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[0:00] If we can get you one, we'd like you to have a Bible and to follow along that what I'm telling you is God's Word, not mine, and not the opinion of this church or of any man.

[0:12] We proclaim what the Lord said, and only what the Lord said to be truth, and we stand on it. The Bible said, we sang this earlier, this Bible, this hymn book says, standing on the promises, and we're standing on the Word of God.

[0:27] And so, just to back up just briefly, last Sunday we were in chapter 14, and you probably, whether you saw a movie or whether you read it in the Bible, you know the account that the children of Israel left Egypt and that God led them through the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea.

[0:44] And then He miraculously caused that Red Sea to open up by a strong east wind, and the waters were a wall on the left hand and the right hand, and they passed through the sea that night. And the Bible describes that God led them by a pillar of a cloud.

[0:58] And so, when the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 recalls this miracle, he says that they were baptized unto Moses through the water and the cloud.

[1:08] And so, it's something that I would not have thought of or conceived, but from a vantage point of watching them cross through the wilderness, they disappeared that night, and then they reappeared on the other shore.

[1:21] And so, for a moment, they were gone, and they were covered and concealed by water. And Paul calls that a baptism, interestingly. And so, last Sunday we studied from that passage, kind of just as leading into what takes place today, that baptism speaks, and it says some things.

[1:40] And the one thing that it says is that, it says that I've been redeemed, and I belong to God. Pharaoh was coming after them and saying, oh, why did we let them go? They're my servants. And the children of Israel said, no, we're not your servants.

[1:54] We belong to God. And so, they've been redeemed, and they're his now. And that's what a baptism says. It says, oh, I'm saved. I've been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm getting baptized to tell everybody that I belong to God.

[2:06] I don't get baptized to belong to God. I get baptized to tell everybody I already belong to God, and I want you to know it. And baptism says something else. They went forward as God told them to, and it tells them, I'm moving forward.

[2:20] I'm not living that old life anymore. I'm moving forward and following Jesus Christ and the way that God leads me. And he led them right through those pillars of water and through the sea.

[2:31] And then the third thing that the baptism of this chapter speaks is that there's no going back. And that is, the waters returned, and they returned to their strength.

[2:41] And behind them, the way that they had come was completely gone. And it was covered, and there was no going back. And that's what a baptism signifies here today. It's a picture of somebody that's received Christ as their Savior.

[2:53] And they're declaring that I belong to God. I'm a child of God. I'm going to go forward in this Christian life. And the old man, that old person, he's dead. He's underneath the water.

[3:04] And I come up as a new creature, picturing a new creature in Christ, to walk in newness of life. And so that's what's going to take place later today, is a few believers are going to testify to that fact by this figure of baptism.

[3:20] And so that's what we saw last week in Exodus chapter 14, believe it or not, as they walked through upon dry land and came up out of the water to the other side. Now this week we're going to start in chapter 15.

[3:31] And it's incredible that after they escape Egypt and after they get away, after they see the dead bodies on the shore in verse 30 of the last chapter, and they believe God and they fear God, it's incredible that they break out almost instinctively, immediately they break out into song.

[3:52] That's their response is right away in chapter 15 when this takes place, they break out into song. And so I want to read this. This is the very first recorded song in your Bible.

[4:04] Now I'm not saying it's the first time anybody ever sang. There's references to singing elsewhere, and I know that even from the creation that the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy.

[4:15] So singing has been around, but this is the first song that's recorded. The words are recorded for us, and we can read them and study them. And I think that's important because we want the Bible to teach us everything as far as how we're to behave, how we're to please God.

[4:32] What does the Bible have to say about song? That's what we're going to find out today. So let's read this passage in Exodus 15. If you have a Bible, please follow along. Verse number 1, we're going to stop at 21. And again, as always, try to absorb as much of this as you can while we read it so that we can understand what we're talking about.

[4:48] Verse 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.

[4:59] The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him in habitation.

[5:10] My Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains, which also are drowned in the Red Sea, the depths have covered them.

[5:26] They sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. In the greatness of thine excellency, thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee.

[5:41] Thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together. The floods stood upright as in heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

[5:53] The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind.

[6:04] The sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

[6:16] Thou stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

[6:28] The people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold upon the inhabitants of the Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed. The mighty men of Moab, trembling, shall take hold upon them.

