We're turning tonight to Numbers chapter 10. The Old Testament book of Numbers and chapter 10. We're beginning to apply the regulative principle of worship tonight to an issue or two. Numbers chapter 10, we read the first 10 verses. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver, of a whole piece 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 one trumpet, Then the princes, which are the heads of thousands, of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie toward 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, ye shall blow, but ye 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 ye go to war in your land against an enemy that oppresseth you, Then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpet, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Also, in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, Ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, that they may be for you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God. Amen. And God will bless the reading from his inspired word. What is the Bible? That is the most neglected, misunderstood teaching among evangelical Christians today. No one wants to know about that doctrine. What is the Bible? The Bible is the Word of God. It is all God's Word, every word of it. And therefore, it is sufficient The Bible doesn't need supplemented by adding human ideas to it. It is God's Word, and He doesn't need our help. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, is the cry of the Reformation, both past and present. Scripture alone is the authority in the Church of Christ. Not scripture plus traditions or the ideas of men. Not scripture plus my personal taste. Not scripture plus whatever works and gets people in. No. Scripture alone is the authority in the Church of Christ. The Bible is in charge. of the Church of Christ, it is our rule of faith and practice. And just because something is not forbidden in the Bible does not mean that it's okay for worship on Sunday. No. That something is not forbidden is not enough. because archery is not forbidden in church worship. Pizza-eating competitions are not forbidden, but they're still not to be integrated as a part of worship, because the cause something is not forbidden is not enough. The question is, does God command it in worship? Does the Bible tell us to do it? Because the Bible not only forbids things, it's not just a negative book, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, but the Bible also has positive commands. It tells us what not to do and what we should do positively. Now evangelical churches today, and I'm speaking generally, have forgotten and neglected the fact that the Scripture should rule and guide the church in practice. Oh no, say evangelicals. Scripture plus tradition. I gave you examples last week, didn't I? Of traditions. The ideas of men that evangelicals have added to Scripture and they're now a part of worship. Oh no, Scripture plus what I think. Human reason. Scripture plus what I feel. Oh, but I just feel that it's so nice. Scripture plus personal taste. Scripture plus does it work? Does it get people in? Well, then it must be right. Nonsense. Always adding human tastes, opinions, human ideas and techniques to Scripture. Why do evangelicals do that today in the Western world? Because ultimately the majority of so-called evangelical Christians do not believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. They have to add their own wee supplements. And that's why, as I preached last week, we need a new reformation. A reformation from Protestant tradition. A reformation from the liberal ideas. A reformation from the feeling, taste dominated church. A reformation from pragmatism. Does it work? A reformation from the shallow evangelicalism. We need a new reformation from all these things. From those to Scripture alone. We need to get back to the Bible. That's what I'm saying. No more questions. Do I like it? Have we always done it that way? How do I feel about it? Or does it work? No, no more of that. Does God want it? According to the Bible. That's the question. Now tonight, I want to come to some practical application I could call it pungent practical application of what we have said so far as I preach now to you on the subject for six weeks on Sunday nights and you are now all in agreement who have listened that the Bible is the Word of God We all agree that all of the Bible is the Word of God. We are all in agreement that the Bible is sufficient. It contains everything God wants us to know for faith and practice. We are all in agreement that just because something is not forbidden is not enough. Doesn't make it valid to bring it into church. We're in agreement, so the scripture alone is the authority. We're in agreement that we shouldn't go on our feelings, our thoughts, our opinions, our tastes, or our tradition. We're all agreed on that. Now, how does this work out in practice, in controversial areas that cut across our taste, our opinion, and what we're used to. It's OK me talking about Archbishop Harper, isn't it? And saying, well, he says this and that's wrong in his practice. It's OK talking about that because that's disconnected from us in many ways. But how does it work out now if we agree with all these principles? How does it work out