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Habakkuk's Call for Revival: Understanding True Worship
The central theme of this podcast episode is the profound significance of worship as an appropriate response to God's actions, regardless of the circumstances we encounter. In the context of the Wednesday evening service at Middletown Baptist Church, Pastor Josh Massaro elucidates the essence of worship, particularly through the lens of the prophet Habakkuk. He articulates that worship should be our instinctive reaction to both clarity and confusion in our relationship with God. Furthermore, Pastor Massaro emphasizes the necessity of humility and repentance as precursors to experiencing true revival within our hearts and communities. The discourse culminates in a call for listeners to seek God's mercy and grace, thereby fostering an environment conducive to spiritual renewal and transformation.
Takeaways:
- In the face of confusion and difficulty, worship emerges as the appropriate response to God's actions.
- Habakkuk's journey underscores the necessity of recognizing God's power, holiness, and the call for repentance.
- Revival, as articulated in this episode, necessitates a heartfelt plea for God's mercy and an acknowledgment of our inadequacies.
- Understanding the importance of the Word of God is crucial for personal growth and revival in our lives and communities.
- True revival is not merely an event but a continuous work of God transforming individual hearts and lives.
- Confidence in God is born out of worship, which cultivates a relationship that withstands uncertainty and doubt.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of Financially Confident Christian, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.financiallyconfidentchristian.com
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Speaker A:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Speaker A:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Speaker A:Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Speaker A:I'm going to just really look at verse number two here this evening.
Speaker A:We might jump a few verses ahead, but verse two is our main text here this evening.
Speaker A:And what I want us to understand is this is the proper response to God's every.
Speaker A:To the answer to everything that God gives us.
Speaker A:Sometimes God's going to give us a clear answer.
Speaker A:Sometimes God's going to give us a complete answer.
Speaker A:Sometimes God's not going to answer us at all.
Speaker A:But nonetheless, this is the proper response to any action of God, and that is worship.
Speaker A:He is worthy of our worship.
Speaker A:He is worthy of our praise.
Speaker A:We have to go back to what we know about God and his goodness and his love and his grace and his forgiveness and say, lord, even though I don't understand your ways, your ways are beyond my ways, but I'm going to worship you in that.
Speaker A:And that is what he is doing here.
Speaker A:So Habakkuk is worshiping through the difficulty, he's worshiping through the confusion.
Speaker A:He's worshiping through even in some cases, doubt.
Speaker A:But ultimately he gains confidence through this worship.
Speaker A:And that's what we're going to see happen here in chapter three.
Speaker A:He starts with worship.
Speaker A:He ends with confidence in God.
Speaker A:And really, that's all we really want to be as Christians is those who can lead live in faith.
Speaker A:That word, confidence is a word that is basically broken down into two.
Speaker A:Two words, con with fide faith.
Speaker A:So living in confidence means living with faith.
Speaker A:And so living with faith is important to what we're going to talk about here this evening.
Speaker A:And so verse number two says this.
Speaker A:Oh, Lord, I have heard thy speech.
Speaker A:He says, lord, I have heard you.
Speaker A:I'm listening.
Speaker A:I don't understand everything, but I heard you.
Speaker A:And I think sometimes that's important for us to utter with our voice, to admit that we know what God is saying, even though we might not understand it, even though we might not in some cases agree, we hear you, Lord.
Speaker A:And he says, what was his response to hearing the speech of God?
Speaker A:Hearing the word of God, he was afraid.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And a lot of times we.
Speaker A:We kind of water down the truth of the importance of fearing God.
Speaker A:There is a healthy fear that we are supposed to have in the presence of God, in the word of God.
Speaker A:Now it's not a fear of condemnation.
Speaker A:It's a fear of this awe inspiring respect for the Lord and fearing his power, and fearing his majesty and fearing his holiness.
Speaker A:And you can look at many occasions when individuals came face to face with God, so to speak.
Speaker A:Think about Isaiah.
Speaker A:In Isaiah chapter 6, he says, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.
Speaker A:There, there was an awe inspiring nature to experiencing God.
Speaker A:And I think that's something that we have lost in our society today.
