I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15, as we are working through this book, if you're a visitor with us this morning, we come to the 15th chapter of the book of Exodus, the song of Moses. After all of these months of looking at their deliverance, we now come to this great song that they sing as they have crossed over the Red Sea. Exodus chapter 15. This is the word of the Lord. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him. My Father is God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. the flood stood up in a heap the depths congealed in the heart of the sea the enemy said i will pursue i will overtake i will divide the spoil my desire shall have its fill of them i will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them you blew with your wind the sea covered them they sank like lead in the mighty waters who is like you oh lord among the gods who is like you majestic and holiness awesome and glorious deeds doing wonders you stretched out your right hand the earth swallowed them you have led them in your steadfast you have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode the peoples have heard they tremble pangs have seized the inhabitants of philistia now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. Trembling seizes the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone till your people, O Lord, pass by. Till the people pass by whom you have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain. The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode the sanctuary oh lord which your hands have established the lord will reign forever and ever for when the horses of pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea the lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them but the people of israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea then miriam the prophetess the sister of aaron took a tambourine in her hand And all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. You know what they say in society. There are two things that you should never talk about. It is religion and politics, right? You know what they say in the church. You should never talk about two things. Music and music. there is no issue you know more contentious in the life of the church than music the music it really is sad something that uh is designed to be a blessing from from the lord to the people uh people have made this the reason that they are going to fight and they are going to separate i mean this is the hill people are going to die on it should go without saying when you have something this emotionally charged about the music that has such power over the emotions of people you know of course satan is going to have a lot of fun in that arena he is going to do everything that he can to wreak havoc in the church over this particular issue because this has been so damaging in the life of the church and he has wreaked such havoc it's vitally important this morning that we look at music afresh and really setting aside personal preferences. And I mean that, personal preferences. Everyone looks at it from a personal preference point of view. I like the organ, therefore that should be the instrument. Who said? If personal preference guides our music, you can easily make it an idol. You can't sing without a personal preference, without the piano, You can make it an idol. It's idolatry. One of the striking features, setting aside personal preferences this morning, of the songs that God inspired in the Bible, is that He presents to us different kinds of songs. You know this. There are lamentations. There are imprecatory songs. We sung out an imprecatory song. Crying out of God bringing judgment against enemies. messianic songs psalm 22 praise songs the lord's songs are are so honest about life there they come in so many different forms to us about honesty inspired about life giving perspective about hardship and trials and afflictions and sufferings in most of the music i hear today i wonder if anyone has thought through the inconsistency of our music with reality i attended a worship service years ago and there was a video they put up uh when the haiti disaster had happened and the video was up and and it showed all the pictures that tug on emotions it's really hard to see we were beat to a pulp about giving to haiti we should have but then the band fired up and i thought to myself, do you see an inconsistency here? You put that up there, beating the people over that, and then you rock out as if you don't have any problems. It didn't work. It didn't work. Total inconsistency. Nothing about the service was depicted that hard realities belong to us. What's going on in the heart? What we're facing? The music had become the greatest mask to cover up the poverty of our own hearts. They had outward poverty, we had none. And the music showed it. The songs were a kind of tonic to avoid the realities of sin and suffering that people face in this life. And it all provided a sort of temporary escape, if you will, not just from the consequences of living in a fallen world because of sin, but also from the realities of the problems going on in our own hearts. I heard somebody say to me from this congregation, I have the hardest time singing at moments praise to the Lord the Almighty. I reminded this person, yes, I understand that. There are times when the Psalms began with, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Have we ever started a service with that? God's people did in the past. In other words, music is the great way to mask things it can become. It can really be exposing that our worship is really, that's why I said preferences, our worship is really about us. Consistent with a non-committal sort of narcissistic American religion that we're all after. Why do I raise this? Well in front of you this morning, you have the first recorded song in the Bible. Now, we have gone through 50 chapters of Genesis. We have now gone through 14 chapters of Exodus. I don't know how long and many years from the beginning it was. God, after hundreds and hundreds