I have entitled this message,
A Prayer for the Midst of Years. A Prayer for the Midst of Years. The word midst in that verse
of scripture I just read where Habakkuk said, O Lord, revive
thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years,
make known. The word means the nearest place. We're in the midst of years right
now. Now, we've all been given a time,
an allotted time. How long you and I are going
to live has already been determined by God. The day of your death
is already known to Him. I'm glad I don't know it, don't
you? But He knows. He knows. And the midst of the
years is right now. And here's my great need right
now. And here is the need of this
church right now. And here's the need of everybody
right now. He gives three things. He says,
Oh, Lord, revive thy work. in the midst of years. In the
midst of years, secondly, make known. Make yourself known. Show yourself to me. Reveal yourself
to me. I can't know you unless you're
pleased to make yourself known to me. And then he says, in wrath,
remember mercy. Habakkuk begins with this statement
in verse 2, O LORD, I have heard thy speech, I have heard thy
voice, I have heard the report, and I was afraid. Now in the context, look in chapter
1, verse 6, God says, Lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter
and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of
the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. Their
terrible and dreadful, their judgment and their dignity shall
proceed out of themselves. Their horses also are swifter
than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their
horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come
from far. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They
shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the
east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand." Now,
he's talking about these things that are going to take place.
I'd be afraid, too. When I hear of these people who
they're Horses are faster than leopards, their strength, their
cruelty. I can see why he said, I heard thy voice and was afraid. But this also has something to
do with that fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is the fear of the Lord that
makes us afraid of sin. And I am afraid of sin. And as long as I'm still a sinner,
there's always a measure of fear because of my personal sin. Makes me afraid. You see, sin
has a deceiving effect. And it has a hardening effect. And that scares me. I'm afraid because of my sin. Sin brings on the chasing hand
of the Lord. Sin grieves the Spirit of God. Sin quenches the influence of
the Spirit of God. And I'm afraid of doing that,
aren't you? I'm afraid of doing that. I'm afraid of that for
myself. I'm afraid of that for this church. Now, as a sinner,
I hear His voice in His Word. I hear His voice in Providence. And I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what my sin will
bring on me. I'm afraid of what sin will bring
on this church and the Lord removing his blessing and Ichabod being
written over the doors. That means the glory has departed. That scares me. I'm afraid of
that. I'm not indifferent about that.
I'm afraid of that. With that in mind, Here's Habakkuk's
threefold request. He said, I've heard your speech
and I was afraid, O Lord. So, O Lord, here's what I'm asking.
In light of that fear of sin, O Lord, revive thy work. Now, if you have any understanding,
if I have any understanding of what sin is and who God is, I've
got some understanding of this. Salvation is his work. Every aspect of salvation is
his work. It's his work in his purpose. He purposed to save and he purposed
who he would save. It's his work. It's his work
in its execution. In other words, he's the one
who does all the saving. He does it all. I love that scripture
in Hebrews 1 3 where it says he by himself purged our sins. You know what that means? That
means he didn't help in this. He didn't consult you in you being
saved. He's determined your salvation.
It's his work. He didn't consult you. He didn't
ask for your help in the salvation of yourself. He did it by himself
with no creature aid. It's his work in its application.
It's the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profits nothing. Paul
said it's God that worketh in you, both the will and to do
of his good pleasure. It's his work in its preservation.
We're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. And it's his work even in glory.
We'll be singing now unto him. This is what the song of glory
is. Not now unto me, not now unto you, but now unto him that
loveth us. washed us from our sins in His
own blood and made us kings and priests to God. Salvation is
His work. Now, what if somebody denied
God's work in creation? They say, well, He didn't do
it all. He had help. You'd say, they're crazy. That's insane. It's more insane to deny that
every aspect of salvation is His work. He does it all. Now, during the days of our pilgrimage,
there is so much that can happen that can make us wonder if he's
done a work in us. We can appear to be dead in sins
as far as the way we feel about ourselves, the way we look, and
we can wonder, has he done anything for me? Has he done a work? That's a good question, isn't
it? It's a good question we all ought to ask ourselves. Now,
there are many things that can cause it to look like nothing's
happening. For instance, if you look at the church in general,
the church at Ephesus. Remember in Revelation 2 and
3 where the Lord wrote those letters to the different churches
and to the church at Ephesus, he warned them. He said, you've
left your first love. You've left your first love.
