my sermons with questions but I'll begin with one today. Have you ever visited another church? And I do trust that everybody here's had a holiday and been away. And the answer to that question is yes. But when you've been away on holidays, whether that's in Australia or overseas or wherever it might have been, did you make your way to find a place of worship on a Sunday? And the answer, I hope, is yes. And when you arrived at this church, you found yourself standing there in the opening bracket, singing with the congregation, I could sing of your love forever, I could sing of your love forever, and over and over and over that tune went. until you'd sung it and heard it more times than you can ever forget. And then along comes the second bracket and again you're on your feet and you're following along with the lyrics on the overhead. I'm trading away my sickness, I'm trading away my pain, I'm laying it all down and over and over and over these somewhat vacuous statements are repeated time and again. Those same words, repeated. And you know as you sing them, there's something in your mind. I don't know if you're like me, I tend to roll my eyes quite easily. But there's something in your mind that you think I didn't come here to sing this type of thing. There's something that I'm not comfortable with about this type of singing, and I'm sure we've all experienced that in much of our modern music. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not disparaging all contemporary music. That would be a folly. It would take an exercise in pride and arrogance to make such a claim. There are many fine pieces of compositions of good spiritual hymns, songs and music that we have today. You can listen to Michael Card and Stuart Townsend and the Gettys, and there's a fairly broad range of very solid compilers and composers today. Now, whose heart doesn't melt when you sing those? You've probably got it on your CD in the thing at home. In Christ alone my hope is found. Yeah, and you embrace those words. He is my light, he is my strength. And what about, what about, behold the man upon the cross. That one does my head in almost every time. Yeah, my sin upon his shoulders. So, I'm not saying that all modern music is not to be desired. There are some very solid composers and singers out there. There is much to commend, much of the modern music, but there is also a lot that I believe is not that useful. Some of what we call, the broad label is contemporary music, and we're distinguishing between the old hymns of Isaac Newton and the Wesleys and all of those, and Luther, we're distinguishing between all of those things and the stuff that's arisen in the second half of the last century and into our modern times. There are many modern choruses. Indeed, I think the fundamental problem with much of this music is that it seems to elevate man and put man in the center of the picture at the expense and the neglect of Christ as Lord and God. So I do think that there is, you can find ways to think about these things. But we rightly ask, how do we know if this particular song is something with which God would be pleased? How can we make that, how do we make that evaluation? How can we know what songs that we should bring to God in acts of worship, in corporate worship? This is the pinnacle of Christian life. Each week it comes before us. We're here to remember the resurrection of Christ on Sunday and to sing his praises. How can we know that the words that we bring to him are truly worthy of this God? Well, there's much in Scripture to instruct us. I'm not going to do a panorama of that, but in this passage today, there is a wealth of instruction, and that's what I intend to bring out today. I'm going to do that under three headings. First, I'm going to look at the nature of this song. I don't know if you recognise it when we were reading it, it's a song. And then I have two points to attach to that, and I will talk briefly to the idea of what it was that they sang about, and indeed, what was their attitude in singing. So, three points. The first one is the nature of the song itself, Exodus 15. You see, the whole of Exodus 15, except verses 19 and 20, it's words of song. There are actually two songs in there. I didn't read the second one. In the heading in your Bibles, in all your Bibles, it'll say the Song of Moses or the Song of Moses and Miriam. So, it is a song. The Bible says it's a song. Don't argue with that. Yeah? but verse 1 tells us that Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord and following on from chapter 14 we know that this is the song they sang it's almost as if they were looking over their shoulder and seeing the Red Sea swallow up Pharaoh and his chariots and then the next morning they wake up and they sing this song to the Lord together and if these words if these words which the great prophet Moses this great instrument of God's salvation and the people of Israel are recorded in scripture then these words are worthy of singing to God so we could sing these words and indeed at the end of the message today I'll show you that we will sing these words so we can surely learn something about how and what we should sing to the Lord now as I said there's two songs the first is Moses from verse 1b through to 18 The second is Miriam's at the end. She sang for the Israelite women as well. And for the sake of simplicity, we're just going to look at the first song. It's the first song recorded in the Bible, even though some would say that when Adam saw his beautiful bride, he probably sang a song then. But this is the first long song that's recorded in the Bible itself. It was written in the Hebrew language. And that might be off-putting. See, as