The Weapons of Our Warfare

Pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. We are to ask the Lord to send his spirit and to attend the preaching of the gospel, making it, that word free course means to run freely. And that's always our hope when we come together, that the spirit of God would bless that old story to our hearts. But here he's encouraging the church in Thessalonica to pray that prayer for another group, because it had run free course with them.

I read that passage because I want us to pray this morning for the services in Canada. Most of you know I was supposed to be there this weekend and Jennifer had unexpected surgery and I stayed behind. I talked to Todd and Gabe who are up there preaching and they've had good services Friday and Saturday and they're meeting right now. And so I want us to pray that the gospel will have free course in Canada as it has here. And I asked Adam and Jeff to preach for me in my absence and they had prepared and so I get to listen to them this morning with you and I'm looking forward to that. I'm thankful for these men. So let's pray together.

Our heavenly father, what great hope we have and knowing that in Christ Jesus, we are free. Free from the curse of the law. Free, Lord, to love thee. Free to worship. Free to come before the throne of grace and find help in our time of need. Lord, what liberty. how hopeful we are that you will enable us once again this morning to stand firm in the liberty wherewith Christ Jesus has made us free.

We thank you for his redemptive work. We thank you for his intercession now before thee. And Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would cause the gospel to have free course in our hearts. And we pray, Lord, for the services in Canada and ask Lord that you would bless Todd and Gabe and bless your sheep and cause them Lord to to hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ. Thank you for Jeff and for Adam. Pray Lord that you would give them liberty and give us ears to hear Lord, we pray for Jennifer this morning and thank you for the. Surgery she had and asked Lord that you would continue to give her strength and recovery in body and in spirit.

We ask it in Christ name, Amen. Jeff, you come please. Good morning, everybody. And please continue to pray for me as I preach. I need that. Could we turn to Numbers chapter 10 for this morning? There's a verse in Numbers chapter 10, verse 9, that was really blessed to me over these last few weeks. I spend a lot of time thinking about the difference between this world and spiritual things and how God's ways are so much higher than ours and different.

This world's kingdom is based on merit and connections and whose arm you can twist, how much weight and money you can throw around. That's how lives and kingdoms are built in this world. But that will disappear. It will be rolled up like a scroll and no place will be found for it one day. And there is a kingdom with foundations whose builder and maker is God. And that will be the eternal kingdom and that will be all that there is. And it will be filled with those who did not earn anything. It will be filled with us. But for now, though, we're in a wilderness, a journey, and it's hard.

We just sang the early dew of morning is passed away at noon. That's because we're in a war. There are principles, forces against us that would have us fall off from our profession of faith. Being a believer is described in the Bible as running a race, walking, fighting, resting, laboring, following, putting to death, stirring up, pressing on, pleasing him who has chosen you to be a soldier, finding all, coming, losing all, and much more. That is the life of a believer. And none of us can do any of those things on our own, even for a second. We can't do those things.

But we have an ordinance forever throughout our generation. Look at verse 8. And they shall be to you for an ordinance forever throughout your generations, what we're about to read about. That means that these are still ours. That has an application to today forever.

God told Moses in this chapter to make two silver trumpets And the sounds that would be heard from those trumpets are everything that the people of Israel would need for journeying, for assembling, and for war. Is there anything else that a believer does other than journey, assemble, and war? You see, the everlasting gospel is the only way that we are saved from our enemies. Let's these two trumpets picture something that was then and is now. It is the gospel, and we hear in it everything we need for our journey. And we're going to focus on verse 9 out of journeying, assembling, and war. We're going to focus on war today. Let's read, starting at verse 1.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver. of a whole peace shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.

When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east part shall go forward. When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be to you for an ordinance forever throughout your generations.

And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies." Our thoughts will focus on verses 9, and I'll be referring to verses 1 and 8 also.