Now you come back. And if you don't, I'm going to
remove the candlestick. Where is the church at Ephesus
right now? It's gone. What about the Church of Pergamos?
He said to the Church of Pergamos, you have them there that hold
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. You have
them there that hold the doctrines of the of Balaam, which thing
I hate, because you tolerate this, because you let it happen.
What was the church of Pergamos? It's gone. It's here no more. What about the church of Tartus?
This is the one that scares me. He says, you have a name that
you live, but you're dead. You're living on the past. You're
living on the past faith, the past experience. You're getting
your assurance out of something that took place way back when.
You've got a name that you live. You're living on the past and
you're dead, he said. Strengthen the things that remain.
Where's the church's hardest? What about the church at Laodicea?
He said, you're lukewarm. You say you're rich and increased
with goods and you don't know that you and you say we have
need of nothing and you don't know you're naked and wretched
and miserable and blind. He said that. He said, I must
few you out of my mouth. That's what the Lord said to
this church. Where are they now? You know, this can also take
place in an individual believer. Through pride. Through sin, through
disobedience, through slothfulness, through making excuses. You know,
somebody I heard this this week and it really hit me. So if you
want to make an excuse for your sin, if you want to make an excuse
to misworship, if you want to make an excuse, the Lord will
let you make a good one. He'll let you make one that's
totally justified in your own mind. Remember the Shulamite woman
when the beloved came and knocked on the door and she said, I'm
already in bed, my feet are covered. And he left and she spent the
rest of the time looking for him. So, yes, in our experience
as a church, as individual believers, we can get ourselves into a situation
where we seem dead. What's our appeal? There's only
one appeal. We're asking the Lord to do what
only He can do. Revive thy work. What a needful prayer right now. Revive thy work. O Lord, forsake not the work
of thy hands. Now this word revive is also
translated preserve. Preserve thy work. It's translated
Recover, like recovering from a disease. It's translated restore,
like you restore to health. It's translated repair. You repair
that which is broken. It's translated save. It's translated
most often quicken. Quicken, quickening, this thing
of giving life. Who's the only one who can do
this? God. There's nothing you and I can
do to produce life. We're totally dependent upon
the Lord himself. So Habakkuk prays. He says, I heard thy voice and
I was afraid. Revive, give life, quicken thy
work, O Lord. Now, this quickening, this reviving,
this giving of life is that which is attributed only to God, God
the Father. God quickens, John 5, 21. He
quickens the dead. Also in John 5.21, the Son quickens
whom He will. John 6.63, it's the Spirit who
quickens. The flesh profits nothing. And
our appeal is for the Lord to do what only He can do. No use looking anywhere else.
No use trying to do something to make up for whatever kind
of mess I've got myself in. Lord, revive, quicken, give life,
give us your quickening power. David said in Psalm 119, quicken
me according to thy word, quicken me in thy way, quicken me in
thy righteousness, quicken me according to thy loving kindness,
quicken me according to thy judgment. Now, who's the only one who can
give life? I love the simplicity of this.
Who's the only one? And this is what I need. I need
life. I need to be quick. I need the same quickening right
now that quickened me when I was first born from above. You know,
we just read out of John chapter 3, it's the Spirit that gives
life. He blows where it wills. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. Only God can do this. Only He
can give me this spiritual life. I need the same I need the same
grace, I need the same saving power to quicken me right now,
to keep me quickened than I did when I was first quickened. Totally
dependent upon him who gives life. Lord, revive, give life,
quicken thy work. And how is this reviving experienced? Let's look at verse 2. Oh Lord,
I've heard thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years. In the midst of years, make known. Now here's another thing that
only the Lord can do. I can't know. Unless he makes
himself known. I mean, I can't. I cannot know
the living God unless he is pleased to make himself known to me.
