I want you to stay right there
at Psalm 85 tonight. I'm going to divert from our
regular study in Leviticus because I've been thinking about this
psalm for quite some time. The whole psalm is a beautiful
psalm, as all psalms are, but this just seems so appropriate
for our situation tonight in preparation for our upcoming
meeting this weekend. And the verse that particularly
caught my attention is that verse 6, where the psalmist, praying
in his trouble and his desperation, he says, wilt thou not revive
us again? And I've entitled this message
tonight, Revive Us Again. Revive Us Again. Now, I know
that most of you, especially some of you older members, you
remember back during the times in religion when we participated
in what was known as a revival. We're going to have a revival.
You've heard that term. Maybe some of you young people
don't know it, who grew up here, you don't know about that term.
You know, a lot of people say, well, we're going to have a meeting.
And you say, well, what are you going to call the meeting? It's
common to call them now Bible conferences. And that's okay,
because that's what we're going to do. conference around the
Word of God. It's what we're going to do this
weekend, hopefully, and that's what we pray for, that the men
whom God sends us will preach the gospel from the Word of God.
So we're going to have a Bible conference. I like to call them
gospel meetings. That's what I put in the bulletin
last week, a gospel meeting. And that tells those men who
are coming, I expect them to preach the gospel. If they're
expecting to do anything else, then that's too bad. But I know
they're going to. I know these two men who are
coming, and I know they're faithful gospel preachers. They're going
to preach the glories of Christ and him crucified. They're not
going to bring any other issue with them other than the grace
of God in Christ. And that's the only issue, isn't
it? That's the only issue that we need to be concerned with,
and that's the glory of Christ and how God saves sinners. And
I pray and I prayed and prayed, and I hope you have too, that
the Lord would give them a message that's specifically aimed at
us in our time of need. And that's what this psalm is
all about. And he says, Revive us again. Wilt thou revive us
again? That word revive is a very interesting
word. It means many things. It can
have many different meanings and contexts. But basically,
you can't revive something that doesn't have life. So it means
to have life. Now the Bible speaks of regeneration. That's bringing something that
is dead to life. That's the power, the work of
the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Before you were conceived and
born, you didn't have life until God gave you physical life. And
it's the same thing with spiritual life in the new birth. Before
we're born again by the Spirit, we are spiritually dead. In every
sense of the word, dead. Now we have We have physical
qualities and faculties, and we have a physical mind, affections,
and will, but spiritually speaking, we're dead. And so when we're
born again, we are regenerated. That means given life that we
didn't have before. But now this revive is something
different. Reviving us is not giving us
life that we didn't have before. Reviving us has to do with continuing
in life that we already have. You see, this is an exhortation.
This is a command and an encouragement given to God's people who've
been chosen of the Father, who've been redeemed and justified and
adopted by the Son on the cross, and who've already been regenerated
by the Spirit. So this is a message to you who've
already been born again. It has to do with remaining in
life. It has to do with sustaining
life. Now, we know that we cannot give
ourselves physical life, and we cannot sustain life. Physical
life. We can't do that. We'll do our
best to try. Some people, they call them health
nuts. They won't eat anything but natural foods. And they'll
take all kinds of vitamins, and they may feel good. I mean, that
may work for some people. I don't know. It never has worked
much for me. But it may work for some people. But I'm going
to tell you something, they still cannot sustain life. The hairs
of their head are still numbered, and their time is coming. And
I don't care if they take a mountain of vitamins, they're going to
go the way of all flesh. So we can't sustain life, only
God can do that. Well, it's the same thing with
spiritual life. We cannot give it, and we cannot
sustain it. So what do we do? We do like
the psalmist here. Will thou revive us again? God gives spiritual life and
God sustains spiritual life. You see, we can't do that. It's
not of our power. It's God's power. To be revived is to live on or
to live upon something. Well, we live on as we live upon
Christ, who is the bread of life. When Christ identified himself
in John chapter 6 as the bread of life or the living bread,
when he showed them what Moses' bread, the manna from heaven,
