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[0:00] Now we're going to read two passages of Scripture. First of all, in Exodus 15. Exodus 15, as the children go out, Exodus 15.

[0:13] Some verses there, 1 to 3 and then 11 to 13. Where we read, Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord.

[0:28] This is, remember, after they'd crossed the Red Sea. We're backtracking a wee bit in our chronology as we've been going through Exodus. They sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously.

[0:43] The horse and his rider He's thrown 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.

[0:56] My Father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. And then, verse 11 to 13.

[1:08] Who is like you, O Lord among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand.

[1:22] The earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

[1:36] And then in Revelation chapter 15. You've been hearing the song of Moses or part of it anyway. And let's now turn to Revelation 15.

[1:49] For John the Apostle writes, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing. Seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last.

[2:03] For with them the wrath of God is finished. 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.

[2:22] 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.

[2:35] Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.

[2:46] All nations will come and worship you. For your righteous acts have been revealed. And may God add his blessing to that reading from his holy word, as we see in this great song, the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb, this great song of victory.

[3:05] There are four aspects we're going to look at this morning. As we look at the song, we're going to see how in the song the Lord's deeds, the Lord's actions are praised.

[3:17] And then the Lord's justice, praised. His name, praised. The name of the Lord, praised. And then finally, the Lord's salvation, praised.

[3:28] And those of you who were worshipping, whether in the building here or from home last Lord's day, remember we'd been, as it were, with the Israelites in that victory over the Amalekites.

[3:43] We read there of the power of God over God's enemy. And that power, as we notice, exercised through the prayers of Moses, as Moses was raising his hand in the hilltop above to over the valley below where the battle was taking place.

[4:02] And the Lord's people sharing in that victory. Now, of course, that wasn't the first victory that the Israelites knew in the power of God.

[4:15] Because as you remember, as we were looking through Exodus, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, remember the Israelites had gained a victory over the Egyptians when the Egyptians were pursuing them, when the Israelites had reached the Red Sea, and the army, the Egyptian army on one side, the Red Sea on the other.

[4:35] And it seemed they were trapped. But in God's power and God's mercy, God separating the waters, God allowing the Israelites to pass through, and the Egyptians pursuing, all drowned.

[4:50] And Moses wrote a song to commemorate that victory. It's what we read there in Exodus 15. It's that song that Moses composed in gratitude to God.

[5:03] He wrote, I will sing to the Lord, for he's triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he's thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he's become my salvation.

[5:17] This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. And that song, that song of victory, we might say, in its essence, as a song, as a song of praise, a song of victory, that song, we might say, traversed right through Scripture and right through the ages.

[5:40] Psalm writers wrote songs of praise. They sang of God's glorious deeds. Prophets like Jeremiah sang praise to God.

[5:52] Jeremiah, sing to the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise deliver the life of the needy from the hand of the evildoers. And when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem, we're told that his disciples, well, in many ways, echoed the song of Moses.

[6:07] They began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they'd seen, as we're told in Luke 19. And then on the cross, the cross of Calvary, you hear that ultimate cry of victory, that cry of triumph from the mouth of Jesus, when Jesus cried out, it is finished.

[6:32] It's finished. It's accomplished. Because by Jesus' death, he triumphed over sin. He triumphed over Satan. And on that cross, Jesus cried out with a cry, with a song of victory.

[6:48] But that song hasn't ended. That song still in the hearts of the Lord's people and that song of praise, that song of triumph, it's going to be with the Lord's people.

[6:59] Yes, until Jesus returns and even in the glory of heaven. As we read there in Revelation 15, this passage we're going to focus the more on this morning, because we're going to hear this song of praise, this song praising God and praising, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[7:24] We're going to hear what's called the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. The song that praises God. Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

[7:39] 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. That's the song we're going to look at this morning.

[7:51] But first of all, of course, we have to see the setting of the song, why we read from the start of Revelation 15. We're not going to go into too much detail, of course, but we can work out that this song is sung in the context of judgment, God's judgment against sin.

[8:09] John the Apostle has been given a vision of what we call the end times, times when Jesus returns to earth. And even the context here is happening just before the return of Jesus.