in practice and controversial areas in our life, in our church? There are many areas I could apply this regulative principle of worship to. Doctrine, scriptural authority. I could apply it to women ministers. Should that happen? Nope. I could apply the regulative principle of worship to drama. Should drama ever be allowed in a church service? My answer would be certainly not. Because you need to give me positive biblical evidence where the New Testament church did it. where God wants it, where he commands it. What about puppets? We could apply it to the area of puppets on Sundays. I've seen that in churches and some of you have too. Where does God command this? He doesn't. It's a lot of nonsense. It's entertainment and it should never be introduced into worship. It's an idea of men who do not believe in the sufficiency of scripture. We could apply it to the area of watching sport during the Sunday morning service as an act of worship, the World Cup, as I referred to a local church doing. Or I could apply the regulative principle to music. The darling, the God with a small g, of modern evangelicalism. I'm going to give you three things tonight. The first two are laying the foundation, and the third point is applying the regulative principle of worship. Number one, there's such a thing as a personal taste, way of thinking. Immediately, I mention any of these subjects. Women ministers, drama, puppets, watching sport and church, or musical accompaniment to singing. Immediately I mention any of these issues, that I'm going to apply a regulative principle to it, many Christians will immediately think, oh, you know, the pastor, he doesn't like women ministers. The pastor doesn't like drama. The pastor doesn't like music. The pastor doesn't like puppets and he doesn't like sport. Because he's mentioned all those things. Immediately people, when you mention a list like that, immediately they make the issue a personal taste thing. That's what they do immediately. And that's very sad. Because if I am against drama in church, simply because I don't personally like drama, isn't it very funny then? I love to sit at home and watch a good DVD, because that's drama. A good movie is drama, because I do like drama. I thoroughly enjoyed many years ago when I worked with the London City Mission, my parents came over for a weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed on a Friday night they took me to the theatre in London and we watched Phantom of the Opera. Now that's a drama, that's a play. I like drama. I do like drama but Just because I like drama does not mean drama is worship of God on Sunday, or should be introduced there, does it? I like it, therefore let's do it on Sunday in church. No. Because personal taste does not govern the Church of Christ. The Bible does. And whether I like drama or not, if it's not commanded in the Bible for the New Covenant Church, then it is not a part of worship. We see the pastor, he doesn't like music. He doesn't. Isn't that strange how a few years ago, round about Christmas time, my wife bought me six CDs of classical music. Isn't that strange if I don't like music? I've heard people saying that, he doesn't like music. Well isn't it so strange I get CDs of music for presents then? And I've lots of tapes in the study of classical music. even the soundtrack to the film Titanic and the classical music of the soundtrack Last of the Mohicans. I love the music. I think it's great. Why, if I don't like music, did I spend years being taught by my brother how to play the bass guitar? I can play it. I do like music. But just because I like music does not mean music should automatically therefore be a part of worship. My dislike or like is irrelevant. What saith the New Testament? What about puppets? He doesn't like puppets. That's nonsense. Aren't Punch and Judy great? I used to watch them when I was small at the beaches. And Emu, and The Muppet Show, and Sesame Street. How come I like those things if I don't like puppets? You see, it doesn't matter what you or I like. Our likes and our dislikes do not determine what should be done as worship in church. Worship in church is nothing to do with our personal taste, because worship in church is not for us. Worship is for God. Not what we like, what He wants. Worship is God-ward, not man-centered, and man-centered worship is the curse of the evangelical church today. They've forgotten what God wants. And just because I like puppets, or liked them when I was small, does not mean they're okay in the morning service. Sure it doesn't. Because human tastes do not determine what should be done in worship. That's a secondary source of authority if human tastes determine that. Personal taste does not govern the church, the Bible does. So let's get away, right at the beginning, because I'm only starting to apply tonight, and we'll be applying this and going to various scripture passages for the next two months more than likely, at least. Let's get away from thinking personal tastes and opinions all the time. You and I may like many things in our lives, in our homes, and we're allowed to like them. But that does not mean we should do them on Sundays as worship. Our tastes and our opinions are not the measure. God's word is the measure. Sola Scriptura. Now let me take the most controversial