Doss and I are so pleased to
have this privilege of worshiping with you all today. We always enjoy coming to Rocky
Mount and visiting with Pastor Paul and Mindy and Hannah and
visiting with you all here in the services. We were privileged
to have about nine or ten of your folks with us two or three
weeks ago. The Sunday after Thanksgiving,
a number of the folks from here were in our services, and that
pleased me greatly. I teach the young people's class in our church,
and Joe and Nancy went in the older folks' class, and I went
after them. I said, y'all not gonna meet in there. You're gonna
meet with me this morning. I just love them so much and
I wanted them to be in my class that morning, so I went after
them and took them into our class.
Doris and I are celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary
this week. We're on a trip to Williamsburg. We got married in a prayer meeting
Wednesday night, this coming Wednesday night, fifty years
ago. I really wish that we could have
weddings in prayer services and morning worship services. I think
it would be the most fitting thing for two young people who
are starting off life together, beginning in a worship service.
Let the pastor preach, and that's the way we had our wedding. We sat on the front row, you
remember, fifty years ago, and our pastor down in Alabama brought
the message. And then Doris and I stepped
up in front of him, and he performed our wedding service, and that's
where we started. And this coming Wednesday night
will be fifty years ago. I want you to open your Bibles
this morning to the book of Habakkuk. That's the One of the last books in the
Old Testament, about the fourth book from the end, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, not much is known about
the prophet Habakkuk. I brought this message, this
study to our church a few weeks ago, and one of the men said,
Have you preached from Habakkuk before? I said, Yes. It's been
a long time, though. We neglect him. He was neglected
when he lived. you can't find anything about
his family. Actually, if you'll search, it'll
be difficult to find at what time in the history of Israel
he even ministered. They were so far from God, so
cold, so dead, so violent, so pagan, that they didn't pay any
attention to him. And he's not even listed. When he preached, and anything
about his family. But I do know this. God sent
him. He was God's ambassador, because
his writings are mentioned four times in the New Testament. We
have that authority for this book. It's... He's the first
one who wrote, The Just Shall Live By Faith. And that's recorded
in Habakkuk. That's the first time it's recorded
in not the first time that it's declared, the just shall live
by faith, but in that way, that's the way it appears in Habakkuk,
the just shall live by faith. Paul said that in Romans, in
Galatians, Hebrews, and he's quoted four times in the New
Testament, so that we have that authority for this book. I want
to read chapter three. I'm told the pastor is going
to read all nineteen verses, and I want you to open your Bibles
to Habakkuk and get your ballpoint pen, I want to tell you a few
things to write in the margin of this third chapter. It starts this way, Habakkuk
3, the only three chapters in the book. A prayer of Habakkuk,
the prophet upon Shigon Unoth. That's according to songs and
tunes, sort of like a psalm a song. This is his prayer. Oh, Lord,
I have heard thy speech. I've heard thy report. You remember
Isaiah said, Who hath believed thy report? He said, I do. I've
heard it. I've heard your report. And I
was afraid. Oh, Lord, revive thy work in
the midst of the years. in the midst of the years, make
known, make thyself known." You can write that in there, in the
midst of the years, make thyself known. In wrath, remember mercy. God came from Timon, from the
south, from Sinai, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory
covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.
And his brightness was as the sun. You can write that in your
margin, the sun. His brightness was as the sun.
He had horns, rays, sun rays coming out of his hand. And there
was the hiding place of his power. Before him went the pestilence,
and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured
the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the
nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, and
the perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. No one under God are all his
works from the beginning. His goings forth are from everlasting
to everlasting. I saw the tents of Kushan," that's
Ethiopia in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian
did tremble. Was the Lord displeased against
the rivers? Was thou angry against the rivers?
Was thy wrath against the sea, where thou didst ride upon thy
horses and thy chariots of salvation? For thy chariots of victory and
salvation, thy bowl was made quite bare. He bared his mighty
arm. Thy bow was made quite naked
or bare. According to the oaths of the
tribes, even thy word, thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they
trembled. The overflowing of the water
passed by. The deep uttered his voice and
lifted up his hands on high. the sun and the moon stood still
in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows
they went, and at the shining of thy glittering sphere thou
didst march through the land in ignant indignation. Thou didst
trample, trample the heathen in thine anger." Now listen, Thou hast come," this is what
Brother Paul was talking about in the Bible class. Thou wentest
forth, came from heaven, thou hast come for the salvation of
our people. See that? God sent him from above. Don't say in thine heart, let
us ascend into heaven and bring Christ down. He's come down.