of years, finally inspired one song for us. Don't you think this would take on a whole lot of meaning about singing then? Don't you think this would have a big moment for us to stand back and say, wow, we really do have a theology of music right here. We can learn so much about what our music should look like, how it should be done. We can understand a lot about our singing right from the first recorded song in the Bible, which is a sort of prototype for all music that is to follow. And I'm going to show you that by the end, Lord willing. The Bible presents praise as a response to the reception of some mighty act of deliverance that God has done for his people. Music is not, as I've ever found it in the Bible, is a means of salvation. We need to understand that. That's why it's so shallow to say I'm going to attend a church depending on its music. That is so exposing of where one is in their Christianity. It doesn't save you. Music is always designed to be a response. Your responses don't save you. They go up. Grace comes down, if you will. And music instead then is a means of thanking God, a means of thanking God for the wonderful things that he has done for us. It's a way to express from the heart with understanding what God has done. God never promised to save through music. God promised that he would save through the message and that our songs are to be shaped by the message as a way of saying thank you. What we have this morning is the greatest physical act of redemption in the Old Testament that's recorded before the cross. God inspired a song right after it. When God delivers and his power is put on display, when we are taken by the deliverance of that, When we have seen the enemy crushed, we then praise him. We then understand why we should praise him. We then have a motivation to praise him. Here's what it should look like. As I look at this first inspired song in the Bible from God's people, historically, and I'm thinking of Israel as a nation, first song of Israel as a nation. Historically, people have been challenged how to understand how this song breaks up and as i looked at it last week i saw three major sections of this song that i hope will help you to get a good understanding of what i believe our music should be like we have it right here three major emphases if you were to break down this this first song in the bible first moses praised god for fighting and winning the battle for him for them moses praised god for fighting and winning second moses treasured god for who he is in the glory of his attributes that were revealed and then third moses expressed trust for the future he praised him for deliverance he adored him for who he is and then he expressed faith and trust for the future what a glorious song is before us let's look at this first section here of the lord winning the battle for them verse one begins with the glorious summary of the song really uh you see it kind of as a refrain because miriam then at the end of it picks up a tambourine and with the women sings this very first part of the song of moses i will sing unto the lord for he has triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider he has 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 my father's god and i will exalt him i always like to think of the context here and what had just happened with israel on this emotional roller coaster that bracketing this very song are two strong episodes of a lack of trust in the Lord's power to deliver. You remember last week, they're out there by the sea and they turn around and they see the enemy coming and what do they do? The first words there, they lashed out against the Lord. They complained, they forgot everything that the Lord had done for them. Have you brought us out here to die? We would rather go and worship Pharaoh in Egypt than to go through this. And now they've witnessed God's deliverance. Now they've witnessed God's power. And the first words they sing to the Lord, I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously. I want you to think of verse 30 of chapter 14 that Israel right now at this moment has turned and they have looked back over the sea. There's Egypt in the background and there on the seashore are loads of Egyptians and pharaohs. bodies you imagine seeing that 400 years of bondage 400 years of persecution 400 years of the enemy beating them to a pulp 400 years and remember at the beginning of all this they threw their babies in the nile 400 years of utter oppression 400 years of utter cruelty This was the definitive moment as a nation of their freedom and deliverance that the Lord had come down from heaven and fought for them. Their God, they're saying, our God, he's our God. They had just watched God keep up the Red Sea for them. They had just watched the glory cloud go from before them to the back and fight for them, the Lord. They had just watched the Lord execute judgment. judgment now imagine the moment there lies on the seashore your enemy's dead at that moment what happened well most commentators say this is kind of a strange place to put a song like that it sort of wrecks the flow of the narrative no it doesn't i love what god did the wisdom of the spirit is just brilliantly displayed here this morning their hearts were so overjoyed by the lord's deliverance their hearts were so full of praise and thanksgiving all of a sudden it bursts out and here's where you say this is where song begins to take on meaning here's where we should start singing what do i mean by that it's here after we understand that song now comes from the heart it's an overwhelming expression of the heart that bursts out in praise it's it's it's as natural as breathing at this point you can't help but to do it it's come out because the lord's powerful deliverance has incited the heart and warmed the heart and you can't help but sing praise to the lord the almighty their god the god of abraham fought for them. Imagine the joy and astonishment. Your God is our God. Think about this in all the day of rulers and authorities and powers. It's our God who's king. It's our God who reigns. It's our God who got off the throne and fought for us. These mighty Egyptians, as powerful as they were, just by His breath He blew them over. Praise. Blow it out. You tell us what this is. You know, we've got it all wrong in the church today. The assumption is when we come to church, we've got to get people into a worshipful state through music, right? So the assumption is we've got to get people kind of hot and sweaty. 