I don't like the sound of a trumpet. It's frightening. It's nerve-wracking. It makes me think that something impending, something bad is about to happen when I hear trumpets. But if I knew what that sound was about and who it was from, I would love it. And that's how it is. The natural man hears the gospel, and it's frightening. It's aggravating. Because rebels don't want mercy and they don't want judgment either, but they know that they will have one. And if that is not enough to turn a natural man away, the thought of laying his life down at the feet of Jesus Christ and following him will.

See, The gospel is an irritating, frightening sound, but when God's child hears the gospel, we hear about God's pity, we hear about His unending love. I love the Lord because when I was His worst enemy, when I was running from Him, He came to me. When He had every right to condemn me, He heard me. When He had every reason not to help me, He helped, and that's what we hear in the gospel.

The lost tremble at these trumpets because they hear of a future judgment. God's people rejoice at them because they hear that the judgment is past. It happened at Calvary. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, but say to the righteous, it shall be well with him. That's what these trumpets sound out. We hear a voice behind us saying, this is the way. Walk in it.

David said in Psalms, I am a stranger in the earth. Hide not thy commandments from me. That was a man who knew that he was in a war. There was an enemy that oppressed him. He needed to hear something from God. Now, to oppress means to hold down, to hold back and keep from being what it could be. And that enemy that oppresses us in verse 9 is our sin. It's our sin. What could be wrong if there was no sin? Every misery comes from sin. If there was no sin, there would be none.

I can think of Times I've spent, time and effort that I've spent doing things that I knew were wrong. And now my sluggishness, and why can I not follow God with that same fervor? Why, in that intentionality, why is it so hard? Why is it easier to follow evil than good?

Let's go to Romans chapter 7. We're going to hear in Romans 7 just why these trumpets are so needed. Romans chapter 7 verse 21. We have new desires toward God as believers and we're oppressed, we're held back by the old man, our old desires sabotaged by our old nature. Verse 21 in Romans chapter 7.

I find then a law. We find ourselves in a war. I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. He finds a law. A law here means an unseen force, a principle that is at work and shaping how things turn out. A principle, a law. He's wanting to follow God.

It's like you ever have the dreams where you're trying to grab at something but you can never grab it. I have those dreams a lot and it's very similar to following God day after day and wanting so much more. This evil that is present with us, though, it does not make verse 22 any less true. He says, I delight in the law of God, and we do after the inward man, the inward man of the heart that God gives. In verse 23, I see another law. in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity, oppression, to the law of sin, which is in my members. It's like gravity. If I have a ball here, it wants to go down.

The only thing holding it up would be me. The only thing keeping us from turning our eyes inward to self and our walk away from God and our affections away from the heavens back to the seen and felt. The only thing keeping us from that is God himself. It wars against the law of God, his word written on our hearts, this law that Paul talked about.

Verse 24, oh, wretched man that I am. This is his response to see how he wants God, and he's held back by the old nature. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? These are the words of a saint in the trenches of war.

Now the next verse though, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Those are the words of a saint who's heard the gospel trumpet. that gives victory over every enemy. Who is he that overcometh, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ?

He breaketh the bow and burneth the chariot in the fire. He does that to the ends of the world, and he is our victory. We're oppressed by our old sin nature, but we want God. We want to know him, obey him genuinely. And that's what God does to make us triumph, the weapon of our warfare, the gospel trumpet.

And we say, I thank God through Jesus Christ, because this wretched man that I am is not the only thing I've got to tell you about. I have a savior. Back to Numbers chapter 10 now, please. In verse 9, in Numbers chapter 10, it says, and if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye, you, you all, shall blow an alarm with the trumpets. Ye shall blow. Who? Look at verse 8. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets. So only Aaron and Moses and his descendants, except God says, we have been made a nation of kings and priests.

We all are priests to God because every believer brings, by faith, brings to God the sacrifice needed. he offers up the sacrifice of praise unto God. That's called the calves of our lips, giving thanks to God. We all are priests, and we do not need another man, mere mortal man, between us and God to help us to God.

See, he's telling us not all are called to preach the gospel, and I do not wish to blur that distinction. But all believers do preach the gospel to each other. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing others in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We do preach to each other. The priests, each priest blows these trumpets.

