Do Not Shout Until I Tell You to Shout — Don Wilkerson

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Friends. During the earlier part of the worship as I was worshiping and praying and standing here I had a flashback to a year ago. Actually our anniversary will be next Tuesday night. You know we we started the weekend the first weekend in October on a Thursday night, Friday night, a Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night and the Lord that was over at the town hall and the Lord blessed that in a marvelous way and we were thrilled without that opening.

But when we came Tuesday night we said it the pastors would before we came on on the platform. I remember very vividly how we said that we were more excited about that Tuesday night. And of course they had you know I had the privilege of being able to preach that that first Tuesday night and I said thanks fellows after the nice crowds we had on the weekends I said thank you for giving me Tuesday night but it was really a privilege.

I don't know how many we had there. We didn't have as many as we did on the weekend but that was the beginning of the building of our church. And how many of you were on that service on that very first Tuesday night.

Would you raise your hand. How many of you were there. Raise your hand some of the balcony as well. Look at that praise the Lord. And you know what we're gonna do next Tuesday night. We're gonna have a special service now.

I'm announcing this the pastor other pastors don't even know about this. But we're gonna have a special service next Tuesday night and I can't tell you what it is until I consult with the pastors but I encourage you to come because the Lord's gonna do something very special for us.

It's gonna be a night of Thanksgiving a time of rejoicing and and look what the Lord has done in just one year's period it's been beyond anything that we could have ever imagined we could have ever imagined what the Lord has done and that the many people the thousands that have been ministered to here and you know it's it's it's not the size of the crowds or anything but nevertheless that is an indication of what God has done here.

The many many have been ministered to those who have made it this their church home others who visit here others who have come from out of town and some marvelous things have happened. People have been led of the Lord.

The Lord has spoken to them and told them to come from across the country in some cases just to attend a service. And they've come on a Sunday morning they came on a Sunday night and God just marvelously ministered to them.

And we have some letters and testimonies of that and so there's many many things but most of all what's happened in the lives of of you that sit here right here tonight. So next Tuesday night is going to be a very very special service and I encourage you to come and by Sunday we'll give you an idea what it is after I've had a chance to find out myself what it's going to be as we talk with the pastor.

No I have an idea and I just want to share with them as we as we give praise to the Lord for what he's done. Amen. Do not shout until I tell you to shout. Don't take that as a rebuke. That's the title of my message tonight.

The Jericho March and the Command to Wait

And it doesn't have anything to do with your permission to say amen or praise the Lord or whatever. But turn with me to Joshua chapter 6. Joshua chapter 6. And I'm going to read to you tonight from King James Living Bible.

Leonard Ravenhill likes to call it the King James Living Bible the only original it says now Jericho was shut was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua see I have given unto thine hands Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor.

And you shall come past the city all ye men of war and go around about the city once thou shalt thou do six days and seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams horn horns. And the seventh day you shall go past the city seven times.

And the priests shall blow with the trumpets and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the rams horn. And when you hear the sound of the trumpet all the people shall shout with a great shout.

And the wall of this city shall fall down flat. And the people shall send up every man straight before him. Now go down to verse 10 it says. And Joshua had commanded the people saying ye shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice.

Neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. Then shall you shout. Do not shout until I tell you to shout. Let's ask the Lord to bless his word. Hallelujah. Lord we do thank you tonight as we as we think back over the year the beginnings of what you've done here we've come Lord this far by faith leaning on the Lord.

Hallelujah. And Lord we thank you that you you brought us into the verse very first steps of the promised land for for this church. And we thank you that you're continuing to take us in little by little.

And Lord we thank you for what you're doing in our midst. And we pray that you would continue to do it Lord continue to do it Lord. We don't. We don't just look back but we look forward to as well of what you're going to continue to do.

But Lord do it again here tonight we pray minister and anoint thy servant. We pray in Jesus name amen. As I read to you here and Joshua the sixth chapter God required the Jericho marchers to go on a word fast.

