The Song of Moses

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE, 30 July 2023

Sermon Text: Exodus 15:1-21
Sermon Series: “Exodus Chs. 1-19” (#20)

Main Points:
Introduction
I. Christians sing to God He alone is worthy to be praised
II. Christians sing to God because He saves us from the enemy
III. Christians sing to God because He speaks to us
Conclusion

Christians are singers. No matter how good or bad one can sing, all Christians are inherently singers. Although not all singers are Christians, all Christians are surely singers.

This means Christians love hymns or praise songs. The Guinness World Records say that there are more than 950,000 Christian hymns in existence. The OT Israel’s official praise songs were the 150 psalms recorded in the Bible, and the earliest known hymn of the NT church is the hymn recorded in one of the 2nd century papyri. But what we’ve read from Ex. 15 is a hymn, praise song, Moses and his fellow Israelites sang to God about at least six centuries earlier than the time of most of the OT psalms. Moreover, the early NT Christians must’ve sung hymns like the ones found in Rev. 4:8 and 11 which go like this: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! … Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” In fact, these hymns recorded in Rev. 4 were sung in heaven before the throne of Jesus, the eternal King and Lord, and the Apostle John heard them in his vision. In this way, Christians cannot remain mute but must sing praises to God, and that is what we read from Ex. 15 – God’s people sang a praise song by the seashore of the Red Sea.

Why, then, do Christians sing? What makes Christians sing? Moses and his fellow Israelites of today’s passage from Ex. 15 answer these questions. The words in their song guide us to see why we’re inseparably intertwined with praising God.

I. CHRISTIANS SING TO GOD BECAUSE HE ALONE IS WORTHY TO BE PRAISED
First of all, Christians sing to God alone as Moses and all Israelites did in Ex. 15:1. This song begins, “I will sing to the LORD.” Then, rephrases it in v. 2, saying, “I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” This is definite – to none other but God Christians sing.

This is because God alone is worthy to be praised. He alone deserves it. Listen to Moses; he says that God is ‘a man of war,’ metaphorically of course, meaning that none can overrule God and His decision, none can even interfere with God’s plan. He alone stands out. The biblical description of this is His holiness; He is different from all other beings, because He alone is God. Moses explains this otherness or holiness of God in v. 3 with His name – that is, ‘the LORD.’ The LORD is, in another word, Yahweh or Jehovah, meaning, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ In v. 6, Moses explains God’s name, saying that God’s right hand is glorious in power. In v. 11, he says that there’s none like God the LORD – He is majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds. As the culmination of it all, Moses says in v. 18 that the LORD will reign forever and ever. This is who God is. Thus, Moses and all Israel sang to God, and so do we Christians.

Let me give you an example of this. We sang a hymn earlier this morning, that is, ‘I sing the mighty power of God.’ That hymn is a typical praise song to God that points out His worthiness of our praise. It begins with these words, ‘I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.’ Then, it continues in the following stanzas, ‘Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye. … clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne; while all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care.’ There’s no better answer than this to the question, ‘Why do Christians sing to God?’ It’s because God alone is to be praised as He alone is God the Creator and Sustainer of life and all things.

To this God, Moses and all his people – that is, about 2.2 million at least – sang in unison. I believe these people that sang this praise song by the eastern side of the Red Sea was the biggest choir in the world’s history. But there’s a greater choir in heaven of which we are a part that sings ‘We’ll sing to the LORD God Almighty’ because He alone is worthy to be praised.

II. CHRISTIANS SING TO GOD BECAUSE HE SAVES US FROM THE ENEMY
Moreover, we Christians sing to God because of a very special reason, that is, He saved us from our enemy. This is why Moses and Israelites sang in unison a praise song, saying in v. 2, “The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” More specifically, God shattered their enemy by casting their chariots and host into the sea and covering them with water and sinking them into the depths!

As we heard last Sunday, Israel was rescued by God from the swords of the Egyptian army. They saw the enemy approaching and were terrified. So they cried out to Moses, saying, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” The strongest army of the time chased Israel to kill and to take them back to their former slavery. By the western shore of the Red Sea, Israel was shut in between the sea and the desert. Israel was at a dead end and nowhere could they escape from the imminent destruction.

