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.
2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
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.
6  Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
7  And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
8  And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9  The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10  Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

I want to begin this morning with a brief update on myself. I do not like to draw attention to myself, but God has given me this ministry and I believe it is necessary to keep you somewhat informed of my condition.
I have mentioned before that I had an incident with my heart in May. I received two more stents at that time, but I never recovered from that event. The doctors seemed to be at a loss and they added more pills to my regiment. None of that helped. One of my issues was a shortness of breath. I could not walk very far without shortness of breath.
This past Sunday evening things began to come to a head on this matter. I got up to go to bed and was hit with quite severe shortness of breath. I had a hard time making it to our bed. Monday morning I had a scheduled doctor’s appointment and mentioned that to him but he had no answers. He cut me back on one of my pills and sent me home. Tuesday evening I passed out on my way to our bed. Wednesday morning, yesterday, my wife took me to emergency and we told them what had happened. They took more needed steps and sent me for a CT Scan of my lungs. They discovered that I have multiple blood clots in my lungs. Currently I am on clot busters to try to dissolve those clots. I am told this could take up to six months to resolve. I am currently in the hospital, but expect this will only be for a couple of days until they get things figured out. I am on oxygen to help with the shortness of breath.
Thank you for your prayers and Lord willing things will improve. My life is in His hands and this ministry is in His hands. He will do what is good and right.

Psalm 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Back to our text. Music is an important avenue for remembering important truths.

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

In our text, Moses was directed by God to help the nation write a song of praise to the LORD. Good music is for the glory of God. It is not about making the flesh feel good. We see here that the song began with “I will sing unto the LORD”. This song was to praise the LORD for His wonderful work of delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The Egyptians would never again have their clutches around the nation of Israel in this manner. There have been times when Egypt had power, but not in this manner.
The children of Israel proved that they had no reason nor right to complain about the LORD as they would do often after this great victory. They knew better. However, they were quite fickle. That is the danger for us today. We can be quite excited about some victory we credit God with. However, it is important to know Him and be willing to exalt Him even when we do not appreciate the way things are going.
In verse 2 the people acknowledged that the LORD was their strength and song. The words of this song were good words. The things that Israel was expressing were correct. This was inspired by God. We learn here that God inspired people to write the truth, even when their hearts were not in it.
The true child of God becomes a child of God through faith in the true God. He learns to walk with the LORD and he learns to accept His Work in his life.
We see here that the children of Israel acknowledged God as the God of their fathers. They promised to exalt Him.
In verse 3 they acknowledged that the LORD is a man of war. They saw the LORD take down an entire army without a sword or any other human weapon. He took care of the Egyptians all by Himself. He did it with things He created. He created the water. He divided the waters from the dry ground. The Red Sea would have been part of the results of the flood of Noah’s day. God did not need swords or any other type of weapon here. He would enlist that at times but not here. The first and most important fact for the children of Israel to recognize was that the LORD can protect His children all by Himself.
In verse 4 we see that the instruments of human effort were of no help to man. God did not care about the silver or gold that might have decorated those Egyptian chariots. He cared about the souls of people and He wanted people to know Him.
In verse 5 we read that the Red Sea was deep. The armies of Egypt were sunk down to the bottom like a stone. In verse 6 we read of the power of the right hand of the LORD. The right hand is used at times in Scripture to represent power and authority. Some people have assumed that to be left handed is not a good thing. In past generations, some people punished a child that was left handed. That is not the point that God is making here. God is simply pointing out that His right hand was a hand of power. It was a hand to be feared and respected.
Most people are right handed, however, God chose a left handed man named Ehud as His deliverer for the nation of Israel as one point. It is important to remember that God is Spirit. When God refers to His right hand it is done to help us to understand His power and greatness in terms we are familiar with.
In verse 7 the nation was reminded of the greatness of the LORD’s excellency. The Pharaohs prided themselves in their excellency. Many rulers are the same. Our rulers assume the same thing. Without the Lord they are fools. Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. However, the LORD overthrew the pride of Egypt.
It was certainly not a mark of excellence to defy the LORD. The LORD acted in His wrath against the pride of Egypt. He had demonstrated His power many times before this and now He directed the children of Israel to write it into this song.
In verse 8 He referred to that strong east wind as the blast of His nostrils. We see pictures drawn at times of an old man blowing with his mouth and causing a storm. Some people refer to this as “old man winter”. Likely those who draw those pictures are not referring to God, but this song referred to God and the capacity of His nostrils to bring forth this mighty east wind that would part the waters and dry the ground for the nation of Israel to cross over safely and with ease. The waters did not evaporate. They stood up on either side of that path as a wall of water. Those waters would come crashing down upon the rebellious Egyptians.
In verse 9 the reference was to the enemies of God. The enemy assumed he could overtake the children of Israel. After all they were on foot. They had women and children so they would not be moving fast. Pharaoh had chariots and horses. He had skilled horsemen. However, he did not have the LORD.
We read in verse 10 that the LORD blew with His wind and closed up the waters again. He covered the Egyptians and they sank like lead in the mighty waters. They would be remembered in the minds of the children of Israel. However no legends of their ‘mighty’ efforts would be written. They drowned and no markers were placed to remind others of them. They were destroyed and gone.
God constantly reminds us that it is He that is great, not we. We are nothing without Him. All the ‘noise’ that man can make is easily silenced by God. It is important to know Him and exalt Him from a true heart of gratitude.
Pastor Bartel