing that is why. If you wonder why we change a word here and
there from what is printed in our song books that is why. We only sing songs that give God all the
glory because salvation is of the Lord. Our song is the true and living God has
triumphed gloriously in saving his people from our enemies.
The best
songs come from the heart when we experience something that moves us deeply. Imagine how the heart of Moses and the
children of Israel must have overflowed with thanksgiving that day. They had been slaves under Pharaoh and his
taskmasters for 430 years. Now, God had
not only delivered them from bondage, God also destroyed Pharaoh and his whole
army. Brethren, can you imagine how
passionately they must have sang to the LORD that day. There was not one voice
silent. They were so thankful to see so
great salvation!
That is
exactly how we ought to sing unto the Lord!
Never forget that when we sing, we are not singing to one another. We
are singing unto the Lord! We are singing unto the LORD for he hath triumphed
gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
“The
horse and his rider” represents the enemies of God’s elect. Their being thrown
into the sea pictures Christ conquering all our enemies:
Colossians 2:15: And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
With that
in mind, we will look at three enemies Christ has destroyed for his people:
sin, death and the devil.
SIN
On behalf
of all God’s elect, Christ has destroyed our body of sin. The horse and his rider hath he thrown in the
sea. Read the word of God in Romans 6
and rejoice, believer:
Romans 6: 6:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7: For he that is dead is freed from
sin.
Believer,
before the law of God, before God the Judge, according to God’s holy justice “our old man IS crucified with Christ.” That means we have already been judged and
justice has already been executed upon us by God when Christ our Substitute was
crucified in our place.
Read it
carefully. Our “old man IS crucified.” It means our body of sin IS destroyed. It
does not say it is “as if”. It says our “old
man IS crucified.” Before God and his
law, our body of sin has already been executed in justice. It has no more power
to cause us to be condemned before God and his holy law.
“For he that IS dead IS freed from sin.”
It means he that is dead is justified from sin.
All God’s elect are justified from sin. God justified us in his Son on
the cross. As the law bears witness of
Christ’s righteousness, the law only bears witness that we are righteous in and
by Christ.
The LORD
said through Moses “the Egyptians whom ye
have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” When the LORD finished “there remained not so much as one of them.” So it is for the believer concerning our
sins. Christ has fulfilled Micah’s prophecy for every believer.
Micah 7:19:…thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths
of the sea.
Brethren,
let us sing with Moses, “I will sing unto
the LORD; for the LORD hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea.”
DEATH
Christ has
not only destroyed our sins, Christ has abolished death for his people.
Romans 6: 8:
Now if we BE DEAD WITH CHRIST, we believe that we shall also LIVE WITH HIM: 9: Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead DIETH NO MORE; DEATH HATH NO MORE DOMINION OVER HIM. 10: For in that he died, he died UNTO
SIN ONCE: but in that he liveth, he liveth UNTO GOD. 11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves TO BE DEAD INDEED UNTO SIN,
BUT ALIVE UNTO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
God the
Holy Spirit gave the apostle Paul the most emphatic words that can be used
telling every believer to impute “ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord.” God only imputes what is fact and reality by a prior act. Christ abolished death by dying unto sin once.
Sin is the only reason men die. The only reason Christ died is because he bore
the sin of his people. And by dying he paid the wages of sin for us which is
death. But sin can only cause a man to die once—there is only one judgment. Christ has borne that judgment and his people
have borne judgment in him.
Hebrews 9: 27: And as it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment: 28: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation.
Get this:
since you who believe were in Christ when he died, God says impute to yourself
what is fact:
Romans 6:11: likewise RECKON you also yourseles TO BE
DEAD INDEED unto sin.
Men only
die unto sin once and in Christ we already have died unto sin. Therefore, to
you in whom God has given faith in Christ, you can die NO MORE! Death HAS NO MORE DOMINION—no more power—over
you. Therefore, God says to every believer, “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.”
Then
Christ arose and now liveth unto God. And since you who believe were in
Christ’s loins, God says impute what is fact—impute what you have truly already
done in Christ—impute you yourself TO BE “ALIVE
UNTO GOD through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Ephesians 2: 5:
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by
grace ye are saved;) 6: And hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus: 7: That in the
ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
This is
the reality—before God, before his holy law—we are risen with Christ. That is
why Paul said the “as though” is that our life is in this world.
Colossians 2: 20:
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, AS
THOUGH living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21: Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22: Which all are to perish with the
using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Those who
continue under the rudiments of this world subjecting themselves to ordinances
such as touch not, taste not and handle not are acting “as though” their life
is in this world. But it is not! Paul says this is the reality:
Colossians 3: 1: If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2: Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. 3: For
YE ARE DEAD, and YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD. 4: When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory. 5:
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
And Paul
is saying that these are the sins which accompany the man who is living unto the
law of touch not, taste not, handle not.