[6:38] All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm, they shall be as still as a stone. Till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over which thou hast purchased.

[6:53] Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

[7:04] The Lord shall reign forever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them.

[7:15] But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And Mary and the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

[7:25] And Mary and Mary answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. And Mary picks it up from the very beginning, like verse number one, what Moses said, and they sang, I will sing unto the Lord, he hath triumphed gloriously.

[7:43] And Mary went out with the women and said, This is what we're singing. Let's sing this song. And they did. And so I find it very interesting that immediately their instincts were to go to song.

[7:55] I want you to consider this. They didn't decide, Hey, let's build an altar. They didn't do that. They didn't say, Hey, let's set up some monument so that we can remember and regard this.

[8:07] What happened here? They didn't do that. They didn't say, You know what? We should just kind of, we should take a break. We should have a festival, a feast, and we should just celebrate and eat and just enjoy this time of deliverance.

[8:21] They didn't have a festival. They didn't have a feast. But no, they broke out into song. The immediate response was song.

[8:33] Now, you know, if you know your Bible, there's songs in this book. There's a whole book called the book of the Psalms. There's 150 of them. It's the biggest book in this Bible.

[8:44] And these are all types of poetic verses often put to music. And there's Asaph and there's David that recorded. There's others that are unnamed. You know that Solomon wrote over a thousand songs in his life as the biggest one.

[8:58] The most popular probably is the Song of Solomon recorded in this Bible. There's others like Deborah. There's Moses at the end of the book of Deuteronomy.

[9:08] He wrote a song and it was so important that he said this song needs to be taught to all your children for generations to come. And so singing is a part of life and culture and of this Hebrew culture and of this Bible.

[9:20] But this is the first one. This is the first song. And I think because it's written, it's worthy of our consideration and it's worthy of our study.

[9:33] And so what will the scripture teach us about song and about music? Now, you know as well as I do, songs are an everyday part of life and culture.

[9:46] It's a very rare thing to be able to escape music. Very rare that you can get out from hearing music. If you go to a store to shop, you're hearing music.

[9:58] If you go to a restaurant, you're hearing music. You turn on the TV, even if you're just in the commercials, you're hearing lots of jingles, lots of tunes. It's music. It's embedded in so much of our life and everywhere we go.

[10:12] So most of you, you'll get in a car and you'll initially, you'll turn on music. The older you get, it might turn into talk radio. But the younger you are, it's music. And it's part of your life.

[10:23] It's part of your everyday life. And it's all over the airwaves. Even in this building, it's going through here in a physical sound waves that we just, we can't detect or pick up or reproduce.

[10:35] But if you have the right equipment, it's here. So whether it's directly or indirectly, whether it's in your earbuds or whether it's in the ceiling, music is intertwined into the fabric of life.

[10:47] Song is everywhere. And it's powerful. It's even addicting. Some of you would admit, yeah, it's addicting. I'm addicted to music. Some of you are.

[10:59] You don't have to be a recording artist or a producer to say that, I listen to this all the time. Or every time this artist comes out, I'm on it. I just have to have it. And then just dwell on it and infuse it into your mind constantly.

[11:14] Some of you are addicted to music. Music is spiritual. It's spiritual. It actually, it has an effect. A real effect on your spirit.

[11:25] A real effect on your mood. And a very real effect on your mind. So I'm not going to be studying music this morning in its entirety. This subject is way too broad.

[11:36] The spectrum is far too broad to discuss this morning. But what does the scripture teach about song? Remember that this Bible is the word of God.

[11:49] It is the light unto our path. Or a lamp unto our path, a light unto our feet. It is what we guide all of our decisions by.

[12:00] We seek the wisdom of God. We seek the counsel of God. We seek to know the ways of God and the will of God by going to His word. What did He reveal to us? And if music is a huge area in your life, even if it's not something that you'd say, well, it's not my top three, but it's still a part of your life.

[12:20] And it's intertwined into your society and culture and everywhere you go. If that's the case, and it is, then we should go to the Bible. Like everything, we should go to the word of God and say, what does the Bible, what does God have to instruct me in in the way of music?

[12:40] Some of you in here have never thought of that in your life. You've never one time thought, what does the Bible say about the music that I listen to?

[12:51] About the songs that go into these ears and get into this heart and consume this mind. What does the Bible say? What does God have to say about it?