And I am so sorry for the times that I have sat here and listened to a message And I stood up when it was done, and the first person I talked to, I talked about anything but the gospel. I wasn't blowing the trumpet with the other priests like I should have. I wasn't being a part of what God says, save us from our enemies.

Let's go to, quickly, let's go to Malachi chapter 3, verse 16. This is priests blowing the gospel trumpet with each other, to each other, being saved from their enemies, remembered by God. Malachi chapter 3, verse 16, this verse has been so precious to me.

Then, after all the wickedness going on that God has just been describing, There's this. Then they that feared the Lord, verse 16, spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them.

As a man spareth his son that serveth him. These are priests blowing the trumpet. This is how we're saved from our enemies. When we go to war against the enemy of lukewarmness and apathy, which I am Frequently, I am only saved by priests blowing the trumpet and hearing the message of deliverance and God moving in pity and remembering me, as it says in our text, saving me. This weapon is used by all believers, back in Numbers. And he says, all believers, the sons of Aaron, the priests, all believers shall blow an alarm with the trumpets. Go to verse two. In this same chapter, I just want to look at these trumpets real quick. They tell us so much about the gospel.

In verse two, God says to Moses, make thee two trumpets of silver. Of a whole piece shalt thou make them. that they made, yeah, so two trumpets of silver is what they're blowing with, of a whole piece. It's not saying make two trumpets out of two pieces of silver, it's saying make two trumpets out of one block of silver.

Remember, this is an ordinance forever throughout our generation, and there is one made out of two right here. The Bible is two testaments with one testimony. And it's all about one who is more precious than silver and gold, the cornerstone, the solid rock, Jesus Christ. It's of a whole piece. In verse two, of a whole piece shalt thou make them. I love that because the gospel is one.

It is a continuous revelation of one man, the God-man, Jesus Christ. God gave more light to Noah than to Adam. and he gave more light to David than he gave to Noah. But Adam was saved the exact same way than the very last person who ever will be saved. And every prophet wrote about the one man.

See the gospel sounded out by these trumpets, just like those trumpets were made of a piece, the gospel is of a piece. There's nothing missing. Scripture tells us of salvation by Jesus Christ from start to end. The Bible starts with God shedding light by the power of his word on this earth.

He said it was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep just like us. But God said, let there be light. And he saw that that light was good and that light was him. He hadn't made the sun yet. That light was Him, He that comes and lights every man that cometh into the world, Jesus Christ.

That's where the Bible starts. That outside of His Son is only darkness. And the scriptures end with paradise. It says, there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, because the Lord God giveth them light. He is the light. And the spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that heareth come.

Of a peace means, well, Unless I'm misreading this, of a piece means that it was forged. Moses was told to forge these trumpets. A forging is stronger than any other way to process metal because the grain direction stays going in the same direction. The crystalline structure of the metal is lined up. It does not get going every which way and make it weaker. Forging is stronger.

And all of the scriptures point the same way to the same man. All the scriptures are the word of Christ. They're about Christ, and he is the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. See, we are in a war in our land against the enemy that oppresses us. But God has given this gospel trumpet, and it's all of one piece. Another enemy. impatience, unbelief, but we hear that gospel trumpet blown by the priests, and we were remembered by our God, and we're saved from our enemies. The gospel is of a peace because of God's faithfulness.

What God says will happen, will happen, and he could not have the scriptures be of a peace If he was not in complete control of every event that happens, every page is a supernatural testimony of what God has done. For example, in Psalm 22, 18, a prophecy about the crucifixion, Christ says, they part my garments and they cast lots upon my vesture. In Matthew 27, 35, 700 years later, it says, and they crucified him. and they parted his garments, casting lots. That it might be fulfilled that was written by the prophet, they parted my garments, and upon my vesture did they cast lots."

It's of a peace. What God says will happen is exactly what will happen. It was as if those men crucifying him were reading from a script. It was like they had the Old Testament right there. What should we do now? It says part his garments. That's God. He can make a perfect, perfect revelation of himself, no problem. It's of a piece, this gospel, because it's without error, completely. Every page is supernatural, God-breathed scripture.

