Would you turn with me to 2 Chronicles
chapter 34. Tonight I'm going to be speaking
on what the Holy Spirit does for us. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. A couple of months ago, Brother
Charles Pennington asked me, Have you ever preached a message
on revival? Or have you ever heard a message
on revival that you thought was good? And my answer to both of
those questions was no, I've never preached on the subject
and never heard a message that I particularly cared for upon
the subject. But you know that gripped me,
and I've been giving it a lot of thought ever since then, wanting
to preach on this, if I can find out what the Bible says concerning
it, and even more, wanting to experience it. I want to experience
the Lord reviving me. Now, I have entitled this message,
Revival and Reformation. Revival and Reformation. Now, this is a scriptural concept. Revival, revives. The word is
also translated quickness, restores. repair us. The idea is I need
life. I need to be given life. Only
God can revive. You know, even on a physical
level, only God can give life. And only God can maintain life.
And on a spiritual level, only God can give life. And only God
can maintain life. And everybody in this room knows
what it is if you're a believer to feel that your life is running
low. You feel like you're growing
cold and your prayer is, Lord, quicken me. Lord, revive me. This is a scriptural concept,
this thing of revival. It's God giving life. Only God
can do that. It's God maintaining life. And
what always happens when there's a revival is reformation. You
can't have one without the other. When you have revival, you'll
have reformation, you'll have reform. That word is found two
times in the New Testament, the word reformation. Once it's found
in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 10, translated reformation, and in
Acts chapter 24, verse 2, it's called very worthy deeds being
done or evils corrected. You see, when God gives life,
There will be reform. There will be reformation. There will be correction. The word means to make straight,
to bring right again with the idea that someone has veered
off and he's corrected or amended. Reformation. Revival is what
God does. Reform is what we do in response
to what God does. Now, I know that you would agree
that this is the great need of our day. Habakkuk, in his day, said, Revive
thy work, O Lord, in the midst of years. In the midst of years,
make known in wrath, remember mercy. It was the great need
in his day, and it is the great need in our day. David said,
as I've already read in Psalm 85, 6, Will thou not revive us
again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Now, it's something
we should pray for often and earnestly. Revive us again, O
Lord. Now, on a personal level, David said, My soul cleaveth
to the dust. Quicken thou me. That's the same
word translated, revive me. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. On a personal level, I want the
Lord to continually revive me. In a church, when the Lord gives
a renewed zeal for His glory, and a renewed passion to spread
the gospel. And he increases our number. And on a wider level, you know,
the gospel doesn't have much of a hearing in our day. Not
in a large scale. Most folks have never heard the
gospel. They've never heard someone preach the gospel. The gospel
just doesn't have much of a hearing in this day. And I pray that
the Lord will cause his gospel to have more of a hearing. in
our day. Now, no doubt, much error and
much evil has been done under the name of revival. I think
it's ridiculous that people say, we're going to have a revival
service. What? You don't just up and decide
to have a revival service. That's God's work. That's how
I get on up and decide to live. God's going to give life. It's
not something you can just drum up. Let's have a revival. It
doesn't work that way. Only God can give this thing
of and there's no doubt that much evil has been done under
the name of revival, and I am very cynical, very cynical of
what men call revival. But, thank God, we do have a
true scriptural example of when a true revival and a true reformation
took place. Now, we probably have several,
but this is what the Lord brought my Second Chronicles, Chapter 34,
we read of a true revival and a true reformation that took
place under the reign of King Josiah. Let's begin reading verse
29 of this chapter, Second Chronicles, Chapter 34. Then the king sent and gathered
together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went
up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites,
and all the people, great and small. And he read in their ears
all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in
the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place
and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord.
and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes
with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words
of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all
that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it.
