The Trumpets Of The Lord

Most of you, I'm sure, are aware
of the fact that this letter is written by the Apostle Paul
to the Church at Thessalonica, and these people had been begotten
through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. unto the hope of the gospel. The gospel had been preached
by this brother. He came to them and he bore sound
witness to them of the gospel and the Holy Spirit was pleased
to anoint the preaching and to save a large number of people
in this city. And now the Apostle Paul was
one, of course, who was entirely sold out to the gospel. He was a servant of the Lord. He was a slave of God, and he
was entirely sold out. He was willing to spend and to
be spent for the gospel. And so he ministered the gospel
faithfully among these people, and they were affected by this
gospel to the point where that they turned out. to be a people
that was a people that glorified God, a people that were used
by the Lord to sound out the word of the Lord. Now our text
this morning is in verse 8. We will use several of the verses
here in the context in this first chapter, but I want you to notice
verse 8 and let me read it to you. For from you, far from you,
sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything." Now, I trust this
morning that the Lord would, in a practical way, teach our
hearts some things in this service today, because it is unto your
heart that I preach this morning. I've made mention of the fact
that I aim lower than your heads. I do not intend to preach to
your heads. I cannot preach to men's heads. I wouldn't do them
any good if I could, but to preach to your hearts. And I hope this
morning under God that we would be affected by the word in such
a way that we would desire to imitate these people that were
used of God in Paul's day. Because if there ever was a time,
and I know that it might be a trite statement to make, but if there
ever was a time when the word of the Lord needed to be sounded
out, It is certainly in our day, because there's a famine of the
Word of God in our day. Now, there's many preachers.
There's not a shortage. I don't believe there's a shortage
of preachers so-called, but there is certainly a famine of the
pure Word of God, and there are very few that are sounding out
the Word of the Lord in our day. And so I want us this morning
in the first place, in the beginning, to talk to you and to, if I can,
to identify to you this morning these that were used of God to
trumpet out or to sound out the word of the Lord, to show you
these people, the kind of people they were, And then we want to
talk a little bit about the trumpet that they used. I mean, what
was it that about them? What was the means by which they
sounded out the word of the Lord? And then we want to say a few
words about the need right now for there to be a blast from
the trumpet of those who know the word of God. And then to
say a few words about the fact that we believe that God has
in his time, in our day, that he has called us to be those
that would sound out the word of the Lord right here even in
this very city in which we live. But first of all, let us identify
these people, and using the context here of verse 8, we will attempt
to show you these people, to show you the kind of people they
were. They were used of God to sound out the word of the Lord. Now, first of all, we know in
verse 2 that they were a people for whom the Apostle Paul could
give thanks. He could actually thank God for
these people. Now, I want us to look at this
verse. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention
of you in our prayers. Beloved, this verse of Scripture
tells us a whole lot about these people, these Thessalonian believers. If the Apostle Paul could give
thanks for them, I mean if his heart was moved, this man who
was a man of God, this man who was faithful in his service unto
God, and who was not only faithful in just mouthing the word of
God, but who was a man sorely tested and tried in tribulation
and in distress, a man who knew what it was, I mean, to give
his all in the service of his God, if he could give thanks. And if he could make mention
of these people and offer thanks unto God for them, that said
a whole lot about these people. Because I believe that the Apostle
Paul knew what a real believer was. I believe that he knew what
one was that was a real, true, genuine servant of the living
God. He knew what it took to be a
servant of God and what it took to be a follower of the Lamb.
He knew. And therefore he gave thanks for these people. They
were just that kind of people. Now, this morning, let us think
and try to compare ourselves with these Thessalonian believers.
Are we such a people here that one like the Apostle Paul, if
he was yet among us, and if he was yet calling upon God and
giving thanks unto God for that which he viewed when he looked
at us, when he listened to us preach, when he looked at our
lives and viewed our lives, when he heard the testimony of our
church, Could he give thanks unto God for us? Well, now that's
a sobering question indeed. Could he give thanks unto God?
Could he say, well, I thank you, Lord, that you raised up this
people there in Great Falls. They love you, they love your
word, and they sound out from them the word of the Lord is
sounded out, and I thank you for them. Well, I don't know
whether he could say that or not, but I believe he could.
I believe he could thank God that the word of the Lord is
sounded out from this group, the pure, unadulterated, Word
of the living God preached from this place. Well, we can say
thanks be unto God that he's raised us up at least to preach
his word and we can thank the Lord for that and I believe Paul
would be grateful and would thank God for it. But beloved there
are many things that need to be corrected in our church as
there is and as there was also in the church of the Thessalonians.