Now I don't know if you've ever been on a word fast that's in addition to or instead of going on a food fast going on a fast not speaking. Now I can just hear one of the husband's thinking right now boy I sure wish my wife would go on one of those fasts.

Perhaps the most difficult assignment for some would be to obey this command of Joshua. Neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth. Even more difficult is for some Christians and some churches to be told ye shall not shout.

This is the age of the shouting praising dancing happy charismatic Holy Ghost Church. Church means for some to gather and to shout. And of course there's nothing wrong with shouting. You know you know if you come here to this church that we believe in shouting and we believe God has given us a reason to shout make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

The Bible says clap your hands all ye people. There's probably nothing worse than for a true Christian to be in a dead church. And I don't blame some people. We get many letters of people that that talk about their church and the fact that it that it's dead.

And I don't blame some people for not wanting to go to church. If it's a dead service. I mean how would you like to be a funeral director and have to go week after week to a funeral. And for some people that's what church is to them.

They're get they have gatherings where there's no life there's no joy there's no spirit there's no shout. However there is more to our experience with the Lord than just a shout. Ecclesiastes 3 .7 says there is a time to rend and there is a time to shall there is a time to keep silent and a time to speak.

And there are many today in the body of Christ many who will not submit to periods of the Holy Spirit's probings and searchings and dealings and warnings and chastisement times when the heart must be rent before it can be sown.

Times when we must be silent where there is a silent conviction of the Holy Spirit that precedes the shout. I went to a church one time attended the service and went in and it was very lively one of the charismatic churches and the worship was lively the music was lively there was singing there was shouting there was dancing.

And then the speaker came. He was a guest speaker and God gave him a strong word gave him an anointed word gave him a hard word and I could tell and all of a sudden I felt like somebody had punched their balloon and it got very very quiet and I had the feeling that they were looking around at each other saying where did this man come from.

He's coming to put a wet blanket over our party here and it's as if they didn't want to hear it. In fact after the message was over they went back and I don't think they even did hear the message. Zechariah 2 .13 says be still before the Lord all mankind because he has aroused himself from his holy dwelling.

You see there is a people who don't know how to be still and silent before the Lord for a time when they recognize that he has aroused himself from his holy dwelling because he has something that he wants to say to us.

But sometimes we can't hear it because we're caught up in wanting to shout now you may have reason and many of you have reason. We have every reason tonight to shout if you have been liberated from your sins but don't settle for the victory over obvious sins that you've been delivered from.

There is so much more. Let the word let the Spirit of God liberate you from the not so obvious secret hidden things in your life. And if that will happen you'll have a greater reason even to shout tonight.

And so this message tonight is about taking Jericho and carrying out the discipline of the Lord which always must precede the shout that comes when the walls of Jericho are knocked down. And I believe that many Christians are not seeing some walls that need to crumble in some cities that need to be taken because they're not obeying these words.

They're not following detail. They're not following fully the instructions of Joshua when he says do not shout until I tell you to shout. So I want you I want to take a look at this and I want you to note first of all the procedure Israel had to follow in the taking of Jericho.

The Procedure Israel Followed at Jericho

You know we I grew up when we talked about Jericho marches and people that literally would sometimes march around the church in a great Jericho March and so I and maybe others of you are familiar with with that term a Jericho March.

But did you know what preceded it. What what instructions were given to them in the fourth and fifth verse it says here that seven priests with seven trumpets of rams horn were to march in front of the Ark the Ark of the Covenant around Jericho and after seven passes around the wall on day seven they were to shout on the seventh day after seven passes then they were to shout.

However doing 12 of those encompasses or marches around the city they were not to shout or to make any noise Joshua said or any noise with your mouth. Now this no shout rule was a discipline of tremendous proportions for several reasons.

Jericho was the first fruits of Canaan the first and most powerful fortress that they had to conquer before entering the promised land. And there was naturally an anxiety about it I'm sure even a fear as well as a desire to get on with a job and to get beyond that obstacle as quickly as they possibly could.