And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did, according to the covenant
of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the
abominations out of the countries that pertain to the children
of Israel. and made all who were present in Israel to serve, even
to serve the Lord their God, and all his days they departed
not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers." Isn't
that beautiful? This happened all their days. Now, you don't read anything
like that in the Old Testament, do you? You hear of their unbelief,
you hear of their rebellion, but here we find a reform that
took place where the children of Israel followed the Lord God
all of their days. Now, what about those days of
Josiah? Now, in those days, the Scriptures
had fallen into disuse. We know that from how they found
a copy of the Bible in the temple when they began to repair it,
and they brought it to Hezekiah. The Scriptures were not being
used. Look in verse 14 of chapter 34. And when they brought out the
money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the
priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said
unto Shaphan, the scribe, I found the book of the law in the house
of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. And Shaphan
carried the book to the king and brought the king's word back
again, saying, all that was committed to thy servants, they do it.
And they gathered together the money that was found in the house
of the Lord and delivered it under the hand of the overseers,
under the hand of the workmen. See, Josiah had told them to
repair the temple. Then Shaphan described told the
king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest hath given me a book, and Shapin
read it before the king, and it came to pass, when the king
heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes." Now, the
scriptures obviously had fallen into disuse. He hadn't heard
what was said in the law. Isn't that very similar to our
day? Absolutely. And not only had
the scriptures fallen into disuse, the messages of the scripture
or the message of the scripture had fallen into disuse. What
do I mean by that? Well, you know, they have not
been observing the Passover. Because we read in this passage
of scripture, after he heard the words of the law, that he
reinstituted the Passover. They had quit observing the Passover. What is the message of the scripture?
The Passover, the Passover lamb, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the message of this book. That had fallen into disuse in
Josiah's day. Idolatry, false religion was
the norm. And we see that from Josiah's
efforts to stamp it out. Now, Josiah's name means the
foundation of God. What a name. And this revival
and reformation that took place under him was prophesied over
500 years before it took place. Turn with me, hold your finger
there and turn with me to 1 Kings chapter 13. Now, this is when the prophet
is speaking to Jeroboam as to what was going to happen because
of the great sin that Jeroboam committed. Verse 1, 1 Kings 13,
Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the
Lord unto Bethel, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord and said,
O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord. Behold, a child shall be
born under the house of David, Josiah by name. Now, this was prophesied 500
years before this took place. Josiah by name. And upon thee
shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn him
since upon them and men's bones shall be burnt unto thee. Now,
remember, revival is God's work. And anything God does, He purposes
before to be done. We see this mighty revival was
purposed by God. And that's the way God does everything
He does. Everything He does, He does on purpose. Romans 8,
28 says, And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to His
purpose. We read of the purpose of God
according to election by Stan, not of works, but of him that
calleth. Whatever God does, he does absolutely
on purpose. And if there's a revival, a true
God-sent revival, it's because God purposed for that revival
to take place. Now, I want us to look at these
descriptions of Josiah, the man whom the Lord used for this revival.
Look in chapter 34, verses 1 and 2. Josiah was eight years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of David,
his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the
left. Now, turn over to First Kings,
Chapter 22, the same accounts as given in First Kings, 22 and
23 of what's given in Second Chronicles, 33 and 34. It says
regarding Josiah in this passage in 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 22, verse 2. And he, Josiah, did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all
the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right
hand or to the left. Look in 2 Kings 23, verse 25. This is, again, speaking of Josiah,
and like unto him was there no king before him, that turneth
to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with
all his might, according to the law of Moses, neither after him
arose there any like him. Now, this was a very special
man, obviously. What a commendation. The Lord says there's nobody
like him before him or after him. Now, let's go back to 2
Chronicles, chapter 34. We're going to stay mostly there.
I'll look at some passages out of the 2nd Kings. If you have
a marker, go ahead and put your mark in 2nd Kings, Chapter 22.
But let's look at this story. Verse 3, the 2nd Chronicles 34. For in the eighth year of his
reign. That means he was only 16 years
old. It's not very old, is it? Sixteen years old, a teenager.