They were not a church without spot. They were a church. They
had problems. They had some difficulties. Maybe
we'll mention them as we go along. But nevertheless, they were a
church for which the Apostle Paul could offer thanks unto
God. And I say to you this morning,
there are many, many professed churches in America for which
there could be no thanks offered unto God because there is no
genuine holiness no genuine love for God no genuine separation
from the world no Sounding forth of the pure word of God from
most of the churches so called that we know of in America This
is a sad day in America and I think most of you are aware of that
most of you are aware that in America today that most of the
preachers and And they could very well put a sign out in front
of their building that they are dedicated to the proposition
that the truth of God shall not enter therein. The truth of God
ought to come in that building. It'll not be preached from that
building. But beloved, the Apostle Paul could give thanks for these
people. They loved the Word of God, and it was sounded out from
their church. Now in the second place, we see
in verse 3, Where that he said remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labor of love Patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father Now you see
in this verse of scripture that they were in these people three
cardinal braces faith Hope and love. There was faith working,
there was love laboring, and there was hope enduring in these
people. Yes, they had a living faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says faith without
works is dead being alone. They had a faith that was operative.
They had a faith that was working. They were moved by what they
believed to do something. They were moved by what they
believed to be a servant of God and to labor and to sound out
what they had heard and what they experienced in their own
hearts, faith. And then, of course, they had
love. They had the love of God in their hearts. the sweet love
of God which moved them. I mean it constrained them to
be faithful in the service of the Lord. They loved God first. They loved the Lord. They put
the Lord first in their lives. And then they loved one another.
And they loved the souls of men. And they were faithful to the
souls of men. And so they were in diligent
labor for the Lord. And then they had a hope that
endured. Yes, they did. They believed
the message that came to them and made no difference how difficult
their present was. And you remember they received
the word with much affliction. They had tribulation. Oh, no,
they just didn't have a little bit of a wind that blew now and
then, but they had experienced genuine tribulation, trouble,
real trouble and affliction, but they had an enduring hope.
They had the patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
stayed at the job for all they had to bear and stood at their
post and were faithful unto God and enduring hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Have you felt the power of the
world to come? The power of the word of God
so in your life? Has the hope of God been made to so bless
your soul? Have you so felt God and experienced
the things of God in your life that you can bear up? under the
present circumstances with a hope that just keeps you going on
and staying steadfast and holds you like a vice in your service
unto God or your faithful unto God. Well, these people, that's
the kind of people they were. Little trouble didn't bother
them. Little trouble didn't run them indoors. A little trouble
didn't make them go just as they were to the spiritual hospital. No, they were people active,
healthy in the spirit and useful in the things of God and they
endured. They had a hope that just kept
them stable and kept them going. All right, and then in the next
place we look at verse 4. These were a people, notice what
verse 4 says, knowing Brethren, beloved, your election of God. These were people in the third
place whose election was clear. These were people who knew that
they had been chosen of God, and Paul wasn't ashamed to tell
them, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Now these
were strange people indeed, were they not? They'd be strange if
they lived in our day. A people who knew their election?
A people who knew the doctrine of election? Ah, my friend, there's
not many people today that know their election. Well, the preachers
haven't told them. There's not very many church
members that know that they've been elected of God because the
preachers won't tell them. The preacher will not preach
the doctrine of God's saving grace. Now, you and I, well,
the doctrine of election is precious to us, and sovereign grace is
sweet to our taste. We enjoy hearing about the doctrines
of God's absolute sovereignty. Yes, we do. These people knew
their election. They knew it. Ah, do you know
today? It's a shame now. We know that
armenian preachers As they preach they say well now over the door
in which you enter heaven. It's whosoever will And then
when you get through the doors you look back then you see the
word elect On the door on the other side, but the apostle paul. Thanks be unto god As these thessalonian
believers they were right here in this world. They hadn't gone
on to glory yet knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.
They knew it on this side of the river of death. They knew
it in this world. They knew the doctrine of election
and amazing grace right here in this world. They knew it.
I say to you that this morning it's a crime to withhold the
doctrine of sovereignty from the Lord's people. It's a crime
not to preach elective grace. It's a crime. It's a sin against
God. I know these preachers, they're saying, well, we're not
theologians. We're not theologians. Do you
expect us to know the doctrines of the Bible? I mean, we're not
theologians. Well, it's a time, beloved, when
we must forget. about this foolishness. Preachers
must forget and they ought to leave off this foolishness of
not saying, you know, of saying we're not theologians and get
down to the business of reading their Bible. Get down to the
business of the diligent study of the Word of God so that they
might know what the Bible teaches because we're living in a day
Beloved, if this generation is ever called back to God, if this
generation is ever moved back to the old paths of the gospel
of God's grace, it's going to take more than this bunch of
cheerleading, this bunch of cheerleaders, cheerleaders of a program that
we've got in America today. That's about all they are. They
just cheer, you know, the people on so that the people will keep
on running the machinery of their program. in order that they might
accomplish and build something that would bring to themselves
glory right here in this world. It's going to take more than
that. Beloved, listen. You can just get a Bible. You
say, well, I don't know too much about this doctrine of election.
Well, get a Bible and read it. and meditate upon it, study it.
You can't read through the scriptures without coming face to face with
the God of election and with the truth of elective grace.