Otherwise, it's beyond me. I mean, the living God? Oh, make yourself known. John 17 3 says this is eternal
life, that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Eternal life is knowing. It's
knowing. And this is such a, this is such
a glorious concept that I can actually know the living God,
where I'm his friend. You know, Abraham was called
the friend of God. This is not just knowing, having
accurate information. This is knowing in the sense
of Adam knew his wife Eve. There was an intimate relationship
where God counts me his friend. He's confident. You know, the
Lord said to his disciples, you are my friends. If you do whatsoever
I tell you to do. He said, I've made. He said,
I've made known to you that which is essential. You're my friends. This is the kind of knowledge
I'm talking about. This is the knowledge of a relationship where
I know God and he knows me. It's knowing a person. It is
relying on that person. It's loving that person. I know
him and he knows me. He said, before I formed thee
in the belly, what? I knew thee. Now, that means I've had some
kind of existence in God's mind where he knew me before I had
any consciousness of it. Now, can I explain that? Absolutely
not. Do I believe it? Yes. How old is the Lord? That's how long His people have
been known and loved. Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. And here's my response to all
that. Lord, make Yourself known. Reveal Yourself to me. To know
Him is to love Him. I know Him as my God. I know
Him as my Lord. I know him as my father. I know
him as my savior. I know him as my elder brother.
I know him as my husband. I know him as my friend. I know
him as my rock, as my high tower, as my defense, as my shepherd.
You know, everybody ought to remember our Psalm 23. It's a
wonderful psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Wonderful psalm. But it's one
thing to know the psalm and it's another thing to know the shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd. And because my shepherd is the
Lord, I shall not want. He maketh me. to lie down in
green pastures. I'm not going to want rest. He
leads me beside the still waters. I'm not going to want peace.
Go on down reading that. My Shepherd's the Lord. Like
I said, it's one thing to know Psalm 23. It's another thing
to know the Shepherd. I want to know Him. And the only
way that I can know Him is if He makes Himself known. So I cry, Lord, make known. Make yourself known to me. Reveal
yourself to me. Matthew chapter 11. Would you
turn with me there for a moment? Matthew chapter 11. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things. These things of salvation, you've
hid so they can't see. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed. revealed made known
them to babe even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight
all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knows
the son but the father you know the only one who knows the son
the father he knows him all together neither knows any man the father
save the son. Now, Christ is saying, I'm so
great that nobody can know me but the Father. And the Father
is so infinite that nobody can know him but me. And you know
that so, don't you? You know that so. Look what else
he says, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Lord, reveal yourself to me. Now turn to Philippians 3. Did
the Apostle Paul know the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, you know
he did. Did he know God? You know he
did. He knew the living God. He knew
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here in Philippians chapter
3. Verse 8, Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness of God, which is by faith, that I may know
him." That's his desire. that I may know him. Don't you know him, Paul? Yes,
I do, but oh, that I might know him. Our knowledge of him is
just so minuscule. Oh, that I might know him. Now, here is a prayer that I
can enter into. Lord, I've heard your voice.
I've heard your words. I'm afraid because of my sin.
I'm afraid what my sin will do. I'm afraid of sin. And the only
thing I know to do is this, Lord, revive thy work. Salvation is
thy work, and I'm asking you to revive it. And Lord, make
yourself known to me. I can't know you unless you make
yourself known to me. I'm not going to shut up. I'm
going to get Lord, make yourself known. I'm not going to give
you any rest. I'm not going to give you any peace. I want to
be like that one who knocks continually. Make yourself known. Make yourself
known. And then he says back to our
text in Habakkuk. In wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. Now, please listen to me real
carefully. There is such a thing as the
wrath and the anger of the Lord. Now, you get mad and angry, don't
you? I bet everybody in here, one
time in a year, you've been mad at me, haven't you? About something.
Somebody says, nah, I don't believe it. You've got mad at me about
something. Sometimes with good reason. Sometimes with bad reason. You and I get angry. We get mad. But you know, the
Lord always has good reason. And you know what it is to get
mad? You know what it is to be angry with someone because of
their conduct, because of what they've done? Well, the Lord
always has good reason in his anger. You see, the Lord Jesus
in his human nature got angry, didn't he? We read in Mark 3,
5, and we looked upon them with anger, being grieved because
of the hardness of their heart. I think when our Lord made that
whip in John chapter 2, and drove those people out of the temple,
he wasn't doing it with a smile. He was angry at what was taking
place. Now, his anger is against sin
and against sinners. The scripture says he is angry
with the wicked every day. And here's why. I wish I could
get a hold of this. Sin is against him. That's why
he resents sin. Every sin I commit, every sin
you commit, is against Him. David said, He gives thee, and
thee only have I sinned. Now, wait a minute, David, what's
up? Bathsheba? Well, what about Uriah? You murdered
him. You're going to tell me you didn't sin? Yeah, he sinned
against those people, but he still says against thee, and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Sin is
against the Lord, and that's why he resents it. You think of the first table
of the law that have no other gods before me. What to break
that is the sin against him. When he talks about idolatry,
that's the second commandment, the commandment against idolatry.