[13:02] He has something to say about it. The question is, do you want to know it? And do you want to apply what He says to your life? Because that's where it becomes practical.

[13:13] That's where it comes to your feet, where you walk and how you obey the word of God. So let's study a little bit, because we're in church this morning, and we Christians name the name of Jesus Christ, and the Bible says, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

[13:29] And the Bible says that we are to purge ourselves from some things, and that we're to be a purified people, a peculiar people, to be zealous of good works, and that we're to love the good and hate the evil.

[13:42] And so God instructs us in this passage, in the area of song, and let's take a look at that this morning. I'll try to be brief with you.

[13:53] I'll tell you what I'm going to give you. I'm going to give you three things. I'm going to give you the occasion for the song, then the content of the song, and then the effect of the song. And I won't be long, at least the famous last words.

[14:06] Okay, let's try to get into this quickly here. Number one, the occasion of the song, the reason they break out into song. This is a great deliverance.

[14:17] I know that if you've been with us each week, then this has slowly, gradually led up to this incredible moment. The exodus from Egypt was one thing, and getting out from under Pharaoh was great, but then traveling through the wilderness, only to have him right on their heels, just like moments behind them.

[14:36] They feared him. They could sense that. They had never fully rid themselves of Pharaoh until this thing. They got to see the dead bodies. They got to realize, never, ever, ever again, will we ever have to see that man, have to face that army, have to deal with those whips cracking behind our backs?

[14:58] We're free. We're completely free forever. And it wasn't just that they've already been freed and delivered, but now the realization of it has sunken in. They've gotten a hold of it.

[15:09] It's in front of their eyes. They've been delivered. This has been a mighty, mighty act of God on their behalf. And so they break out into song. Again, they didn't build a shrine, and they didn't have a festival.

[15:22] And so God is going to teach us something here. He's teaching us something here in this passage about the occasion of music. I want you to consider that when they crossed over, Moses didn't stand there waiting for the last one to come up out of that sea, and then as God instructed him to wave his hand out there into the waters to go back into their place, and Moses didn't wait for that moment and then just be like, all right, that's that.

[15:50] All right, let's go. Let's go, people. Let's go. He didn't rush him out. He didn't move him on. He wasn't worried about that. He was raptured in the moment to sing.

[16:04] He was caught up in what God had just done. And all the people witnessed. They couldn't just, well, you know, we got a long way to go.

[16:15] They couldn't just go on with their life. They couldn't act like this didn't happen. Instead, their spirits were just alive in them, probably the most they've ever been, and they broke out into song.

[16:29] There was an occasion for the song, a natural and instinctive reaction to such a glorious event that I think overwhelmed them with joy and with thanksgiving and with hope and it burst forth into praising the great God that cared for them.

[16:47] God is teaching us something here about the occasion of the song. We can take a lesson from the Hebrews. Remember, the Bible is given by inspiration of God and one thing it's profitable for is instruction in righteousness.

[17:01] And if you want to live a righteous life before God, you need to receive the instruction that God gives. Here he gives us instruction as to the occasion of the song.

[17:12] What we need to do from here is learn how to respond to working of the Lord to the hand of God in our life.

[17:22] When the hand of God is evident, when the hand of God makes a way, when God intervenes in a problem, when He shows us He cares and that He knows what we're dealing with and He works in the midst of the problem, He makes a way of escape, He proves He's capable and that He's worthy and that we can and should trust Him.

[17:42] You know what He's doing? He's listening for a song. He's done the work. Now He's listening for a song.

[17:53] He's not looking for a meal. Boy, that's what we like to do is let's have a meal. Let's have a meal. Let's eat. Let's get together and eat. But God does a work and He's not looking for the church to come together and have a potluck.

[18:08] He does a work and He's looking for the church to come together. and offer up a song, to offer up praise, to offer up thanksgiving. And if you've been born again and you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you've been saved from hell.

[18:27] You'll never, one moment, spend a moment in hell. You'll never spend any time in hell. If that's you, there's no purgatory for you. You've been forgiven of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ and He's granted you eternal life in Jesus Christ.

[18:43] If that's you, you have all the reason in the world from heaven above and earth beneath to open your mouth and to glorify Him and to burst forth into song that you've been saved.

[18:57] If you've experienced the hand of God helping you and moving you and growing you and caring for you, then shame on you if you just say, well, okay.