typified, what he means by that is not only is he the giver of
life, but he's the sustainer of it, he's our sustenance. So
that if we're going to continue living on, we must live upon
Christ. You see that? There's no living
on without living upon Christ. There's no continual life, you
see. Now, it's impossible for anyone who's ever had spiritual
life to lose it. And the reason is, is because
it's by the power of God. But now let me show you something
here. This revive here also means to live prosperously. It doesn't
mean to live in poverty. Now I'm afraid that some, even
true believers, spend their time living in poverty. They have
spiritual life, but they live in spiritual poverty. The old
woe-is-me syndrome. All the time downcast. Not realizing
what we have been given freely by God's grace in Christ. Do
you realize what it is to be a redeemed sinner? Do you realize
that? Sometimes I'll lose sight of
that, don't you? I mean, that is an amazing thing. And I'll
tell you what, part of this reviving is a fresh view of the amazement
of it. Think about our worst, we were
talking about it in the study, about our worry. Can't get away
from it. Well, when we worry, we've lost
sight of what it is to be a redeemed center. to be a justified sinner. This revive here means to live
prosperously. It means to live out of the abundance
that God has given us in Christ. It doesn't mean living the higher
life. It is a high life because it's above what the natural man
can attain. And it's always a higher life.
It's not getting up and jumping over pews. It's not having a
song fest or anything like that. And it's not joy, joy, joy, happy,
happy, happy all the time. It's just realizing the abundance
that we have in Christ. You say, I act like such a fool
sometimes. Well, look to Christ. He's your
wisdom. If you're looking within for it, you're not going to find
it. Christ is made of God unto us wisdom. All the wisdom God
requires of you, you're going to find in Christ completely.
You say, but I see so much sin within me, I have no righteousness
within me. Well, all the righteousness that
God has for his people is in Christ. All that you need and
all that God requires, Christ is of God made unto us righteousness. Holiness, sanctification, Christ
is of God made unto us sanctification. And Christ is of God made unto
us redemption, so that anybody who glories don't glory in the
flesh, but glory in Christ. This also means to revive from
sickness. Do you ever feel sick spiritually?
Sure we do. David felt it when he was in
the dregs of his own sorrow and repentance. Which was a good
thing for him because he prayed, Lord, restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. It's to be revived from discouragement. Have you ever been discouraged?
Oh, we've been discouraged so much, haven't we? In life. In
every facet of life. It's to be revived from faintness.
Have you ever just wanted to quit? You know, when the Bible
says, faint not, it means don't quit. That's what it means. It's
like a runner running the race and he quits. He's running a
100-yard dash, but he quits at 50. So he didn't finish the race. The prize is given to those who
finish. It's not a prize you earn. It's a prize you get when
you finish because Christ brings you through. It's also to be
revived from all things that would hinder us in attaining
and realizing the joy that we have in Christ. It means to be
restored to health. And what are we revived in? Well,
look at Psalm 85. Let me just go through it just
a little bit. First of all, let me show you
how revival comes about according to the scripture. It comes about,
first of all, by thanking God for past mercies. That's where
he starts. He says, Lord, thou hast been
favorable unto thy land. First application and answer
to the land of Israel. under the old covenant that they
had by way of ceremonial temporal blessings. But my friend, this
is eternally speaking to God's church. This is eternally speaking
to the redeemed ones. This is Zion. You see, Zionism
is not trying to restore a piece of geography in the Mideast. The Arabs fear Zionism. Well,
they have no need to fear Zionism. They have no need to fear us.
Zion is a spiritual kingdom. It's a spiritual mountain. It's
the people of God. It's the redeemed of the Lord
called out by the Spirit into the fold, the sheepfold of Christ.
We're not interested in physical geography or real estate. Now,
I'm telling you, That's not what we're looking for, and that's
not what we're looking to. You see, this world is not our
home. We're like Abraham. We're pilgrims and sojourners
in this world. We're looking beyond this earth
to a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
and the temple of the Lord to be built there is all the elect
of God brought together and glorified in Him. You see that? They don't have anything to fear
from us. I wish the best for them, Jew and Gentile. I pray
for their salvation. I hope and pray they hear the
gospel, the Christ, and be saved. That's what we hope for them.