Speaker A:The, the modern church has lost that awe and respect of who God is and what he has done.
Speaker A:And so the first step of Habakkuk's journey here in worship is he recognizes the power of God.
Speaker A:He recognizes the infinite nature of God.
Speaker A:He recognizes the judgment of God.
Speaker A:He recognizes the truth of God.
Speaker A:And anytime we're going to get to a place of revival, because that's really what he.
Speaker A:He's praying for here.
Speaker A:He's praying for revival.
Speaker A:Anytime we get to a place of revival, it must start with worship.
Speaker A:It must start with a recognition of our failures.
Speaker A:And really the word for that is repentance.
Speaker A:And so it's a recognition of our sin.
Speaker A:And in the recognition of our sin, we repent of that sin.
Speaker A:We turn away from the wrongdoing or the wrong thinking and come to a place of revival or renewal in our hearts.
Speaker A:And so that's what he's praying for here.
Speaker A:He says, revive thy work.
Speaker A:In the midst of the years.
Speaker A:It's important that he says here, revive your work, God.
Speaker A:He doesn't say revive my work, even though it would have implication that his work would be revived.
Speaker A:He essentially says, revive your work in us.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk is simply praying for revival in the hearts of the people of Israel and in his own life.
Speaker A:He knew that God had once worked with those people and there was a time when they had responded to the truth of God.
Speaker A:And Habakkuk desired to see that again.
Speaker A:And I believe that's a prayer that we all should have within the church today.
Speaker A:Revival.
Speaker A:Revival in our hearts.
Speaker A:Revival in the church's heart.
Speaker A:Revival in our community's heart, Revival in the world's heart.
Speaker A:And so that's what Habakkuk is asking for here.
Speaker A:He's pleading to the Lord for this revival.
Speaker A:And with revival comes repentance.
Speaker A:With revival comes a recognition of our inadequacy before God.
Speaker A:So he's praying for that revival to happen.
Speaker A:Now a lot of times people think Revival is just, hey, we have a special service, we have a special speaker, we have a lot of excitement.
Speaker A:We might even have special food.
Speaker A:And that's when we all come together and that revival just organically happens.
Speaker A:But the Bible says that revival starts in our own heart.
Speaker A:It starts with a repentance, a turning away from something.
Speaker A:We're not going to have revival if we want to grip onto the sins that we love so much.
Speaker A:We're not going to have revival if we're not willing to change the areas that we need to change.
Speaker A:And as the Holy Spirit convicts, as the Holy Spirit prods us, we have to be ready to move.
Speaker A:And that's what Habakkuk is praying for, for soft hearts, for broken hearts, so that there can be changes, so that there can be revival in the hearts of the people.
Speaker A:And so the prayer of Habakkuk shows that revival is not a work of man.
Speaker A:It is a work of God, because he doesn't say, here, Lord, help us all to be revived, and then we can come find you.
Speaker A:It starts with that brokenness before God.
Speaker A:It's a work of God.
Speaker A:Revival is always a work of God, not a work of man, just as salvation is a work of God and not a work of man, just as spiritual growth is a work of God and not a work of man.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not preaching determinism, but what I am teaching is that we cannot have true spiritual growth, we cannot have true salvation, we cannot have true revival without God's power working in our midst.
Speaker A:And so there's something.
Speaker A:There's only one thing that man must do for revival, and that is plead to God for that revival in faith to a dear person here just recently.
Speaker A:And obviously we pray.
Speaker A:But we're not just called to sit in a room and pray and never take action, right?
Speaker A:Taking action is the proof of our faith and our prayers.
Speaker A:Taking action in our life is having faith that God will provide, that God will lead, that God will course correct.
Speaker A:He will change us.
Speaker A:And so faith is this, Lord, I believe.
Speaker A:And now I'm going to believe it so much that I'm going to act upon it.
Speaker A:And that's what we see here with Habakkuk's heart.
Speaker A:Even though we know the heart of the people doesn't necessarily change, we know that even though there.
Speaker A:There is a sense of revival in the nation of Israel, specifically with Judah, and it's delayed, judgment is delayed, we know that ultimately judgment does come to that nation.