[8:24] In other words, the hour of God's judgments come upon the world and God's about to pour his wrath out onto all who've rejected Jesus as Savior. And you see this in the way that John sees and vision these angels holding seven plagues about to be unfurled in the earth.

[8:44] And in vision, John's seeing this as a representation of the wrath of God. That wrath that's about to be poured out into the world. And John says, he says in vision, I'm seeing something that's great and amazing.

[9:00] In fact, he's going to repeat that phrase in the song, something great and amazing. But God is revealing something that's great and amazing. And it's that judgment.

[9:12] God's about to send judgment against sin and against all who've rejected Jesus as Savior. And in contrast to that judgment, we hear the voices of the Lord's people singing praise to God.

[9:27] Because it's the Lord's people who are singing this song. And they're singing it in the background of a dazzling, we're told, a dazzling sea of glass. And you say, what's this?

[9:39] Well, earlier in chapter four, in fact, we're told of a sea of glass. A sea of glass that surrounds the throne of God. That pavement, if you like, in which the saints of God are standing, praising God.

[9:53] So in other words, what we're seeing here is pure praise. Pure, glorious praise. We're told, those who conquer the beast in its image. In other words, God's people, God's people who triumphed who triumphed over the evil one, who triumphed over evil, who remained strong in faith in the face of the enemy of God.

[10:16] Victorious because of your God-given strength of faith. And all, we're told here, the sea's mingled with fire and telling us that, yes, you're triumphing even through the fire of adversity.

[10:33] But you're doing it in victory and singing that victory song, that song of praise to God. The song that has the most wonderful title, the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.

[10:48] You know, every song has a title. Every song, every song, modern day, historic songs, they all have titles. And titles tell us so much about a song because a title captures the meaning of a song, it captures the focus of the song.

[11:03] songs in the Bible have titles, even the great song in the Old Testament, the song of Solomon, Solomon who wrote that song. And the song title here, the fact it's given a title in relation to Moses and, we're told, to the Lamb, well, this tells us so much about what this song is about.

[11:27] It's a song about victory. Because that's why we go back to Exodus 15, the song that Moses wrote then, in victory. That song, a part of the song that we read.

[11:40] Moses wrote that song in praise of God for the God of victory. God who won the victory, who helped Israel, won the victory over God's enemies.

[11:51] So, victory, not just in the crossing of the Red Sea, but in leaving Egypt. Victory. God making it possible for the Israelites to be released from the oppression of slavery.

[12:07] And that Exodus, that leaving oppression, finding its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus came, when he died on the cross, when he rescued you, delivered you from the slavery of sin, your Exodus, your Exodus from all that oppresses you, all that keeps you from a true and free life in the Lord.

[12:33] And that's possible, only possible by the love of God and the death of the Lord Jesus. Jesus, the Lamb of God. And so, when you think of Jesus, Jesus being called the Lamb here, speaks of Jesus' sacrifice.

[12:51] His sacrifice as the Lamb of God, the sacrificial Lamb. The Lamb takes away the sin of the world. Jesus' victory over sin is victory over Satan.

[13:04] And that victory that was acknowledged by Jesus when he cried out on the cross, it's finished. It's that victory that the saints in heaven are continually praising God in this.

[13:19] They're crying out. We read in Revelation 5, verse 12, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.

[13:33] You know, when you think of the song then, the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb, in many ways, it's just one song. It's one song sung by one people, by one flock, by one church, one people saved by the one Saviour.

[13:49] where there are Old Testament saints and New Testament saints, all rejoicing in the victory of God, the victory of God over the power of evil.

[14:02] And for that great and amazing truth, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb is being sung. And what's been praised?

[14:12] Well, as we see there in verse 3, the Lord's deeds, the Lord's actions praise. Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God Almighty. When Moses sang his song, when he composed his song, he praised God for God's great and amazing deeds.

[14:30] He praised God for God's power in releasing the Israelites from the grasp of the Egyptians. And when Jesus cried out, it's finished.

[14:42] Jesus, as it were, he sang in that song of triumph because of the great and amazing work of God, of God's great and amazing grace. That grace that saved a wretch like me and saved all who come to God through faith in the Lord Jesus.

