12th June 2024
Pray (ACts) Read (Exodus 15:1-21 focus v11-12) Message (Alan Burke) The people have crossed the Red Sea, they have seen the judgment of the Lord upon the Egyptians and now they are singing God’s praise for the judgment that he brought on them. Now while that might not sit easy with you but the wrath of God is just and right, it is not out of proportion, capricious or uncontrolled, rather the Lord God always does what is just and right and his judgement is appropriate. Sin is such that we are deserving of nothing more than his wrath but he is also gracious and all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. For he is not like the gods of Egypt who were but the imaginations of men rather the Lord is the one true God who reigns over all. That is what is being conveyed here in v11 for the question that comes “who is like you, O Lord, among the gods” is a rhetorical device. It is mocking the foolishness of looking to other gods. Here in this praise to the Lord the Israelites were in their praise acknowledging that nothing compares and no one compares to the Lord God. The sad bit about this is that they might have come through the exodus, but when they entered the promised land they took the gods of the Egyptians with them - years later Joshua had to rebuke this redeemed people for their idolatry, Joshua 24:14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. (Jos 24:14). They had not learnt the truth of how the Lord is God and none compare to him. Also notice that word that comes in v11 when they sing “Who is like you, majestic in holiness,” that word holiness is something that we read and hear but I doubt we take it in just what it means. The word holy can mean to be set apart, so something is separated from the common for the use of God. As God’s people are to be a holy people, called by God set apart for his purposes, but when we speak of the holiness of God how the Lord is holy we are speaking of his attributes, how he is holy. For by his nature God is holy. There is only one attribute of God that is ever repeated in this way and that is the holiness of God. Isaiah 6:3, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The Lord God is Holy Holy, Holy, for God his holy by his very nature, it is an essential to who he is, it means that he is distinct from all his creatures, he is holy in everything that reveals him, holy in his love, holy in his mercy, holy in his justice, holy in his wrath, it is most essential in God. Because of his holiness he is separated from evil and sin, he can as a result have no communion with sin (Job 34:10, Had 1:13) and the people are praising him for his holiness. The only way that we can come into his presence and worship him is through a substitute, the substitute of the people of Israel was the passover lamb which pointed to the true passover lamb Jesus Christ to what he would do for those who had faith in Moses’ day and those who come by faith today. Jesus makes us clean, he cleanses us by his sacrificial life and death on our behalf, it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin (1Jn 1:7) this is how we can body approach a holy God this day, because of the cleansing work of Jesus. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q63. Which is the fifth commandment? A. The fifth commandment is, Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
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