Thank you, Jeanette. Alright,
go with me to the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 3. Read verses 1 and 2 with me.
Habakkuk 3, verses 1 and 2. The prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,
upon Shigiunoth, which is a musical phrase. This was a psalm to be
sung. Here's his prayer. O Lord, I have heard Thy speech and was
afraid. O Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. never fails when I have a message
of great seriousness and heart searching that you all
are in the best of moods. But there's a burden here for
this because we've looked at this a couple of times over the
years and it's been about seven or eight years, which is fitting. We ought to look at it in the
midst of the years. Habakkuk, the title of this message
is A Watchman, a Warning, and a Prayer. A Watchman, a Warning,
and a Prayer. Now Habakkuk, as all the prophets
sent by God were given the Word of the Lord, look at verse 1
of chapter 1. Look at this. Habakkuk and all
the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, as well as every
preacher. If God has sent him, he has a
burden for the Word of God. In verse 1 it says, the burden
which Habakkuk the prophet did see. And he cried, O Lord, how
long shall I cry and they will not hear? A burden for the Word, you need
to have that burden to hear it as much as I need to preach it. A burden, if you've ever had
a heavy weight that you carry in, that's what a burden is.
A heavy task and a heavy heart, and you need to unload it. Deliver
it. The Word is a heavy thing, or
should be, for a man to preach it, and it should be for us to
hear it. A sign of the times if there's
not that burden. If you scan through the prophets,
you go through all the prophets as I did the last few days, you
will read all of them saying they have a burden of the Word,
a burden of Isaiah, a burden of Jeremiah, a burden of Egypt,
a burden of Babylon, and serious, heavy words in a world of sin,
in a perishing world. urgent words that need to be
heard now because there is no tomorrow. There may literally
be no tomorrow. We cannot preach as if there
is. One old preacher once said, I
preach as one who may never preach again. as a dying man to dying
men. And we don't know who among us
might be gone tomorrow. We've seen it happen in our midst. So it's serious. And serious
and heavy words of warning in the midst of a sinful and, Scripture
says, a perverse generation, and yet mangled with promises.
Jeremiah is one in particular I've been reading, and I advised
you all some time ago to start reading the book of Jeremiah
if there's not a more relevant book in the Bible than Jeremiah
that pertains to our day. It's like reading the headlines
of the newspaper today. And the book of Jeremiah throughout
is full of warnings and blessed, blessed, blessed promises. Those
of you who have read it know what a blessed book it is. Chapter
2 here in Habakkuk, in verse 1, he says, I'll stand upon my
watch and set me upon the tower, and I watched to see what he
will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am approved." A
watchman, that's what a preacher is called. That's what the prophets,
evangelists, pastors, teachers are supposed to be. Watchmen,
they're supposed to be watching. They're supposed to be aware. Be aware. weary of all around them, of
all that's going on. They're supposed to be watching
or looking into God's Word. That's what Habakkuk said, I'm
going to watch and see what he says. That is, that man, his
mind is on these things and his heart, and he's looking into
the Word of God for the people, for a message from the Lord.
He's watching the Word unfold. If he's well acquainted with
the Word, which he is, he's watching it unfold right before his eyes,
clearly. He's watching the world fulfill
every single word that God says. Just watching people do exactly
what God says they'll do, though they don't believe a word that
God said. And he's watching for danger.
That's what he's supposed to be. Watching for danger. He's
watching the enemies. Watching for the morning. Waiting
on the Lord. No, he's a watchman. And if you're a watchman, you
watch unto prayer. Because you can't watch for one
hour if you don't continue in prayer. And he said here in verse
1, I'm going to watch and see what you'll say unto me and what
I will answer. when he reproves me. The watchman needs reproof as
well. And Paul said this, didn't he? After writing in Romans 8,
Romans 9, he said, what shall we say then to these things? James, we've been looking at
that. James said, what shall we do when we hear these things?