It's all through the Bible. Now Paul said in the second book
of Thessalonians, and let me read that to you, 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. But we're bound, he says, to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Preachers say, we can't tell people that. Well, Paul
told these Thessalonian believers that. He told them that God had
from the beginning chosen them to salvation. Not only did he
just tell them that, but their lives proved it, the way they
live and the way they walk with God. It showed that they were
choice, people chosen of God. They were faithful people, obedient
people, but they were the elect of God. They were told that they
were the elect of God. You say, well, I don't know about
this elective business. Well, I'll tell you something.
It's something you ought to look into. It's something you ought
to meditate on, something you ought to study about. Because
I'm here to tell you this morning, that this doctrine is a very
essential and important doctrine in the Bible. It's the most humbling
doctrine in the scriptures, and it's a doctrine that faces everybody
that says that they're a Bible believer. Are you a Bible believer?
You say, well, yes, I'm a Bible believer, but I just don't know
about this doctrine of election. Well, begin to read the Bible
and get on your knees and read the Bible. You say it's uncomfortable
to get on your knees and read the Bible. It may be, but you
better get serious. about discovering the truth,
about the doctrines of God's elective grace. You better get
serious about that. And I think about how uncomfortable
it's going to be to go to hell with this generation of Scripture-twisting
preachers. How uncomfortable that's going
to be. Beloved, listen, it's important that we begin to see
in our hearts that these doctrines that we find on the pages of
the Holy Scriptures are not just there for us to thumb our nose
at. They're doctrines which we must give our hearts to and which
we must give ourselves fully to in order that we might make
the kind of progress and that we might be useful of God in
sounding out the Word of the Lord in our day. I don't believe
that a preacher's worth listening to, now hear me now, I don't
think a preacher's worth listening to that does not believe in the
doctrines of sovereignty. If he don't believe in a sovereign
God, he's got nothing to preach to this generation of fallen
men if he don't believe in God's sovereignty. I've said it before,
I think Calvinists are the only people that's got a word from
the Lord and the only people that have a message from God
that's worth listening to by men in our day. I believe that. I believe with all my heart.
A Calvinist. Well, these people knew their
election. In the first place, they were a people for which
the apostle could give thanks. Secondly, they were a people
in which we have three cardinal graces working, faith, hope,
and love. In the third place, they were
a people that knew. Their election knew they were
elected chosen of God from the beginning now in the next place
I want you to look at verse 5 These people had received the word
of God themselves in much assurance and with much power. That's verse
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in
power and in the holy ghost and in much assurance As you know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake Now these people
had not received the gospel or the message of Paul in word only. Now this is very important. You
cannot expect to get something out of a person that's not in
it. You can't expect to get something out of a church that's not in
it. This people here, they had received the message of God not
in word only. They hadn't just heard from the
preacher. There's a whole lot of people today, they make a
profession and they just hear from the preacher. They just
hear from the evangelist. They just receive the word only. Now, beloved, listen. These people
have received the word of God in power and in the Holy Ghost.
The gospel is only the gospel when it's preached in the power
of the Holy Ghost and when it's received by the Holy Spirit's
work. If a man just hears the word
only, that's not enough. That's not enough. Lots of people
have read the Bible. Lots of people can quote the
Bible. Lots of people have heard over and over and over again
the message of the Bible. But these people had received
the word by the power of the Holy Ghost. And it had reached
their hearts and it affected their souls. They'd been regenerated
by the power of it. They were a changed people. They
were not the same. They were not living as they
were in their sin. They had been delivered. They
had been affected to the very root of their life. Their lives
had been changed by the word. Now this is very important. I
know there are some people who claim identification with the
Word of God and with the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
lives have never been affected. All they have is they just heard,
they received the Word only. That's all. There's been no power
accompanying it. And I'll tell you, listen, if
this generation is ever affected, if this church here is ever effective
in the world in sounding out the Word of the Lord, every one
of us must be affected deeply down to the roots of our lives
by the power of the Holy Ghost, by the Word of God. The Word
of God must be born anew in us and must be so in power in us
that we would have a changed life by it, and then we can go
out and trumpet that word. We can sound it forth once we
felt it and experienced it ourselves. But if all we have is a little
excitement generated by a preacher, if all we have is just a word
from the preacher, that'll never do. We've got to hear from God,
and it's the word from God that affects and moves and changes
and converts the soul of men and women. We've got to hear
from God. Alright, so these people had now the next thing we find
in verse 9 these people really loved and served God in verse
9 listen to it For they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you and how you turn from God Turn to God from
idols to serve the living and the true God These people had
been turned from their idols to serve the living and the true
God Do you know it's a shame? But there are people who are,
you know, you think that maybe idolatry is something of the
past, that there isn't any such thing as idolatry now. But beloved,
there is. There's much idolatry all around
us. John said, my little children,
keep yourselves from idols. There's lots of idols. And there's
lots of people. Now, we know that there is one
God, one true and living God, but not everybody knows that. There's a lot of idolatrous people
in the world. These people were idol worshippers.
These people were given over to an idolatrous life. They were
serving idols. And the gospel came one day.