In the eighth year of his reign, he began to reign when he was
eight. And when he was sixteen, while he was yet young, he began
to seek after the God of David, his father. Why, I hope the Lord is going
to put it in some young person's heart to begin to seek after
the Lord God of their fathers. You know, David said in Psalm
27, When the Lord said, Seek ye my face, my heart said, Thy
face, O Lord, will I seek. The Lord said to Josiah, Seek
ye my face. And Josiah resolved to seek the
face of the Lord. And in the 12th year, four years
later, He began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places
and the groves and the carved images and the molten images.
And they break down the altars of Balaam. You see, when somebody
seeks the Lord, they're going to get rid of the false. That
always happens. They break down the altars of
Balaam in his presence and the images that were on high above
him. He cut down the groves and the
carved images and the molten images. He break in pieces and
made dust of them and stroked them upon the graves of them
that had sacrificed. unto them. And he burnt the bones
of the priests upon the altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon,
even unto Naphtali, and their maddocks round about. And when
he had broken down the altars, and the groves, and he had beaten
the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols from
all the land, he returned to Jerusalem. He returned to Jerusalem
to repair the temple. Now, I think this is so interesting.
When he sought the Lord, He started putting down the idolatrous priests. He started breaking the images.
I mean, he got rid of it. This is because he loved the
Lord. He hated anything that was contrary
to him. And he loved people. He wanted them only to hear the
truth. That's why he did these things. He sought the Lord and
he returns to Jerusalem in order to repair the temple. And you can read more about this
in Second Kings. But while they were repairing
the temple, a copy of the scriptures were found. Let's begin reading
in verse 19, chapter 34. Now, this is after this passage
of scripture was read to him and it came to pass, verse 19,
when the king had heard the words of the law that he rent his clothes. He was so upset and the king
commanded Hilkiah and Eakom, the son of Shaphan and Abdon,
the son of Micah and Shaphan, the scribe and Isaiah, a servant
of the king, saying, go inquire of the Lord for me. and for them
that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of
the book that's found. For great is the wrath of the
Lord that's poured out upon us, because our fathers have not
kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that's written in
the book. And Hilkiah and David, the king had appointed, went
to Hilda, the prophetess, the wife of Shalem, the son of Tikvah,
the son of Hasra, keeper of the wardrobe, and she dwelt in Jerusalem
in the college, and they spake to her in that effect. And she
answered him, and said, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Josiah, Thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the
inhabitants thereof, and all the curses that are written in
this book, which they have read before the king of Judah, because
they have forsaken me, and they have burned incense unto other
gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works
of their hands. Therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon
them, this place, and shall not be quenched And as for the king
of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall you say
unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the
words which thou hast heard, Because thine heart was tender. And thou didst humble thyself
before God when you heard his words against this place, and
against the inhabitants thereof, and humblest thyself before me,
and didst wind thy clothes and wheat before me. I have even
heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to
thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace.
And neither shall I and I see all the evil that I will bring
upon this place. And upon the inhabitants of the
same, so that it brought the king word again." Now, here's
what happened. The Lord said, I'm going to do everything I
said I was going to do, but it's not going to happen in your place. Because you humbled yourself
before me. Now, this is what happens when God sends a revival
right here. I humble myself before the Lord. What is humility? Oh, it's so
beautiful. Humility is a just estimate of yourself. A real estimate of yourself.
And you humble yourself before the Lord. Now, in doing this,
What did Josiah do? Verse 29. He didn't say, well,
good, we can just relax. We don't have to worry about
anything. He didn't say anything like that. No, look what he did
when he heard this word that the Lord was going to be merciful
toward him in his life. Then the king said, gathered
together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went
up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites
and all the people, great and small. And he read in their ears
all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in
the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and he
made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to
keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes
with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words
of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all
that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it.