Not only what shall we say, Habakkuk said, I'm going to watch
and see how I'll answer, how I'll react, and how the people
will react. James said, not only what shall
we say, but what shall we do? Because if someone is just a
hearer of the Word, they're not a doer. Deceive themselves. Warnings. Jeremiah. Go to Jeremiah. Now Habakkuk
and Jeremiah lived at the same time. Habakkuk is a mysterious man,
much like Elijah. He appears out of nowhere. We
don't know much about him. But he lived at the time of Jeremiah,
and we have reason to believe they knew each other. Jeremiah
5, just read with me some of these passages of Jeremiah, words
of warning. Words of warning, verse 1, "...run
you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and
know, and seek in the broad places thereof. If you can find a man,
if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth,
and I will pardon him." Sounds like Isaiah, doesn't it? Just
like Isaiah in chapter 59. He said, there's none that seek,
none that call it for truth. Though they say, verse 2, the
Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely. O Lord, are it not Thine
eyes upon truth, the truth? Thou hast stricken them, but
they have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but
they have refused to receive correction. They have made their
faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
O Lord, I said, surely these are poor foolishness. They foolish.
They know not the way of the Lord or the judgment. Look at
chapter 6 with me. Chapter 6. It's so many verses
I wanted to read. Verse 10, and as I said, you
can read through every prophet. And I basically did. I scoured
through them all. Verse 10, to whom will I speak
and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised. They cannot hearken. Behold,
the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no
delight in it." And he says, oh, I'm full of the fury of the
Lord, full of the fury of the Lord. Verses 16 and following
says to us, Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and you shall find rest for your soul. There's a blessed promise
of our God to look into His Word and ask and you'll receive. But they said, we will not walk
therein. Also, God says, I set a watchman
over you saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. They said,
we will not hearken. So, verse 18, Hear ye nations,
and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth,
behold, I will bring evil upon this people. the fruit of their
thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words nor to
My law, but rejected it." Now, what we're looking at, the Lord
says to the world, and to His people. Brother John
quoted Isaiah, from Isaiah 6 to 9 in his prayer. He said, Lord,
we're men of unclean lips and we dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. All that the Lord says to the
world, says to us. All that He said to Israel, He
said to Judah. I always said to Judy, I said
to the nations, what the Lord says to everyone, everyone needs
to hear it because we're not without sin. None of us are without
rebuke. And this message is a message
of revival. We're asking the Lord to revive
us in the midst of the years. And we live in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation. You know it's so. And as a watchman
looking into God's Word, and you've heard me saying things
like this more and more of late, that I just don't see how this
nation is going to go much longer without some severe judgment
upon it. I just don't see how it can be. All through the Scripture, everything
I read, and in history, this nation,
the Western world per se, has lived in a sense of false security
for a long time now. Carnal security. like Israel
of old that went to Egypt and trusted in Pharaoh. You know,
this great government is going to take care of us. I just don't see how the Lord's
hand is not going to fall on this country much longer. And so, we more than anybody
need to hear this. We need to hear that. Look at
chapter 7. Jeremiah, the book, as I said,
you need to start reading it. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And we read there in Psalm 90 how that should number our days and so
forth. The Word, verse 1, that came to Jeremiah from the Lord
saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord's house Proclaim there
this word, here I am. This is what I'm supposed to
say. And say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that
enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways, your doings,
and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in
lying words, say in the temple, the temple of the Lord, the church.
Go down to verse 25. It says, Since the day your fathers
came out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto
you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising up early and sending
them. Yet they hearken not unto me,
nor incline their ear, harden their neck. They did worse than
their father. So speak all these words unto them, that they will
not hearken to them. Thou shalt also call unto them,
and they will not answer them. Verse 28, they say unto them,
This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their
God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished. It's cut off
from the earth. Thus saith the Lord. And all
the way up to John, remember, our Lord said this, up to John,
the kingdom of heaven, suffereth violence, and the violent taketh
it by force. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
that prophet What was the first thing our Lord said in preaching
as a preacher? The very first words out of His
mouth as a 30-year-old man preaching, what was it? It wasn't blessing. It was repent. Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. He said to His disciples one
day, except you repent, you are likewise buried. He said this, he said things
like this, "'Suppose ye, I have come to bring peace on the earth.