Paul preached to them, and the power of God gripped their hearts,
and they were turned to God from idols. They were turned away
from idolatry. Now, we know that there are people
in our day, and it puts us to shame, who serve false gods. Some people serve a god of their
own imagination. Some people serve a god, their
preacher's god. Some people serve their religion's
god, and yes they do. in this world today and they
give of themselves, they give of their means and some people
put to shame many a professing believer by the way they give
to their idols and by the way they support idolatry and idolatrous
worship and so on. Put the true people of God to
shame by the way they give of themselves and give of their
means. But beloved, these people were turned from their idols. They really, sure enough, loved
the Lord, and they sure enough served the Lord. They were turned
away from their idols. How about it? How is it with
you? And then that brings us to the last thing that we call
your attention to in our description. These people and that is this
that they were expecting in verse 10 the second coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ they were living in expectancy and Anticipation
of the Lord's coming notice it and to wait for his son from
heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered
us from the wrath to come now the Lord Jesus Christ had delivered
these people from their sins, he had went to the cross, he
had suffered their shame, he had suffered on the cross, cruel
agony, his blood was spilled to wash them from their sins,
and he had been raised from the dead, and he had ascended up
into glory. And they believed he was coming
back, and they lived with the expectancy of the Lord's coming. They so lived with that expectancy
that when some of their members and some of their family died,
their loved ones passed away before the Lord had come, and
he hasn't come yet. Why, they mourned as those who
had no hope, as if these people were cut off. from the coming
and the blessing that would come at the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so Paul wrote to them, you
remember, in this letter and said, Sorrow not, as those who
have no hope. Well, then he said, I wouldn't
have you to be ignorant. Why, he said, the Lord Jesus is coming.
He's coming at the blast of the trumpet, and the dead in Christ's
days shall be raised. And we that are alive and remain,
we shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and
we shall forever be with the Lord. Don't think that just because
a man dies before the Lord comes, that that cuts him off from the
benefits of the Lord's coming. No, the Lord's coming indeed. These people live believing that
the Lord was coming back. And I'll tell you something that'll
put a little fire in your bones, something that'll move you, something
that will, I think, will give you a fuel to run on. is a firm expectancy. of the
Lord Jesus Christ part in the clouds and coming back to this
earth. He's coming. He's coming. He that shall come
will come and will not tarry. He's coming back to this earth. John said, even so come quickly,
Lord Jesus. He's coming. That's still the
hope of the church. And that was the hope of these
people. And that's what I think stood them in good frame. That's
what put them in good form so that they could sound out the
word of the Lord to those around them. All right. And then that
brings us to the second. Division of our message this
morning and that is this let us notice What they use for a
trumpet now, we've said a lot about these people's lives, but
I don't want to in any way Confuse you this morning. I want you
to know what it is that Preaches or sounds out the word of the
Lord now. It's more than just a person's
mouth. I Yes it is. Now I know that
what we say is very important and I know that it's necessary
and I believe it is to lift up our voice like a trumpet and
sound out the word of the Lord. I know that it's important as
the Lord told the prophets to lift up their voice and show
the house of Israel their sins by pointing out to them their
sins and their bad behavior, the wickedness of their ways.
I know it's important to use the mouth But these people, I
want to show you some things this morning. They were examples. They were examples. And the first
thing I call to your attention is this. I think you see that
this was a trading center. And it was a shipping center.
And there was lots of people, lots of people traveling to the
city of Thessalonica and then leaving. And there was a tremendous
message going out from this church. And it just wasn't just the word
of mouth, but it was something else. First of all, there was
some conversions, remarkable conversions, which were taking
place. There was something happening.
I tell you, I really believe that conversions is a tremendous
argument Against the wickedness of our day. I believe genuine
true conversions when men and women are affected to where their
whole lives are changed and men are turned from sin unto God
and when men are brought to genuine repentance and when they hate
the sin they loved before and when their lives are so filled
with the Holiness that when their lives are filled with purity
I believe this Preaches. Holiness has a golden mouth. It does indeed. And these people
were genuine people. There have been remarkable conversions.
Somebody just gets saved in our day. Somebody just gets saved!
Oh, what a testimony it would be. If there was a conversion,
I mean somebody just got saved all over. It's like that little
girl had that dog, name was Rover, and when he died, he died all
over. Well, listen, if somebody just gets saved and gets saved
all over, it would really be a testimony. It really would.
It affects somebody. Well, that's where these people
were, and that was the trumpet. They had been genuinely saved. I mean, saved to the point that
when people looked at their lives, I mean, shook the whole town
and everybody came through. Somehow or other felt the power
of the converting grace of God that had affected and touched
these people, and that was the trumpet. And I'll tell you, listen,
beloved, until we're moved upon, until we're affected by this
grace, that truly converts and changes and saves, we're not
going to affect anybody around us. No, we're not. We're not
going to affect them. But if you've been truly saved,
then that's a platform from which the word of the Lord can be sounded
forth. A genuinely converted life by
their unmistakable, unquestionable character. Their character was
such as glorified God. Look at verse 7. Look at verse
7. So that ye were in samples to
all that believe in Macedonia. Now, belovedly, if even saints.