The only way to mortify those sins is by setting our affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. It is
by setting our affection on Christ above where our life is hid. This is why the law-mongers called Paul antinomian,
saying that he preached against the law. (Acts 21: 28) It is because he
constantly told believers not to live unto Moses and the law of Sinai, nor to
the commandments of men, but live unto God unto Christ by following and heeding
the word of our Lord and Master.
Remember,
Christ came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Through the prophet Hosea here
is what Christ said he would accomplish:
Hosea 13: 14: I will ransom them from the power of the
grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave,
I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
We just
saw Christ paid the ransom price and ransomed his people from the power of the
grave. Therefore, Paul said,
2 Timothy 1:10: But is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel:
Be sure
to get that! For all who believer on
him, Christ has abolished death and now you have life. So get this, brethren, by
Christ our Life dwelling in you, you are immortal! It means when we take our last breath and put
off the body of this death, we will still be alive.
John 11:25: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 3:36: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life:
2 Corinthians 5:8: We are confident, I say, and willing
rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
And it means when Christ returns, he shall quicken our mortal bodies and raise
them from the grave and they too shall be made incorruptible and immortal.
Romans 8: 10:
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Remember,
Christ came to fulfill the prophets. The prophet Isaiah said,
Isaiah 25:8: He will swallow up death in victory;
1 Corinthians 15:54: So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall
be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory. 55: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56: The
sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
The strength of sin is the law—Christ fulfilled the law and put away our sin, and we did
so in him so that sin has no strength, no power against us. The sting of death is sin—having no sin,
sin having no power, death has no power against us. And who do we give all the glory for this?
1 Corinthians 15: 57: But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we say
with Moses, “I will sing unto the LORD,
for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into
the sea.”
THE DEVIL
Christ
has not only delivered us from sin, not only from death, but Christ has also
delivered us from the devil and his power. Christ took flesh like unto his
elect
Hebrew 2: 14:…that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil; 15: And deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
We came
into this world sinners under the devil’s power.
Ephesians 2: 2: Wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
When I
travel, when folks find out I am pastor, they always want to tell me what they know
about religion. What I have discovered is that folks in will-worship are always
terrified. They have never done enough. That is what Christ came to deliver his
people from.
Christ
has destroyed the power of the devil. The devil is called “the accuser of the brethren.” He uses the law and a man’s sin to
accuse him in his conscience and before God.
But by purging the sin of his people and clothing us in his
righteousness Christ continually makes intercession for us before the Father, so
that Christ has destroyed all the devil’s power to accuse us to God.
Zechariah 3: 1:
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD
[Christ], and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2: And the LORD [Christ the Archangel]
said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this [Joshua] a brand plucked out of the
fire?
Satan was
attempting to use the law to accuse Joshua of sin to God our Father. We know
that from Jude 1:
Jude 1:9: Yet Michael the archangel [Christ], when
contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, [the law] durst
not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Hebrews 7:25: Wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them.
Also,
Christ prevents the devil from bringing us back into bondage with his
accusations by the Spirit of Christ purging our conscience. After turning away
the devil, Christ made Joshua know what he had done for him.
Zechariah 3: 3: Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood
before the angel. [Christ] 4: And
[Christ] answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away
the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. [Christ’s
own righteousness] 5: And I
said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. [Christ has made us kings and
priests unto God] So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with
garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
This is
how Christ keeps us sanctified unto him. The blood of Christ purges our
conscience so that we have no more conscience of sin. Hence Christ destroys the
works of the devil which would otherwise turn sinners to dead works by a guilty
conscience.
1 John 3: 8: He that committeth sin is of the devil; for
the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was
manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Hebrews 9: 14: How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10: 2:…the worshippers once purged should have had
no more conscience of sins.
Thereby, Christ
has delivered us from the fear of death.
As Exodus 15 pictures, the devil and all his choice temptations
wherewith he kept us in bondage are cast into the sea.
Ex 15: 4: Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast
into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 5: The
depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Brethren,
our body of sin is destroyed before
God’s holy law. Death is destroyed and life and
immortality belongs to every believer in whom Christ abides. Also,
the devil and his power over us is destroyed. He is on a very short leash and Christ holds that leash. “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly.” (Rom 16: 20) Oh, indeed, as Moses cried that day
so do we, “I will sing unto the LORD, for
he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea.” Amen!