we read those words, our minds were saying, is that really a song? Now, this sounds more like prose. But see, that's because we've learned, we've trained our own minds to look for certain things. Here's Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. The length of the third line is the same as the length of the first line, and we look for that. And the last line, but I was blind, but now I see. The fourth line is the same in length as the second line, and we look for that meted similarity. Not only that, but sound and sound rhyme, and me and C rhyme, and we look for those rhyming things. And together, those things add to the depth of meaning of the words. They sing to us as we sing them out. They give meaning to these words. So we build on our songs by using literary devices, rhyming and fragment length and all of these things. But the Hebrew song, which is poetry put to words, if you want a definition of song, it's poetry put to words. It was to create, they added their depth and their meaning through contrast and comparison and restating things in a different way. Let me give you a couple of examples. I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted and has triumphed gloriously. That's amazing. What a God we worship. Next line, the horse and the rider. How did he triumph gloriously? The horse and the rider he is thrown in the sea. And that's their form of poetry, not rhyming or meter, but description. Another phrase in verse eight. By the blast of your nostrils, the water's piled up. Now what does water's piled up look like? I know you've seen pictures on YouTube and Google, but what does water's piled up look like? It's almost, it's quite difficult to comprehend. Next fragment. The surging waters stood up like a wall. Ah, now we know. There's a great big wall of water piled up and there's another one here and they're walking between it. So the language of the Hebrew poet actually gives it its depth and its meaning and that qualifies it as a song. So it's a restatement of the same thing, this water's piling up, but it's said in different terms. And that goes on and on, you find in Proverbs and through much of the poetry. and Ecclesiastes. So we see different techniques in Hebrew poetry than that with which we're familiar. And this song, though it appears differently to ours, yet it will convey a depth of meaning. So we've understood something of the nature of this chapter. we understood that it is it is actually poetry song it's just a different way of expressing so we come to our two points about what's what does the content look like and this is really the important part today the first thing I want to say is that the people sang Moses and the people sang about God and I say that with emphasis because what I'm saying is I'm ruling out the untruth that they sang about themselves and how they felt yeah and that's a very popular theme in today's music. We first note that it doesn't express how they felt even though contemplate what they've been through it's truly an amazing story this great multitude more than a million Israelites have come through the Red Sea and seen it swallow up their enemies behind them and they were direct receivers of God's great salvation and even though they were the ones that actually experienced that cruel slavery back in Egypt and even though they've lived through the fears and the anxieties and the terrors of those perilous times and then in the Exodus itself when they are penned in with the Red Sea behind them and Pharaoh, Chundi thundering down on them they've experienced that and they don't sit down and say oh I felt really bad when that happened I wonder what God's going to do to help me in this That wasn't what their song was about. Their song together was about who God is and what he'd done. Their song was facing upwards. It doesn't reflect how they feel. It's not like some of those vacuous melodies that we hear these days. It's pointed and it's intentionally focusing on God's glory. It seems to be preoccupied with two things in that space. First, it focuses on what this majestic God has done. And we've seen all of the verbs and the phrases in chapter 15. He has triumphed gloriously. He's become my salvation. He shattered the enemy. He sent out his fury. He's overthrown the adversaries. And all of those phrases describe what the Lord has done. and then over and over again that central focus this is what God has done and then it shifts embedded in this is the is a preoccupation with the praise of who God is and who is he well the Lord is highly exalted the Lord is their strength and their song the Lord is glorious in power the Lord is the same creator God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and there's a mostly the Lord is a powerful right hand there's a most remarkable turn of phrase in verse 4 I think it is I hope you picked up on it the Lord is a man of war have you ever thought about God in that way he's a man of war he goes to battle before his people he did so for the Israelites he did so throughout all of the Israelite history He did so on the cross where he opposed Satan openly. He is a man of war. He is a warrior, a warrior man. It's a fascinating theme to ponder and to consider. We're not ruling out that God is love but he does so in justice and he is a warrior for his people. it's therefore a song of praise to the Lord of creation openly speaking of his majesty and his glory above all things and this people the Israelites they've come together to sing out these words and to exalt God's holy name indeed this song is really it's a song of Moses is a boast in who the Lord is and what he has done and is that not don't we find there the boasting in who God is