Is it this fitting for this time of year?' When everyone is saying, Peace,
peace, there is no peace. "'Suppose ye, I have come to
send peace on the earth.' Nay, rather, but a sword. And when
they shall say, Peace and safety, our Lord said, then shall sudden
destruction He said, let not your hearts be overcharged with
serpentine and drunkenness that when your Lord appears, you're
not waiting on Him. Preacher, are you trying to create
fear in us? Yes, I am. Yes, I am. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. Unite our hearts to fear Thy
name. There are two kinds of fear.
One is bad, one is good. The bad fear is unbelieving fear. Our Lord said in Isaiah 8, verse
12, now you know Isaiah 8, 20, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to my word, no light in them. That
is, if they don't preach the whole counsel of God, according
to his word, there's no light in them. Isaiah 8, 12, our Lord said this,
don't fear their fear. Don't enter into a confederacy
with the world. The world, He said, they'll join
hand in hand. Though they join hand in hand,
they'll not be unpunished. It doesn't matter if the whole
world agrees. He said, don't fear their fear,
nor be afraid of their fear, but sanctify the Lord of hosts
in your hearts, in your minds, and let him be thy fear, let
him be thy dread." Now, there's a bad fear, there's a faithless
fear of unbelievers. Listen to me. Listen to me, because
this is what... Are you listening? This is the fear of unbelievers. This is the fear of worldlings
and carnal-minded people. They fear terrorists. They fear disease. They fear
calamities, global warming. They fear economic disaster.
They fear everything and everyone but God who sends these things. He's the one who sends every
one of these things. You want to say that with me?
Deuteronomy 32. This is carnal, unbelieving fear. To always be afraid of everything
and everyone, and thinking about it and worrying about it, rather
than fearing God. Because these things are the
judgment of God upon unbelievers. All these things. or the judgment
of our God always have been. Drought, famine, disease, pestilence,
afflictions have always been, always been the judgment of God
upon an idolatrous, wicked world and nation, even Israel. Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. And I've been reading through
this book, and you need to read it too. It's to God's professing people,
all of them. Deuteronomy 32, 39, see now, that I, even I, am He. There is no God but with me. I kill and I make a life. I wound in a sickness. God did it. And I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand." Read on, "'For I lift up my hand to
heaven and say, I live forever. If I whet my glittering sword
and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my
enemies and reward them that hate me. I will make my arrows
drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh,
the blood of the slain of the captives from the beginning of
revenge is upon the enemy. That's the God of the Bible. And so this is what He says to
us. Don't fear their fear. Don't
fear these things. This is My hand, He said. It's
all My hand. Don't be listening to it. Don't
be taken up with it. Don't be like them. Fear Me. And the blessed promise is, Now
I can smile. Because the blessed promise is
if you fear the Lord, you need not fear any of these things. You need not worry. But it's absolute unbelief. It's
carnal unbelief to fear these things and always be talking
about and thinking about these things. It's a bad testimony
before this world. In fact, we ought to be telling
the world, this is God's judgment. God's the one who sends these
things. These things are His sword, His judgments upon the
nation, like in Egypt. Someone wanted me to go through
the book of Exodus. Well, I did. I started reading
it. But see, the Lord bringing His people out of Egypt, and
He sent plague after plague after plague upon Egypt. The Egyptians,
not one Egyptian ever stopped and said, what is happening to
us? Not one Egyptian ever said, this
must be from God, it's too severe. Romans 1 talks about the wrath
of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men to hold to truth and unrighteousness. An idolatrous nation. There has
never been a more idolatrous nation than Israel. Not even
Israel. Mingled dagon with the ark. Sins
of Jeroboam. Well, Egypt didn't recognize the plagues
as being from God, but the people of God did. The Israelites did. They knew this was from God.
And remember what we saw, was it Sunday? Yeah, the last plague
before the Lord killed the firstborn and took His people out. The
last plague was what? Darkness. Their understandings darken Romans
1. Well, God is merciful to His people. God is merciful to all
who call. God is merciful to all who repent,
all who come by sacrifice. There's a godly fear. Now, here's
a good fear. Godly fear. I listened to a message
by my pastor on this quite some time ago and recorded it, and
since then I've listened to it several times. You know, very
seldom do I recommend messages by anyone else or even myself. When I do, you ought to listen to them. If you
consider me your watchman, you need to listen to them. But that's one, fear of God.