He went forth. He has come, why? For the salvation
of the people. I came to seek and to save the
lost. I came even for salvation with thine anointed. Two things
there. The salvation is through his
anointed Christ and for his anointed people. You can write that in
your margin. thou wentest forth, and hath
come for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation
of thine anointed people." You remember what the angel, or what
the Lord said to Mary, or to Adam and Eve, and to the serpent,
that the seated woman would bruise the serpent's And the serpent would bruise
his heel. Look at this next line. Thou woundest the head out of
the house of the wicked. You've crushed his head. You
wounded his head by discovering, by laying bare the foundation
upon the neck. Selah. Right in your margin by
that little word selah, that's a That's a musical term. You see it in the Psalms a lot.
Pause is what it is. And here's what one, I saw this
the other day. It says, stop and consider that.
And what he's, look at this, verse 13. He went forward. He has come for the salvation
of his people, even for the salvation through his anointed, for his
anointed people. And he wounded the head of the
serpent in the house of the wicked by laying bare the foundation
of his neck." Now, you stop and think about that. That's what
Selah means. You stop and think about that. Think of the majesty of it. Thou
didst strike through with his staves, you winded him with his
own arrows. Thou didst strike through with
his staves, the head of the villagers, with his own arrows, you pierced
him. They came out as a whirlwind
to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour
the poor nation Israel secretly. I'll just walk through the sea
with thine horses through the heap of great waters." And when
I heard my belly, my inner self trembled, my lips quivered at
the voice. Rottenness entered my bones.
That's what Daniel said, when I saw the Lord, my comeliness
melted into rottenness. My comeliness melted into corruption. And when I heard his voice, my
inner self trembled. my lips quivered at the voice.
John heard his voice and fell as a dead man, and rottenness
entered my bones. My comeliness melted into corruption,
and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble.
When he cometh up with the people, he will invade them with his
troops. And although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall keep then the vines, and the labour of the olive shall
fail, and the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut
off from the fold, there shall be no herd in the stall. Yet
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and he'll make my feet like deer's
feet, and Paul and I will I thought of this person when we were coming
to church this morning. He and I left the house early
and were driving up here and came down that gravel road, and
here came a six-point buck. Oh, he was jumping. Early morning,
the sun shining through the trees, and a hind is a deer. And he was leaping over the—well,
Paul just almost stopped the car to watch him leaping across
the road into the woods. He said, the Lord's my strength,
and He'll make my feet like that deer's feet." Nimble, quick,
jumping. Paul said, how'd he get through
that woods with that rack, you know? How'd he get through that?
Nimble as a deer. I'd get through one of these
days, through all these woods and storms and thorns and thistles
and fires, and He'll make me walk on the high places. to the
chief singer on my stringed instruments." Now listen, let's look at Habakkuk. You know what the name Habakkuk
means? You can look it up. These things, we preachers aren't
smarter than anybody else, we just have to work a little harder.
And you look up the word Habakkuk in the Hebrew lexicon, the Hebrew
concordance, it'll tell you his name means to embrace. And that's what they call him,
the embracer. He embraced the people. You'll see this as we
go through summaries of writing. He embraced the people. And throughout
this book, Habakkuk has such a powerful ministry. Number one, in the midst of all this conflict
and backslidings and confusing, confusion, he assured the people
of God's mercy. You're going to see that all
the way through here. God will be merciful. In spite of our
backslidings and our sins and confusion, all about us, he's
going to be merciful to his people. And secondly, he's going to send
forth the Messiah. This man wrote long before Christ
came. But you're going to see, as I
point out some things, he wrote about the Christ who will come.
He assured them that God would be merciful. He assured them
that God would send the Messiah. And he pled with them to persevere
in spite of the trials and trouble. He urged the people to believe
and keep on believing. Isn't that a good ministry? A
good ministry is one who's the embracer. He embraces it. Like
the pastor said this morning, it's one thing to love to preach. It's another thing to love the
people to whom you preach and the Lord of whom you preach.