Well, what's behind idolatry is a dislike for him as he is.
So you try to make him different and he resents it. When we take
his name in vain, he said, remember the commandment against even
taking his name in vain, using his name in a light and flippant
manner. It's a lack of reverence for
him. Sin is against him, and he is angry with sin. That is who the Lord is. We've
been reading the book of Revelation of the wrath of the Lamb. You
don't think of the Lamb as having wrath, really, but we read in
the scriptures of the wrath of the lamb. Now, wrath is the heat
of his anger. Righteous indignation. God is just. God is holy. He
hates sin. He has two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. And the reason for hell is the
punitive justice of God. That's what's going on. God has
made hell to punish those who sin against him. And this is
who God is. He's holy. He's righteous. He
hates sin. There is such a thing as the
wrath of God. And he can be angry with his
people. I have no doubt that he can be
angry with his people. Think about David. The thing
David did, the scripture says, displeased the Lord. He can be angry with his people. And knowing that our sin as individuals
or as a church can anger the Lord. You know what we say? Lord, revive thy work. Oh, Lord, make yourself known.
I know that there's no reason why you should because of me,
but Lord, make yourself known. And in wrath. Not remember merit. But in wrath, remember mercy. Now, turn to Psalm 85 for a moment. Verse 1. Thou hast been favorable unto
thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Now where does verse four come
from? Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger
toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for
ever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again? That's the same thing Habakkuk's
praying for, isn't it? Wilt thou not revive us Again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee, show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. For He will speak peace unto His people and to
His saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely His
salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in
our land, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the
Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield
or increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set
us in the way of his steps." Now, if you read that psalm,
it almost seems like there's two different statements being
made. You've taken away all your wrath, you've taken away all
your fierceness, and then you don't draw out your anger toward
us forever. Now, two things. Speak to me from that. Lord, when you're mad at me, you got
reason to be. Remember mercy. Dower to merciful God. I suppose
that's who you are. Remember mercy. Oh, be merciful
to me. But you know what I think it
means more than that? In the full execution of His
wrath on Calvary's tree, He remembered mercy. How the mercy of God shines
forth in the cross. In the full execution of His
wrath. We talk about the wrath of God
the punitive justice of God and the anger of God. All those things
were made to meet upon the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder when
he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was sweating great drops of
blood. All that was made to meet upon
him. But in God's wrath, in the execution
of his wrath, what did he do? He remembered mercy. His greatest exhibition of His
wrath. The Lord suffered the full equivalent
of eternal hell on the cross. Now, we do not understand that.
There's no way we can understand it, but that's what was taking
place. All that eternal hell is, He suffered. And in His wrath,
oh, how He remembered mercy. When He was pouring out His wrath
on His Son. He was remembering mercy for
me. He was remembering mercy for
you. It wasn't vague and generic.
He had the names of all of His elect in His heart. In wrath,
He remembered mercy. Now, here is the need. Here's the prayer. I hope every
one of us right now in our hearts will pray this prayer. You know,
as long as we still have sin, there's going to be fear in there.
I mean, the only thing that makes you afraid is sin. You're afraid
of what sin will do to you. You're afraid of what it will
do to this church. You're afraid of what it will do to the nation. You're
afraid. You hear his speech and you're
afraid. So here is the perfect prayer
for that. Lord, revive thy work. Right now, in the midst of years,
for Christ's sake, revive thy work. Repair it. Restore it.
Salvation's thy work. If I'm saved, it's your work.
I don't have anything to do with it. It's what you did. Revive
it. In the midst of these years,
right now, make yourself known. Reveal yourself to me, for Christ's
sake. And in wrath, remember mercy. Let's pray together.