Speaker A:So notice, notice a prayer there.
Speaker A:He says, revive your work.
Speaker A:Revive Your work, Lord.
Speaker A:And so it's asking God to work in our life, and then it's a willingness to allow God to work.
Speaker A:Sometimes we ask God for something, and we're not willing to work with him.
Speaker A:We say, lord, guide my heart.
Speaker A:And he guides us to something.
Speaker A:And we go, yeah, but not that.
Speaker A:Please, please, not there, Lord.
Speaker A:Lord, give me something to do in the church.
Speaker A:And then something's revealed to us, and we go, well, that's not what I wanted.
Speaker A:So it's a willingness to say, lord, use me.
Speaker A:And then when he is willing to use us, are we willing to be a part of that?
Speaker A:Are we willing to be partners with him?
Speaker A:And so this is a corporate prayer for the people, but this is a personal prayer in the life of Habakkuk.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So revival is corporate, but it starts on the individual side of things, in the individual way, in a heart of.
Speaker A:Of man and the heart of.
Speaker A:Of women.
Speaker A:So he says, revive thy work in the midst of the years.
Speaker A:In the midst of the years, make known.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So what is he saying here?
Speaker A:He says, lord, make yourself known to us.
Speaker A:And there's some elements of revival that we have to check.
Speaker A:First and foremost, when we're looking at revival, we have to check.
Speaker A:We have to check the word of God is my life, is the way that I'm thinking, is the way that I'm acting, is the way that I'm responding, aligned to the word of God.
Speaker A:I want you to see a passage of scripture that points directly to that, and I think it's important for us to see.
Speaker A:This is in Psalm 19.
Speaker A:If we want revival to happen in our midst, if we want revival to happen in our own lives and our families, in our country, what is.
Speaker A:What is the starting place for that?
Speaker A:Well, we say faith, which is true, but faith in what?
Speaker A:Well, faith in God.
Speaker A:But how do we know what God has promised us?
Speaker A:Well, the Bible says in Psalm 19, verse number seven, something very important here.
Speaker A:And the Bible tells us that it is the word of God that brings us the truth to check our lives with.
Speaker A:So the Bible tells us very clearly that if our life is not aligning with the word of God, we cannot have that revival.
Speaker A:We cannot have that growth because we're fighting against God's will in our life.
Speaker A:And so the Bible says in Psalm 19, the law of the Lord or the word of God, the law of the Lord is perfect.
Speaker A:Converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise.
Speaker A:The simple meaning this.
Speaker A:It is the word of the Lord that converts the soul.
Speaker A:It's the word of the Lord that revives the heart.
Speaker A:There's another passage of Scripture, not in Psalm 19, but in Psalm 119 that speaks to scripture being the guide for our life.
Speaker A:And I would encourage you, if you have time, read through Psalm 119.
Speaker A:It's a great.
Speaker A:It's a great chapter dealing with the importance of the Word of God in our life.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of verses that we could go to.
Speaker A:But most of you know this verse.
Speaker A:Psalm 119, 105.
Speaker A:Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Speaker A:I mean, I could point out so many verses in Psalm 119.
Speaker A:You could, you could look at Psalm 119, and you could look at verse, verse 5.
Speaker A:This is the theme for our.
Speaker A:Our children's ministry at our church.
Speaker A:Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statues.
Speaker A:You go down to verse number 11.
Speaker A:Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
Speaker A:And so without the word of God, we are not able to have, or at least understand revival and the direction that we need to go with that.
Speaker A:And so to understand revival is to understand the Word of God and to believe in the word of God.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And so I think that that's an important thing to check in our lives.
Speaker A:When it comes to revival.
Speaker A:We need to check the Word of God in, in our conduct of our life, our private conduct, our public conduct.
Speaker A:But then another thing we need to look at is, is we need to look at how we're talking to people, our conversation.
Speaker A:You know, a lot of times we think that we're acting biblical.
Speaker A:We think like we're acting like Christians, but many times we don't actually think about or hear ourselves talking in the conversations that we're having.
Speaker A:And I'm not just talking about filthy conversation.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously that would be indicative of a person that's not willing to have revival in their hearts.