But God protected His nation. The pillars of cloud and of fire moved from before Israel to behind them, thus, stopped the fierce Egyptian army and kept them apart from God’s people Israel. That wasn’t all. The pillars of cloud and of fire kept the Egyptian side in darkness while providing warmth and light to Israel all night. Meanwhile, God opened a passageway across the sea by dividing the waters, making them stand like walls on both sides of the path, thus, enabling His people to walk the dry seabed to reach the other side. You picture that in your mind – what a miraculous rescue operation that was! How mind-blowing that scene must’ve been to all people – both Israelites and Egyptians!

Israel’s crossing took place all night, and about the time of the first light in the morning, Israel’s enemy began their chase again. But soon, God raised Moses’ staff and closed the waters and drowned every enemy of Israel! No one of that army remained. Moses and his people beheld with their own eyes all things God was doing for them.

No one can guess how long it might’ve taken for Moses and Israel to return to their senses at last from a surge of emotions. But, when their eyes and hearts realised what really had happened to them, they altogether began singing this song of praise that is recorded in Ex. 15. Their enemy was destroyed once and for all, and their freedom was surely established! I truly believe that every one of them joined and sang it in full voice, in full joy!

This is a vivid picture of why Christians sing constantly to God. We’re saved from our enemy, Satan, thus from our former bondage, slavery, to sin, thus, from death. Our enemy was destroyed, and his dominion over us was cancelled once and for all. Like what those Israelites by the Red Sea did, we Christians sing in full voice to God who delivered us from the curse of sin; we sing to the Lord who saved us from the pang of death once and for all!

Someone might not fully picture in his mind how we of the NT are saved in just like the way the OT Israel was rescued. But believe me – that is exactly how we’re saved. Col. 1:13-14 which we’ve read earlier this morning testifies to this truth in these words: “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” I believe you see how these verses of Col. 1 allude to God’s deliverance of Israel by the Red Sea. The ‘domain of darkness’ from which we were rescued hints the darkness drawn over the Egyptian army that night. Then, ‘the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ’ into which we were transferred pictures the land of freedom on the other side of the sea where God’s redeemed people sang a song of praise in full joy. Every NT verse that talks about our salvation takes its readers back into history and brings us to that eastern side of the Red Sea, exactly to the moment of that great choir of God singing a praise song to their Saviour, our Saviour.

Like the way Israel was freed from Egypt, all Christians are free from the devil and his condemnation. Israel’s deliverance was achieved by the eastern hill of the Red Sea and our redemption was achieved on the hill of Calvary. God raised Moses’ staff to bring salvation to Israel and that staff, in fact, foreshadowed Jesus’ cross that would be raised on the hill of Calvary to bring God’s eternal salvation to all who come to the Son Jesus Christ and trust in Him through faith!

Because of this, Christians sing to God in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord!

III. CHRISTIANS SING TO GOD BECAUSE HE SPEAKS TO US
Lastly, why we Christians sing to God? That is because He speaks to us through His Word and we respond to Him in prayer. Simply put, singing to God is our way of talking to God. Our song to God is our prayer.

That’s what the first eighteen verses of Ex. 15 are – Moses and his fellow Israelites prayed with a melody. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 14 about prayer and singing to God. V. 19 says, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” To Paul, praying is singing praise; singing praise to God is saying prayers to Him. Ps. 90 is another example that explains this. The 90th psalm is the only psalm among 150 psalms that is accredited to Moses, and its title is, “A prayer of Moses, the man of God.” As I mentioned earlier, all 150 psalms were the praise songs the OT Israel sang to God, individually and corporately. So, Ps. 90 was and is a song to God, but its title is a ‘prayer’ of Moses. Urging Christians to live a godly life, Col. 1:12 encourages all believers to ‘give thanks to the Father.’ And in what way, in what manner, do you give God your thanks? In prayer and in singing praises to Him, don’t you?

Because God speaks to us through His word, we respond to Him in singing praises as our prayer made to Him through Jesus. In a word, our singing to God is our conversation with our Heavenly Father. No child of God remains mute but engages with his/her Heavenly Father in exchanging of thoughts and feelings through singing songs of praise.

CONCLUSION
For these great reasons, Christians are singers. No matter how good or bad one can sing, all Christians are inherently and essentially singers. With our songs of praise, we give thanks to our Saviour; with the words that rise from our heart and soul, we respond to our gracious Father in heaven. Singing to Him is our soul’s breath. This is why your praise to God becomes deeper as you trust God and His Son Jesus more. ***