And this man did. He's the embracer. And he assured
them that God will be merciful. And he assured them that God
would send the Redeemer and be merciful through him. And he
pled with them to remain faithful. Now let me show you something
about him. Go back to chapter one. Habakkuk was a man with
a burden. This is going to live for you
this morning because it lived for me. I pray, God bless me
so I can be a blessing. And this man was a man with a
burden. Look at verse 1 through 4, chapter
1, the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see. You read
that. The word is the best commentary
on the word. Paul said, My heart's desire
and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. I could
wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren. This man had
a burden. And I'll tell you this, if we
don't have a burden for God's glory and for His people and
for His Word now, we'll have a burden someday. As Persians
said, if His Word and preaching is not a burden now, it will
be at the judgment But Habakkuk had a burden. And here, listen,
how he prayed, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not
hear? I cry unto thee out of violence. I cry to thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save. He lived in a violent day, in
a corrupt day. Like I told you a while ago,
I don't even know when the day was, because there's no record
in history of his ministry. It was a day of violence, it
was a day of paganism, it was a day of heathenism, it was a
day of materialism. Listen to what he said. Why dost
thou show me this iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance
all around me? For spoiling and violence are
before me, like us today. You get in where you can't watch
the news, it's nothing but a But a report of all the police work,
and the violence, and the homosexuality, and the corruption in our day,
corruption in high places. Why, he said, why do you show
me such iniquity and cause me to behold such grievance? Sprawling
and violence are before me, and there, and there are that raise
up strife and contention. in the school, in the factory,
in the shops, in the homes, in government, just contention,
violence, covetousness, greed. Look at verse four. Therefore
the law is slack, offenders are not punished, judgment doth never
go forth, the wicked doth come compass about the righteous,
the hater. Therefore wrong judgment proceeded. Justice is not only not done,
it's perverted. It sounds like 1996, doesn't
it? He said, I'm such a sad man. How long will I cry to you to
do something about this mess, and you don't answer? Reveal
your hand of holiness and righteousness and judgment, straighten out
our day, and you don't hear me. Defender is not punished, and
justice is perverted. violence is all about me. And
look at verse 13 of chapter 1. And he says, Lord, you are a
purer eyes than to behold evil. You cannot look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them
that deal treacherously? Why are you allowing this to
happen? Isn't that what he's asking?
You are of pure holy eyes and cannot behold iniquity. Why,
oh God, are you allowing this rottenness and cancer and filth
and perversion to take over this nation? Why? And you hold your
tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that's more righteous
than he. They make fun of your gospel.
ridicule the truth. A man said to one of our members
the other day, a religious man in Ashland, he's so religious,
he's a member of the Assembly of Gods, he has missionaries
he sends money to and all these things, and he said that he hates
grace, he hates the gospel of God's suffering, mercy in Christ,
he hates salvation by grace alone. And he said to one of our men,
he said, step your apostate preachers is satanic." And Habakkuk says,
Lord, why do you let them do this? You've got—your eyes are too
holy to behold iniquity. Why are you looking on this so
long? and allows it to drift and drift
and drift and drift deeper, deeper, deeper into the cesspools and
dunghills of iniquity. Our whole nation is rotten to
the core. Well, he's a man with a burden,
wasn't he? And I know a lot of you are just great stricken over
what's going on—great stricken, sad. This man was. And that burden's
not going to be lifted till God bears his hand and does something
about it. All right? He was a man of faith. Look at chapter 2 and verse 1. He says, I'm going to stand upon
my watch. I'm going to stand upon my watch. I'm going to set me upon the
tower, a high, fenced place, and I'm going to watch to see
what he'll say to me. And what I should answer when
I'm reproved, he said, I've been raised to talk to God this way.