20 to 30 minutes of the band to sort of rev them up. Get them sweaty, get them going. And the effect creates a kind of high for a moment, doesn't it? You know the problem with that. Is it based on understanding? Do the songs reflect a basis of understanding? If it's just revved up, you've created a sort of high-like drug use. When you go high, you've got to come down. And that's why worship constantly has to reinvent itself. Leaders have to reinvent themselves to kick people to beat the last time. They've got to beat the last experience. It's a constant rollercoaster. The event should always outdo the last one. The next event, it's all an event. And in our songs, we tell God about our love for him. We tell him what we're doing. We are endless with the first person pronoun. Music today is the application of what Paul warned about. It has a form of godliness, but it denies its power. And that is displayed when you open up the first song and say, man, we don't sing much like that at all in contemporary church music. Just read the first song recorded in the Bible. the lord is a man of war who's ever said that to start out a service you sunk the egyptians into the midst of the sea you sent out your fury you stretched out your hand the earth swallowed them terror and dread came on your enemies only when they appreciated that that they sunk like lead to the bottom only when they understood his justice and his love for them it took on a whole new meaning at that moment only then could they sing in a way that pleased god you understand that only then could they sing in a way that pleased god truth be told music today we don't like the idea at all that god is a judge and our songs reflect it to sing about judgment are you kidding yet it's all over the psalms is all over the Psalms. We rehearse our love for God and how much we're going to go do for Him. Yeah, it should be with joy. Our music should always be with joy. But songs from the heart are not manipulated out of the blue. Understand that? Songs from the heart are not manipulated out of the blue. Songs burst out of a heart that had been taken by salvation. Songs burst out of a heart that have been taken by salvation. Then we're ready. Then we're ready to sing. I've always thought, you know, we have some tough psalms. And if you ever put them in front of the sermon, it can be a real downer because we don't know them and maybe it's slow. But then after the sermon, if you've just preached on salvation and the psalm is directly speaking to the message of salvation, it's like the congregation has just been enlivened singing that they get it i've seen that here i mean psalm 68 what kind of meaning did that take on last week you're overjoyed the lord by his spirit has filled your hearts with the knowledge of salvation and it's bursting out of you god fought for us and we won now i've got something to say the lord is a man of war The Lord in His name, they're taken by Him. And what's so striking about the first song in the Bible is one factor. The song is entirely about the Lord. The song is not only to Him, it's immersed in all about Him. Do you know, 18 verses here, you have the name Lord mentioned 12 times, and then you have Him here. You, you have He, Him, Your, all about Him. all these pronouns speaking of the Lord 33 times in the first song in the Bible the Lord is referenced 45 times they're just taken by him I find that awesome in fact we could conclude that the maturity of a Christian of where they are understanding will be evidenced by what they want to sing and that the first question won't be how rocking was the music today the first question would be what was the message because that's going to enliven my heart to get to the music music is birthed as a joyful response of understanding of the lord's power and delivering arm true worship exalts him it speaks of him it bows to him it glorifies him music is an act of glorifying god thanking him as an undeniable outflow of inexpressible joy that has filled the heart for his character his person his deliverance any other use of music to fill ourselves with mantras to manipulate emotions or if we can't sing out with all these personal preferences to the lord we couldn't attend a church without an organ per se that is idolatry it's not those things that drive us it's the lord controlled by what we're saying and thinking. The glory of God drives the song. So you'll notice the whole song is focused on Him. It's a grand contrast. It was as soon as their eyes were fixed on the Lord that they had been transformed by praise. Joy expressed in song is spontaneous, undeniable, unquenchable response of a heart that's exhilarated to sing praise to God for who He is and what He's done. First stanza. You see what it does? it praises him and then it tells the story it tells the story that's what the song is doing it's telling the story pharaoh's chariots boy the kids should love this pharaoh's chariots those big chariots came after us the lord sunk them your power oh lord is so great you shatter the enemy your greatness is overwhelming in your majesty you overthrew the adversaries by the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up and you saved us they said they're going to pursue us they said they're coming after us they drew their sword on us with your breath you blew them right over if you knew what was coming at you today that would take on so much meaning wouldn't it when you're in the thick of the battle and you see the enemy and he's coming and he's so powerful that enemy was way too strong for them that enemy had totally conquered them before that enemy had crushed