Speaker A:But I'm talking about conversations that are just empty, vain, worthless.
Speaker A:And the Bible speaks of that.
Speaker A:The Bible talks about our conversations being seasoned with grace and salt and, and being able to edify others and talk about Jesus Christ.
Speaker A:Are we willing to talk about Jesus Christ to other people around us?
Speaker A:Are we willing to edify the saints around us?
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So we need to check our.
Speaker A:Our actions.
Speaker A:We need to check our conversations, our.
Speaker A:Our talk.
Speaker A:And we need to check who we're associating with.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously there are times in our life that we need to make separations to get to a place in Our life where we can focus our attention upon the Lord, our hearts upon the Lord.
Speaker A:And so here Bak is asking God, hey, make yourself known to us.
Speaker A:Well, how does God make himself known to us?
Speaker A:He makes himself known to us by his word and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and ultimately by the application of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:So the Holy Spirit convicts our heart.
Speaker A:What are we going to do?
Speaker A:Are we going to reject it?
Speaker A:The Bible says that you can basically stiff arm the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:You can, you can have a seared conscience by grieving the Holy Spirit, by, by rejecting the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:The Bible calls it quenching the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:And so what I would say is this.
Speaker A:Be open and ready to change your life if the Holy Spirit calls you to do so.
Speaker A:So a lot of times a preacher will get up and preach a message, or a teacher will get up and teach a lesson, or we'll watch a video, or we'll read a book and something will speak to us.
Speaker A:We'll say, you know what, I know that that's something that I need to change in my life.
Speaker A:But a lot of times we're really good at talking ourselves out of making that change.
Speaker A:And what I would say here this evening is make sure that you are still sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:Don't allow yourself to callous that call from the Holy Spirit and reject that conviction.
Speaker A:And, and so that's really what we're talking about when it comes to revival, allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us and really be honestly inspecting your own life.
Speaker A:You know, I, I know for me, sometimes the most difficult thing is to evaluate what I'm doing to.
Speaker A:To evaluate my decisions, to evaluate my sermons.
Speaker A:How many of you don't like to hear your own voice?
Speaker A:Like, when you're like, you hear your voice recording, you're like, oh, that's a terrible thing to listen to.
Speaker A:That's how I am.
Speaker A:But I, sometimes I have to go back and listen to what I'm saying because I want to make sure that I'm preaching the right things.
Speaker A:And that's the idea for me.
Speaker A:Sometimes when I evaluate what I'm saying, I'm like, did I really sound like that?
Speaker A:Did I really say that at all?
Speaker A:That's embarrassing.
Speaker A:And so the truth of the matter is, is that sometimes in our life when we do inspect ourselves, it is, it is.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's not as nice as we think it's going to be.
Speaker A:And sometimes if we're not honest with ourselves, we're able to sugarcoat our issues.
Speaker A:But what we need to do is be fully clear and transparent before the Lord and saying, lord, search me.
Speaker A:And we, we know what David says.
Speaker A:He says, search me, oh God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts.
Speaker A:See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Speaker A:And I know a while back I challenged the church to think about that prayer and say, is that a prayer that I'm willing to pray before the Lord.
Speaker A:He already knows your heart, by the way.
Speaker A:You don't have to give him permission, but it's the reality of submitting to him and saying, lord, as you search me, tell me, and I'm willing to hear, and I'm willing to change.
Speaker A:So I think that's another aspect of a revival that we need to think about.
Speaker A:Another one is, is in the book of Psalms, Psalm 51, verse 10.
Speaker A:Just had a conversation this week about how important Psalm 51 is.
Speaker A:Because if, if you know the context of Psalm 51, David has just been exposed in the most egregious sin.
Speaker A:I mean, he's at his most vulnerable point.
Speaker A:He's.
Speaker A:He's laid out before God and essentially saying, lord, I have made a mistake.
Speaker A:I've sinned against you.
Speaker A:And it says in, in verse number 10, this, this is his prayer.
Speaker A:And, and I think that this is something that all of us need to come to in our life as, as a prayer.
Speaker A:And, and I think this is a prayer revival.
