Making It Clear

When God said to Moses, come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may deliver my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, Moses had an excuse. But Moses said to the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.

Whenever God calls us into his redemptive purpose, along with a new heart, he always also gives us a new tongue. Example, Isaiah. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.

And I said, woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal, which he had taken with tongues from the altar.

And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. Another example, Jeremiah.

We could keep going on, but let's read Jeremiah anyway. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you.

I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. But the Lord said to me, do not say I am only a youth, for to all to whom I send you, you shall go.

And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth.

And the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth. We see exactly the same thing in the New Testament. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributed and resting on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And if it's going to be the word of God coming from our hearts and out across our lips, and not just a more stale religious drivel, we also are going to have to have a new tongue. If it's going to be living water coming from our hearts out of our mouths, water that really quickens and gives life to the people languishing in the desert, then we too are going to have to experience the anointing of the Spirit of God on our tongue, even as they did.

These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues. In Scripture, the symbol for the new tongue from beginning to end is the shofar, the ram's horn trumpet, which was used to call the assembly together, to send the armies of Israel into battle, to signal to the tribes when to move out in formation, when to stop and rest.

It was the blast of a trumpet coming straight out of heaven through which God spoke to the people at Sinai. And it was with a voice that sounded like a trumpet through which Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, called the Apostle John into that revelation vision. And it will be that same trumpet that awakens the dead on the last day.

Why a trumpet? Because a trumpet always commands attention. It cuts through every other sound. You have to listen to it.

So whenever God has some change he's calling for from his people, one way or another, there is the sound of the trumpet, if we only have the sense to recognize it. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people.

When Jesus began his ministry, his very voice was that trumpet, and people recognized it as such. When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. His word was clear, it had power, it had the ring of truth, and it cut right through the legalism and the superstition and the tradition that they were accustomed to hearing, presented as if it were the faith.

And when Jesus passed the trumpet to his followers on the day of Pentecost, they likewise began to speak with new tongues. And they spoke with a wisdom and a power that no one was able to withstand. It was the trumpet.

But what if the trumpet of God has a garbled, muffled, unclear, uncertain sound? What if people don't quite know what we're saying? What if it has the ring of deceit in it somehow? What if it's sounding with the sound of the trumpet of man rather than the trumpet of God? Somebody blowing his own horn and presenting it as if it is the trumpet of God, the voice of God. Now brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? Even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp, if they do not give a distinct note, how will anyone know what is played? And if the trumpet gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if you in a tone utter a speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. Now, if we see this in context, we can see clearly that Paul isn't knocking, speaking in tongues.

He's not against it at all. He says, I would that you spoke in tongues more than, I speak in tongues more than anybody, and I would that you all spoke in tongues. But in the assembly, when it's necessary for people to hear something from God, it has to be clear.

His point is that the word has to be clear, the trumpet has to have a clear note. Now our problem is very similar to what their problem was. All too often the note is not clear.

You know, the trumpet has a squeak and a squawk and there's lots of noise, but nobody quite understands what's being said or how it applies or whether it really has God in it at all. Now there's no reason at all why the word of God burning in our hearts and coming out of our mouths should not be clear. No reason at all why people shouldn't be able to hear what we have to say or observe what we're doing, and the two always have to go together, and know for a fact that in spite of our shortcomings, the trumpet of God is addressing them and calling them to attention.

The trumpet will have a clear sound on our lips and in our lives, first of all, if we move from the place where we're preoccupied with self to the place where we're absorbed and really obsessed with God, just wrapped up in Jesus, aflame with his spirit like that burning bush, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And when he says drink, he means take me in. Take in my word, take in my presence, take in my spirit, fill yourself with me.

What else does it mean to have faith in Jesus but to really absorb his whole person, to be crucified with Christ so that it's no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us? That kind of faith is what he then is referring to when he goes on to say, he who believes in me out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. The trumpet will have a clear sound. God brings us to the place where our self-consciousness, which never seems to leave us, is swallowed up in the consciousness and the praise and the worship of his glory all the time, in the assembly and when we're out in the world, wherever we go, that we're obsessed with God.

To be obsessed with God does not take you out of touch with reality, does not cause you to function poorly on your job. If we're obsessed with God, we are more in touch with reality than ever before. The trumpet will have a clear sound on our lips and in our lives if we exchange the fear of man for the boldness of God.

Stir up the gift that is within you through the laying on of my hands, says Paul to Timothy, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And Timothy wasn't the only one who was inclined to pussyfoot. The boldest of us are tempted to pussyfoot and tiptoe around as soon as the thing that needs to be said or the thing that has to be done is in some way going to jeopardize our own comfort or our own security.

The apostolic saints were forever praying for boldness from God and when they got it, they didn't just have it among themselves. They spoke the word of God with boldness when the building shook and they prayed. But obviously in the book of Acts we see that they went out into the world and with that boldness exposed themselves to rejection, to hatred, to violence and even to death.

And our trumpet will never have anything but a squeak until we, in the name of Jesus, defy the fear of man which so dominates our thinking. And move out into the world with the boldness which God has given us. The trumpet will have a clear sound on our lips when the driving force of our lives is no longer get, but give.

The Son of Man came not to be ministered to, to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. There's no way we can possibly give any kind of authoritative testimony to the Jesus who gives as long as the theme song of our daily lives is get, get, get. Now there's nothing wrong with working for a living, budgeting our money, figuring out some way to get through the hard times or help each other through the hard times but when the big thing in our lives is acquisition, whether it's putting food into our bodies or money into our pockets or things into our houses or whatever we're after, all the time getting.

If this is all we're really living for when it comes down to day after day after day living then the most sensible thing we can do is just put the trumpet aside and leave it be. Because this trumpet belongs to a God who gives. He's only begotten to a Christ who gives us his body for food and his blood for drink.

To a spirit who gives himself to be our life. And the only ones who can truly blow the trumpet with any power have to be those who day after day repent of the get that is inside us all. And yield themselves once again to the heart of God which is forever giving, the God of all mercy.

Be merciful as your father also is merciful. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people. The trumpet is no longer the shofar, the ram's horn. It is now a people who are being raised up by God himself to proclaim Jesus to the world.

A people who in Jesus' name are warning the earth of the coming day of the Lord. We are the trumpet. And it's imperative that the sound we give forth is clear.

May God help us to make whatever changes we have to make in our lives. That the sound of the trumpet coming from us will be more true and more clear. Out there in the world than it has ever been.

That's why God brings us together, we're brought together here not just so we can love each other. But so loving each other we can get out there and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done. And God help us to do it his way and to do it clearly and to do it without fear and to do it consistently.

And to never quit until our job is finished. Let's take some time in prayer. Oh Lord God there are so many voices being raised at this hour.

In so many many ways. So many voices that purport to speak for you. And so many even in Christendom itself which purport to speak for you.

And yet never bring men any closer to your cross Lord Jesus. Grant that those who see the centrality of your cross and resurrection. May be delivered that we if we see that may be delivered from the sin of sitting around and being correct.

And never exposing ourselves to the dangers that are involved. In saying and doing what needs to be said and done that the world might hear.