Now if I have a wall standing before me and keeping me back from progress my first reaction is to try to shout the wall down as fast and pray it down as fast as I possibly can. And some people think that that's the answer there they think that noise is the answer.

But noise is not necessarily power. And you can pray sometimes you can pray try to pray a wall down all you want and shout your lungs out. But if the Lord is not in the shout nothing's going to happen.

Another reason for the no shout rule and why it was such a test difficult discipline is because the priests were doing the encompass of Jericho to blow the ram's horns blow the trumpets. Now always the blowing of the trumpets in Israel's history announced that the Lord was about to display his mighty power.

Numbers 10 9 says it if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresses you then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets and you shall remember before the Lord your God and you shall be saved from your enemies.

And so every time a day after day they heard the sound of those trumpets. And while it struck terror in the hearts of the enemies of Israel it inspired confidence and inspiration in the people of God.

It got their adrenaline going. They knew that God was about to do something but still they did not know what he was going to do. Neither did they know how he was going to do it. I don't believe Joshua didn't tell him.

God told Joshua. But Joshua didn't tell the people. And oh how difficult it was as the scripture says to be still. To be still and know that I am God. Or the literal translation of that is shut up and march now.

I like to imagine for a few moments I want to use my imagination for a few moments if you allow me and I want to imagine what would be happening today if this march was taking place. And I want to picture as it were after a day's march is over and you know that march around the city did not take that long.

It was not that big of a city and it didn't take them more than a few hours to encompass the city. And after they did so they had to go back to their camps and wait till the next day and do the same thing all over again.

And I'd like to imagine for just a few moments what the conversation might be among some Christians today after a day's march in the first group I hear I hear a gathering. I hear the first group gathering together.

And they're looking at each other and say why can't we praise the Lord. Doesn't Joshua know that praise is power and praise is the answer. Joshua is grieving the Holy Spirit. You see this is the praise camp who believe that the restoration of the tabernacle of David is taking place today and is being restored by praise.

And that praise and worship is the answer to every problem. And these are the people who believe in the freedom of the Spirit and freedom to praise and to shout and to do their own thing. And if a Joshua or a pastor or a leader stands and says be silent and hear the Word of the Lord they'll not hear it.

They'll take their Jericho march and they'll go someplace else. And I've seen it happen over this last year. I've seen people come in and they love the worship. They come in and they get all excited. And then well then they hear the message and they say oh no this is not what I came to hear.

And they've gone on their way. You see this is the tent of the undisciplined. They've never been required to submit to Holy Ghost authority. Instead they only want to shout their way from one spiritual high to another.

And don't you dare try to teach them the Word. Don't you dare try to teach them doctrine. Don't you dare to try to talk to them their need to walk in personal holiness. They'll shout you down if you do.

And the problem with those who've made praise their spiritual idol is that it blinds them from dealing with other idols in their hearts. This was a condition of backslidden Israel. Isaiah 113 he said stop bringing meaningless offerings.

Stop bringing meaningless praise meaningless shouts. He said your incense is detestable to me. He said your new moons your Sabbath and convocations your Jesus festivals and so forth. He said I cannot bear.

He called them evil assemblies. Evil assemblies. Do you know that some of the so-called Christian gatherings and concerts and conferences are evil assemblies. They are if the heart is not right if all the desire is to come come and dance before the Lord.

Isaiah said I'm weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hearts in prayer or praise he said I hide my eyes from you. I'm embarrassed. He said I'm embarrassed to look at you because your hearts are far from me.

With your lips you worship me but your hearts are far from me. I will hide my eyes from you even if you offer many prayers. He said I won't listen. God didn't listen. God will not listen to the shout of a backslidden heart.

The next verse in Isaiah 116. He said first of all he said wash and make yourself clean and take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing right wrong and do right. And he said then then you can shout and praise God all you want.

Hallelujah. That's what we're teaching in this church. Jesus said they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth. And truth must never be separated from worship. Listen. I love a church. I love a church that is willing to sit here longer for the word than even for praise and worship.