Now, I know that it's easy maybe for us to be what we might say
a standard to lost people. Because lost people, they have
a very low standard of life, and it wouldn't be too hard maybe
for us to imitate, and maybe it wouldn't be too hard for us
just to, you know, to be maybe a little bit above in our living. Most lost people. And to have
a standard of life that is above theirs. But if even saints of
God are going to imitate us, and if they're going to copy
us, then we had need write with a good hand. We need right with
a good hand. Because listen, these people
here were examples to all. He says here in verse 7, that
believe, you were an example not just to unbelievers, but
you were an example to all that believe. You see that? Are you an example to other believers?
Can they copy your life? I mean, do they get a blessing
out of you in your life? Do they get a blessing as they
watch you and as they hear you, your conversation, do they get
a blessing? I mean, are you an example to
them? This is the platform from which, this is the trumpet. that
these people sounded out the word of life from was an unquestionable,
unmistakable, holy character. Good living, clean living, right
living, Christian living, living that honors and glorifies and
magnifies the holy God of the Bible, which said, Be ye holy,
for I am holy. Your father in heaven is perfect,
be you therefore perfect as your father in heaven. Now that's
the standard. We'll not set it any lower. The
Bible teaches that God's people are to put away, put away and
put off. That's the expressions of the
Bible. The old man with his deeds, holy living, holy character. And then I believe these people
had earnest efforts for the spread of the truth. earnest effort. What I'm saying is that these
people were not half-hearted. They were not half-hearted. They
were not half-heartedly living and half-heartedly preaching,
but no, no, they believed. They, sure enough, really truly
believed what they believed. And when you got around those
people, somehow or other, you come away from them affected
that whether they were right or not, I don't know, but what
they believed, they believed. I know they believed it. I know
they believed it. Couldn't help but be impressed
with that. Ah, we got a lot of wishy-washy people in our day
and time. They got an old spiritual backbone,
and they're half-hearted. Half-hearted about what they
believe. You wouldn't know what they believe if you lived with
them a month. Probably you would suspect that they didn't really
believe anything. if you live around them for a month. But
these people were not half-hearted. They made an earnest effort.
And when you got around them, you were affected. You were affected. And that brings me to say this,
by their faith, that their teaching was made so clear and forcible.
By their faith. Look at verse 8. At the last
part of the verse. He says that in every place your
faith to God would Your faith to Godward is spread abroad so
that we need not to speak anything. Your faith. These people had
faith that their teaching, when they taught, their teaching was
clear. They believed and therefore they
spoke. God help a man who says he believes. Analog speak God help him. I've
talked to some preachers and I talked to him about About the
grace of God. I talked to him about depravity
talk to him about election and The doctrines of God's sovereignty. Oh, we believe that we believe
that we believe that I believe that they'll say I I remember
just as well as if it was yesterday talking to a man in Indiana,
a former pastor of mine, a man who was pastoring the church
in Indiana when I first started attending years ago, back when
I was 16 years old. And I talked to him about these
doctrines of grace because they were in the Bible and he wasn't
preaching them. And he said, oh, I believe that, John, I believe
that. Why don't you preach it? I can't
afford to preach it. Well, I wouldn't have a place
to preach if I preached that. Well, beloved God, help a man
who says, I believe it, but won't preach it. I believe it. These
people had faith Godward, and that's where our faith had better
be. We better quit looking around us and see how it's gonna affect
our situation if we preach the truth We better just look to
God and we better vow that we're going to preach what God's give
us to preach Regardless of how it's gonna affect us our faith
must be God word Can't you see we can't go through the Bible
with a penknife cutting out what we don't like to preach and what
people don't like to hear see Our faith's got to be God's word.
These people, they believed God, and they believed his word, and
they were willing to trust God's truth with God, and preach it
to men, and let God affect men as he would affect them. Preachers,
true preachers of the word of God have no control over how
the truth of God's going to affect men, and we better learn that.
Just preach it to them. Just preach it to them. Now,
that's the obligation we have as preachers. And that's the
way this church had faith. And so they forcibly, clearly
pronounced the word of the Lord, told what they knew and what
they had felt and what they'd heard from God, told it out. Now, that's how simple it is.
Now, that's the means that they used. That's the means. Faith,
holy character, unquestionable character, genuine conversion. These are the voices that speak
loudly. Speak loudly. You got enough
faith just to tell men what God's told you? Got enough faith just
to preach the word? Got enough faith to do that?
Now, we're living in peculiar times. We're living in times
when Baptists And we're Baptists, but we're living in times when
Baptist people, Baptist preachers, will no longer identify. no longer
identify with the truth held to and preached by our Baptist
forefathers. No, no, they won't do it anymore.
They will not. They won't do it. But do we have
enough faith? Oh, you can't go preach what
historical Baptists stood for and believed as to sovereignty
and to grace. You can't preach it. They'll
shut you out of the churches. Do we have enough faith to go
and dig new wells? Do we have enough faith to go
and preach in a tent if we have to? Do we have enough faith to
start some new churches where we can preach the word of God?