issue of all. The one that no one ever Preach is on across the board. Let me take the most controversial issue, music in church. Let me take that issue. I remember in the past I had been afraid to preach on this. I preached on it in the year 2007. I had been studying it and coming to see very clearly. It would be easy to be afraid to speak and apply it to certain things like music, you know. because I'm quite aware that on this subject the vast majority of evangelical Christians today believe the complete opposite of what I believe. I'm preaching on this subject now because I have been asked to, requested to, by the membership of this church. I'm not preaching on it to be controversial, There's nothing controversial in the Bible. All controversy is in the stubbornness of the human will and not submitting to the Bible. The Bible is God's word. I'm not preaching in this scripture the subject to be offensive. I don't want anyone to be offended. But because I have and I certainly have now changed what I believe through reading the Bible over the last number of years. I want to teach you what I see the scripture saying, the big picture. That's my job as a teaching elder. That's the first point. Second one. Let me tell you a little bit about my history before we start up this application. I was brought up in a traditional church. a church where we had the organ playing on Sunday mornings along with our hymns, and then in the evening it was organ and piano. I grew up with that, I thought, that's right, that's good. And then I liked guitars, and I attended rock concerts in my younger day, secular and Christian rock bands. There was a Christian rock band called Striper. You've probably never heard of them, but they were the big one at that time. Heavy rock Christian bands, as it were. And eventually, with attending Bon Jovi and ACDC and different things like that, and then going to the Christian rock bands, I came to see, you know, there's no difference. No difference between the so-called Christian ones and those that aren't, apart from perhaps the swear words. No difference between the world And this Christian rock music, Christian in inverted commas, the dress, the poses, the instruments, the music, the rhythm, the pride, the showing off, the self-projection, the showmanship, all the worldliness is precisely the same. And then as I've grown up, I started to see this, which I went to concerts to see, coming into churches in the last 15-20 years. It started to arise on Sundays, this type of thing. And I started looking for a scriptural argument, looking in the Bible. What was I looking for? I wanted to find an argument that said, It's okay to play the organ and the piano, but you have to rule out these other instruments, electric guitars and all that type of thing, and drums. I wanted to look for a scriptural argument to limit certain musical instruments to worship. And I studied that for well over a year when I was in Lunt City Mission. And I found no convincing argument at all. that limits musical accompaniment to just some instruments and not others. Then after that, after going through three years of Bible college, I really discovered what I should have discovered and been taught from when I was a teenager brought up in church, but it was never, never, never, never, never mentioned all the way through, I began to discover scripture should regulate the church. The regulative principle of worship, as the Puritans called it. And I began to discover, you know, it's not just in forbidding things, But the Bible commands what we are to do. And I started asking the question then, does God command this? And I applied the regular principle of the New Testament to the New Testament for the New Testament church, which is today's church. And I have now come to the conclusion I find no evidence whatsoever for music in worship. None. Zero. Under the New Testament, under the New Covenant. Let me give you the scriptural argument. What I'm doing now is giving you the general application which we will go into exhaustively in future weeks. And we'll go to all the passages that people bring up for excuses. What about Psalm 149? We'll go to them all in weeks ahead. Let me give you the principle, which is my third point. Music in Scripture. I'm going to do this very simply. If you want more detail, keep coming next few Sunday nights, because you want to get more detail. But let me give you the basics. Let's take firstly, under the third point, sub-point A. Music and instruments in the Old Testament. As a nation, Israel had lots of musical instruments. Never make that mistake in thinking there weren't many. There were a multitude of musical instruments. that Israel had as a nation in the Old Testament. Which instruments were used in worship in the tabernacle and temple? That's what's more important, isn't it? Did you know that there were only four musical instruments were ever used in the whole Old Testament in the tabernacle or temple? The musical instruments that were used were strictly limited. The first musical instrument you will see connected with tabernacle worship is in Numbers chapter 10 verses 1 and 2. And I read to you the passage. Silver trumpets. God commanded Moses to make two silver trumpets. Did you know that these two silver trumpets were the only