There are a good many songs given to us in Old Testament Scripture. This is the first, just as the
Song of Solomon, I suppose, is the last. This is the song of redemption. The Song of Solomon is
the song of reciprocal affection. Both are beautiful in their place. And I think we all should seek
to sing each of those songs. It is our portion.

In this song, which is beautifully simple, and very refreshing to the spirit, God is everything, and
SATISFACTION the result. Even though you and I may have been a good long time on the
wilderness journey, yet we can turn back with joy and gladness to re-echo this song. There are
many here who have just set out on the road, and I want to point out to such how suitable it is
that you should sing. Observe, there was no song in Egypt. You must be out of Egypt before you
can really sing to God. It is not a question of people having the vocal capacity, but the state of
soul which warrants such a song, so you must not “join the choir” until you are saved. Then you
will find yourself in it without joining.

I think it must have been a wonderful thing for God that day, when six hundred thousand men
opened their mouths and sang this beautiful song. Depend upon it heaven listened that morning.
They were very happy that day. They had a right to be. Was it not a beautiful song. It was a
lovely song. And what was there in the song? Veil, mere is a peculiar absence of a great deal that
is found in what you and I are wont to sing. Nine-teen-twentieths of our singing is about
ourselves. This redemption song from first to last is all about the Lord.

But I hear a sorrowful voice saying, I cannot sing, for I am very miserable, and I fear that I am
not converted. You would not be miserable, my dear friend, if you were not converted. If you
were still dead in your sins you would be insensible. Why are you wretched now? Because there
has been an action of God’s Spirit in your soul, and you have had a glance at the value of the
cross, but men, instead of keeping your eye resting on Christ, you have been looking into your
wretched miserable self. If I were you, I would drop all mat, and get into the spirit of mis
beautiful song.

Israel sighed, wept, and groaned in Egypt, but they could not sing. Even in the twelfth chapter
they did not sing. Why? Because they were not in liberty, but the moment they were, out comes
the song. So will it be with you, the moment you learn the fact that the cross, the death, and
resurrection of Christ are for you, and that in His death and resurrection you are dead and risen,
you will not then be able to help singing. The song will burst from your lips spontaneously
without a bit of effort. This gives us the true thought of worship. A religious service will in all
probability be a great deal about ourselves. But that is not worship. Worship is the overflow of a
full heart. No one can worship unless he be in the sense of the liberty of God.

Let us now briefly listen to this new song of redemption. It begins with, "I will sing unto the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously:the horse and his rider hath he thrown Into the sea" (ver.
1). It celebrates His victory. How does it finish? "The Lord shall reign for ever and ever" (ver.
18). It proclaims His glory. This song begins with the sense of the grace and power that has
delivered, but it closes with the glory. It takes us right into the glory. Faith enjoys the salvation

that it has found in the Lord, and faith takes a flying leap right over all the difficulties of the way,
saying, "Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation" (ver. 13). There is faith’s
confidence, that what grace has commenced it will finish. Doubting friend, take up this language,
and let your doubts go. They are the fruit of unbelief. It is Satan diverting the eye from Christ.
You let the eye rest upon Christ, and all your doubts will go, and you will be occupied simply
with God, and with what Christ is.

Note how this chapter opens. "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song," (ver. 1).
Really the state of many a professing Christian to-day would find its expression, not in the word
they "sang," but they "sighed." Oh, my dear friends, I believe our lack of joy is a great sin. It is a
very serious matter, because it is a positive testimony against Christ, to His enemies. Instead of
being a testimony for Him, often times we are a testimony against Him, and a kind of
encouragement to half-hearted sinners to go on with the world. The reason of this poor state is
because our souls are not in the joy of this song. Listen again to the words, "I will sing unto the
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." It is the first out-burst in Scripture of real worship, and
is based on the fact that "He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into
the sea." All the power of the enemy is broken. And if you look back for a moment and see what
is connected with the cross, the death and resurrection of Christ, you will see that the power of
the enemy has been absolutely crushed, and we stand in the victory, deliverance, and acceptance
of Christ. Christ is all. What joy fills the heart when that is seen. What joy filled the heart of the
prodigal when he got the sense of the Father’s love (Luke 15).

There is music and dancing in our chapter (ver. 20), and you have music and dancing in the
fifteenth chapter of Luke. I want you to get into the spirit of the beginning of the chapter. In the
end of the chapter we, find that Israel murmured. It is true that the song of the Exodus 15 did the
away, but did you ever hear of the song of the Luke 15 dying away? "They began to be merry," it
says. And we never hear of it ceasing, and we must live in the spirit of our dispensation.

What is Christianity? It is the knowledge of the Father and the Son, with the Holy Ghost
dwelling in the body of the believer, and setting him up in this scene in the power and spirit of
Christ, that he may live in this scene as the Lord lived. Christianity is the repetition of the life of
Jesus, in the life of the Christian. I cannot therefore allow myself any comfort from this chapter if
I am a bit dejected. No, no! That might be overlooked in dial day, when God was testing the
flesh, as He was, but when I come to the full expression, of the truth of the day we are in, you get
Christ as the pattern,. Did you ever hear Him murmuring? No, never! Even in the darkest day, we
hear Him say, "I thank thee O Father" (Matt. 11:25). Always subject, always obedient, always
peaceful. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). Always joyful is also
our normal state. "These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full" (I John 1:4). Ah,
beloved, we have a perfect pattern in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us follow Him. (To be
continued.)