[19:07] what was I going to do? I need to do something over here. Shame on you and shame on all of us when we ignore the hand of God and go on with life and don't turn and offer Him a song.

[19:24] The occasion for the song, there's many. There's many. And here, the children of Israel teaching us that there's always an occasion for the song when God is at work. Now, the world sees the weekend as an occasion for a song, don't they?

[19:37] They live for that thought of just cutting loose and partying and staying up and going out and doing things that they can't do during the week. They live for that and that to them is an occasion for song.

[19:53] And the world has a lot of rather meaningless reasons for songs. But if you know the Lord Jesus Christ today, you have the greatest reason. There's none that compares to what you have and a reason for songs.

[20:09] So there's the occasion. Then secondly, I told you the content of the song. Now, I promise you I'm not going to break this down, all of these verses we read and analyze and illustrate or rather, what's the word I was trying to say there, put an outline to the whole thing.

[20:25] I'll just give you a few little thoughts on the content of the song. Some things I think are important. Number one, the song is addressed to the Lord. You see that in verse one, then Moses and the children of Israel then sang this song unto the Lord and spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord.

[20:46] Did you remember when Miriam went out in verse 20 and she got the women with her and she said in verse 21, Sing ye to the Lord. There's the content of the song is addressed to the Lord.

[20:59] It's not just about the Lord. It's actually unto the Lord. It's not to the crowd. Do you realize that some singers sing to the crowd?

[21:11] They sing to the worship of the crowd for the people to hear and enjoy their voice, enjoy their mannerisms, enjoy the way they move on stage.

[21:22] You know that every concert that's going on in LA, every weekend, there's somebody that's singing to the crowd. They're trying to make them happy. They're trying to get them to buy their records or whatever the word is nowadays, their albums.

[21:39] But that's wrong. The Bible's showing us, the Lord's instructing us that our song is to the Lord. The heathen in this Bible praised the gods of gold and silver.

[21:51] Do you remember reading that in Daniel? They praised the gods of gold and silver and they're still doing that today. Praising the gods of gold and silver, glorying in their wealth and glorying in what they've accomplished and what they have and the cars they drive and the clothes they wear and they sing about it.

[22:11] You've heard them sing about it, haven't you? They're just praising the same gods. You remember when David killed Goliath in 1 Samuel 17? Do you remember what happened?

[22:22] They made a song about that. You know what the song said? Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands and Saul got envious and he eyed David from that day forward and he sought to kill him.

[22:37] Why? Well, they were singing about a man. They were glorifying a man, what he did. What if their song was unto the Lord that day and even said that Saul, our captain, brought us out against the Philistines and God used the young man David to slay the mighty, if they wrote the song that the Lord brought a great victory that day?

[22:58] Well, I don't think that king would have been so jealous after all. Maybe a lot of things could have been avoided in this. What if they aimed their song to the Lord like Exodus was teaching us?

[23:09] The Bible's teaching us how to address our song. Secondly, it's not only addressed to the Lord but it exalts the Lord. In verse number two, you can see the very last five words.

[23:20] In verse two, it says, and I will exalt him. I'm going to sing to the Lord and I'm going to exalt him. And in this passage, it describes the Lord being glorious in his triumph.

[23:33] In verse one, he hath triumphed gloriously. The Lord's glorious in victory. It also describes in verse six that the Lord is glorious in power.

[23:45] Do you see that in verse number six? It describes the glory of God in verse 11. He's glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.

[23:55] This song lifts up the Lord and exalts the Lord. It places him above everything else. It says that he's dashed the enemies in pieces.

[24:07] Why? Because he's stronger than the enemies. If any enemy steps up against his children, he's got their back. It says in verse 18, he shall reign forever and ever.

[24:17] Handel took that verse or that thought from that from elsewhere and he said, and he shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. You're familiar with the hallelujah chorus.

[24:29] It exalts the Lord. It's scripture, by the way. In verses 14 through 16, it describes that the enemies already of their past and then the enemies of the future that they're going to face, that the Lord can handle them.

[24:47] It describes him in verse 11, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods. Nobody is the answer. It exalts the Lord. It exalts the Lord all through this thing.

[24:58] It's just lifting him up and lifting him up. And thirdly, the content of this song declares the work and the will of God, meaning the work that God has done and the intended work or the will of God for the future.