them under his feet i get people as a pastor who come to me all the time and they say i'm defeated by sin i'm guilty by sin i feel the weight of the warfare the discouragement at times is overwhelming and i tell you can't fight that put your trust in the Lord, He can fight for you. He can deliver you. He can bring you out. That's the heart of our song. That's the heart. Notice second, the song is all about treasuring God for who He is and what He's done. I love that about this song. There was a reason Jesus condemned mindless repetition. There was a reason Jesus said that's what the false people do. Understanding and maturity shows itself by a knowledge of God. He's so vast and beyond comprehension. We never stop learning Him. That's what has to drive our songs is a knowledge of God that our study of Him, our enjoyment, and it's just sad. We live in a day where no one even reads about Him. Go pick up just a book on the attributes of God and study them. No one does that anymore, but this is what incites and gives meaning to praise understanding him this is what the lord always said how will anyone really i want them to understand me and to know me that's what the song that's what this song's doing the second whole section of this is all about god's attributes who is like you oh lord among the gods our god there is no one who holds a candle to him in his glory who is like you glorious in your holiness do we think enough about the omnipotence of god the immutability of god the sovereignty of god the power of god the attribute that really shines here is the holiness of god moses is captured by the holiness of god who is like you majestic in holy so glorious is he so radiating is he no one can even come near him and yet this god has made his way to israel this god has made his way to you and his son how few of us really glory in his holies how much do we praise him for his transcendence his glory his otherness how little glory does he receive from us for his mighty acts of deliverance and power that he's put on display i mean maybe the the lord's mercies are just so common to us now in his perfections that we we've already forgot like israel by the red sea but but but we should never forget maybe we need to go back and read isaiah 6 i saw the lord sitting high upon a throne high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two He covered His face. With two He covered His feet. And with two He flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of Him who called. And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, woe is me, for I'm lost from a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Two wings, the angels cover their faces. They can't even look at that glory. With two, they raise it up and form a firewall around the throne room so that that glory won't escape and consume us. With two, they have to cover their own feet because they're on holy ground. Holy, holy, holy. Our prayers and songs reflect such a low view of His brilliance. His resplendent glory. That makes, when we come to understand what an overwhelming privilege it is that this holy God... Don't you think worship would take on so much more meaning to people today if they understood? We're not just begging them to come in here. We're telling them, you need to first bow your head and confess your sins to come in here because you're in the presence of a holy God and that is the greatest privilege on earth. Maybe people would really start valuing it again. And only after all of that do we understand verse 13 that then talks about love. You have led in your love, steadfast love, the people whom you have redeemed. God loves his people. This God. This God who's brilliant in holiness. This God who fought for us. What a treasure worship is. We get to come before him. This God. The God who was so steadfast in love that even after they had just lashed out against him at the sea and rebelled, he still saved them and brought them through and never left them nor forsook them, fulfilling his promises. I wish I could go through all the attributes today. I feel so like I've dealt with them so cheaply. They're so glorious. But I need to move to the third point, which is, notice here of the song, they praised Him for winning the battle, number one, for who He is and His glorious attributes as they were revealed, and for the future that He would guide them and lead them all the way through. You notice that. You have led, verse 13, in your steadfast love, the people you've redeemed, you've guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The song, what that's saying is they're expressing, before it's even done, absolute assurance they're going to be there. Wait, wait, wait, wait. They're not there yet. Yes, the song is a song of faith trusting that they will be there. The last part of the song is all about the Lord's commitment to do what He said He would do. The revelation of the promises. You have so guided us, O Lord. You're going to bring us home to our eternal home. And then the song gives you such a motivation for the fight, such a motivation for the wilderness way, right? The wilderness way is going to get tough. They're going to find enemies out there. They better get out of the way for us. The inhabitants of, notice what it says here, Philistia and the chiefs of Moab, they all flee from our presence. They can't touch us. They can't hurt us. Look at the confidence here. Fear and dread falls on them. Why? Because we're your people whom you've purchased. And the song ends with absolute assurance and expression of trust. God's going to bring them to the land. God's going to give them the land. God is going to set up a sanctuary in the land. God is going to set up a kingdom with a king in the land and dwell among them forever. See it at the end? Well, you should stop and say, who's that? You might say David, and I'd say that's correct, boys and girls, but there's a greater one than David. The Lord's going to reign forever and ever in his abode. Do you see this song as your song? What Israel realized here is that the great act of deliverance