Do we have enough faith? That's the only answer, that's
the only solution. Got to quit looking at these people and what
these people are going to do. Because when you preach, I know
what they're going to do. I know what they're going to do. If
you get inside most Baptist churches today and you preach the truth
of God, they're going to run you off. That's what they're
going to do. They're going to drive you out. You're not going to
get a hearing among most of the Baptists of our day. Now I know
what I'm talking about. And so we're going to have to start
looking to God. Our faith has got to be to Godward. And then
as it is Godward, then we can move and we can keep on. And
we can preach but we gotta quit looking around see whether it's
gonna affect this brother or that sister how it's gonna affect
them because if it's gonna affect them now Wrongly, then we're
just gonna have to hold back. No, no, no, no, no faith faith
Moves you to sound for the Word of the Lord that brings me to
the third division and we'll hurry on and that is this That
there's a need now for this kind of of sounding forth. Brethren,
the word of the Lord, now listen to me, the word of the Lord ought
to be sounded out. Why? Number one, because it is
the word of the Lord. It's the word of the Lord. Now,
if it's man's word, then leave it to man, let him do what he
wants to with it, because it comes from a dead source and
it will eventually die. But if it's the word of the Lord,
and it is the word of the Lord, then it ought to be sounded out. There's a need for it to be sounded
out. It's the word of the Lord. Now, the scripture says that
all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of
the grass. And the grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached. Unto you the word
of the Lord it shall endure forever the word of the Lord is forever
settled in heaven The word is gonna read the same in that day
when we stand before God as it reads today It's forever settled
in heaven not gonna be any new revelations coming from God.
God's already said everything He's gonna say to man. He's already
said it we have it right here and the pages of this Bible are
God's message is already, God's last messenger, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has already come down to this earth. In olden times,
God spoke with the mouths of prophets, holy men of God. But in these last days, He's
spoken unto us by His Son. The Lord Jesus is God's last
message unto men. And we need to hear Him. Hear
ye Him! You see what I'm saying to you? If the Word is the Word
of God, then it ought to be proclaimed. If the Word has been given, then
great ought to be the host of them that publish it, that spread
it abroad. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Let them testify of God's word. Let them preach the word
of God. Now it's the word of the Lord, so it ought to be preached
because it's his word. All right, now with many of us,
this is a matter of solemn obligation. Of solemn obligation, I say to
you. Why? Because the word of God has been to us life from
the dead. It's been deliverance out of bondage. It's been food
for our hungry souls. Strength for our weakness. Comfort
for our sorrow. Satisfaction for our hearts.
This is what the word of God's meant to us. And so it's a solemn
obligation with us. The word of the Lord must be
sounded out. We cannot help but sound it forth. The word of God means something
to us. Can ye whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high,
can ye to men benighted the lamp of life deny? Can you? This is the word of the Lord.
Is this not a solemn obligation to us who have felt the word
of God and the power of it? It's affected us, has it not?
It's a solemn obligation. It's got to be sounded forth. We can't live and die in peace
without being used of God to preach the Word. The Word must
be sounded. It's got to be. And this church
is dedicated to sounding it out the best we can. All right. And
then that brings us to this point. This word of the Lord is salvation
to the perishing? It is. I'm trying to show you
how important it is. We must have this word sounded
out. It's salvation to the perishing. I know that God has an elect
people and I know that he's chosen his people and I know he will
have his people but I know that God also has ordained the means
by which those people will become acquainted with him by which
they will be drawn unto him and that is by the word preached
by the word preached I don't think men and women get saved
without hearing The word. How can they believe on him of
whom they've not heard? And how can they hear without
a preacher? And how can they preach except they be sent? That's
Paul's language in Romans chapter 10. The word preached. Preached. God has chosen through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Preaching. I do not
believe that men and women are going to be knocked down by God
out here somewhere in the world apart from the hearing of the
gospel and be brought to salvation. The salvation of our God comes
to men through the preaching of the word. And as we preach
it, heralded forth, the magnet of the gospel draws from the
world, finds the elect sheep of Christ and draws them unto
the Lord. The gospel must be preached.
This word, now I tell you this morning, I really believe with
all my heart that's the reason why the Lord has planted his
churches in the world. These churches are preaching
institutions, that's what they are. They're to be full of life
and power by the Holy Ghost, and they're to be preaching institutions,
everything we do. is to be preaching, sounding
for the Word which is life to the perishing. Word, sounding
it for. Whenever we take the Lord's Supper,
that's a preaching ordinance. Preachers that we believe that
Christ died, we believe His body was broken, that His blood was
shed, and we do it in remembrance of Him until He comes. And then
when we baptize somebody, it's a preaching ordinance. Preachers
that Christ died that he was buried and that God raised him
from the dead which is the facts of the gospel preaching preaching
preaching Preaching this is the word to the perishing and it's
the only word that can give life the only word Peter was to go
down to Cornelius his household and it was told to Cornelius
that he would come down and speak words whereby Him and his household
might be saved might have life Only in this word, brother, this
word, the words that I speak into you, their spirit and their
life, Jesus said. Power to convert in this Word. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. This Word. Life to the perishing. I'm saying to you, we need a
blast from this trumpet today. And if men and women are ever
going to be saved, they've got to hear the Word. They've got
to find out who they are. How they're lost, undone before
God. Sinners. How are you going to
find that out? By the word, brother. By the
word being preached. By the word being declared. And
find out how God saves sinners. How it is that God keeps a man
out of hell. How it is that God reconciles men and women to himself.
