THE GOSPEL TRUMPET


A. "BLOW THE TRUMPET IN ZION" - JOEL 2:15-17
  1. If ever there was a time in the history of the church when the trumpet should be sounded, it is now:
    1. "Sound an alarm"
    2. "Sanctify a fast"
    3. "Call a solemn assembly"
  2. Thus the messengers of the Lord have their work cut out for them:
    1. There is among God's people a need for an awakening
    2. Focusing the attention of God's people to the imminent danger facing God's people - Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 2:1-3
B. THE GOSPEL TRUMPET
  1. The trumpeters:
    1. In Numbers 10:8 they are the sons of Aaron
    2. The trumpets were made of silver to give a clear or distinct sound
    3. The gospel trumpet is no harsh or uncertain sound, when sounded with a loving and God-guided heart
    4. In Ezekiel 33:6 the trumpeter is a watchman, a messenger of the Lord - the priest of the Lord
    5. It is the messenger of truth that stands on the walls of Zion keeping watch over the church of the living God - Is. 21:11-12; Ezek.. 3:17-20
  2. The use of the trumpet:
    1. It was blown over the burnt offerings Num. 10:10; this was to be a day of gladness and rejoicing for the congregation of the Lord
    2. Said the Psalmist, "Blessed are the people who know the festival shout" - Ps. 89:15 (R.V.)
    3. It was blown at the anointing of a king - 2 Kings 9:13
    4. It is the joyous sound of the crucified One now crowned with glory and honor that is what Peter did - Acts 10:38-40
    5. It was blown before the ark of the covenant - I Chron. 15:24; the Lord appeared upon the mercy seat and the joy of His presence was trumpeted
    6. Let the watchmen of Zion sound the glorious new, "Behold thy king cometh" - Matt. 21:5
C. A TIMELY MESSAGE FOR GOD'S REMNANT PEOPLE
  1. We are living in unusual times marked by events which stagger the imagination:
    1. Says the prophet Isaiah, "Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people" - Is. 60:1-2
    2. Writes the apostle, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" - 2 Tim. 3:1-3
    3. "For when they shall say peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child" - I Thess.. 5:1-5
  2. The church of the living God finds itself in the Laodicean condition: - Rev. 3:14-18
    1. God's people have an erroneous conception of their spiritual condition
    2. "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing" - Rev. 3:17
    3. "And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable and poor and blind, and naked" - Rev. 3:17
    4. Surely such a condition in the last days warrants the sounding of the trumpet of the Lord in Zion
    5. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet" - Is. 58:1-2
    6. The seeming delay of the second coming of the Lord has made God's remnant people sleepy and unconscious of its unpreparedness for the closing events in the history of the world - Matt. 25:1-12
  3. A trumpet call for a revival and a reformation among God's people is very much needed:
    1. Said the true witness, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire"
    2. "And white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
    3. "And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see"
  4. This is the work of the Lord that must be done not tomorrow nor next week, nor next month but now:
    1. The hour is late, very late - Rom. 13:11-13 and we, the ministers of the gospel, have a special duty to the Lord and to the church


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