January 18, 2026 - Moses' Song of Praise to the Lord (Exodus 15:1-18)

Moses' Song of Praise to the Lord (Exodus 15:1-18)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! 2 The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; 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 army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The depths have covered them; They sank to the bottom like a stone. 6 “Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. 7 And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; It consumed them like stubble. 8 And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.’ 10 You blew with Your wind, The sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them. 13 You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength To Your holy habitation. 14 “The people will hear and be afraid; Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, Trembling will take hold of them; All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. 16 Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased. 17 You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O Lord, which You have made For Your own dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. 18 “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.”

Introduction

There was a news article about a professor who had a dream. This dream that he had was where he was standing in front of the gates of heaven and in front of the gates, the angels were determining if you qualified to enter or not. It was the professor’s turn to come in front of the gate and the angel asked the professor a question, “Sing one hymnal that you can sing from the beginning to the end.” The professor thought about this and realized that there was not one single hymn that he could sing from the beginning to the end. The professor realized that he sang many hymns but he just sang them and never remembered them. When the professor started humming a hymnal, the angel chastised him and told him how dare you try to enter heaven when you can’t even sing one hymnal! Ever since he had that dream, the professor would sing a hymnal every single day. Think about you, do you know one hymnal that you can sing from the beginning to the end? Think about this and if you can’t then you may need to repent before God. Why is that? Because in heaven, you are always singing hymnals and praising God. Today’s sermon is about where Moses is praising God and we can see the power behind praises. 

1. Moses' Song of Praise

(1) The Power of Praise

Verse 1 - Worldly songs may move people’s hearts but worldly songs cannot move the heart of God. BTS is a really popular band in the world but they cannot move the heart of God. But praises can move the heart of God. When we sing praises to God, it pleases God. Especially the hymnals that we sing before worship, it is allowing the armies of angels to move in heaven. The hymnals that we sing and when we praise, the sleepy souls wake up. We must praise God, we must sing before God. Then, what kind of content is Moses praising to God? The horse and its rider has been thrown into the sea means that Moses experienced the power of God. Moses was praising what he experienced in the field, he experienced the power of God of the Egyptian army being completely consumed by the Red Sea by God. Moses was so moved by God, that Moses was praising God and God was so moved by the praise of Moses. Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.” - The name of the Lord is the greatest bartizan and tower. The righteous will run towards the bartizan, the Lord. We are running towards the tower and the Lord’s name, we will find peace. 

(2) The Reason for Becoming a Bartizan (Stronghold) for the Present

The content of what Moses is praising about is seen in verses 2-5 - When we look up to God, God is our stronghold and salvation. This was what Moses was praising. We are looking up to God because He is our Savior and our bartizan. God is not only our Savior but He is our Father’s God. This is referring to the Father of Abraham. Moses was remembering the covenant that God made with Abraham and seeing how God was fulfilling the covenant with Abraham. Moses was praising God for fulfilling the covenant that God made with Abraham. Moses was at the place where he saw the covenant being fulfilled. 

Verse 3 - Moses was praising God because God is the God of war. God is our protector and our warrior. 

We are weak and powerless but we see in verse 4 - We are powerless but God is almighty and powerful. God had the power to completely overcome the entire army of Egypt. 

Verse 5 - Not only was the Egyptian army defeated but they became completely consumed by the Red Sea. Who did this? It was the Lord God. If God is our God then there is nothing we should fear. If God is our God, then no one can stand against us. Satan cannot overcome us because God is our protector and He will fight for us. This is why we should praise God. God has the power to completely overcome darkness and the powers of Satan.

2. Praising the Strong Bartizan

(1) The Strong Bartizan of the Past

Verses 6-10 - The right hand of God is almighty and all powerful God. The right hand of God completely destroyed the Egyptian army but with the same hand, God guided His people out from the Red Sea. 

Verse 7 - Those who rejected the blood of the young lamb and went against God, God was judging them. 

Verse 8  - This is astounding. The Red Sea split by the wind from the East, and this wind was like the blast from the nostril of God. The wind was so strong that the waters of the Red Sea stood like a wall for the Israelites to cross through. Moses was singing what he experienced and witnessed from the splitting of the Red Sea. Why did this happen? Because this shows the great power of God, the blast from the nostril of the nose of God. This shows the power of the Creator God.

Verse 9 - The Egyptians saw the Israelites crossing the Red Sea running away from them with all of the gold and silver. The Egyptians wanted to take back the gold and silver from them. The Egyptians wanted to destroy them and take them back to Egypt as their slaves. The Egyptians entered and ran after the Israelites in the Red Sea, the Red Sea that God split with the power of His nostril. 