How it is that God accepts men and women in his son. That's
all found in the word of the truth of the gospel. That's where
it's found. That's where it's found. We got
to have a blast from this trumpet sounding out the word of the
Lord. All right. That brings me then
to this. This is a time in which the word
of the Lord is much abused. much abused in our day. Some
people say it's lost its power. Some people say it's out of date.
Some people say it's too old-fashioned and it's not relative any longer
to preach the word. Some people say we've got to
have amusement now. Some people say we've got to
have other things. We got to blow the trumpet of amusement
and politics and the trumpet of the social gospel. There's
so many things that we must do now that the old word and the
plain preaching of the word of God is not enough in our day.
I say to you, the word of God is much abused in our day. The
word of the Lord needs to be declared. We need a fresh sound
from the trumpet, the old word, the truth of the word of the
gospel today, because it's being abused. I've made mention of
the fact that. There are preachers that will
not preach the word, that they absolutely will not do it. They
won't do it. And so they'll pick through and
sort through the Bible, and they'll not preach the whole counsel
of God, and no man's able to do it completely and entirely.
But beloved, we can be honest, can't we? We can be honest. I
mean, this is the word of the Lord. Are we going to stand before
God as those who were deceitful? Those who handle the Word of
God deceitfully. Paul speaks of some and said
he wasn't one like that. Paul said, I didn't handle the
Word of God deceitfully. No, sir. In the sight of God. He said, I handled the Word of
God. I preached it. I declared it. That's the business
of a preacher. Declare. Our ministry is a declarative
ministry. It's not one where we choose
and pick what we're to preach. We're not to abuse the Word of
God. Not to abuse it. Preach it! Preach it! Preach
the word! Not abuse it by trying to soften
the message of it or take away from the barbed airs of the message. Proclaim it, brother. Proclaim
it. Preach it. Stand behind it and support it. The word of God has been much
abused. Need a sound on the trumpet. Ah, there's many. Listen to me
now. Sometimes we take for granted. We took it for granted, the preaching
of the word. Brother John Schultz called me, I think it was two
weeks ago, and he was telling me about having attended the
churches in Cody, Wyoming. And he told me, Brother John,
he said, you wouldn't believe it. You wouldn't believe it. He said,
absolutely no substance to anything being said, no message from God,
no word from the Lord, just a bunch of foolishness. Wasting the people's
time. People going to hell with their
eyes wide open. Nobody to preach the word to
them, to sound out the word. The word's being abused in our
day. May God help us. And then that
brings me to say this, that many other voices are clamoring to
be heard today. But whose voice should be heard? Well, it's God's voice. It's
God's voice. It's the word that needs to be
heard. It's the Word. Now, we don't need to invite
the politician in and let him try to give the prodigal son
a better job in a poor country. No, we don't need the politician.
No, we don't need his message. We don't need the social gospel
ears. No, we don't. We hear them all around us, and
we listen to the voices clamoring to be heard. Everybody's got
a solution to man's problem. Just listen, just listen. Solutions. Solutions coming from every direction,
but the only solution to your never-dying soul and the problems,
the problems I say that you and I have are sinners. We're sinners! Not some little salve gonna do
us any good. It's gonna take the regenerating power, converting
power, the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's gonna take the message
of the gospel of redeeming grace to do sinners any good. Lots
of voices clamoring to be heard. People spending money, getting
on the radios, got a message. They got something to say. Sure
they got something to say. I'm just, what I'm trying to
do is just simply trying to show you that there needs to be a
blast from the trumpet. There needs to be a sounding
forth of the Word of God. There's voices, other voices
that are being heard in the land, and the Word needs to be heard,
needs to be proclaimed. Well, that brings me to say this,
the last division is this, that I believe that we're the people
to give forth this sound, that we're the people. Now, I put
you in a position of obligation. to say we're the people, that
God in his providence has put us in a position to where it
now becomes our solemn duty and obligation to sound out this
word. Now, how do I deduce that? Well, I think that we come to
that by seeing that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that
it has been given a commission from God, marching orders. You
can read that in Matthew chapter 28, where the church is to go
and they are to teach. Preach the gospel to every creature
and It says you teach them to observe all things that I've
commanded you and lo I'm with you always Even unto the end
of the age to the winding up of the ages now that those words
are from the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ Those words come
from the mouth of him who said all power Authority is given
to me in heaven and in earth go ye go ye You go. You know, they went to that tomb
that morning and said, the angel said, he's not here. He's risen. He's not here. He's not here. He's not in the tomb any longer.