Somebody said, well, we ought to treat Israel right, the nation
Israel. That's right. We ought to treat Italy right.
We ought to treat Russia right. We ought to treat anybody right.
Who are we supposed to treat wrong? Where do we get that from
the scripture? We're supposed to do justice
and judgment to all men. We're supposed to love our neighbors
and ourselves. So don't be looking for geography
and real estate here on this earth. The land that he's speaking
of is the land of His redeemed. He's been favorable. Now, why
is God favorable under that land? Well, it's because it's in His
nature to be favorable. He is love. He is gracious to
His people. And he goes on, he says, Thou
hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Now how has God shown
his favor towards the land? He redeemed them. He redeemed
them. You remember when Jacob, when
he pulled all of his shenanigans and had to leave because he was
afraid Esau was going to kill him. And he had to go off in
a strange land. Well, God brought him back. You
remember Israel, when they were down in Egypt. When Joseph was
sold down in Egypt and later on the whole nation was brought
down there and brought into slavery, what happened? God brought them
back. And you remember later on when they were captured by
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army and they were taken into
Babylon, what happened? God brought them back. God brought
them back. Now there was a time when that
physical deliverance was over and done with and it's finished.
But my friend, that's a picture and a type. of how God has brought
all of us Jacobs out of the bondage of sin and Satan and the curse
of the law. He said, I'm the Lord, I've changed
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God delivered
us. When did he bring us back out
of captivity? At the cross of Christ, when
Christ was on that cross and he said, it's finished. Redemption
was accomplished. That's when we were justified
before a holy God, reconciled unto God. We weren't reconciled
in our own minds and hearts until the Holy Spirit let us in on
it. But God was reconciled to us at the cross, based on the
blood and righteousness of Christ. And we were legally adopted into
that. And the papers were signed right there, you might say, the
adoption papers. That's when we were adopted into
the family. And we weren't even born yet, us sitting here tonight. But he brought us out of captivity.
He could have left us there if he had a mind to, but he brought
us out. Thank God for our deliverance.
He goes on in verse 2. Now, not only that, he didn't
bring us out of captivity and then bring us into his possession
just to browbeat us and to beat us down like many preachers want
to do. You know that? You know, some
people say they don't feel like they've been to church unless
they've gotten a good whippin'. Well, there may be times in our
lives when we need a good whippin'. And that's okay. But look at
what God says here in verse 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. And that word
Sela, that's a musical note that means a pause. And when you read
that in language like I'm preaching tonight, it's what I say to you
so often. Think about that. Think about
that. Don't let that just go in here
and out this ear. He's forgiven the iniquity of
his people. Now, he doesn't just forgive
them at a notion or on a whim or some arbitrary thing that
he wants to do. His forgiveness is based upon
their sins being covered. Now, that word covered, you know,
we talk about the word atonement. We talk about the covering for
sin. It goes all the way back. The first mention of that word
was back in Genesis chapter 6 when God commanded Noah to pitch the
ark inside and out. That word pitch is the same word
we sometimes say atone, cover. And what this is, it's the Old
Testament type and picture of what came to be in its fulfillment
the propitiation that Christ performed on the cross. Now,
this covering, see, this covering represented God's forbearance
of sin through the blood of animals for a time. And it refers to
the covering over the Ark of the Covenant, that mercy seat,
that lid. And those sins were covered,
in essence, for a time, up until the time of Reformation when
Christ would come and do more than just cover the sins. He
would actually satisfy law and justice for those sins. He would
make an end of those sins. He would bring in a righteousness
that would enable God to be just and justify. You see, that word
propitiation has to do with a bloody sacrifice, substitutionary sacrifice
that brings satisfaction. So they're not just covered,
see. They're actually done away with. And so forgiveness here
is pictured right here. The forgiveness of our sins based
upon the blood of satisfaction at the mercy seat. And that's
what the old publican cried out for, God be propitious to me,
the sinner. Look at verse 3. Not only are
our sins forgiven, but God's wrath is removed. Verse 3, thou
hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Some people say, well, God's
elect were never under His wrath. Well, I know this. I know that
we fell in Adam. I believe the Bible teaches that,
don't you? That we fell in Adam. Now, we can argue where we fell
to or not. I believe we fell under the sentence
of condemnation. I believe that's what Romans
5 teaches. Look over at Romans 5. Romans 5. I believe that all mankind, all
men and women without exception, all who are born in sin, fell
under the sentence of condemnation in Adam when Adam sinned. Romans
5, look at verse 12. It says, wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, now you know that's speaking
of Adam, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men
for that all sinned. Now, who are the all men there?