[25:11] This content of this song magnifies the Lord and it's all true. All of it's true. Secular music today magnifies man and none of it's true.

[25:23] The Bible tells us what man is. The Bible tells us what's in the heart of man. The music that pumps up some woman or some man or any institution or any band or any country or anything.

[25:37] It's not true. It's vanity. It's vanity. It's going to break down. There's nothing to glory in. The Bible says, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

[25:50] And that's what the Bible says. So here's the song and the first song glories in the Lord. It exalts him. It declares his work. It declares his will. And then thirdly and most importantly maybe today is the effect of the song.

[26:06] I want to point out a little phrase here. In verse number two, would you look back at verse two where it says, the Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. He is my God and I will prepare him what?

[26:20] Inhabitation. I'm going to prepare him and have it. What in the world do you think that means? Well, the best way to figure it out is to take the Bible and compare it. And so let's look at a passage in the Psalms.

[26:32] If you could find Psalm 22, it's almost dead center in your Bible. the book of the Psalms, not quite, but slightly to the left of center and you'll find Psalm 22.

[26:53] I will prepare him inhabitation. This is the effect of the song. And watch this. In Psalm 22, we learn something interesting about the Lord in response to the right song.

[27:07] in verse 3, But thou art holy, O thou, that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

[27:20] God inhabits the praises of his people. And so the first thing I want to say about the effect of the song is that it is inviting to the Lord.

[27:32] He hears his name being praised and the picture is that he comes and inhabits that. He shows up for that. He's being lifted up and exalted. Oh, I'm in.

[27:43] I'll show up for that. You would too. You would too. If I was going to honor you and give you some plaque, you'd be like, yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there and invite everybody else.

[27:55] And the Lord inhabits the praises. So in this song Moses is saying, they're all singing, we're preparing him in habitation through our praise, through our song, the Lord's going to show up.

[28:08] And I think that's a good enough reason right there to be listening to, playing, or singing music that is unto the Lord because it's inviting to him. Don't you want him with you on your ride to work in the morning?

[28:22] Don't you want the Lord to be near you when you're doing your menial tasks of the day or your chores, whether it's in the kitchen or cleaning or out doing yard work or whatever you find yourselves doing.

[28:33] Don't you want the Lord to be present in that moment? Here's a way to do it is have a song that's unto him, that exalts him because he'll inhabit that praise. God help us not to be playing music and listening to music that would repel his spirit, that would glorify man when God says, don't you glorify man?

[28:56] The man in his best state is altogether vanity. Let him the glory, glory in the Lord. Shame on us if we're entertaining ourselves with music that is not just not inviting to the Lord but would actually turn him away.

[29:14] Glorifying the flesh, glorifying sin, glorifying the world. Our God is holy and our song ought to be of such a standard that would invite a holy God.

[29:26] If it sounds worldly, it is. Just put that little plug in your head. If it sounds worldly, it's worldly. If it sounds holy, now you're getting somewhere.

[29:37] when you praise the Lord, when you praise him in song, your mind is on him. Your mind is on his work.

[29:49] Your mind is on his goodness. Your mind is on the blood that he shed to cover your sins. Your mind is on his habitation or on his promises that he has promised to take you to be with him.

[30:00] Your mind is on those truths. And you open a door. You invite in fellowship. You open a door to communion with the Lord when you worship him in song.

[30:11] It's not just for church, folks. It is for your car. It is for your home. It is for your earbuds. It is for when you're doing those chores around the house.

[30:21] Anytime you're going to play music, if it's unto the Lord, it can be inviting to him to join you, to be with you, to fellowship with you.

[30:32] And if not, you're just filling your mind with vanity and with carnal appetites that are against the Lord and that pushes him out of your mind and causes you to glory in things that are false, things that are vain, things that are going to drive your lusts.

[30:52] So the song, the effect of the song is inviting to the Lord and secondly, then lastly, it's edifying to the saints. Not only does this song relish in the powerful and glorious doings of our God, but it also looks forward to what he will do, what he's promised to do.

[31:08] So it serves as a reminder. I'm referring specifically to around verse 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. All of that's written in the future tense. The Lord shall reign.

[31:20] The Lord shall, our enemies, those are the Edomites, the Moabites, the Canaanites, they're all going to be brought low and melt away, trembling's going to take hold on them, they're going to be so afraid of us when we get, they're not there yet.