musical instrument that was ever used in the whole tabernacle period? No others. The musical instruments that were the two trumpets, did Moses just think it was a good idea to bring that into tabernacle worship? No. They were commanded by God. He didn't just decide, I wonder what will bring in the users. No, commanded positively by God. You see that in verse 2 of Numbers chapter 10. You notice also when they were to be used the gathering of the tribes, the moving out to war, setting up camp. It was like military trumpets almost. The only time they were ever used in worship was never as musical accompaniment to singing. But you find in Numbers 10 verse 10, the blow the trumpets at your solemn feasts over your burnt offerings, over your sacrifices and peace offerings. You see that? Do you see that these two trumpets are intimately connected with the sacrificial system, the ceremonial law? When else were they ever used in worship? Never. Only connected with sacrifices and over the peace offerings and sin offerings. So, musical instruments in the Old Testament, in the time of the tabernacle, just the one musical instrument, trumpets. Secondly, you'll find in 2 Chronicles chapter 29, verses 25 and 27, this passage refers to David, King David. It actually refers after King David, it's referring back to King David. King David brought in three more musical instruments to temple worship. Only three. The cymbals, the harps and the lyres. L-Y-R-E-S. Now, I want you to note that according to 2 Chronicles 29, the cymbals, the harps and the lyres also David didn't just decide, I think we'll add some more musical instruments to help the worship in the temple. But these instruments were specifically commanded by God. It wasn't up to humans to decide. They were commanded by God. Second Chronicles 29, 25 to 27. This is Hezekiah referring back to David. He said, by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. And Hezekiah commanded to offer a burnt offering on the altar, and the burnt offering began, and the song of the Lord began, and also the trumpets and the instruments ordained by David, king of Israel." The instruments were specifically commanded by God. So for the whole of the Old Testament, in other words, there were only four musical instruments that were ever used in the tabernacle or temple. They were commanded by God and they were always associated with Israel's worship in their feasts and their sacrificial system. They are connected with the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. What I also want you to note about musical instruments in the Old Testament is who played them and when. Again, this is strictly limited. David didn't just look around, or Moses didn't look around and say, oh, there's the young people. Let them play musical instruments to hold on to the young people. No, no, hang on a minute. Who played them? is strictly limited. Numbers chapter 10 verse 8, And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be to you for an ordinance forever through your generations. The Aaronic priesthood were the only ones you will find were allowed to blow the trumpets, no one else. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 29 verses 25 to 27 you see the same thing. The Levites, he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with the cymbals and psalteries and harps according to the commandment of David, God the king seer, for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets. the Levites only. They were the people who looked after the physical goings-on of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple, the Levitical priesthood. And when did they use these instruments? At the sacrifices of burnt offerings. That's when you can go through all the passages concerning these instruments in the tabernacle and temple. It is always in association with sacrifice on the altar. So the instruments in the temple were always connected to sacrifice and they were only played by the priests of Aaron or the Levites. only four were ever allowed in the whole of the Old Testament into the tabernacle or temple worship. And these four were commanded by God specifically. Now, did the Old Testament people pick and choose and decide what instruments they wanted to use in temple worship? like they do in churches today. Did they? No, they did not. God specifically told them which instruments to use, and there's only four. A positive command, not silence, a positive command. So they did not make their choice according to their personal taste, but by God's command. Who was allowed to play them? And when? Only the sons of Aaron. Only the Levitical priesthood. The Levites. Only. Nobody else. No one. And it was always at the sacrifices. Now friends, I want you to see what I'm saying. Do you see what I am saying? Playing musical instruments at sacrifices was the job of the priests of Aaron or the Levites only. They're the same thing. The priests of Aaron and the Levites are the same thing. Playing musical instruments at sacrifices was the job of the Levites only. Now, for anyone He wants to look back at Old Testament worship and say, there are musical instruments in Old Testament. Therefore, we should have them. I want to ask you something. Where are the sacrificial lambs today? Why do we not sacrifice a lamb every