[15:02] and all who are the Lord's people sing this song of praise. All whom God has rescued from the power of sin, from the power of Satan, and yes, the power of death itself, all are singing this song, and even in heaven the Lord's people singing this song.

[15:23] What about you? What about all of us here this side of eternity? Are you recounting the great and amazing deeds of God? Are you calling to mind the great and amazing work of God in saving you?

[15:38] Saving you from death? Saving you from the power of sin and the power of Satan? Are you making melody in your heart as you meditate on God's great acts of salvation?

[15:53] The act of salvation, the work of salvation, that work that was planned from all eternity, and that work that's enabled you to be taken from darkness and brought into light.

[16:06] You know, there are many songs that the Lord's people sing, certainly this side of eternity. Sometimes there are songs of sadness, maybe when we're in some kind of despair, and we might sing to God to deliver us from these times of trouble.

[16:25] Or there are songs, even in the Bible, that tell us how we're to live before God. You know, these songs won't be required in the glory of heaven, but there'll be continuous songs of joy and songs of praise, songs praising the Lord, songs that tell, that tell that the king had come, and the king has come, come to redeem his people.

[16:48] And these are the songs that are going to be sung eternally, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. You know, just realize there's this eternal, this eternal chorus of praise.

[17:02] Praise to God for his great and amazing deeds. These deeds of grace, these acts of grace without which no one, not one single person, could be saved.

[17:13] Not one single person could praise God from his heart unless God worked in his life, her life, these great and amazing deeds. So sing, sing from your heart and join with the Lord's people in heaven and on earth, praising God for that victory that, well, that Moses and Jesus sang of the great and amazing deeds of God.

[17:40] And so the Lord's deeds are to be praised. But then we notice secondly in the song, the Lord's justice prays, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

[17:53] Moses actually wrote other songs and in Deuteronomy 32 verse 4 we read of another song that Moses sang towards the end of his life. And in that song he praised God for God's justice.

[18:09] The rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

[18:21] Justice speaks of law, what's right. God's justice was seen in the rescue of his people from Egypt. God's justice against the cruel Egyptians.

[18:33] God's justice seen in God's punishing the Egyptians, punishing Pharaoh. God releasing his people from that oppression. salvation. But there's the song of the Lamb, the song that speaks of God's perfect justice in rescuing sinners from a lost eternity.

[18:55] And Wednesday evening at the prayer meeting we were looking at that great passage in 1 John where John writes of the consequences of confessing our sins, confessing them before God.

[19:06] And the consequence being us, John tells us, that God is faithful and just. Faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God's justice.

[19:19] Let's see, when God punishes sin, God must punish sin. That's God's justice. That's the law of God. But this is the wonder of God's justice.

[19:32] That God's justice wasn't directed directly to sinners. sinners in Christ. But God, the punishment that God meted out was to Jesus.

[19:45] When Jesus, the one and only Son of God, when Jesus faced the justice of God on the cross. And you can then say, of Jesus, in my place, condemned, he stood.

[19:58] That great transaction on the cross, Jesus taking our sins and all in Christ credited with Jesus' righteousness.

[20:10] So God's not going to condemn anyone who's in Christ, who's in Christ by faith. And the saints in heaven are praising God for God's justice.

[20:21] Saints in heaven are praising God for God's justice. And the Lord's people were told here at the end of time praising God for God's justice. What about you on this side of eternity?

[20:35] Is there melody in your heart as you're praising God for his justice? Because his ways are just and true. Is there that victory song in your heart because you know that his ways are true because he saved you by his justice?

[20:52] God is a God who's a just God, a true God. You know, when you think of when we're told here just and true are your ways, when you think of God in his truth, you think of God as the promise-making and promise-keeping God.

[21:10] God had promised to rescue his people from oppression in Egypt. And God was true to his promise. And God promised ultimately to send a saviour to rescue his people.

[21:23] And that promise was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. God's word is true. His promises are true. And so you can rejoice that God is a God who's just and true.

[21:37] He's the God of the nations. He's all-powerful, all-sovereign. And God exercises his justice as king. In olden days, it was kings who exercised justice.