Well, it's all who sinned. Now, does that include you? Were
you born in sin? Next week, when I get back to
Leviticus chapter 12, that's the very truth that's being taught
there, talking about the cleansing of a woman after the birth of
a child. What that's teaching in picture
and type is original sin. We're born in sin. In sin did
my mother conceive me. We were born of Adam. Everybody
in here. How do you know you were born
of Adam? Because you came forth from the womb speaking lies.
You had that sinful nature in you. That was a sinful human
nature that you were born with. And that's what it was. And that's
what it remains, you see. Born in sin, identifying you
with the condemnation of Adam. So he goes on, he says in verse
12, death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that
all sin. Now look over at verse 18. He says in verse 18, therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Now, who are the all men there?
All whom Adam represented in the garden. And down in verse
19, it says, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made
sinners. Now, how were you made a sinner
when you weren't there? You were legally constituted
by representation to be a sinner. Adam represented you and me.
And we fell. I believe we fell under condemnation.
Now, when was that condemnation removed? What I believe is spoken
of here in Psalm 85 is God's wrath. I believe it was removed
at the cross. Christ himself, as our representative
and substitute, came under the wrath of his father. And my friend,
were you in him? Did he represent you? I was talking to a man about
that one time. He said, well, God's elect were never under
God's wrath. I said, well, was Christ ever under his father's
wrath? Was he ever under his father's? Yes, he was. He said,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken? Well, were you in him?
God's wrath fell upon our Savior, upon our Redeemer. And my friend,
if he represented you, you were in him by substitution. And then it goes on there in
verse 18 of Romans 5, it says, "...even so by the righteousness
of the One, free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life." Who are the all men there? All whom Christ represented.
All who received the free gift. All who come to justification
of life in Him. Verse 19, "...so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous in Him." Now, go back to Psalm
85. That's what this is talking about
in verse 3. Oh, we thank God. That's His past mercies to us. That's His grace to us. Thank
Him for it. He says, verse 3, "...thou hast
taken away all thy wrath, thou hast turned thyself from the
fierceness of thine anger." And then He says in verse 4, "...turn
us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward
us to cease." Turn us. Now, what He's talking about
there is our reconciliation to God. You see, God was reconciled
to us at the cross. God was in Christ. 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 19, I believe. God was in Christ. You see, all
that God had put himself, the fullness of the Godhead body,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. But you see, when we're born
in this world, we're born depraved. We're born spiritually dead.
We're born in ignorance and darkness, and we don't know Christ. We
don't know about what he accomplished on Calvary until the Holy Spirit
brings us under the preaching of the gospel and reveals it
to our hearts. And what does he do then? He
turns us. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Verse 5, he says,
wilt thou be angry with us forever? Now, you know, when we think
of God's anger, we can't think of it in terms of our own anger.
It's kind of like God's hatred. When you think of God's hatred,
don't think of it in terms of our own hatred, human hatred.
You see, our anger and hatred is the product of sin within
us. Somebody says, well, what about when we get angry at sin
or at righteous indignation? Well, there's that aspect of
it. But I'd say most of the time our hatred and anger is the product
of selfishness and sin and pride. But God's anger is the product
of sometimes His justice, when God is just in punishing sin.
But sometimes God's anger is the product of His love. And
I want to show you that. You think about this. Look at
verse 5. Will thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out
thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again?
