Would you turn with me to second
Chronicles chapter 34. Now tonight I'm going to be speaking
on what the Holy Spirit does for us. Second 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 could 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, revive us. The word
is also translated quicken us, restore us. 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 9, verse 10, translated reformation, and in Acts 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. Oh 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. Oh 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 how people say, we're going to have a revival
service. What? You don't just up and decide
to have a revival service. It's God's work. It's like you
don't up and decide to live. God's got 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 Revival 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 attention to. Second Chronicles chapter 34,
we read of a true revival and a true reformation that took
place under the reign of King Josiah. Look in verse 31 of this. 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 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." Isn't
that beautiful? It's happened all their days. Now, you don't read many things
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 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. Seeing Josiah had told him to
repair the temple. Then Shaphan, the scribe, told
the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, hath given me a book.
And Shaphan 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, do you know they had 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 first Kings chapter 13. 1 Kings chapter 13. Now this is when the prophet
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 these
shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense
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
what? We read of the purpose of God,
according to election might stand 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 one and two. 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 1 Kings
chapter 22, the same account is given in 1 Kings 22 and 23
of what's given in 2 Chronicles 33 and 34, but look what It says regarding Josiah in this
passage in second Kings, second Kings chapter 22 verse two. 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 second Kings 23. Verse
25. This is, again, speaking of Josiah. And like unto him was there no
king before him that turned 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 come, I'll look, I'll look at some passages out of the second
Kings. If you have a marker, go ahead
and put your mark in second Kings chapter 22, but let's look at
this story. Verse three, the second 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? 16 years old, a teenager. In the eighth year of his reign,
he began to reign when he was eight. And when he was 16, 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, oh 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
them. He cut down the groves and the
carved images and the molten images. He break in pieces and
made dust of them and strove 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 Maddox round about. And when he'd broken
down the altars and the groves and he'd beaten the graven images
into powder and cut down all the idols throughout 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 of 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 Aakum, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon,
the son of Micah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Uzziah, 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 they that 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 them 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've read before the King of Judah, because
they've forsaken me and they've 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 rend thy clothes and weep before me. I have even heard
thee also, saith the Lord, Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers
and thou shall be gathered to thy grave in peace. And neither
shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this
place and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought
the king word again. Now here's what happened. Lord
said, I'm going to do everything I said I can do, but it's not
going to happen in your time. 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 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 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.
and the reform that took place. As a matter of fact, you do well
to read the passage in 2 Kings. He 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 pulled their bones out of the graves and burn them and
strew 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... 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 reinstituted the Passover. And that's the message of the
scriptures. He reinstituted the Passover. Look in second 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.
Maybe 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.
And 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. Beginning in verse 3. 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 and 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 11. Thus
shall ye eat it with your loins gourded, your shoes on your feet,
your staff in your hand, and you 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'll execute judgment. I'm the Lord, and the blood shall
be to you for a token 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 the blood. 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
in 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,
save 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 know what he accomplished
by his death? And this is what revives. This is what gives life.
You know what he accomplished in his 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
by 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 the Lord 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 revival? The gospel is preached. It's
that simple. The Gospel is preached. The Gospel
is 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 second Kings chapter 22. Second Kings 22. Verse five. and let them deliver into the
hand of the doers of the work that have 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 and to buy timber and
ewe and stone to repair the house. How be it 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. Faithfulness. 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
this same chapter. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah
and his goodness. His goodness, and my marginal
reading says His kindnesses, His acts of kindness and His
acts of mercy. Now when God does a work of grace
in the people's heart, you know what's going to be paramount
with those people? Acts of kindness, acts of mercy, acts of goodness. That's what happens when the
Lord does a work of grace in somebody's heart. They become
merciful, merciful individuals. Merciful in wanting men to hear
the gospel, merciful to their needs. 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 as 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, salvation by works
was taught. 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. And 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 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 of the scripture, but scripture alone. The scripture alone is our only
ground. of faith and practice. I don't
care if tradition says it. What does the Bible say? 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. Well, 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 Bible is
our 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 has 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 only is my salvation. That's where my assurance comes
from. It's not from thinking I'm faithful or I do any... 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, Or there'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 had 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. 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 34. 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 the 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. Now turn to Isaiah 62. Verse 6, I have set watchmen 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 that 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's 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, you know what's
given? What the message is the Passover. When I see the blood,
I will pass over you. That's Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
There's nothing even worth talking about, but 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.