And he spoke of a good fear, the fear of the Lord. Number
one, you fear His person. You fear His person. Isaiah saw
Him. And what did he do? He said,
holy, holy, holy. Isaiah fell at His feet. Job,
Daniel, Ezekiel, John, name it. Name them all. His person. You say, why should we fear the
Lord? He loves us. You must not know
the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Peter wrote this, pass the time of your sojourning
here in fear. There's a proper fear, a fear
somewhere between faithless fear of carnal worry and all that,
or even believers at times fear being lost and cast out and judged
by God according to their sins, and they're not looking to Christ.
They're not listening to God's promises, and they're not coming
to Christ. They're looking at themselves.
They're not looking to Him. these fears, but somewhere between
that and presumptuous fear of someone who's at ease in Zion
saying, well, I trust Christ, I don't have to worry about anything.
Somewhere between those two is the proper fear. Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints.
There's no want to them that fear Him. This is all through
the Scripture. Fear the Lord. All through the
Scripture. We never quit fearing the Lord. Christ loved them, didn't He?
Oh, He loved His disciples. He came for them. He loved them
and they loved Him. It says when they saw His glory, when the
Lord peeled back that covering, it says they were sore afraid. Sore afraid. They saw Him steal
the waves and the winds. Peter saw him fill those nets
with fish and he thought, he's thinking of every thought in
my head. He was afraid of Him. Now, this is what my pastor said
in his message. I'm not going to go into this
and talk about slavish fear and all that. Just do it. Just fear
the Lord. You fear His person. There's
a fear of sin. There's a fear of falling into
temptation. It's got to be. It's got to be. There's a fear of sinning against
the Lord, bringing reproach on Him. David said that. He said,
my reproach, I fear that. I fear bringing reproach upon
God and your truth and the Gospel and God's people. I fear that.
We need to fear that. There's a fear we need to have
for our children, for those we love. We need to fear for them.
They don't fear. Joe did, didn't he? He said,
I'm going to worship the Lord and I'm going to call on Him.
It could be my sons and daughters are not calling on Him. I'm going
to call on Him for them. I'm afraid they're not calling
on Him. There's a fear. There's a fear for our nation. Fear for the certain wrath. It's
coming. It's imminent. We ought to love our nation like
Paul did. When he wrote Romans 8 and Romans
9, he started out with saying, I wish I could be a curse for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to flesh, who are Israelites. My heart's desire and prayer
to God, he said, for Israelites that they might be saved. Would
to God we would have that kind of burden for our neighbors,
huh? There's a fear for our nation
upon this imminent calamity that's come upon us. There's a fear
we should have of not having any fear, of having no burden. That's a
sign of reprobacy is no fear. You know that? There's a fear
of His Word. When you hear His Word, like
tonight's Word, there's a fear we need to have and we hear it
and we say, oh, I'm guilty. And tremble. This is the man
the Lord says, I'm going to look to this man or woman, I'm going
to look to them in mercy and grace, and I'm going to let them
call on Me, and I'm going to hear them, and I'm going to grant
them pardon and peace in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation. They're going to fear Me, and
I'm going to lay their fears. But if they don't, they're going
to wish they did. There's a fear I fear. Galatians 4, Paul who had a love for everybody
that he preached to, in Galatians he said, I'm afraid of you. I'm
afraid for you. I'm afraid for you. He said,
I'm afraid I've preached to some of you in vain. I have a great deal of confidence
that many, if not most of you, And it gives me great comfort
for you that many, if not most of you, believe the truth, fear
the Lord, love the Lord, but not all. Not all. And I wouldn't be worth my salt
if I didn't fear for some. I fear for those who have ears
but don't hear. I fear for those who sleep dull
of hearing. I fear for those who don't move
with fear and prepare an ark for themselves and their children.
I fear for those that are lukewarm. Fear. And I fear, I don't fear enough.