And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant
of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the
abominations out of the countries that pertained to the children
of Israel and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even
to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed
not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers. Now
we see here a true revival that took place. No question about
that. Now, when Josiah was used to
bring about this revival, and it was God doing this. Josiah
is just a man like me or you. There's nothing special about
Josiah. He's just a man. God was doing this. But there
were two things that were very evident during this revival.
the reform that took place. As a matter of fact, you do well
to read the passage in 2 Kings. It gives more detail. He gave
himself to totally blotting out every aspect of false religion.
He'd take the prophets He'd burn their bones. The old prophets,
he'd pull their bones out of the grave and burn them and throw
them on the altar. He would slay false prophets.
He was doing everything in his power to stamp out everything
that was contrary to the gospel. All the different kings of Judah
had brought in all these abominations, all this idolatry and so on,
and he wasn't They didn't accept it. He did everything he could
to stamp it out. And the reason he did that is
because he loved the Lord, his God, and he hated that which
is contrary to him. You see, you can't love the Lord
and not hate that which is contrary to him. You can't love the true
and not hate the false. It's impossible. You know, the
reason some people are so tolerant of that which is false is because
they really have no love for the Lord. They wouldn't tolerate
it if they did. He stamped out everything That
was false, and he re-instituted the Passover. And that's the
message of the scriptures. He re-instituted the Passover. Look in 2 Kings chapter 23. I love this description of this
Passover. Verse 21, And the king commanded all the
people, saying, Keep the Passover unto the Lord your God, as it's
written in the book of this covenant. Remember, the scriptures had
been found, and he found out that they hadn't been keeping
the Passover. He didn't even know they were
supposed to. But he read in the Bible once again, the scriptures
were preached. And he said, keep the Passover,
verse 22. Surely there was not holding
such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel,
nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor the kings of Judah. This was the greatest Passover
ever held. Now, here's the point I want
to make about this. When idolatry is put down, when
the scriptures are preached, when the scriptures are revered,
The Passover is declared. That is the message of the scripture.
When God brings revival, the Passover becomes paramount. And
I'm not talking about that ceremony. You know that. I'm talking about
the message of the Passover. That's what the Bible is all
about. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 11. Let's remind ourselves
of what the Passover represents. Exodus chapter 11. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very
great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants,
and in the sight of the people. And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord about midnight, Will I go out into the midst of Egypt?
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even
unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and
all the firstborn of the beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel, and that difference was the Passover.
Now look in chapter 12, verse 3. Speak unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of the month they shall take
them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for a house, and if the household be too little for the
lamb, let him his neighbor next to his house take it according
to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall
make you count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish."
That's the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ, a male of
the first year. You shall take it from the sheep
or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth
day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they
shall take the blood and strike it on two side posts and on the
upper doors of the house wherein they shall eat it. Look down
in verse eleven. Thus shall ye eat it, with your
loins gourded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your
hand, and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,
and against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am
the Lord, and the blood shall be to you, for it is opened upon
the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you." And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the land of Egypt. What was the one thing
God was looking for? He didn't say when I see your
faith. He didn't say when I see your sincerity. He didn't say
when I see your intentions to do better. There's one thing
God was looking for. When I see Who had to see the blood? God didn't say, when you see
the blood. He said nothing about that. He said, when I see the
blood. And what happened when he saw
the blood? He said, when I see the blood, I will. Pass over you. Now, I don't have any doubt,
I love to think about those days, I don't have any doubt that some
of those houses with the blood over the door were scared to
death what's going to happen to us. I would have been. And there
were others who had stronger faith and they just sit there
and knew everything was going to be okay. But the one with
strong faith wasn't any more secure than the one with weak
faith. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
You see, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the
message of the scriptures. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
saves. Now, what's meant by blood? Death. Death. The death of the
Lord Jesus Christ actually saves. And this is the message that
revives. This is the message that gives
life, not you need to straighten up and do better, but the message
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, what his blood actually
accomplished. That's the message of scripture. Paul said in Galatians 6 14. God forbid. That I should glory. Save in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the death of Christ. the blood of Christ. God forbid that I should glory,
he said, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going
to glory in anything else, but by his grace, I do glory in the
cross. I rejoice in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I boast in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. I boast in what is accomplished. You only accomplish God's death,
and this is what revives. This is what gives life. You
only accomplish God's death. He made me as sinful as I am
in myself, as unclean and ugly as I am in myself. He made me
perfect. He made me holy. He washed away
all my sins and made me perfect before God. His blood accomplished
my justification. You know, that's enough to make
me see the world for what it is. He said, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Jesus Christ, by whom
I'm crucified to the world. I see this world for what it
is. And the world has no love for me either. Now. What happens in the revival? The gospel is preached. It's
that simple. The Gospels preached. The Gospels
believed. The Gospel is gloried in. God
is honored. There's nothing that honors the
Lord like the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, it's so
glorifying to God. What Christ accomplished on that
cross. Obedience to his Father. The salvation of his people.