I was looking in a used bookstore not long ago, and there was a book by a professing atheist who wanted to tell us the contradictions that he found in the Bible. The format was very simple. The book was this thick. And he filled it full of things that he believed were contradictions in the Bible. Here is one. I remember this.

He says the Bible must be false because in Isaiah chapter 53, it says that Jesus Christ shall not cry nor lift up his voice. And in John chapter 7, it starts with, and in the last day of the feast, Jesus cried. Therefore, there is no God and the Bible's false.

This is what men pride themselves on. But we know it's of a piece. That's not very hard to figure out. That's not a contradiction at all. The Bible is hard, impossible to understand for a man who doesn't want to. Only for a man who doesn't want to, that's the only problem.

But God has given us a revelation of himself that fits together. I do not want to make it sound dry and boring like a textbook. We do not enter God's kingdom by logic. and reasoning, but once we're in his kingdom, we can see, actually, this fits together pretty well. God has given us a perfect revelation of himself that can be reasoned from. We can build an idea of how God is, how he has done things from what he says, and we can know it. We can know it for sure.

And I love that I don't need to look outside the Bible in order to learn how to read the Bible. The scriptures come with its own guide. The scriptures tell us how to read scripture. They teach us how to read scripture. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

We come to a verse that we don't understand and we first can think of all the things that it does not mean by calling to mind other verses that would rule out any possible explanation. That's because it's of a piece. We go to battle against the enemy in our land of just not knowing what to do, how to do it. And that's a bad one for me. To be anxious and fretting and not knowing how to do something you want to do is a playground for the devil, I'm sure.

But I'm saved. I'm remembered by my God. I'm saved when this gospel trumpet is blown because I remember that no matter what I don't know, I can know this. And that's what these trumpets tell me. This is all of a piece, and I can know what God says. I can know we have everything we need in the Bible to be saved and to walk pleasing to God. What more do we need? Could we go to 1 Timothy, please? 1 Timothy chapter three. I'll read these verses really quickly to show you how this gospel trumpet that we love to hear is all of a piece.

1 Timothy 3, starting in verse 14, but continue, endure hardness as a good soldier in the things which thou has learned and has been assured of, the need of salvation that you learned of. your Savior's obedience unto death that you've been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. I used to think that verse 16 was saying that on one page you will find something that is profitable for doctrine. If you flip over, you will find something profitable for reproof.

And so on. That's not what it is saying. It's saying that every single verse in the Bible is profitable for each one of those things. And if it's not, it's only because of a lack of light on our part. The house of God, the one place where all revealed truth is, in the church right here, is where scripture is read and heard, This gospel is of a peace. I was at the wrong place. I said 1 Timothy. I meant 2 Timothy. I'm sorry. But now go to 1 Timothy, chapter 3. Or 2 Timothy, chapter 3. I'm going to read it. I'm sorry.

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Here's the trumpet. Here's what they say. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." That is the message of these trumpets. And verse 15, the house of God, the church, is the one place where this truth is sounded out.

This weapon of our warfare, the trumpet of the gospel, is the only salvation from our enemies because it is without controversy. Without controversy. If a weapon came from us, it would be controverted, it could be argued with, it would return void. God's word is none of that. It will stand.

Like sound waves from those trumpets, the gospel goes up as easily as it goes down. It will take down proud Saul off of his horse as easily as it clothes and puts in his right mind that gathering demoniac walking in the graveyards. This joyful sound reaches up to pluck the proud. down out of his tower, those who glory in their flesh, and their fear of God is taught by the precepts of men, and God is able to take their rotten hopes away. It could be quick, in a second, like the walls of Jericho falling flat. or it might be a longer process.

I think of roots of a large tree that grow under a sidewalk and slowly buckle and crack that concrete. The mustard seed of God's gospel only gets bigger and nothing can stop it. That Gadarene man, he lived in a graveyard, cut himself. They tried to put him on a leash, but he broke it. He represents men who are so openly wicked, they know judgment is coming, and they just hate God.