That's what he said. And I'm going to see now what
he reproves me and rebukes me. But what I just said and what
I feel, I'm going to see what he has
to say to me. I've complained to him about what's about me
and surrounds me and persecutes me and harasses me and troubles
me, and I've asked why. If you've got holy—you do have
holy eyes and can't look on iniquity, why are you looking on this mess,
and why are you tolerating it, and why do you hold your tongue
when they attack your people? I want to know why. Chapter 2, verse 2, and
the Lord answered me. He answered me. This is back
under Fulcross King. This is hundreds of years before
Fulcross King. And He answered me and He said,
You write this vision. You write this revelation. You
write what I'm going to reveal to you. You write it plain. Make it plain. Make the message
plain. Make the message plain. Like
Paul said, don't cover it with a bunch of your words and oratory
and man's wisdom and philosophy. You write it plain on the tables
that he that runs may read. The man that's passing by in
a hurry, that he might read it. That he might run with the message. That covers all of them. That
he might, that he might run with this message. Haste! Make haste! take the message, and that he
who runs by and hastens by, he may believe it, that all might
see it. For this vision, this revelation,
is yet for an appointed time. He who shall come will come,
and he who shall come will come when I get ready for him to come. My time, my appointed time. My time. God lacking His time. In the fullness of time, God
sent His Son. God Almighty has declared everything
that He purposes and plans for His own appointed day and night.
Not when you think, why don't you speak? I'll speak when I
get ready to speak. Why don't you judge Him? I'll
judge Him when I get ready. They're a foot or a slide in
due time. Why doesn't the Messiah come? He'll come at an appointed
time. Listen. But at the end, he shall
speak and not lie. Who's gonna speak? He's gonna
speak. The one of whom the vision is
written. The one of whom the revelation
speaks. He's gonna speak. God spake to our fathers with
the prophets. He's gonna speak by his son.
And what he says won't be a lie. He's a faithful witness. Yeah,
he'll speak. He'll speak at the end. He'll
speak and not lie. Though it tarry, though it cease
to tarry. Though God cease to be silent,
though God cease, he's not going to act. He said, though it tarry,
or cease to tarry, you wait for him. Wait on the Lord. I wish
I could learn that. Wait on the Lord. Give good courage. He'll strengthen your heart.
Wait, I say. Wait for Him. Wait for Him, because He will
surely come. He'll surely come. He'll not
tarry. He's coming. Behold His soul. Now here's the response to His
coming. You can expect this. His soul
which is lifted up, proud, arrogant, like the Pharisees of old, who
speaks with eyes as the pastor said, eyes of heart, the mouth
speaks, how you say, well, I did this, and I did that, and I did
the other. He whose soul is lifted up is
not upright in Him, but the just, the justifier, the one for whom
the just one came, the ones who've seen the just one. the one who
died the just for the unjust. But the just shall live by his
faith, his faith. He's the author of it. He's the
giver of it. He's the finisher of it. The just shall live by his faith,
his faithfulness, his righteousness, his blood. It's not my faith. It's faith which he gave me.
It's mine in that He gave it to me, but it came from Him.
I live by His faith. I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live by
faith. I live by the faith of the Son
of God. I just live by His faith. I'm going to see what he's going
to say to me. I've been raised with my mouth.
And bless God, he spoke in kindness and mercy. Just wait about that. Just wait. He's coming. Now let
me tell you this. He's coming again. This man was
a man of the burden and a man of faith, but a man with a good
hope. Look at verse fourteen of that
chapter two. For the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of God. This old world is filled
now with the rottenness and corruption of evil and sin, and the prince
of the piety of the air seems to possess the whole shooting
match. But he said one of these days,
when he comes, This earth, this old earth's going to be a new
earth, and it's going to be full, filled full with the knowledge
of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Job believed that. He said, I
know my Redeemer liveth. And at the last day, he's going
to stand on this earth, this earth right here, and I'll see
it myself, not another. I'll see him. Though worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh I'm going to see my Lord standing
on this earth. And the knowledge of my Lord
will cover this earth like water covers the sea." That's a promise. That's sure as you sitting here.
As Barnard says, sure as you, the foot and a half high. Sure
as God made little green apples, he said. He's going to come.
You wait for it. Oh, Habakkuk. The Lord says,
you be still, Habakkuk. He's coming. I say to you today,
in all this corruption, you be still. He's coming. He's going
to set the record. He's going to judge it with equity,
too. God's now talking about someone
who's being mistreated now and abused and coming over here. And we said this, well, he'll
set the record straight someday. Vengeance is mine. I will pay,
saith the Lord, and I'll do it in equity. justice. Well, Habakkuk was a man of worship. Look at verse 18, a man of worship. There's no prophet in worshiping.