[21:49] But God is the eternal king. He exercises his justice, revealing he is the God, yes, the God of justice, the God of truth. And let's praise him.

[22:00] Let's praise him who's the king of the nations, the king who brings all peoples into his glorious kingdom. And so, what's your response?

[22:11] Then, well, the response of finding the song there is the Lord's name that's praised. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.

[22:23] when Moses wrote that song of praise that we read off in Exodus 15, and the other song as well that he wrote, but anyway, when he wrote his song, he praised, not just praised God, but he praised the name of the Lord.

[22:39] I mean, throughout that song, if you were to read the whole of Exodus 15, the song there of Moses, you see, again and again, he's praising the name of the Lord. As we read there the first few verses, the Lord is a man of war.

[22:54] The Lord is his name. So Moses rejoiced in the name of the Lord. That name that God made himself known by. The name that spoke of God's covenant, love his faithfulness to his people.

[23:10] And that fear of the Lord that you have in recognizing who God is by his name, the name that speaks of his faithfulness, that surely brings you to honor him, to glorify him, to revere him.

[23:26] But then what of Jesus? What of Jesus? You know, we come, for example, to hear Jesus praying to God, his Father. And in one of Jesus' prayers that's recorded in Scripture, we hear Jesus calling on his Father, glorify your name.

[23:44] Jesus had come to do that very thing. He'd come to bring, to give God the glory. He'd come to do it by completing the work that his Father had given him to do to save his people from their sins.

[23:59] And so for you now, for the Lord's people now, as it's the case in heaven, give glory to the name of the Lord. because that name tells of salvation.

[24:13] That name tells of our God, the one true God who's faithful, who fulfilled his promise to save his people. Would you fear the Lord and glorify his name?

[24:27] Because it's a great name. It's a name that's above all names. I'm calling the name of the Lord. You see, there'll be a time when every knee will bow before the Lord.

[24:41] That's what Paul wrote on one occasion. He wrote, for example, in Philippians 2 at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the air. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[24:58] And on that day, some will bow willingly, willingly out of love and praise and thanksgiving to God. But others are going to bow unwillingly because they never praised God in this life.

[25:16] But you who know God as Lord, you who honour him, you who bow before him in worship and holiness, that promise, even the promise that you will bow before the Lord Jesus, yes, and do so willingly and give him praise and bow with all the Lord's people because that's what we see here in the remainder of verse 4, where all the nations praise God, the Lord's salvation praise, all nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed.

[25:47] on that day, the full extent of God's salvation is going to be revealed. All of God's people gather together, brought into his eternal kingdom, all for whom Jesus gave his life will be singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

[26:09] It will be a scene of unparalleled wonder and greatness and amazement. And that song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, that song is going to resonate throughout eternity.

[26:23] What about you? Will you be singing that song? Will you be joining with the Lord's people and singing that victory song? Do you know the Lord who saves his people in victory?

[26:38] Well, if you know him, rejoice in your heart and even echo the words that we've been looking at here this morning in Revelation 15. But if as yet you don't know the Lord as your God and your Saviour, well, what song are you singing at this moment?

[26:54] Well, if it's some kind of song of praise, self-praise, that's actually a song that condemns. And if it's a song of despair, I turn to the Lord and cry out to him and plead his mercy and yes, confess your sins and come to the one who's promised to forgive you your sins and bring you into his eternal kingdom.

[27:18] And in that kingdom where eternal songs of praise are being sung. And that's these songs in your heart, your heart eternally.

[27:28] Because you who are in Christ will be praising God, praising God the Lord for his great and amazing deeds, given and shown to all who are his.

[27:42] Amen. And let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we praise you, we magnify your name for your great and amazing deeds. Because you are great.

[27:55] You are eternal. And we pray, Lord, that as we have been looking at these words, proclaiming these words, these words of praise, that praise will be in our hearts as we magnify you, as we glorify you, as we glorify your name, as we praise your name, as we praise your justice, praise your deeds, praise your great work of salvation.

[28:20]  Hear us, Lord, as we continue in praise before you now. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.