Oh, it's so glorious. Now, this is the reform that
takes place when the Gospel is preached. Look in 2 Kings, Chapter
22. Let them deliver into the hand of the doers of the work. that had the oversight of the
house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers of the work
which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches
of the house." And there's a lot of typical significance to that.
Use carpenters and builders and masons to buy timber and use
stone to repair the house. Albeit, there was no reckoning
made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand,
because they dealt faithfully. You see, when God does a mighty
work, this is the reform that takes place. They dealt faithfully. Now turn back over to 2 Chronicles
35. When God does something, when
he revives, there's things that take place. There's faithfulness.
Look in verse 8. 2 Chronicles 35 verse 8. And his princes gave
willingly unto the people. There's willing service. willing,
doing what you want to do. And then look in verse 26 of
the same chapter. Now, the rest of the acts of
Josiah and his goodness. His goodness and my marginal
reading says his kindness, his acts of kindness and his acts
of mercy. Now, when God does a work of
grace in the people's heart, you want someone to be paramount
with those people, acts of kindness, acts of mercy, acts of goodness. That's what happens when the
Lord doesn't work with grace in somebody's heart. They become
merciful, merciful individuals, merciful in wanting men to hear
the gospel, merciful to their needs. That's the description
of Josiah. What a description, his acts
of kindness and mercy. Now, should we not be seeking
and praying for revival? and reformation in our day. I hope the Lord is going to put
this in our hearts to ask the Lord to give this to us. We won't
have it apart from asking. You realize that? All that you
have of the Lord, you're going to ask for. That's the way he
brings to pass his purposes. He moves his people to ask. for whatever he intends to give
them. Now, what a need. Personal revival. Personal reformation. Revival
in this church. Revival in this nation. It is
a scriptural concept. And what I couldn't help but
think about is what we all know is the Protestant Reformation.
Now, at that time, let me talk just a few minutes about that.
At that time, darkness was covering the land. Idolatry was the religion. All over Europe, nothing but
idolatry. Darkness of salvation by works
was talked of. The Passover certainly wasn't
taught. I mean, they were selling indulgences, ways to buy your
way out of purgatory, teaching a purgatory that your sins could
be purged by what you did or enough people paid enough money
or enough people prayed for you. I mean, it was just darkness,
darkness, darkness. But the Lord raised up some men.
Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, you could name many of them. The
Lord raised up some men. A revival took place. A reformation
took place as a result of that revival. See, what happened first
was a reviving. The gospel was preached. The
scriptures were revered. The truth was preached. And in
this revival, you've probably heard of this before. They're
called the five solas of the reformation. You've heard of
them. Scriptures alone. This is what
characterized this reformation. Scriptures alone. Christ alone. Grace alone. Faith alone, and
the glory of God alone. Now you think about those five
solas, is what they're called. Some kind of Latin word. The
five solas in the Scripture. Scripture alone. The Scripture
alone is our only ground of faith and practice. I don't care if
tradition says it, or does the Bible say it. Traditions of men
are worthless. Confessions of men are worthless. Creeds of men are worthless.