[31:35] They haven't gotten there yet, but they're coming. And the song is edifying to those saints, it's giving them hope, it's building them up, they're rejoicing in the truth and the promise that God has given them.

[31:47] And it's strengthening them, and it's preparing them to go face those foes because they, in song to the Lord, are declaring, you're going to destroy them too, just like you did Pharaoh behind us.

[32:00] And it's edifying. The feel-good music of our day does not edify. It can't help you. It doesn't have the substance to help you. It's shallow.

[32:12] It's flesh. It's this world. What has this world done for you? Taught you how to sin against God? Taught you how to destroy your life?

[32:25] Prompted you and pushed you to make stupid decisions that you have to try to navigate now? What has the world done for you? Why would you let it entertain you if you're a child of God?

[32:37] Your song, the Bible teaches us, is to be unto the Lord. And if it is, it will edify you. It'll edify you. The child of God needs substance.

[32:49] He needs that substance. He's going to be in a real battle. He's going to face some more real enemies. And he needs that strength. He can't afford to open his heart to vain things that will weaken him.

[33:02] Now, I'm just going to throw this side note out there because sometimes talking like this, it leaves some things unanswered. And I'm not really trying to answer everything, but just one thought.

[33:14] There's songs that we sing in our culture and variety of cultures. For instance, at a wedding day, there's a tune that's played, Here Comes the Bride. That song doesn't have to be unto the Lord.

[33:26] When we sing happy birthday to somebody or whatever you sing in your culture, you don't have to sing that unto the Lord necessarily. Because why? Because that's just written for that special occasion. These are not songs that you entertain and occupy your mind with on your ride to work, do you?

[33:43] Those things just don't connect to everyday life. So those are just, just leave them where they are. They're for special occasions and appropriate for them. But your iTunes library and your Spotify playlist, those songs, those are what you fill your heart and your mind with.

[34:07] And so let's check those against the word of God. And let's say, what's the occasion for this music? What are they singing to or about?

[34:20] What are they glorying in in this song? Have you ever checked your music? Have you ever considered it? What's the content of this song?

[34:30] And is it feeding the new man in Christ or is it filling the flesh with the same vain garbage that was taking him to hell? What's the effect?

[34:42] What's the effect of my song? My challenge to us this morning is to submit the music that you listen to to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:55] The Bible says, what would that be in Colossians? I've got to turn to it because I'm mixing two verses up in my mind. I'm just going to turn and read.

[35:07] Hopefully the right one. Okay, so Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

[35:28] And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

[35:41] There's your song and it starts with the word of Christ dwelling in you. That's this book. This gives us the instruction we need in all areas of life.

[35:52] The first song recorded in the Bible teaches us something about what God, the elements of song, what He prepared it for. Singing and music is a glorious, a wonderful thing.

[36:04] It's a universal language. It touches everybody. Let's be careful and cautious that God has our song, that this area of our life is given and surrendered and devoted to Him as well.

[36:21] If God doesn't have your music, Christian, God doesn't have your heart. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Now, I realize that this is kind of very pointed theme and message because this book has just given us a whole lot of stuff.

[36:41] Every message is different from Exodus. Last week was on baptism, today it's on song. And they are related. Imagine that. But before we dismiss and close and go out to our baptism service, I want to mention to you, I don't know everybody here.

[36:59] And because of that, I may never, there's some faces that I see today I may never see again. I may never, you may never come back to this place and be in this church. And there's just one thing I want to convey to you.

[37:11] And please hear me clearly and understand this is kind of stepping away from music and I'm not trying to pump something into your system that you have to come to church and sing out of this book.

[37:24] I don't want to do that to you. What I want to do to you is I want to suggest to you and present to you that if you don't have Jesus Christ as your Savior, that all this talk about music and pleasing God and unto the Lord, that's not going to connect at all.

[37:40] You can't do it. You can't leave here and say, okay, I need to stop listening to the music that has bad lyrics or like talks about drugs or sex and fornication or things that are drinking and worldly or sinful.

[37:53] I need to just clean up my life. You can't do that. You're not going to do that. You need a new man inside of you. You need Jesus Christ inside of you who will teach you and tell you in your mind, this is what I want to hear.

[38:07] This is what I want to sing. Let's glorify God today. Without Jesus Christ in you, you can't glorify God. You can't be a pleasure to your Creator. It's not going to work.