I love a church. I love to minister here tonight because you enjoy the Word of God. But let's go to another tent and let's eavesdrop on a conversation of some others. And in this other tent they're complaining.

You know why they're complaining is because Joshua is having them blow the ram's horn. And I can hear one of them saying why aren't we marching behind the noise of silver horns. Silver trumpets. You see the ram's horn gave forth a crude sound.

I meant to have a Kenny. I meant you to have it tonight. Bring it. And I was going to have you play the ram's horn. I was going to have Angela play the other trumpet. Because you see they they had silver trumpets and they had ram's horns.

And the ram's horn gives forth a very crude sound. It's not that sharp crisp penetrating blast of the silver trumpet. And I can just hear some of them saying why aren't we using the silver horns. Why are we.

Why are we playing with ram's horns. Because if we're going to impress those Canaanites we got a hat. We got to be more professional. Our ram's horn will never do it. They'll never take us seriously. They'll never be afraid if we're gonna strike terror in their hearts.

Then we got to have good music. And you see there is an anti ram's horn bias in the church today. It's those who think the way to win the world is to impress them put on a show with silver trumpets dancers drama and showmanship.

In fact silver trumpets is not enough. It's got to be golden trumpets. In other words display all the trappings of success so that we can call attention to the church by the professionalism of the announcer rather than calling attention to the Lord who is the one who's being announced.

And we've turned the church today into stage. Now we have a stage here but I'm talking about in many places the church has been turned into a stage show. And what's important is a stage show. And how you announce it.

And you see the silver trumpet consists of the biggest church building with the biggest budget with the best musical preceded by the best preacher telling everybody they can be the best and blessed without even having to march around Jericho's walls.

But I want to tell I don't know about you. I'm gonna follow the ram's horn because the Bible said it's not by might. It's not by power but it's by my spirit say of the Lord God has chosen to take the foolish things of the world.

And I believe the reason that the ram's horn was chosen is because that this was a tremendous obstacle and the Lord wanted them to see that he was going to use the crudest way to bring it about because it was God that was going to be doing it.

Not man but let's go to another tent. I had six tents but I don't have time to go in all six. So I'm just going to go into three tents tonight. In another tent is a group that's just finished their daily march and they come back after silently marching around Jericho's walls and they're all happy.

They're all happy. They're all pleased they got smiles on their face. And one says man that's my kind of marching. That's kind of my kind of church. I never did like that noise. I never did like a noisy church.

There's too much flesh in it. This is a group that prefers the no-shout church so they're right at home marching around Jericho quietly. And this is a group that equates reverence with quietness and irreverence with noise.

And there are people who come to Times Square Church who say I like the word I like the music and I like the musicians. But I don't like some of the people around me. They make too much noise they dance they embarrass me or whatever.

You know my granddad was a was a preacher and I remember my dad told this one time about my granddad. My granddad at one time was not a shouter. He was that he was a not a Pentecostal. He was a he was in another church and I'll not mention it lest there be any Nazarenes here tonight.

So I won't. Dad was a granddad was a Nazarene preacher. And then he he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and and the Pentecostal experience. And for a while he belonged to a group they called themselves the come-outers.

They had come out of this church and come out of that church and granddad became very very excited powerful shouting preacher. And one time one of his guests old colleagues was was telling him that it wasn't necessary to have all that noise in the church.

And he quoted to granddad from 1st Kings 6 and 7 when they built the temple and pointed out to him that when they built Solomon's temple they did it quietly. Let me read it to you. It says in the house when it was in building was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building.

In other words the point is that it was it was quiet. There was there was there was no great noise. There was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building. And somebody told my granddad that he said look you don't you don't need all that worship and all that praise.

And so forth to build a church. They built Solomon's temple quietly. My granddad said yeah. But you should have been there when they blasted out those stones. And we've been blasted. If you had some stones blasted out of you then you have a reason to shout.