Sunday? Well, Paul, it's passed away. It says in the book of Hebrews. Where are the Levites today? Where's the Levitical priesthood here tonight? That's passed away and ended too Paul. You see it says in Hebrews chapter 7 verses 11 to 28 and Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13 and Hebrews chapter 9 verses 8 to 10 that the priesthood of Aaron or the Levitical priesthood has been put to an end by Jesus Christ. The Levites are over. And now we have a great high priest who is of the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek. The Levites are finished. If the Levites, the Levitical priesthood has passed away, as the Bible plainly says, we will look at that in days ahead, don't worry, I'll read those verses to you, plenty of verses in Hebrews, you probably know them anyway. If the Levites have passed away, are their jobs passed away? Sacrificing the lambs? playing the four musical instruments during the sacrifices, moving the tabernacle, making sure the temple was clean, removing the remains of the sacrifices outside the camp. Are their jobs passed away? Yes, the Levites have passed away. All their jobs have passed away. There's no more tabernacle, there's no more temple, there's no more sacrificial system. So all those things were the ceremonial law that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The New Testament says all those things are passed away. What I'm saying to you is this, musical instruments are a part of Old Testament ceremonial law along with the Levites and the sons of Aaron. All of them are gone under the new covenant church. So to resurrect the Levites job of musicians in worship, you need to also start sacrificing lands again, don't you? but they were all just shadows pointing to Christ, and they're now done away with. You can't have Levites without Levites' jobs. They were the only ones allowed to play musical instruments during the worship services in the Old Testament. They're gone. John Calvin, the great reformer, says this. Musical instruments, wrote Calvin, in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than burning incense or lighting up of lamps. And with the restoration of the other shadows of the law, music was useful as an elementary aid to the people of God in ancient times. Now that Christ has appeared and the church has reached full age, it were only to bury the light of the gospel should we introduce the shadows of the departed dispensation. Are we under the Old Covenant feast days? The Old Covenant priesthood? The Old Covenant sacrificial system, men and women? Or are we under the New Covenant? This is the New Covenant in my blood. Did Christ institute the New Covenant on the night of the Last Supper? We are under the New Covenant. We are in the New Testament. That brings me to, under the application of the regular principle to music, that brings me to music in the New Testament. In the worship of the Church. Well, if God in the Old Testament commands specifically which musical instruments were to be in temple worship, and if God says that these instruments are to be played specifically by a particular type of person at specific times, and none of those people the Levites are here anymore, they've all ended, and all the times of the sacrifices have all now ended. Well, what then does God command for us in the New Testament? What does he command in the New Covenant for the New Covenant Church in this area? If music is to be reintroduced, after the Levites have passed away, if music is to be reintroduced as an essential part of worship in the New Covenant Church, which is a spiritual temple, what specific instruments does God command, please? And who does he specify is allowed to play them? And when? Nothing. Nothing. God commands neither in the New Testament. No musicians, no musical instruments, no reference, no command whatsoever, to musical instruments ever being used in worship in the New Testament church. The only reference you'll ever get in the New Testament is harps in heaven. Look at the Gospels, look at the epistles of the New Testament. No command at all. Not even mentioned. God, I say to you, men and women, does not command it. If it were to be an essential part of worship in the New Testament, as it was in the Old Testament, it was commanded and then that has ended. Well, why does God not command it in the New Testament? Why does he not even mention it? in the New Testament. Show me from the Bible for the New Testament Church please. And if music is so important to New Testament worship as many will say it is, it's absolutely essential and they'll really hate you if you don't want it. If music was so important to New Testament worship Will you please show me the gift of the Holy Spirit that is to do with music, please? God, the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, gives spiritual gifts to Christians. Why? To equip the church for every area of spiritual worship in life. Every area. Teaching, wisdom, helps, healing, discerning the spirits, administration even. Now show me where the gift of music is. This essential New Testament music that there must be in the minds of many evangelicals, show me where the gift of the Holy Spirit is for it, please. There is none. None at all. Is that an oversight by God? Did he miss out in equipping his church for an area