and the declaring of his glory is that not the very definition of how Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6 when he said now the disciples came and they said master we don't know how to pray and what did he do he sat them down he said pray like this our father who is in heaven hallowed be your name is not the song of Moses hallowing God's name you are to be exalted you are glorious you shattered the enemies that whole song is an exemplification of hallowed be your name you see then that the the song of moses sung together with the people of israel sung to this great and majestic god It's not preoccupied with who we are. There's a right place for that prayer. Jesus also said, pray for the things that you need. Pray for your bread. There is a right place for that. But fundamentally, an act of worship will be pointing to God and his glory. Now, considering Israel, back some months before this, they were in Egypt under bondage of slavery, And of course, that's where the whole of humanity finds itself, ever since the Garden of Eden. They were in bondage to slavery under Pharaoh, a human taskmaster. But we learn in the Bible that all have sinned and all have gone astray, that the heart of man, this is Jeremiah's words, that the heart of man is deceitful and wicked above all things, and that we cannot even know it. We fool ourselves so easily into thinking righteousness when in fact we're covering our own deceitfulness and wickedness. And we are, the Bible teaches us, each one under bondage in slavery to sin. And the taskmaster is Satan himself. But then look at what God has done to redeem his people. He chose us before the world began. Have you pondered that? God had in his mind these are my people and if you know Christ he's had you in mind all these centuries since before the world began that's why Christ came Right down through the ages he's been working out our redemption. The flood and the tower and the patriarchs and the history of Israel and all of these things. All were being orchestrated by God. Steering the hearts of kings, hardening Pharaoh's heart that he would hate these people. Doing all of these things. Why? So that he would usher in the day when his son would come to earth. When Jesus would come. and redeem us and set us free from the bondage to sin and Satan. But what sort of a God is this to us today? There are many names in the Bible. Here's a small sampling. He's our Redeemer. He's our salvation. He's our Savior. He's our fortress and our stronghold. He's a man of war even for us today. He's our Most High God. He's a tender shepherd. He's a great healer. And He is the Lord who is there. And the names and the descriptions of this God multiply. Are these not the most worthy of things to sing about as we join together in worship? You see that? It's about praising this God. Should we then not sing to this God who has redeemed us? when we were without hope when we were lost what a grand and a glorious God to look on those who were his enemies and to redeem them by the power of his love what a glorious God and the second and the last point that I want to make about the content I want to look at quickly how the people sang and they sang in confidence They were confident about what the Lord was doing. They knew who he was and they've seen what he's done and now they're singing with confidence pointing towards the future. pointing towards their great entry into the promised land, if you like. See, Moses sang along with the Israelites in assurance, in full assurance. They were certain of God's leading in all of this history, and in particular in the Exodus. And he was expressed in this song, in this hymn, if you like, was Moses' expression of his being fully confident that God would bring them through to the promised land. Listen to how he puts it. He's singing to the Lord, don't forget. In your strength you will guide them, the Israelites, you will guide them to your holy dwelling. Not only has the Lord brought them up out of slavery, but he will plant them on the mountain of his inheritance. And this is painting a picture that we can utilize for ourselves. We'll come to that. They sang of the confidence that they have that God has established the place of His sanctuary from where the Lord would reign forever and ever. And indeed, that became the tabernacle, and then the temple, and then after the cross, the hearts of His people. And they sang confidently about how God would also bring victory over all their enemies. That's what the last part of this song is about. Remember they sing of their future entrance into Canaan don't forget it's occupied by different nations and we read in verse 14 the nations will hear and they will tremble anguish will grip the people of Philistia the chiefs of Eden will be terrified and the Moabites will be trembling and he's already declaring with confidence that when we go into the promised land that God goes before us as a warrior vanquishing the enemy and they will stand in terror So picture their state at this point in time. They've just seen the great might and power of God in a real and a tangible way. Moses and Israel are brimming with confidence that God was with them. Do you have that confidence today that God is with you? Do you have that full assurance that he is with you to the end? That no matter what this life brings us, no matter when it's terminated, Do you have full assurance of being taken into the promised land? Into not the physical place of Canaan or Israel or Jerusalem, but to the heavenly city, the city of God. Do you have that assurance? In like fashion to Moses, should we not stand here and lift our hearts and voices in full assurance? I know this is a Presbyterian