Now the Lord may or may not be in the shout and he may or may not be in the silence. But that is not the issue here in Jericho's march around Jericho don't judge a church or a people by its religious ritual its forms or its methods.

God is after something deeper than outward expressions of faith. And that brings me to my next point. What was the purpose of the no shout command. You see nothing is ever done in Scripture according to happenstance or out of mere form.

Obedience as the Test of Faith

For everything there is a purpose. And why was Israel to march in the manner that was commanded them. Well very simply it was this. It was a test of obedience. Now in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 30 the chapter on faith it talks about the walls of Jericho coming down.

And this is what it says. It says by faith the walls of Jericho fell. That's what it says by faith the walls of Jericho fell. I quoted that accurately but I didn't quote the whole verse. Listen to it as I quote all of it.

It says by faith the walls of Jericho fell after they were compassed about seven days. You see the test of faith is obedience. And whenever you hear faith preachers preaching to you about faith and that you can take your city and that you can have your walls fall down.

And if are not teaching you obedience as a part of that faith then they do not have the biblical message. The true test of faith is obedience. Charles Spurgeon said this faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle.

He that obeys God trust God. And he that trusts God obeys God. Now the beauty of Israel's obedience is seen when we take a closer look at this week prior to the siege of the city. Let me paint it again in word pictures for you.

Each morning a procession left the camp. They had the seven priests there bearing the ram's horn. The focal point of course was the Ark of the Covenant. And then there was a people that would follow behind.

Now they made their march around the walls as I said it was not very large and they did it day after day. And then they had to come back and it was quite a thing for them to make that march and to see that city there and to go back at their camps.

And I believe where their camp was situated they probably could still see Jericho. And so there they're staring at that obstacle all those days. Now they did not know why they were to march as they did.

They were not told what was going to happen or that how the victor was going to come. The Lord the Lord said to Joshua see I have given into thine hands Jericho. And they were told of course that they were told that they were to shout but they didn't know.

They didn't have the same promise in their heart that Joshua did but they were simply told to march and to keep quiet. Now you see the first mark the true mark of a disciple is not in the strength of his shout but in the strength of his obedience.

Enthusiasm is a lot easier than obedience. I remember when I first came to this city to minister I came out of Bible school and came to join a Teen Challenge ministry here and I was ready for big things.

I had started preaching when I was 16 years of age and then I went off to Bible school which was very difficult for me to do because I figured Bible school needed me and I didn't need Bible school. But it took three years for me to find out I needed Bible school but nevertheless I got through it and I graduated.

And so now I come to New York City and I'm ready for big things for me. I thought it was a seventh day of my ministry and I was on the seventh go around of Jericho and I was ready to shout the walls down but instead I was stuck in an office to work.

Now if you've been placed by God in an office or anywhere else then you can rejoice. You're in God. You're. You're in the best place you could be. It's a joy to be placed wherever God puts you. But you see I felt that I was stuck in a position unworthy of my calling.

How could you do this to me Lord. Have you ever prayed that. Oh however man I prayed that you can't. I can't tell you how many times I prayed that. How can you do this to me Lord. But my complaining myself pity even my prayers did not work.

And finally I woke up the Lord's trying to teach me something. And the Lord gave me this verse out of Matthew 25 21 it says. His Lord said unto him well done thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things.

I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. You see I needed to learn faithfulness over a few things. First I was far from well done. I wasn't even medium rare. I was raw.

I was I was raw meat needing to age and mature. And to learn that obedience is better than sacrifice. And it's better than shouting. It's even better than surface service. God was trying to teach me something and I see a host of charismatic souls today who want a salvation with a shout but not a salvation with a yoke of obedience.

First Samuel 15 22 you're familiar with it. It says hath not the Lord. Hath not the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.

You see there is a crowd that will flock to the upper room where the power. I'm talking about the axe upper room who will flock to the upper room where the power and blessings are being out poured. But you'll not find them continuing steadily steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine or teaching and in fellowship or in the breaking of bread such as a Tuesday night Times Square Church the breaking of bread in a prayer.