[38:18] You're just going to work and try and try and it's just going to fall short because the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But with Jesus Christ in you, you can glorify God and you can know Him and walk with Him and have communion and fellowship with Him.

[38:37] And I wonder this morning, is there anybody in here that has never received Jesus Christ as their Savior? And if that's you, maybe you're hoping that you'll get to heaven by being good or by coming to church every now and then and, well, you never killed anybody so you're probably a good person after all, right?

[38:56] That's what we think. I've never, you know, knocked over a liquor store. I've never sold drugs to kids at the schoolyard. So, I'm a good person, not bad like those people.

[39:07] But no, in front of a holy God, you're wicked. In front of a holy, pure, clean God, the only thing that's going to stand out is your sin. We don't need to talk about the good things that you've done.

[39:20] We need to talk about the bad things that you have already done because those are the things that need to be cleansed and forgiven in order for you to get to heaven. Let's bow our heads and we're going to be dismissed very soon.

[39:34] And with nobody looking around, would you just kind of bow your head and close your eyes in a moment of privacy for everybody in the room? I want to ask a question and if this fits you, then listen clearly.

[39:47] Please, listen clearly. The question is, as I said already, have you believed on Jesus Christ alone for the salvation of your soul?

[40:01] Have you believed on Christ? What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? Is it church? Is it good works? Is it I'm trying my best?

[40:12] Because I'm here to tell you the Bible says that's not enough. You can't be good enough. You can be your best and it's not good enough. That's why Jesus died.

[40:24] That's why he came and died for your sins. Salvation, forgiveness of sin can be obtained by receiving Jesus Christ in your heart as your Savior.

[40:40] and you do that by faith. You don't do that by works. You believe on him. I wonder, is there anyone here that's never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation?

[40:53] He died for your sins. If you ignore that, you'll go straight to hell in your sins. you need a Savior and you need to be forgiven and God only accepts the sacrifice of his son, not you, not your best.

[41:16] Would you believe on him today if you never have? Today's a great day to get saved. You don't have to get baptized. You can get saved. Better yet, you can receive eternal life today by calling on the name of the Lord.

[41:33] It's simple. You pray and you ask God to save your soul believing on Jesus Christ, believing that he died for your sins and you call on him to be your Savior.

[41:49] You let go of everything else. You let go of your righteousness. righteousness. You were a good girl. You were a good boy. You let go of that and you take Jesus as your Savior because in God's eyes you're not a good girl and you're not a good boy.

[42:09] Would you pray right now to receive the Lord as your Savior? Then Christians, to you, I just address this before we leave.

[42:21] is your song unto the Lord. Are you spending your days filling your mind with the trash and filth and vanity of the world?

[42:33] That's not for you. You're God's now. You belong to him. He's got something better for you. Let go of that garbage.

[42:43] It's got to hold on to me. I can't let go of it. Lay it at the cross. You need some good music to listen to? I can help you with that. I've got loads of good stuff that'll feed your new man and glorify your Father.

[43:05] Lord, before we go, I just want to commit this service to you and pray that you'll move in the hearts of each person here. if anybody here is not saved, oh God, would you show them their need for Calvary and for Christ of Calvary and their need to believe on Jesus alone.

[43:25] Please do the work in someone's heart. Then, Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ that you would have us and have our hearts in this area of song that we'd evaluate what we put in our ears and what gets into our heart and into our mind.

[43:46] Lord, I know we can't get out of this world. We can't rid ourselves from all of its tunes and all of its vain thoughts, but help us to guard our hearts.

[43:59] And I pray, Lord, that somebody here might surrender something over to you today and make a step here to walk closer with you in a way that's pleasing to you.

[44:11] And may Jesus Christ get the glory and the fellowship and the praise that he alone deserves. For it's in his name we pray. Amen.

[44:22] Amen. All right, so those of you who are candidates for baptism, would you sneak out of here and just go get changed? You can use my office or the bathrooms, the ladies' bathrooms, and just do that quickly because we're coming.

[44:34] So go take care of that. And John, what's that song? Would the rest of us let's stand together and we're going to sing in dismissing, we're going to sing verse number one of number 381 in the blue hymnal.

[44:52]  Let's stand. Blue hymnal 381. The question is, is your all on the altar? And let's sing this verse. Let's rise. ط  Com For箱鉄