Like Brother Paul read about, I'll praise you before the gods
of the nations, the gods of this world. Listen to what he said
down here in verse 18. We're a the graven image that
the maker thereof hath graven it." The folks that make graven
images and make false gods, what profit is there in making a god
yourself? When you make a god, when you
design a god, then you're worshipping yourself because you're the creator
of that god. That's what he said here. You
make him, The modern image, teacher lies, the maker of his work trusts
that they're in to make dumb hours. He's trusting in the God
of his own making. That's my generation. They pray
to God who is impotent, who is powerless, who has a will but
can't perform it, who has a will but can't perfect it. and they're
worshiping themselves, because they're gods, they make. Look at the next verse. "...worldly
hand its faith to the world awake, to the dumb stone rise its fatigues. The whole is laid over with gold
and silver." There's no breath at all in the midst of it. You're
talking to They said, God do this, God do
that, away, speak, do this, that, the other. And it doesn't speak. But none
of that makes sense. Isaiah said this, why do you
pray to a God that can't hear? Why do you call on a God that
can't say? Now listen to the next verse,
that the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord, Jehovah, is
in his holy temple. That's not a temple made with
hands in Jerusalem. That's in the universe, the heavens. God is in the heavens. The heaven
of heavens cannot contain him. So that's what he's pitched to.
Praise your God, the heathen said, he's in the heavens. And
I don't speak to him, he speaks to me. Listen, the God
is in his holy temple, let the earth shut their mouths and keep
silent. The worshipers of the false gods,
they do the talking. The worshipers of the living
God, he does the talking. See the difference? Woe to the
man that's touched to the wood! Away! Do this, do that! Especially when the dam is tall
and rising. It won't rise, it can't speak,
there's no breath in it. But I God's in the heavens. Keep
silence and listen to Him. And today in churches, they're
doing all the hooping up. They call this church and the
church I pastor in there, those dead churches. Why do you say
they're dead churches? People aren't making noise. God's
speaking. People hush when God speaks. You see the difference? You go down the road there, and
they're just carrying on, the choir jumping around and carrying
on and doing all those things, and the people are waving their
hands, and they're all talking at the same time, and there's
just a bunch of... it's confusion. But if you've got my speaking,
you've got to. If he's not speaking, if he's not instructing, if he's
not inspiring, if he's not edifying, if he's not blessing, if he's
not putting water in the soul, then the people have got to stir
it up. But when you find out who he
is, like you said, and where he is, and what he's done, and
why he did it, you're content to be still. Be still and know
that I'm God. There's none else. Look unto
me, and be your shade, I am God. Let the earth keep silence, and
God speak, and you'll go home with a blessing. You come down
here and do all the talking, no blessing. But when you come
and sit, and God speaks through His Word. Didn't our, listen,
one of the disciples, Selden wrote to Emmaus, didn't our hearts
burn with us as He Open to us the Scriptures." Our God spoke. He's in the heavens. Be still. Don't be troubled when you turn
on your TV and see these congregations just acting like a bunch of people
that just got let out of the loony house. God's not in that. That's confusion. Where God is,
people be still. That's right. This man's a man of worship,
true worship. Now listen, he's a man of perseverance.
Look at chapter 3. You talk about hard times. I
hear people talk about, and I do it myself sometimes, about the
Depression. Those were hard times. But I
want to read you about hard times here. Habakkuk 3, verse 17. Although the fig tree will not
blossom, no figs, neither shall fruit
be in the vines. The grapevines are out there,
but no fruit on them. The labor of the olive tree,
no oil from the olives will fail, and the field shall yield no
corn, no barley, no wheat, and the The sheep cut off from the
foal, got no sheep, no wool, no lambs, no herd in the stall,
no cows in the stall, no milk. That's hard times. That's a dry—that's
a drought, that's a famine. And yet, perseverance. This man was a man of perseverance.
Yet, I'm going to rejoice. Well, you're going to rejoice
here. I'm going to rejoice in the Lord. That's who I'm going
to rejoice in. I'm going to rejoice in his person.
