Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Horse and Rider Destroyed
Bible TextExodus 15:1
Synopsis Those God has saved sing songs which give all praise to our God, because the work of salvation is entirely his. Listen
Date15-Jul-2018
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Horse and Rider Destroyed (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Horse and Rider Destroyed (128 kbps)
Length 40 min.
 

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!