We don't need them. What do you all believe? What the
Bible says. Do you have any documents that
show us that? No, we just believe what the Bible says. What about
a creed? Don't need one. The Bibles are
creed. Scriptures alone. This is God's Word. This is the
Word of God. God breathed. God inspired. Somebody says, prove that to
me. I can't, but I know it is. I know it is. This is the Word
of God. This is our only ground of faith
and practice. Scriptures alone. Everything else is worthless,
isn't it? Christ alone. Christ alone is everything in
my salvation. God views me in favor because
of Christ alone. Not because of anything in me.
Because of Christ alone. I'm saved for Christ's sake. Christ is the only ground of
my salvation. Christ is the only ground of
my assurance. I have assurance I'm saved. How come? Because
Christ owns my salvation. That's where my assurance comes
from. It's not from thinking I'm faithful or I do anything.
Christ alone. I know I'm going to be accepted
on Judgment Day. Why? Christ alone. I'm going to stand before God
justified. How do you know? Because Christ
alone is my justification. My prayers are heard right now.
God accepts me right now while I'm talking to you. How do you
know that? Christ alone as my great high priest and intercessor.
Christ alone is everything in salvation. As a matter of fact,
if you want to know what the meaning of the scriptures is, well, it's
Christ alone. That's it. Grace alone. This word alone is very, very
important. If I introduce the word and,
I've messed up the meaning, haven't I? Grace alone from election
When God chose who would be saved as a gracious act of his own
free and sovereign will, all the way to glorification and
everything in between. It's all of grace. Salvation
is of the Lord. And you know, when I think of
that, I'm so thankful. I'm so happy it's all God's grace. Faith alone. Salvation is received. Not by doing, but by believing. What shall we do that we might
work the works of God? The people asked in John chapter
six. And here's our Lord's answer. This is the work of God. That you believe on him whom
he hath sent. You know what comes after that?
a period. What else? You just do the first thing.
Everything will work out. We conclude, Paul said, that
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. The glory of God alone. as the only good motive. Any other motive, any other reason
is wrong. The glory of God alone. Now when God revives, these things become more than
a creed. It becomes my life. The scriptures alone. Christ
alone. Grace alone, faith alone, the
glory of God alone. Now, I pray that God will, in
His mercy, send a mighty revival to us as individuals in this church and in this nation. But I know this. It will not
happen apart from us asking the Lord to do this. There's a song that says, Lord,
send a revival and let it begin in me. Turn with me to Ezekiel
chapter 36. There's a couple of scriptures
I'd like to close with. Ezekiel 36. Beginning in verse thirty-four, And the desolate land shall be
tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that pass
by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become
like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate ruined
cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then to heathen
that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord,
build the ruined places, and plant that which was desolate.
I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it. Thus saith the
Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of
Israel, to do it for them. I will increase them with men. like a flock. I turn to Isaiah
62, verse 6, I have set watchman upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace, day nor
night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish, until
he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Now, you've noticed in me attempting
to bring this message And I've not said anything any different
than I've ever said. Nothing new. Don't want anything new. Don't
need anything new. But I am reminded of our utter
and desperate need of God to revive us on a personal
level, in a church and in this nation. And I pray that the Lord
does do that, that there is a reviving, a divine quickening, a repairing
of the temple, a repairing of the breaches, that there's a
divine quickening of us preaching the gospel in this generation,
that the scriptures are given their proper place. And when
the scriptures are given their proper place, nor is given what
the message is, the Passover. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Paul said, I've determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
There's nothing even worth talking about with that. Now, when the
Lord revives that scene, not just as a matter of creed, not
just because somebody teaches it, because you really believe
that. May God in His mercy grant us
a mighty revival. And let it begin with me and
with you. Let's pray.