Now who's he talking about? He's talking about his children.
Now let me say, you parents, have you ever been angry at your
children? You sure have, haven't you? Did you ever stop loving
them? Even when you were angry with
them? Did your anger ever just stamp them out of existence?
No. I mean, you may have made comments like that. I know how
we get loser tempers and everything. Bill Cosby used to tell his son,
he said, I brought you in this world, I can take you out. Well,
you know Bill was wrong. He didn't bring him in and he
couldn't take him out. God did that. What did Job say? Bill needs to read Job, doesn't
he? He says, the Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. But you see, God's anger toward
his children is an anger of love which brings about chastisement.
And let me show you that in Hebrews 12. I want you to see this. I've
read this before. But I'll tell you what, I don't
know about you, but I need to keep reading it. I need to see it
all the time. And this is what he's talking
about. You know, we go through these problems and these trials
and these tribulations. stress and worry and the trouble
that we go through in this life. And we might, as we walk through
this desert of the world, we might find a little oasis of
time that we have a little peace and comfort. But it doesn't last
long. And you know it doesn't. It doesn't last long, does it?
It just doesn't. And we think, well, God, have
you forsaken us? God, are you angry with us? Are
you going to be angry unto generations and generations? And here's how
we're to look at it in the perspective of the Word of God. He says in
verse 4, he's talking about these Hebrew believers who were suffering.
He says, you've not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. You've not yet been martyred, murdered for your faith. Like
some of them in the past, if you read Hebrews 11 in the Hall
of Faith, who were killed over their testimony and identification
with Christ and his people. And you've not yet suffered that
far, Paul is writing here. And he says in verse 5, and have
you forgotten? Now, this is why we need to be
revived, because sometimes we do forget, don't we? Have you
forgotten the exhortation? Now, an exhortation is a good
thing. You all know that, don't you? He's going to exhort. That's
a good thing. I look at exhortations as encouragements. Listen to what he says. And have
you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children? Underscore that in your Bible.
As unto children. My son, this is God speaking,
my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. What is chastening? That's correction. Do you ever need to be corrected?
Well, of course you do. I do. We all do. Not every day. Despise thou not the chastening
of the Lord. The Father is the one who does
the chastening, not the judge now. Huh? The kind of chastening that the
judge does, the righteous judge, took place on the cross as it
fell upon our Savior, Isaiah 53, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him. You see, that punishment which
he suffered as payment for our sins was to bring about peace
between God and sinners. That's already done. That's not
the kind of chastening he's talking about here. If that's the kind
of chastening he's talking about, he wouldn't say, my son. You
see what I'm saying? This is the chastisement, the
correction of a loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving Father towards
the little child who's just running around not knowing where to go,
how to think, or what he's supposed to do. That's right. And that's
us. We're the little children. And
in that sense, we're all still little children. We're little
crybabies. I guess the Lord says, I'm going
to give you something to cry about. Have you ever said that
to your children? Don't despise that now. He says,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Don't quit now when you're
rebuked of him. He wouldn't rebuke you if you
didn't need to be rebuked. What is it to be rebuked? It
means to be corrected. It means to be turned to the
right direction. And he wouldn't do it if you
didn't need it. If I didn't need it, he wouldn't do it. He says
in verse 6, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth. That's whipping. every son whom
he receiveth." And he says in verse 7, if you endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. There that is again. If you endure the chastening,
God is dealing with you as a child. He loves his children. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" And verse 8 says, but if
you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers. That's all children of God go
through this. There's no one exempt. He says, whereof all are partakers.
If you're not, if you be without it, then you're a bastard, not
a son. That's an illegitimate child. Not a son. Now, if you're a child of God,
this is, this is necessary. And he goes on, he says, we've
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, we gave them reverence,
that's respect, shall we not much rather be in subjection
unto the Father's spirits and live? Our spiritual father, that's
what that means. He says, they barely for a few
days chastened us after their own pleasure, when they thought
we needed it, that he are for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness. You know what that means? That
means He's causing us to grow. He's perfecting us in maturity.