Speaker A:And, and I know that so many of us will say maybe verbally that we want revival, but sometimes revival is a difficult thing because we have to.
Speaker A:We have to cleanse ourselves with the power of God with the, with the Spirit to move away from something.
Speaker A:So he says in verse 10 of Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Speaker A:Renew a right spirit within me.
Speaker A:Renew a right spirit within me.
Speaker A:And then in verse 12, he says, restore unto me.
Speaker A:Revival is as well, sometimes as Christians, we have lost the joy of our salvation.
Speaker A:And what, what a tragedy that is, that a Christian cannot have joy, right?
Speaker A:The Bible says that we should be characterized by joy.
Speaker A:The Bible says one of the elements of the fruit of the Spirit is joy.
Speaker A:So for a Christian not able to have joy is.
Speaker A:Is.
Speaker A:Is really at this case in time an opportunity for us to recognize that there is something wrong.
Speaker A:Like if I go in, like if I'm.
Speaker A:I don't know how many of you have ever had a.
Speaker A:A situation in your life physically that you didn't know exactly what was wrong, but you knew something was wrong.
Speaker A:You just, like, like something doesn't seem right.
Speaker A:Something isn't adding up.
Speaker A:This is something new in my life that has not been around, that I know is not normal.
Speaker A:And therefore, you go to the doctor and you explain, here are my symptoms.
Speaker A:And the doctor goes, well, okay, if you don't have this happening or you are having this happen, that might be this.
Speaker A:It's the same case when it comes to inspecting our own life as Christians.
Speaker A:You know, I'm struggling.
Speaker A:I don't have joy.
Speaker A:I know I'm supposed to have joy.
Speaker A:What's wrong?
Speaker A:Well, it's not just that you're having a bad day if you're a Christian and chronically you're not able to find joy.
Speaker A:There is an issue there.
Speaker A:It might be unrepentant sin.
Speaker A:It might be a thing that has happened to you that has harmed you and has stunted your spiritual growth.
Speaker A:Maybe it's a hurt from somebody else, and we're holding bitterness in from that hurt.
Speaker A:But ultimately, at the end of the day, we cannot blame anyone else for stealing our joy.
Speaker A:What does David say there?
Speaker A:He says, renew thy right spirit with me.
Speaker A:Renew the joy of my salvation.
Speaker A:Renew.
Speaker A:Restore that joy of my salvation.
Speaker A:So one of the beautiful things of revival is that restoring of joy.
Speaker A:Now, that doesn't mean that we walk around as happy, go lucky people and are in denial of the issues around us.
Speaker A:That's not what the Bible says.
Speaker A:The Bible does say there is a time for crying.
Speaker A:The Bible does say there's a time for mourning.
Speaker A:There.
Speaker A:There are times and seasons of.
Speaker A:Of heaviness and brokenness and times where we do need to lament.
Speaker A:Think about David.
Speaker A:Okay, yes, he confessed his sin before the Lord.
Speaker A:He got right with God after his sin with Bathsheba.
Speaker A:But there were still consequences, as you well know.
Speaker A:The Lord took his son, right?
Speaker A:His child.
Speaker A:And David mourned.
Speaker A:And there was a time in David's life where he mourned, but then he got up and he says, okay, I'm not going to stay in that season.
Speaker A:And so there are going to be seasons of brokenness.
Speaker A:There's going to be seasons of sadness, there's going to be seasons of confusion.
Speaker A:But the Bible says that should not be what we are characterized by.
Speaker A:And so in revival is the joy that.
Speaker A:That consistent joy and joy is really having contentment in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:We know that even Paul.
Speaker A:Paul wrote the.
Speaker A:The book of Galatians, right, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:But Paul wrote the book of Galatians.
Speaker A:Paul wrote the book of Philippians.
Speaker A:And in both of those cases, in the book of Galatians, he's talking about the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker A:And he says, okay, one of the elements of the fruit of the Spirit is joy.
Speaker A:And then we see that in the book of Philippians, which is specifically a prison epistle of Paul, he says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Speaker A:And again, I say, rejoice.
Speaker A:Now is Paul saying, hey, as Christians, we need to rejoice when everything's going well?