I remember as a pastor this is a makeshift clip here which is a paper clip serving as a temporary hold for my microphone and we'll try it again. I remember as a pastor how I was not discerning the conviction of the Holy Spirit and people and in services I used to come in to lead worship in the church or in the gathering of people and I would notice certain people that normally would be praising the Lord normally would be up normally would be all excited and I would see that they would not be worshiping the Lord or I'd see a group of them and so I'd come in and try to work it up try to get it going.

Or even sometimes would go to individuals and tell them my goodness. You know don't let the devil do that to you. You know start shouting. And I didn't have enough discernment to know that the Holy Spirit they they knew that they were in a period of disobedience in their life.

They knew that things weren't right. And you see what we've done in the church many times is to program people to say all right. Just ignore it just ignore what's going on and and just put on a good Pentecostal or shouting face or go through all the motions rather than letting the Holy Spirit do its work in their heart and get at the area of disobedience.

The Offerings That Precede the Shout

Turn with me if you will to Leviticus open to go back a few books to Leviticus the ninth chapter. Leviticus chapter 9. Leviticus chapter 9. Verse 24. And I want you to look at the the very end of the verse.

The very end of the verse says they shouted and fell on their faces. They shouted and fell on their faces. But know what preceded the shout. Look in verse 22. And Aaron lifted up his hand towards the people and blessed them and came down from offering of the sin offering the burn offering and the peace offering.

The sin offering the bird offering and the peace offerings three important offerings that preceded the shout. Now you know that the sin offering of course is a picture of Christ who is offered as our sin as the perpetuation for our sins.

The bird offering typifies the believers complete an entire consecration to God. This is the laying down of self the dying to sin and to self. The bird offering is when we offer full obedience to the will of the Lord the will of God.

And then the peace offering of Aaron. The third offering was called the peace offering. And this typifies the joyous feasting together of the priest and the people with their God in the court of the tabernacle because of the ongoing fellowship they have with the Lord.

Because they're looking back at the cross they know that their sins have been forgiven. But they're continuing to walk in righteousness and they continue to point back to what Christ has done. And he has given them peace because of the sacrifice of the cross.

And you see it was only after those three offerings the sin offering the bird offering and the peace offering. Verse 23. And Moses and Aaron went unto the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the people.

And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. Why. Because the offerings had been offered. The sin offering the bird offering the peace offering. And there came down a fire from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar.

The bird offering and the fat and the fat means the choice. The choice that's US grade a meat. That's the very choices. That's the very center of your affection. Those are the things that are very most important to you that you lay on the altar and you give the fat to God and you lay it down and he comes and he consumes that bird offering which when all the people saw they shouted.

Then they shouted and they fell on their faces because they knew. Then the Lord was pleased with them because they had made the proper offering. Now Israel also did not win the victory over Jericho until they demonstrated perfection perfection in their obedience.

Now perfection does not mean sinlessness. It does mean living up to the light that God has given to you. I we've said it before from this pulpit. It's a dangerous thing to come to this church. God is going to require you to live up to the light.

He's going to require you to live up to the word that you received. And he requires of us that we walk perfectly or blamelessly before him. But note back here in Joshua the number sevens. How many sevens were involved in the Jericho march.

Seven priests shall bear the ark with seven trumpets. And the seventh day he shall come past the city seven times. And you see seven in biblical numbers is the number of perfection or completion. And it simply means this are you.

And have you completed the assignment that God has given you. Are you walking in the light as he is in the light according to the knowledge of his will. And I see a lot of people who are three four five even six day marchers but they never complete their obedience.

I've seen people walk into this church. We talked about it today in our pastors meeting. We grieve over it. People who all of their life have come. God has brought them the word and they've always come up to a certain point in their life.

But they've never gone the seventh day. They've never entered into full obedience to the Lord. And there are two three four day believers and then that's it. They wake up one morning and say I don't feel like marching.