Well, back up now. Now look at the prayer. So, we
have a watchman. We have a watchman. If he's a
watchman, he's got his eyes open. What are our eyes? The Word. If you're not looking, you need
somebody that is. The Word, the eyes of the Lord.
Clearly revealed. It's like Hebrews 9 and 12. The Word of
the Lord. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. The Word of God
so clearly exposes everything about everybody. So clearly. You have a watchman. You've got
to have a watchman. Sheep, you've got to have a watchman.
You have a warning. You've got to have a warning.
You've got to have a trumpet of alarm and then a trumpet of
jubilee. And then here's a prayer. Watch
unto prayer. Alright? A prayer of Habakkuk,
the prophet. Something needs to be sung. Something
needs to be prayed at all times. Oh Lord, I have heard Thy speech
and I was afraid. See that? Afraid. I heard Thy speech. You know, the Lord speaks clearly.
in creation. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Night unto night knowledge. Don't
you see and hear the Lord's hand, see His hand, hear His voice
in all around you? We need to. We need to wake up.
That will allay many of your fears and worries and troubles
if you wake up like the birds. Where are the birds going to
get their meal? They don't reap. They don't sow.
What do they wake up doing? Do you know how many predators
they've got? We've got a bird feeder on our
back porch. And there's a cat in the neighborhood.
And that cat comes and hides under those pots, those clay
pots where that bird feeder is. And those birds wake up. They've
got many predators. Many dangers, don't they? The
elements. They live outside in the elements.
They wake up singing. Let's take a lesson from that.
To hear the Word of the Lord and His creation in providence.
Deuteronomy. This is why we should read Deuteronomy
because he says, I think it's chapter 8, he said, you need
to remember all the way the Lord has led you. That's where that
song comes from. All the way, my Savior leads
me. What have I to dread beside? Shall I doubt His tender mercies,
who through life has been my guide? Providence. Do you not hear it? Do you not
see it in everything? His Word? Oh my! You want something
to allay your fears? Hear His Word. Read His Word.
And hear it is the greater part. To hear a man preach it and declare
it. And our Lord preached. The Son of God came. God spoke
in the person of His Son. But Habakkuk said, I've heard
Your speech, O Lord. I've seen you in everything,
I've heard you in everything, and I was afraid, you see. If someone has really heard from
the Lord, someone who knows the Lord, it's impossible for a mortal
to be in the presence of an Almighty God without fear. It's impossible. How can we face a holy God and
not have some fear? How can we face the law of God
that speaks to us and holds us guilty and not have some fear?
How can we see Christ crucified, made sin for us, a substitute
for us, bearing our sin, the holy spotless Son of God, God
putting His soul through hell, That's what I deserve. And not
have some fear. And say, oh Lord, please let that be for my sake.
How can we see our brethren all over taken from us in death? All around us taken in death
and not fear. How can we face a judgment in
which our Lord Himself said, they'll all be standing before
Me? to be judged and not have some fear. You can if you're hearing anything
the Lord says. You can. Well, here's what He said. Lord,
I have heard Thy speech and I was afraid. That's a good place to
be, Habakkuk. Oh Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years. Revive Thy work. Spurgeon said
this, Lord, put new life in us. Give us a new birthday. Cause us, as it were, to hear
the Word like we've never heard it before in the midst of the
year, because those are the most dangerous times. Spurgeon said this, Lord, restore
all the force, all the grace, all the energy, and all the love
when I first fell in love, when I first heard this gospel and
felt like a guilty sinner and trembled at the thought of the
judgment. And then when I heard this gospel,
it was the sweetest thing I ever heard. I remember, brethren,
and I'm preaching to me too. You've got to know this. Turn
to Psalm 51 with me. Psalm 51. I remember as a young
believer reading every sermon I could get my hands on. I read all of Spurgeon's New
Park Street. And whenever I would just hear
the word mercy, it would be the greatest thing
I'd ever heard. Since when did we cease to need
mercy? Do we need it less now, people? We need it more. Because now we're sinning and
we commit many of the same sins, don't we? We need it worse than ever. When the church is revived, the
Lord will rekindle the heat of their first love that they left.