Verse 10 - After seeing what the Egyptians were trying to do with the Israelites, God became furious and made them completely consumed by the Red Sea. The Egyptian army was wearing armor and it was made out of lead. If you wear armor in water, the armor becomes so heavy that you will drown in water. This is what God did to the Egyptian army. This is what happens when you oppose God. Those who had the blood of the young lamb, through the water of the Red Sea, the Israelites became baptized by God. Moses was praising God with what happened in the past and present, and now Moses was praising the future. 

(2) The Strong Bartizan of the Future

Verses 11-18 - Moses was confessing that God was the most powerful God. This was important because the Egyptians worshiped many gods and they would ridicule the God of Israel. Who is God? Moses was saying that God was glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders. God is so powerful that even when you praise God, you are fearing God. This God is our God. 

Verse 12 - Moses was not raising the rod but it was God who was raising the rod. God was raising His right hand. Many theologians interpret this as a future prophecy. But it is God alone who will determine the future of this world and who determines life and death. 

Verse 13 - Moses was praising God and praising what will happen in the future. The covenant that God will fulfill in the future. This is talking about the land of Canaan. Moses knew that they would enter the land of Canaan by the power of God. God knew that this place will be the place where they will praise and worship God. No one can block the plan of God. 

Verses 14-15 - God will fulfill His eternal plan and make all of the people of those lands to tremble before Him. Why is that? God allowed the 10 plagues to enter Egypt and it completely destroyed one of the most powerful nations. Also, God split the Red Sea. After seeing all of this, the Israelites were not afraid and the people of Canaan heard that the Israelites were coming, and they became afraid. Moses knew that no one could stop God. The people of Canaan knew that the God of the Israelites were coming and became afraid. As people of God, there is no need for us to fear. When God says that He will do something, God will absolutely fulfill. 

Verse 16 - The Passover means until the Israelites reach the land of Canaan, the holy inhabitation. The Egyptians and the land of Canaan were nothing before God. God has purchased the people with His blood, the blood of the Passover. Through the blood of the young lamb, God has purchased His people. Even though Jesus Christ did not die on the cross yet, the people of God were redeemed and purchased. This is the power of the covenant. When we hold onto the covenant, it has the power to transcend time and space. God’s covenant will be fulfilled no matter what.  

Verse 17 - This is more astounding. Where is this mountain? It was the mountain where Abraham was going to sacrifice His son, Isaac. God commanded the Israelites to go to the land where He prepared them to go. What was this mountain? It was the same mountain where Isaac was going to die but right before Isaac was about to die, God prepared a ram on the behalf of Isaac. The ram died on the behalf of Isaac. It was that same mountain. This is where the sanctuary of God will be built. It is the temple where God will be worshiped. God will lead His people to this mountain. Moses was already looking towards this sanctuary and mountain. God’s absolute and eternal plan was towards the promised land. This was what Moses was praising. No one can block the plan of God. 

Verse 18 - The reign of God is eternal. We are praising God who is eternal. 

3. Build an Altar that Saves the World

(1) Your fate will change

Those who hold onto God’s covenant, your fate will change. Hold onto this. Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - This is not the message that God only gave to Abraham. This is for us as well. Those who hold onto the covenant of the blood covenant, your fate will change. We have been looking at the messages regarding those who hold onto the blood covenant and those who don’t. Those who hold onto God’s covenant, you are under God’s reign. Those who hold onto the bartizan of God, there is amazing love of God. 

(2) You will see answer in advance

God gave a covenant to Abraham in Genesis 13:15 “For all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” - Before Moses went to the land of Canaan, Moses was already looking towards Canaan. Those who hold onto the covenant, then you will receive answers in advance. Moses already had assurance. Moses had assurance that they would enter the land of Canaan. When we hold onto God’s covenant, do you hold onto it with assurance? Moses held onto it assurance and all of the people of God’s covenant held onto it with assurance as well. 

(3) You will receive the thousand-year answer

Genesis 13:16 “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” - This is the covenant that God gave to Abraham. The covenant that God gave to Abraham, it was eternal. It was going to be fulfilled for eternity. This covenant will give them the thousand year answer. When Joseph entered Egypt for the sake of world evangelism and the 237 nations were in Egypt. Why did God send Joseph to Egypt? Because the thousand year answer was there. This doesn’t just apply to Joseph. Why did God send you to America? The land of America is where the 237 nations and 5,000 tribes are. God promised to give you the thousand year answer in America. Hold onto God’s covenant. Through you, God will absolutely fulfill His covenant. If there is a God’s plan, there is nothing for us to worry about. In order to fulfill His plan, God bought you all the way to America. There is no one who can block the plan of God. Hold onto God’s covenant and it will be fulfilled through you. 

Conclusion

Isaiah 43:21 “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.” - God sent you to America and to this church so that God can be praised and glorified through you. For the sake of God’s eternal plan, God called you. When we hold onto God’s bartizan then God will grant you tremendous answers.