Speaker A:No, he's saying, rejoice all the time in everything.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk is saying, lord, restore that with us.
Speaker A:Make yourself known.
Speaker A:And then he really tells us at the end of verse two, really, how we can have this revival.
Speaker A:He says, in wrath or.
Speaker A:Or in judgments, in your wrath.
Speaker A:Which, by the way, we talked about this on Sunday morning, if you weren't here.
Speaker A:God's wrath is not a bad thing.
Speaker A:God's wrath is actually a good thing.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because it's holy wrath.
Speaker A:It's the like.
Speaker A:It's like when we are upset or angry at sin.
Speaker A:So as I, I believe, okay, some people don't agree with me on this, but.
Speaker A:But I believe Christians.
Speaker A:I think I can quote the scripture in the book of Ephesians, be angry and sin not.
Speaker A:Okay, so there's a time and a place for Christians to be angry and not sin.
Speaker A:Now, I'm going to venture to say that most of us, 99% of the time, when we're angry, or maybe 99.9%, he's saying, in wrath, in your wrath, which we all deserve.
Speaker A:So revival is a recognition of our guilt prior to salvation, after salvation.
Speaker A:I think we all need to recognize what we've been saved from.
Speaker A:And, and a lot of times people will say this.
Speaker A:They'll say, pastor, you don't need to talk to people about sin.
Speaker A:You just need to talk to them about the good things, about salvation.
Speaker A:And I, I get their heart because, you know, I understand what they're trying to say is like, just having heaven is enough.
Speaker A:But a lot of times people do not want to get help unless they realize that they need help.
Speaker A:And so we need to preach about sin.
Speaker A:We need to preach about God's wrath.
Speaker A:We need to point out things that God does not like that God is against, that God does not condone.
Speaker A:And so therefore, what is Habakkuk saying here at the end of verse two?
Speaker A:He says, in your wrath, which is righteous, in your wrath, which is totally justified, in your wrath, which we all deserve, have or remember mercy, he's pleading with God for mercy.
Speaker A:And I think that's really what revival is, is, Lord, we need your mercy, we need your grace.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk pray, knowing very well that none of us reserve, none of us deserve revival, none of us deserve salvation, none of us deserve God's grace, none of us deserve anything good.
Speaker A:But what does he do?
Speaker A:He says, please, Lord, remember, remember us in mercy.
Speaker A:So the idea is this.
Speaker A:He's saying, lord, I know that we are wrong.
Speaker A:I know that we have sinned.
Speaker A:I know that we deserve your judgment.
Speaker A:But in the midst of your holiness, in the midst of your justice, have mercy upon us and send revival to us.
Speaker A:And I think that's the prayer that we need to have.
Speaker A:And it's a desperation prayer.
Speaker A:And, you know, the truth is, in many cases we don't get desperate as Christians where we're too comfortable with our surroundings, that we don't get to that place of desperation.
Speaker A:And sometimes it takes something very difficult and very challenging and very, in some cases hurtful for us to get to that place of desperation to call out to the Lord.
Speaker A:And my plea with you this evening, my plea with my own, my own spiritual walk, is that don't allow it to get to that.
Speaker A:Don't allow it to get to that, to understand your desperation.
Speaker A:You know, there's a lot of people that don't understand that they need to change until they get to rock bottom.
Speaker A:Don't get to rock bottom before you realize that that's the really, really the need and the, and the desperation that we have in, in knowing that we are failures, knowing that we are falling short of the glory of God.
Speaker A:And ultimately that we need God and his mercy.
Speaker A:We, we.
Speaker A:We are desperate, need of it.
Speaker A:I can tell you on, on a few occasions in my life, I've hit that point to where I was pleading with God.
Speaker A:I needed him.
Speaker A:There was no formality in that prayer.
Speaker A:There, There wasn't this point of like, well, Lord, if it be your will, and, and you have your good, know, good grace upon me today, can you please get a chance?
Speaker A:Can you please help me in this?
Speaker A:Some of us have realized that there have been moments in our life where we don't have that opportunity to come in and give all those disclaimers to our prayer.