He's not talking about degrees of holiness here. He's talking
about this is how God corrects His children so that they grow.
And He says in verse 11, now listen to verse 11. He says,
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. When you're
going through that, that's not a time of joy for you or for
me, is it? He said it's grievous. That means
it's heavy. It's burdensome. Oh, a weight. A weight. Nevertheless, afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. When you get through it, when
God brings you through it and you look back on it, it yields
that peaceable fruit of righteousness. Now, what is that? Well, I've
told you a lot of times that I never go through a trial. and
come out on the other side feeling good about myself and how I acted
through the trial. You see, that's not the fruit
of righteousness there. That's the fruit of self-righteousness.
If I come out feeling good about myself, that's the fruit of self-righteousness. But the peaceable fruit of righteousness
is that thankful spirit that calls you, Lord, thank you. Thank
you because I needed it. Lord, thank you because you brought
me through it. And Lord, thank you that Christ
is my only hope. So what does he say? Verse 12.
Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees. Revive us again. That's what it is. You see, these
chastisements revive us. Make straight paths for your
feet. Go back to Psalm 85. Verse 6. Wilt thou not revive
us again? Let me give you these things
briefly. What about revival? Well, here's
what revival is in the scripture. Number one, verse six, that thy
people may rejoice in thee. That's revival, rejoicing in
Christ. That's where it begins. Not rejoicing
in you, not rejoicing in me, but rejoicing in Christ. And
you know that word rejoicing, a lot of times it's a different
word, and especially in the New Testament, there's basically
two words that are translated rejoice. One means to be happy.
I mean, it means joy. It's joy. Just flat out joy. Be happy. Because we're blessed
of God. The other one is to have confidence
in us. And I'm going to use both of
them for this word right here. Be happy because our confidence
is in Christ. We don't have any confidence
in the flesh. Our confidence is in Christ. That's where revival...
If somebody comes and preaches that our confidence is in Christ,
that's a means of revival. Right there. That'll revive.
You say, but I've done so badly. Your confidence is not in you.
Somebody says, well, I don't doubt him. I doubt me. Well,
you should doubt you. But look to him. Look in unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And then look here.
Here's verse 8. Now, here's the second thing
about revival. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. Revival
comes about when you listen to God. Not when you listen to men. You say, well, I'm listening
to you right now, but I hope I'm preaching God's Word. And as
I said Sunday, you check me out to make sure that I am. I'll
hear what the Lord God will say. You don't have revival. You don't
get revived except by getting into the Word of God. We know
Christ is the living Word of God. He's the incarnate Word
of God. He's the subject of the written
Word of God and the preached Word of God. So if we exalt Christ
according to the Word of God, there's revival. Right there. Christ and Him crucified. Our
assurance, our joy, our peace. And look at the next one. Here's
the next one. What's God going to say? Now, discern from God's
Word, and here's what He says. He will speak peace unto His
people and to His saints. Now, His people and His saints
are one and the same thing. His people emphasizes His election
of them. His saints emphasizes His redemption
and justification of them. So they're His people by election.
He chose us from the foundation of the world, and He redeemed
us and justified us. That's what a saint is. A saint
is a sinner saved by the grace of God. He's sanctified in Christ. He's accepted in Christ. He's
washed in the blood of Christ, in that fountain filled with
blood, and he's clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and
that's where revival is. You see, God's going to speak
peace. God's going to say, who shall lay anything to the charge
of mine elect? It's God that justifies. He's going to say, who can condemn
you? It's Christ that died, yea, where there's risen again, and
is seated at the right hand of the Father. That's where revival
is. And then next, he says, but let
them not turn again to folly. You're not going to get revival
from foolishness. You're not going to get revival
from debates and arguments and splits and confusion and diversions. You're not going to get revival
from rumors and innuendo and suspicions. Don't turn again
to folly. Don't turn again to your own
way. And then look at verse 9. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him. Now this is the next thing about
revival. It's to worship God. Fear him. Fear him. That's revival. Worship God. Trust in him. You remember what
I said the other day about fearing God? Those who fear God are those
who trust Christ, who have entered into his rest. his finished work
as our only hope. And then he says that glory may
dwell in our land. Now what is glory? That's the
presence of God. That's the presence of God. You
see, where people thank God for his past mercies, where God corrects
them and chastises them, where they rejoice in him, where they
listen and hear and obey His Word, where they see the peace
of God which passes understanding that's given to His people and
His saints, and where they stay away from the foolishness of
this world and worship Him, that's where God dwells. That's revival. The presence of God is revival.