He loved me and gave himself for me. I'm going to rejoice
in his office. He's my prophet, priest, and king, and my father. I'm going to rejoice in his sacrifice
and his precious blood that cleanses me of all my sins. I'm going
to rejoice in the relationship. I am a child of God. It does
not yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear,
we're going to see Him and be like Him. I'm going to rejoice
in that. I'm going to rejoice in the hope that is laid up,
a living hope, a blessed hope, a hope of grace. I'm going to
rejoice in His glory. I'm going to rejoice in the God
of my salvation, God who loved me, who chose me, who called
me, who justified me, who keeps me, and someday make me like
Christ. I got a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be thankful for, because
He's my strength, and He's going to make my feet like that deer's
feet, jumping over the road. He'll make me to walk on the
high places, and this is dedicated to the chief singers of my strangest
of us. Last of all, he was a man of
prayer. Go back to verse 1, chapter 3. Habakkuk was a man of prayer. And here's his prayer, verse
2. O Lord, when you see that word,
I'm sure your pastor's shown this to you. Capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. We're not talking about He doesn't
call on Elohim, the absolute God of righteousness. He's calling
on Jehovah, my Savior. This is Christ. Oh, Lord. Jehovah, my Savior. I'm calling
on Him. I've heard your speech. I've
heard your report. Isaiah said, Who's heard our
report? I have. He shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath
no form, no comeliness. When we shall see him, there's
no beauty. We should desire him. He's a man of solace, acquainted
with grief, and we'll hear his roar, our faces plunged, and
they'll know him. But he hath borne our griefs,
and our sorrows, and our iniquities. Chastisement of our peace was
upon him. By his stripes we're healed." I've heard that before. I've heard it not just with these
ears, I've heard it down here. With your heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. I, oh Lord, I've heard your gospel. And listen, and I was afraid. My friends, let me tell you something. It's not possible for a mortal
man who knows his mortality and frailty and flesh. It's not possible for a mortal
human being to be fairly conscious of the divine presence of Almighty
God and not be afraid. That's an impossibility. I was preaching one time on the
fear of the Lord, and a person came to me and said, we're not
supposed to fear God, we're supposed to love Him. I said, if you know
Him, you'll fear Him. It's not possible for a mortal
man to be conscious of the divine presence of God and not be afraid.
You can call it awe, reverence, or you can call it fear. But
when men have been favored with the presence of God and the revelation
of God, they've been deeply moved with fear. Noah, being warned
of God, moved with what? Fear. Isaiah cried when he saw
the Lord, woe is me. I'm cut off. The father of Samson,
when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, he said, we're going
to die. We've seen the Lord. We're going to die. Job said, I've heard of thee,
Lord, and I see it too, therefore I hate myself. I repent and sacrosanction."
Jacob said at Bethel, how dreadful is this place. This is the house
of God. Ezekiel said, when I saw him,
I fell on my face. John said, when I heard him and turned to see the voice that
spake to me, I fell at his feet as a dead man. Paul described the wicked in
Romans 3 and said, there's no fear of God before their eyes.
So just take whichever side we want to fear. I fear the Lord.
And he said, I've heard your speech, your message, your gospel. And I was afraid. And then he
said, Lord, revive thy work. Who is that? That's his people.
We're His workmanship. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus. Now, Lord, revive Thy work in
me. Refresh me. Restore me. Spurgeon
said this. Here's what he's saying. Spurgeon
said, Oh, Lord, put new life in us. Our salvation began with
life in Christ, but the tendency of all things about me is to
make it die, to make it die. Everything about
me is an enemy of that life, enemy of that life of Christ,
that spiritual life, that new nature. Therefore, Lord, quicken
me anew. Restore the grace and the and
the energy of my first love. I tell married people that they're
having little troubles. I say, go back to where you started.
When you met, when you fell in love, when you married, when
you stood before the preacher, you had eyes only for each other,
you still love each other now. What you need to do is restore
that first love. Pick up that first energy and
spark and joy and appreciation and commitment to first love. That's what Paul, what our Lord
said in John, you've left your first love. You become interested
in other things. Now, Lord, revive my work. Restore the first love. That's
what Spurgeon's saying. Restore the force of it and the
grace of it and the energy of it. Revive me. Help me to begin
again. Shed abroad your love in my heart. One old Puritan wrote this, Where
is the blessedness that I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the blessedness that
I knew when I first saw the Lord? Where is that soul-refreshing
view of Jesus and His Word? I couldn't wait to get to the
Word. Couldn't wait to hear the Word. Couldn't wait to worship Him. Couldn't wait for the next service.