at the Red Sea was an assurance to them that the wonderful work that the Lord had started, He'll complete. They're singing at the Red Sea the complete story before it had even been completed. Joshua would say that the Lord so fulfilled His word that He gave the land of all that He had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession of it and dwelt in it the lord gave them rest all around according to all that he had sworn to their fathers not a man of their enemies stood against them this is joshua the lord delivered them from all their enemies into their hand not a word failed of any good thing which the lord had spoken to the house of israel all came to pass they're singing right now as if it's already done and that's exactly what happened we get the privilege of looking back and seeing god did it God did it. God did it. And now you stand back and say, well, if that story is our story, see what our song should be? My question first then is, has the story overtaken you? Has the message overtaken you? If not, you will base coming to worship on how hot the music is. And you see how shallow and exposing that is. The maturity of the Christian will be evidenced by their understanding and then what is sung from the heart from a believing heart telling and saying to the Lord thank you for being our salvation thank you for being our God thank you for showing your glory among us and revealing your awesome power and thank you for leading us and taking us home it's as good as done we have nothing to fear well if I have tried to make the case through this whole series so far I can say this as clear as I can this morning. This was the Old Testament cross event anticipating the great event of history. Anticipating the day when Jesus would have his exodus, remember we looked at in Luke 9, at Jerusalem and come out. And when he led his people out of Jerusalem, he was raised the third day and we have now come victorious, passing from death into life. If that's the case, our songs then properly sung flow out of this first song in the bible what do i mean i want everyone this morning we'll close with this to turn to revelation 15 you have to just see it so it'll help you i believe that much this morning with music and song they have passed over the sea song of moses they're looking back over a glassy sea that the enemies have been sunk in correct that's exodus 15 this is revelation 15 verse 2 i'll start with one then i saw another sign in heaven great and amazing seven angels with seven plagues which are the last for them for with them the wrath of god is finished sound familiar 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 heaven, harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb. He just put them together saying great and amazing are your deeds oh lord god the almighty just and true are your ways oh king of the nations who will not fear oh lord and glorify your name for you alone are here it is holy all nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened. And out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chests. Each one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. Leads us into another thought. But I want you to notice here in verse 3, they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. I think that is just glorious this morning. The single great event we celebrate in history is jesus coming out of jerusalem rising victorious and at the cross colossians tells us he defeated principalities and powers and made a spug a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it so the song of moses and the song of the lamb have become one about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Without which, our singing is all vanity. Until the gospel's really been believed and we're taken by the message of grace, I don't care how good the music makes you feel, the first song in the Bible set the precedence. It's all about Him. He fought. He won. He judged. He will judge. Calvary, the event happened, He is glorified in our songs when we are praising Him with this kind of understanding. And our songs honor Him when they express trust in His promises that He's going to bring us home. And it's as if right now, if you can sing today with that kind of understanding, that means that just as Israel sang with absolute assurance that they would be in the land, you are singing with absolute assurance that you will be in glory in the new heavens and the new earth with the Lord in His sanctuary. We are gathered at the Sea of Crystal, delivered out of death in Satan's hand. That's the song of the Lamb. And He's done all that for us in Christ, turned our sighs into singing, our bondage into victory, promising our deliverance, our doubts to certainty since we've been redeemed then. All of our lives should be a constant song to Him. When we diffuse the joy of the Lord, I pray today that our praise would be motivated by the question, who is like the Lord? Who is like the Lord, glorious in holiness? As our hearts are always captivated by the story and the song of the Lamb, He is our song and our salvation. let's pray heavenly father confess that we have been shallow with music we confess that the devil has run amok in this and that it's really sad when we let these kind of things divide us and that first and foremost we need a very robust theology of music or else it'll all be based on personal preference but before we'll ever talk about any of those sort of things, let us first have the story so grip us, the message of the cross so penetrate our hearts, that it is a natural expression of praise that births out of a heart that has been redeemed, that has good understanding since your Holy Spirit has been given to us and that You would be glorified in what we sing. Help us, O Lord, in our song to always tell that great story and to live in confidence that You will bring us home, delighting more and more as we learn and have greater knowledge of You. We praise You this morning for saving us and loving us and for the song of the Lamb. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.