He's risen. And you and I all believe that. He's risen. Now,
when he arose from the dead, he said, go ye. I've got all
the power in heaven and earth. Death couldn't hold me. Why,
the bonds of death could not hold me. said, I'm alive. Do you believe he's alive? Well,
I believe he's alive. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And he said, go ye. So first of all, I say to you,
I believe we're the people that are to sound forth this word
by virtue of duty that we are the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ called and given authority to proclaim and to preach that
word. And that, I believe, is the work
of the Church to sound forth the word of the Lord. And then,
has God shown the truth to us? Now, a man that hadn't been brought
to the truth, he doesn't have anything to say to this world. He can't sound forth the word
if he don't know the word. Now listen to me, I believe it's
a miracle of God anybody knows the truth in our day and time.
If you get to the truth in our day and time, you're going to
have to wade knee deep, well maybe I should say, bail deep
through the muddy mouth of the heresies of this world to come
to any truth today. I mean heresy is deep. And it's tough to get to the
truth today. Tough. And too many people come
to the truth in our day. Too much heresy. But whenever
a man or woman does come to the truth, when in church God has
been pleased to raise up a church that believes the truth, that
truth has a solemn obligation. That church has a solemn obligation.
That people has a solemn obligation. Those individuals have a solemn
obligation because God's taught you the truth who's made you
to differ. What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if
you've received it, then, of course, you can't glory as if
you had not received it. God has given his truth. If you have
received it, God's given it to you. You could not have understood
it apart from his Spirit enlightening your mind, his Spirit teaching
it to your heart. Truth is learned by God's personal
teaching of his people, taught of God, taught of God. Now, when
we've been taught of God, if we know the truth, then we must
sound it out. Now, I'm showing you how that
I gather that you and I are the people that must sound out the
word. First of all, it's our duty.
God's people must serve the Lord. His mercy, his love for us, his
grace, his kindness, all puts us in debt. We don't owe the
justice of God anything for our salvation. But we're in debt. How much do you owe? Well, you
owe service. That's for sure. You owe this
business of sounding out what you know. Being a witness. Turn
lastly here to a couple of scriptures. Acts. The book of Acts. I'll
show them both to you in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 22
and verse 15. These are verses that apply to the Apostle
Paul, but certainly he's Scripture teaches that he's our example,
and I'm sure that we're to be also these kind of witnesses. In verse 15 of Acts 22, For thou
shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and
heard. Paul knew it wasn't any accident that he had been raised
up, saved on the road to Damascus. And verse 14 speaks of his election. The Father had chosen him. that
he should know the Lord's will and see the just one and hear
the voice of his mouth and that he'd be a witness unto all men
of what he had seen and heard. That's exactly the obligation
you and I have. We must be a witness unto all
men of what we've seen and heard and live with that pressing burden
obligation upon us the rest of our days in this world. We are
witnesses of what we've seen and what we've heard. If you're
elect, chosen of God, the truth's been vouchsafed to you. God would
speak to this world through you. Salvation and service can't be
separated. We've said that before. Can't
be separated. No, no, not in the Bible. Can't
separate it. You've got to be a preacher.
Spread the word. Tell what you know. Tell what
you know. Tell what you felt. Tell what
you've experienced. Tell what the Lord's taught you.
Tell it, be a witness unto all men. Then turn over to Acts 26
and look at verse 22. Acts 26 verse 22, having therefore
obtained help of God, and that's the only way you and I are going
to do it. Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing. Both to the
small and great, saying none other things than those which
the prophets of Moses did say should come. And God help us
if we could say that much. We'd be saying a whole lot to
this generation. We would indeed. Not necessarily have us go out
here now and have a message, sound our own trumpet. No, no,
no, no, no, no. Our own trumpet, no. But sound the trumpet of
the Word. The Word of the Lord. And that's
what Paul said. Paul didn't say, I went out here
and just played my own notes on the trumpet. No, no, no. He
said, I just went out here, he said, I've continued unto this
day witnessing both to the small, those people didn't seem to amount
to anything, the insignificant of the earth, and then to the
great, when I stood in the king's palace, when I stood before Felix.
He said, I just witnessed both to the small and great, saying
no things of those which the prophets and Moses did say should
come. And that's just the word of God.
That's what he's talking about. The word that came from God.
Now that's what we're to witness of. Now I just kind of believe
then that that puts the obligation upon us. And I believe it in
God's providence. I know it's no accident. I know
it's no accident that I'm where I'm at today. I know it's no
accident that you're where you're at. I know the Lord sows his
people where he wants them, and I know it's no accident. I know
the providence of God has raised us up for this hour. We've come
to the kingdom for this purpose, sounding forth the word of the
Lord. I trust this morning that the
Lord has somewhere or another in a practical way, taught our
hearts some things, and that we will be affected by the word
and by the truth of the message this morning, that we will never
be the same again, and that we will not take lightly this business
of preaching, sounding out the word of the Lord, bearing a witness
for the Lord. Not take it lightly. That's the
church's life. Our first business as a church
is to worship. Our second work or great work
is to witness, to preach, to evangelize, testify, speak, sound
forth the word of the Lord. That's the message this morning.
May the Lord be pleased to give you the remembrance of it. May
the Lord affect you with it. not as I would like for you to
be affected, but as he would have you to be affected.

The Trumpets Of The Lord

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The Trumpets Of The Lord

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