Where is that soul-refreshing view of, oh, what peaceful hours
I've been enjoying? I sleep the memory still, but
today I find an aching void that the world can never fill. O Lord,
the dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me
to tear it from the throne and worship only thee. Revive me
again. Stir me up. That's what Paul
said to young Timothy, stir up the gift that was put within
you when we ordained you to the ministry. When you came that
first time and they put their hands on you, ordained you to
the ministry, well, you've gotten in the ministry and you've gotten
sidetracked and you've gotten all, come on back, back to the
message, back to the first love, back to that first time. That's
it. Revive me. and make yourself
known. Make yourself known. Paul knew
the Lord, but he said, oh, that I might know him and the power
of his resurrection. Show me more of Christ, more
of his word, more of his grace, more of his revealed will, more
about Jesus, what I know, more of his love to others show, more
of his saving, more of his saving, more of his love who died for
me, more! Sometimes we sovereign graces
learn a little doctrine and we kind of sit on it. Doctrines of grace were not designed
to bring me and you to a place of satisfaction ourselves, but were designed to give the
glory to our God and give us ever a hunger and a thirst after
his righteousness, his glory, his presence. His power, His
mercy. And Lord, you say, what's that
in the midst of the years? Oh Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make
yourself known. I don't know. I worked with that for a long
time. John Gill didn't know either. Nobody else I read knew either.
So I left it alone. But it may be in the midst of
my years." One of them said, between the Old and New Testament.
Another one said, between the rapture or something else. But
it may be in the midst of our years, if I have thy word. And, O Lord, here's the last
one. He said, in wrath remember mercy. In wrath remember mercy. This is something our generation
refuses to recognize. Our generation of religious people
refuse to recognize this. God is angry with the wicked. God hateth the workers of iniquity. And God has a right to be angry. He's got a right to be angry.
He's got a right to hate the workers of iniquity. And God
will one day display that wrath. And that judgment will come through,
as Ezekiel says, and overflow his courage and sweep everything
away in its path. And Hezekiah said, Lord, in that
day of wrath, remember to be merciful to me. That's what he said, in wrath.
God must be just. He may be merciful." You hear
what I said? God must be just. He may be merciful. God must punish sin. He may forgive
sin. God must be righteous. He may
be gracious. That's what the publicans say.
I mean, the leper, he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
but it lies with you. So I ask not for justice, I ask
for mercy, and I say, Lord, when this sweeps through, when your
wrath and judgment and righteous hand lays hold upon every wicked
man with his wicked mouth and wicked deeds, would you be merciful
to me? That's what that thief prayed
on the cross, Lord, you're coming into a kingdom, You're not going
to stay there then. You're coming into a kingdom.
But you remember me. Be merciful to me. Show me the
mercy that lifted Noah above the waters of wrath. Show me the mercy that took Israel
out of Egypt by blood. Show me the mercy that lifted
Lot from Sodom and the Show me the mercy that sent your son
to die for somebody, for even me. Show me the mercy that dying
thief received when he said, Lord, remember me today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Ah, when to the cross I turn
my eyes and see thy love to me, O Lamb of God, my sacrifice I
will remember thee. And when these failing lips grow
dumb, and mind and memory flee, when you shall in your kingdom
come, then, Lord, remember me." In wrath, remember mercy. We pray with a backer, O Lord,
I've heard your report. I've heard your gospel. I believe
your gospel. I believe thee. And I'm afraid. Lord, revive thy work. Salvation's
your work. It's of the Lord. You gave us
a new life, a new heart, a new hope. Revive us in the midst
of these years. And Lord, When your judgment
falls upon this rebellious, wicked, Christ-hating, gospel-denying
world, remember us. Remember to be gracious. In Christ
we pray. Amen. Let's sing that song, 485. You know what we're going to
sing. Brother Joe, you come up and lead us, if you would, please. 485. I pray the Lord will apply
those words to our hearts. Let's stand as we sing. The first and the last verse. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of Man, for Jesus, who by death is now gone above. Alleluia! Thank you and your destiny. you