of worship, did he? No. There is no gift of the Holy Spirit because musical instruments did not exist in the New Testament church. In fact, they didn't exist in the Evangelical Church or the Reformed Church until about 200 to 250 years ago. They never existed in all of church history up to that time. You know, I'll tell you more about it next week. They existed in the Roman Catholic Church from about the 10th or 11th, 12th, 13th centuries on, somewhere around about there. The Pope instituted organs. The reformers broke totally away from that, would have nothing to do with it. That's why you read Calvin and Luther and they curse musical instruments as a papish idea in worship. There is no gift of musical instruments in the New Testament. There's no gift of the Holy Spirit because they did not exist in the church, the true church, until recently. or an idea of men. God the Holy Spirit equips the church for worship and evangelism, men and women. And what He does not include does not need to be included. I'll give you a little quote. The Apostle makes it clear that the temple worship has been abolished and has become obsolete. It was to exist only until the time of Reformation. Can we assume that churches, the churches to which Paul writes, had musical instruments and yet there was never a word mentioned concerning them from his pen? Can we assume that no direction was ever needed concerning their use and that there was never a misuse of them that had to be addressed in any of his letters? Let us consider Paul's pastoral epistles as he instructs Timothy and Titus how to order the church. Surely if musical instruments were to be present in gospel worship, these young pastors needed instruction concerning their use. Yet not a word is mentioned in regard to musical instruments. Why would the apostles have left these young pastors without any instruction about this critical aspect of church worship? The only explanation is that the New Testament silence concerning musical instruments is that they did not exist in the worship of the Church of the New Testament. We may add to this silence the fact that of all the various spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament, there is no gift concerning musical instrumentation. The Holy Spirit has always supplied those gifts needed for God's worship throughout history. He gives references there, seven or eight in the Old Testament, some in the New. We may be certain that the Spirit continues to give every spiritual gift needed for Christian worship, especially since the fullness of His blessings have been poured upon the Church. Yet we find no spiritual gift mentioned at all in regard to musical instrumentation in the New Testament. This absence of any spiritual gift in the use of musical instruments is another compelling argument that they have no place in the worship of the Church. Where God is silent, we do not add to His worship. His silence means He has given no commandment and we have no authority to act His silence on musical instruments in the New Testament means we have no authority to bring them into church worship. There's no New Testament evidence and there's no gift of the Holy Spirit. Though I know it's not forbidden, because it's not forbidden is not enough. There is no command. There is no reason to think God wants it. There is no positive command. They are not mentioned. There is no spiritual gift. And the Holy Spirit does equip his people with all the gifts that are needed, isn't that right? Let me conclude, and I'll be brief in conclusion. We're going to come back to this, of course. I've given you personal taste thinking, oh, he doesn't like that. He doesn't like music. That's all wrong. That's nonsense. I told you a little bit about my history and the journey that has led to this. And the third point I gave you was music in the scripture. The Old Testament, only four instruments were used in tabernacle and temple. Each of them is specifically commanded by God. He is specific as to who is to play them. He is specific as to when they are to be played. Aaron, the Levites, at the sacrifices. Both these things have all ended in the New Testament. The ceremonial law, the Levites, the Aaronic priesthood is finished. Hebrews tells us that plainly. Music in the New Testament never once mentioned in reference to worship in the church. No spiritual gift supplied for it from God. Why? Well, either God forgot and neglected an important element of worship, or else it is not an element of worship. And I don't think God forgets. He's omniscient. He knows all things. Next week I'll give you the general outline of church history from Scripture. Then in the weeks ahead we're going to look in detail at the passages of the Old Testament I'll exegete them for you. We're going to look at Psalm 149, Psalm 150, Miriam and her Timbrels, which were not ever introduced into the Tabernacle. We look at the Old Testament passages. We look at all the references to musical instruments in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And then after that, Once we've looked at musical accompaniment to worship, we come to then the content of worship. What is to be sung in the worship of God? The Bible is God's Word. It is the authority, not us. Let us submit to His authority. Amen. Thank you for listening.