church and singing is not quite so friendly to many Presbyterians, I know that. And I'm questioning that somewhat this morning. Should we not lift our hearts and our voices in full assurance that he will take us home at the end? He's redeemed us by the blood of the lamb. And he's in and with us today, even right now. Should we not praise his holy name? Not only for who he is, but for what he is going to do. That's our great hope as believers. We have this eternal hope. Imagine a world today suffering under the pack and the anxieties of this virus with no hope. Now think of the hope that we believers have. We should be singing in full assurance, what a glorious God. But instead, you see, I fear, I'm not speaking to everyone, I'm speaking to myself as much as anyone. In our singing, I think we're often reduced to merely reading and mouthing the words off the page, aren't we? Is there a sense of great joy in our hearts as we sing of the wonderful redeeming love of God? Is our singing, are our voices silenced by fear of what others might think of, let's call them vocal deficiencies? have you have you have you ever contemplated the idea of see God doesn't he doesn't hear vocal deficiencies he hears melodies of the heart yeah i use that term i meant to i meant to use it crassly he doesn't listen to our voice he listens to our heart have you ever thought When we sing our hymns together, when we sing songs like this song of Moses, when we sing them together, yes, fundamentally we're singing them up towards God. He is the object. Indeed, God is the consumer of our worship. We're not the consumers or customers. God is the consumer of our worship. and we therefore rightly sing to him. But there is another way to think about singing together corporately. See, Paul said in Ephesians 5, he tells us to be filled with the Spirit of God, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And there's a sense in which one day, I've been in large groups, and when a large group stands in a circle and sings hymns, they sing them to God and to each other. I think we miss that. But have you ever thought about that concept that we're singing to one another as well? So you see somebody singing with joy in their hearts and it elevates your own heart. Maybe you're like me at various points in your life. Maybe you've forgotten that first love that you had. Some of us here are over 40 and our experience of, our first experience of Christ was, I don't know that the archives even contain the dates any longer for some of us. like me at various times in my life maybe you've lost that first love and and so we begin to just say the words we know the words all too easy amazing grace how sweet the sound and it's all over and done maybe you're living the life and you are striving for obedience too maybe you're living the life but not living the love of God maybe you're not seeing in day-to-day things the majestic hand of God at work Maybe you're not seeing his daily redeeming and persevering and enduring and striving with us. Has your heart gone a little bit cold after those heady days when you shared in an intimacy with Christ and with God? Well, let me suggest to you very strongly that you have, in song, a very powerful way of rekindling that love and that adoration that you first had. That's what Moses and the Israelites are up to. They've seen the working of God, and they were amazed by it. And they sang this song about God's power, glory, and might, who he is and what he's done. bemoaning their lot, they're not huddled in a corner fearing if Pharaoh is going to come back or if some other army is going to come and get them. No, they're not huddled in a corner fearing what this virus might be doing to them. And they're not fearing all the plagues and things that come to us down through the ages. No, they know victory and they sing here about the Lord who's rescued them and brought them up out of slavery. Isn't it true that we also remember what God has done for us in our songs? And I would urge you to think about our hymns in that way. Shouldn't we be celebrating this God who has won a glorious victory even over death and over destruction that we see all about? So let us sing with joy in our hearts, let our hearts swell in boasting. We don't boast of ourselves, but let our hearts swell in boasting of our Saviour and our Redeemer and our stronghold and our fortress and the God who loves us and cares for us and who stores our tears in a bottle. Did you know that? He keeps your tears in a bottle. This is a God who cares. must be as Moses and the Israelites and sing to the Lord in your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. So we that have believed we are immeasurably privileged to have God as our man of war and as our loving Savior. And the world in all of its evils and the cancers and viruses and the wars and tumults, none of those things can stand against him. And because we're in him, none of them can stand against us. There might be a short-term loss or even a passing. but yet we will stand before the throne of God having been redeemed as his children and guess what we're going to be singing we'll be singing in heaven you can have a hope in this we'll be singing with the multitudes in heaven and what are we going to sing well among other things in revelation 15 we read in verse 3 and this is after the the great cataclysm of all time Christ has returned and the Saints have been taken up in the heaven and we're now existing in our glorified bodies forever and eternally in his presence and what do we sing they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts you have revealed. Amen. Our closing hymn is number 522 from rejoice and that it is I will sing