Now, the Lord in the seven churches, seven letters to the churches, What was the first one? Ephesus. Do you love the book of Ephesians?
Oh, my. He said Ephesus left their first
love. In other words, the message wasn't
the greatest thing they'd ever heard any more. They'd heard
it before. They left that sweetheart love.
When God sent them a preacher, they thought he was the greatest
thing they'd ever received. And every message he preached
was the greatest message they'd ever heard. It might not have
been, but they thought it was. Because they just loved this
gospel. Why did they leave it? Always
the same reason. It's always the same reason.
The world. Always. Always. Alright, in the
midst of those letters was a letter to... I didn't write it down.
Thyatira maybe. It says that they had a name
that they lived, but they were dead. It said, you just strengthen
the things that are remaining. Sad, isn't it? And in the last
letter was to Laodicea. And what did that say? Remember
what that said? The last warning to Laodicea. And all those churches
are gone. But this doesn't make us tremble
in fear. The church at Laodicea was rich,
increased with goods, and in need of nothing, and didn't know
that they were more naked and blind and miserable and poor
than they were when he found them. He said, I counsel, buy
this gold. Buy it all over again. Sell what
you have. Give yourself totally to it.
He said to Ephesus, do the first works. Repent. He said to all
of them, repent. Do the first works. In other
words, total commitment. Total commitment to the cause
of Christ. Total commitment to the Gospel. Total commitment
and support to the Gospel. Give yourselves completely. Do
the first works. Alright, I'm going to take your
candlestick out. Oh Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the year. Psalm 51, my pastor brought this
up, he said, the church will never see conversions unless
the Lord brings them out of a bad state that they're in. David
said this in verse 12, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. That's the joy. Paul wrote in
Hebrews, Hold fast the joy and confidence. the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." When the church is on fire again
for this gospel, has a burden for it, that's when people will
be converted. In our text, he says, I've heard
thy speech and I was afraid. Now see what's happened. I see
all the warnings. I see the signs. My eyes are
wide open. I see this happening. I see it
happening right before my eyes. Revive thy work in the midst
of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. What's
that? Now, He said, Revive thy work
in the midst of the years. Thy work. His work. His work
of grace, His work of salvation. Revive it in our hearts, O Lord.
Revive it, what becomes lukewarm. Revive it when we get cold. Make us hot again. Revive Thy
work. It's His work, Christ's work,
the Spirit's work of regeneration. Revive Thy work. Quicken me,
O Lord, according to Thy Word, David said. Listen to John Gill. He said, The Spirit, the things of God,
and the saint becomes dead and lifeless, become backward, that
is backslide, because the world and the things of it get power
over us. We are unconcerned for the things
of Christ, unconcerned for salvation of others, honor of His name,
the good of souls, under the power of some sin or carried
captive by it. That was the case of David, the
case of Peter and others. And when this work is revived
and the Spirit of God comes back, David said, take not thy spirit
from me. And he calls his people back to lively exercise and affections
go strongly out to God. They talk of and their conversation
turns, what are we talking about? What are we going to talk about
when this message is over? Malachi says a book of remembrance
was written. And they that loved it, received
it, spake often of these things. Our conversation is in heaven,
or it ought to be, from whence come with our Savior. Well, now
is our salvation nearer than when it first came. Older people
especially ought to be more conversant with and thinking about our long
haul, conversant with it. When we go to a musical something,
what do you talk about when you leave there? When you go to a
ball game, what do you talk about when you leave there? We're sad on it. Oh Lord, revive
my world in the midst of the year. Revive it. Revive it. In the midst of the year, make
known, and I quit. He says, in the midst of the
year, make known. Make known what? Well, number
one, ourselves. I think we lose sight of ourselves.