The presence in the church as a whole, as a collective body,
and the presence of God within each and every one of us by His
Spirit and by His Word, the church. And then lastly, look at verse
10. Now, here's the ground of revival. Here's the message of
revival. Now, listen to what he says here.
Here's what we preach. He says, mercy and truth are
met together. You know, the Bible says God's
judgments are always according to truth. Truth. And when God looks at me or looks
at you and sees the truth of it, what I truly am, When he
sees my thoughts and my motives and the intents of my heart,
how in this world could I ever find mercy? How in this world? Well, he says here, mercy and
truth are met together. It seems to me, from my own point
of view now, that if God were going to show me mercy, he'd
have to forget truth. He'd have to forget that. But he doesn't. And he can't. Mercy and truth must be met together.
Now, how is that possible? That mercy and truth can be reconciled. Well, he goes on, he says, righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. What's righteousness? Righteousness
in the scripture is justice. That's what righteousness is,
but sometimes it's translated justice or judgment. Righteous. A person is a righteous person,
he's a just person. A person who is a righteous person
in the Bible is a justified person. So how can righteousness, justice,
and peace? You see, if God were to deal
with me as strictly a righteous judge, how in the world can there
be any peace between me and God? I'm a sinner. How is that possible? Here's your answer. Look at verse
11. Truth shall spring out of the
earth. Now what do you suppose that's talking about? Truth springing
out of the earth. Because I'm going to tell you
something, this world's falling. Who's he talking about? He's talking
about Christ. That's his incarnation. That one who was conceived by
the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, who took upon
himself our name and our nature, our human nature, without sin,
and he sprung out of the earth. He is the truth. Christ is the
truth. And it says here, and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. That refers to his finished work.
He's the God-man who walked this earth and fulfilled all righteousness. He satisfied every precept of
the law, something that you and I cannot do. He satisfied its
precepts, its requirements, its conditions. And not only that,
he went to the cross of Calvary and substituted himself in our
place and satisfied its justice, something that we could not do.
You put them together, you have righteousness. And he told his
disciples, he went unto the Father, so righteousness looks down on
us from heaven. And you know what? That's where
our righteousness is. Because Christ is our righteousness.
And he keeps us. And then verse 12, Yea, the Lord
shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her
increase. Now, I want to tell you something.
The Lord shall give that which is good refers to everything
that happens to us by God's good providence. Because the Bible
says all things work together for good. Now, all things are
not in themselves good. But all things are going to work
together for good. And that's what that means. Now
how's that pop? Because God's in control. God's
in control. And therefore our land will yield
her increase. I know that probably in your
life as well as mine, we've looked back on the time when we were
first converted and we went out and tried to talk to people and
just botched it up. Have you ever done that? You
say, well, I just did it yesterday. We may do it. But I want to tell
you something. As bad as we may botch it up,
there's nothing we can do to stop one of God's children from
entering the kingdom of God. That's right. God's going to
save His people. And then verse 13, righteousness
shall go before Him. That's Christ leading His people.
into the presence of the Father, leading his people through this
life, leading his people into glory, and shall set us in the
way of his steps." Now, if we're going to walk in the way of his
steps, I'm going to tell you something. We have to be set
there. We're not going to come on our own, are we? I know he
makes us willing, but we're still in a warfare here. And not only
does he have to put us on the way, he sets us there and he
keeps us there and he'll bring us through. And that's the essence
of revival. So what are we going to do? What
do you think we're going to sing? 485.