That's all. I know people like that. Or the gospel can go up to get us all, like I said. It doesn't matter. Let's go to Luke chapter 14. The expanse of this gospel message coming out It is a blessing to think of gospel preaching as men blowing a trumpet. Luke chapter 14, start in verse 16. Then said he unto him, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. and sent his servant at suppertime to say to them that were bidden, come, for all things are now ready.

He has led captivity captive. This gospel is of a piece. We don't need to bring anything to make it a whole piece. It already is. So he can say, all things are now ready. That's the only way we can be saved from our enemies. I think of, well, we've seen this lately, When there's about to be a war, it takes about a month just to get everybody and everything to the front lines. But our weapon stays with us.

Thy word have I hid in my heart." Verse 18. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I pray thee, have me excused. Another man said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee, have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore, I cannot come.

Well, the joyful sound of this gospel went up to them, but they didn't see a need of it. That doesn't mean the gospel didn't go to them, though. And now the gospel goes down, though, in our parable here in Luke 14, down to those who don't trust in their own weapons. Let's read.

So the servant came and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. Bring in the poor who have no way to pay their debt to God. And bring in the maimed, those who have had a devastating, disfiguring injury. Was not the image of God ruined in us in the fall? We are maimed. And bring in the halt to my house to hear this trumpet The halt is those who know where they want to go, but they don't know how to get there. And bring in the blind. Bring people who can't see God. Have them here.

Verse 22, as in the servant said, Lord, he went and did this. Lord, it is done as thou has commanded. Of course, it's done as God has commanded. It can't be otherwise. The Word of God is not bound. And yet, there is room because these trumpets are still blowing right now.

This message that saves us is the message of redemption by blood being bought out of slavery and out of hell by the blood of another man. This gospel message is that all we like sheep have gone astray and we've turned to their own way. And the Lord God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The weight and the impending judgment, the anger of God was taken off of us and put on to Jesus Christ and now it is gone. When believers, when us priests sound that message, that is the only salvation from the enemy that oppresses us, that this was a man who is God and he was born to die.

And then, as says our text back in Numbers, like it says, when that message is sounded out, Then you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. It says God will remember us, but he didn't forget us, we know. It's no different than when God said he remembered Noah. God remembers us.

That's speaking of Christ's intercession, Christ's mediator, mediating for us. He is at God's right hand right now. He is our representative with whom God is well pleased. And when God looks at us, when he remembers us, it's because his son is there at his right hand, having completed the work.

He's our representative, and he is the firstborn from the dead, and we are joint heirs with him. His blessings are our blessings, because he is our older brother, as the scripture says. We have the same father, God. So he is our older brother, and we are joint heirs together with him. His blessing is our blessing, and God, The Father has Jesus Christ at his right hand praying for us right now. It says, if we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, how much more shall we be saved from our enemies that oppress us by his life of intercession at God's right hand?

He says, Father, I died for him. And if that enemy gets the victory over him at last, And it'll be like my death was for nothing. Lord, you gave them me. How can you not also freely give them everything along with me, like victory over their sin? I don't know if these things are spoken in heaven or not, but I know that Jesus Christ being there is enough. I know that. We'll be remembered before our God and saved.

Really quickly, to fill out the sense of what that means, go to Psalm 80. Go to Psalm 80. I just want to read this. Psalm 80. When this gospel trumpet is sounded out, we are remembered before the Lord our God and saved from our enemies. Psalm 80, verse 17. This is David's prayer to God the Father.

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself, the branch, the son of David. And if you do that, Father, if you do that, so will not we go back from thee. That's the only way that will not go back from you. If you let your hand be upon him, Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts. Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. If your hand is upon the man of your right hand, Jesus Christ, we'll be remembered before our God."

Well, we don't have a lot to do. There's nothing we can do to battle our sin. We wake up and really the problems that you had yesterday are going to be your problems the next day. There's not a lot we can do, but we have this trumpet and it's the gospel. Here you go.

The Weapons of Our Warfare

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The Weapons of Our Warfare

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