I know we do. We get in a pit and we don't
realize it. All over again. Ezekiel 16, the Lord said to Ezekiel, He
said, Cause Jerusalem to know their abominations. Cause them
to know. Cause them to see the pit. from
which they were digged, caused them to see that they're like
that child that was cast out of the field. I found them at
a time of love. And I spread my skirt over them
in the righteousness of Christ. And I said, live. And I decked
you with ornaments. And I did all this for you. And
I brought you myself. And you were made beautiful through
my comeliness. Then what happened? She forgot. in the midst of the
earth. She forgot what she was and where
He found her. And she started trusting in her
own beauty, her knowledge and all of this. And the Lord brought
her down hard. Cause your people to know themselves. Cause us to know ourselves, Habakkuk
said. Cause us to know Thee. Paul said
there's one thing he wanted. Isn't it? Oh, that I might win
Christ and be found in Him. Oh, that I might know Thee and
the power of His resurrection. A resurrected life. My, my. Lord, Lord, I need to know more
of that. I need to know something of that. Cause us to know our
end. And so much more as we see the
day approaching, I'm going to bring this to our minds. Brethren,
boast not thyself of tomorrow. Be careful for nothing, because
you don't know what a day will bring forth. Today is a day of
salvation. Cause us to know our end. Consider
our latter end, the end of this world. We have here no continuing
city. And he says this in closing,
in wrath remember mercy. We looked at that in Psalm 90,
something of his wrath, we see it. We see it in our own lives,
don't we? Judgment that God brings in the lives of believers, surely
you do. Chastening hand of our God, his frowns. Have you ever
felt it? Sure you have. Have you ever
felt like his mercies was clean gone? Have you ever been like
David, the heavens are brass? Have you ever felt like David,
don't cast me from your presence, take not thy Holy Spirit from
me, you ought to cast me out, oh have mercy upon me, oh God,
according to thy loving kind. Have you ever been like that? You have been, you are, you will
be again. And in wrath he said, oh Lord,
you ought to be angry with me. You ought to be more angry with
me than you are with the nations who don't know your name. and
in wrath. Isn't this a good prayer? A daily
prayer? Remember, mercy. Like the thief on the cross.
Remember me. Lord, You ought to be angry with
me. Oh, remember Your covenant that I've forgotten. Remember
Your Word that You caused Your servant to hope on. Remember
the Word that I forgot. Bring it back to remember. Remember
your promises. Remember all these things for
my sake. Oh Lord, in wrath, remember mercy. Brethren, pray that prayer with me. Oh
Lord, I've heard Thy speech and I was afraid. I'm afraid for
myself. I'm afraid for my children. I
weep. Jeremiah talked about, get the
women, not the women at ease in Zion, warn them, but get the
women like those two old cows pulling that cart, with a burden
on that cart. And we have a little cart here,
and we've got an ark on it. Bind us to it. And call us to
pull that cart with everything we've got, lowing the whole time. Jeremiah said, yeah, call for
the women. Teach them their daughters to
mourn. Teach them to mourn. And O Lord, revive Thy work in
the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
known, make us to know all over again what we seem to have forgotten.
And in wrath, in the midst of the wrath of God that's certainly
coming, Be merciful. For Christ's sake,
be merciful. Stand with me. Our God and our Father, in the
name of Your Son, our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer of sinners,
He who came to shed His precious blood for sinners, Oh Lord, we
call upon You in the name that You told us to call upon You
in. And You promised to show mercy to those who call. Lord,
we're calling. We're asking in our prayer. We've
heard Thy speech. Oh Lord, make us afraid. Make
us afraid. Never let us stop fearing Thee. Never let
us stop fearing ourselves. Lord, we need to be afraid of
ourselves, afraid of falling, fear of sin and reproach. Oh, Lord. And fear for our children
and those around us. Oh, Lord, our nation. Lord, give
us a burden. Give us a burden for souls. And
bring back the joy of Thy salvation, and then we will teach sinners,
and sinners will be converted unto Thee. Cause us to rejoice
in God our Savior in the Gospel afresh, anew, brand new, brand
new. What mercy, what grace, what
pardon, What a gift. What a gift. Salvation by grace. O Lord, let us hear it as if
it were the first time. Give us this first love, Lord.
Let us not be lukewarm but rather hot. Cause our hearts to burn
when we hear the Word and cause us to go out with this Word to
a lost world with a burden to this Word and a burden to soul. Forgive us, O Lord, of our sins.
Forgive us. Remember mercy, we pray, for
Christ's sake. Amen.