Speaker A:We just call out to God and say, lord, I need you.
Speaker A:And we might not even be able to articulate the exact wording what we need, but we know that God already already knows that sometimes in our life we need to just be desperate and call out to God and, and Know that, hey, you know what?
Speaker A:It's okay to come to the Father boldly before the throne of grace and to ask him for those things, to plead with him for those things, not demand those things.
Speaker A:By the way, there are some people that demand that God does things in their life.
Speaker A:They say, lord, you know, basically that, that they are the Lord of God.
Speaker A:Basically, Lord, you better do this.
Speaker A:You know, we're claiming your promises.
Speaker A:And the truth is, is that we have to be very careful with that.
Speaker A:We can claim the promises of God, but we don't deserve the promises of God.
Speaker A:And so it's asking, pleading with him, knowing that he does not have to answer us.
Speaker A:And that's what Habakkuk is doing there.
Speaker A:The spirit of his prayer is this.
Speaker A:Lord, remember me.
Speaker A:And so he's asking for God's mercy.
Speaker A:He's asking for God's revival.
Speaker A:And I think that's something that we, we have to come to in our life, in our church and in our world today.
Speaker A:Now, from then on, we do know that at this point in time, Habakkuk from, from verse 3 all the way down to verse 15, Habakkuk is recognizing the power of God and the presence of God with his people.
Speaker A:Now, we're not going to go all into that here this evening because we're going to talk a little bit more about revival.
Speaker A:But, but this is the, this is the outline for us.
Speaker A:When we get to a place where we don't understand what to do, we don't turn our backs against God because.
Speaker A:Because that's sometimes what happens in our human nature.
Speaker A:Lord, I've asked you two questions.
Speaker A:You gave me two answers I didn't want to hear.
Speaker A:So therefore, I don't really want to.
Speaker A:I don't want to pursue you anymore.
Speaker A:I'm actually going to recoil.
Speaker A:I'm actually going to pull back.
Speaker A:You've heard this before.
Speaker A:I used to go to church, but I had some things happen in my life.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:Me and church aren't.
Speaker A:Are, you know, compatible anymore.
Speaker A:Me and God aren't compatible anymore.
Speaker A:That's not a proper response to a hardship.
Speaker A:A proper response to hardship is, I need God more.
Speaker A:I need to cling to him more.
Speaker A:And I understand the difficulty in that.
Speaker A:I understand the difficulty when things don't make sense.
Speaker A:And, and I wish I could give everybody the answers to their questions.
Speaker A:But at the end of the day, the right answer is, lord, I need you.
Speaker A:I need to recognize your power, your grace, your forgiveness.
Speaker A:And so he goes on.
Speaker A:And one of the Things I love that he says in verse three.
Speaker A:We'll touch on it just here, because it's a recognition of the holiness of God.
Speaker A:God came from Timon and the Holy One from Mount Paran Selah.
Speaker A:His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise.
Speaker A:And so he immediately starts recognizing the characteristics of God.
Speaker A:So he pleads with God for what he wants for the people.
Speaker A:But then there's that still that recognition of the characteristic of God, his holiness, his power, his glory.
Speaker A:The earth was full of his praise.
Speaker A:It's a recognition of all these attributes.
Speaker A:Verse 4.
Speaker A:And his brightness was as the light.
Speaker A:So he recognizes the brightness or the glory of God.
Speaker A:And, and so ultimately he just walks through this whole aspect of the characteristics of God.
Speaker A:And I, I believe something very interesting here.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He gets down to a point where he recognizes that ultimately it is God who's going to have the verse 13.
Speaker A:Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people.
Speaker A:He recognizes that really God is the only one who can save.
Speaker A:And we see where that salvation comes from.
Speaker A:And he says, thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation with Thine anointed.
Speaker A:Now, Habakkuk here is recognizing the salvation that God is promising.
Speaker A:He recognizes that salvation can only come through the anointed One.
Speaker A:Now, some commentators argue about this, but I believe he's speaking specifically about Jesus, the anointed Messiah that is to come.
Speaker A:And, and we know that ultimately our salvation is only through Jesus.
Speaker A:And I had some opportunities to talk to some people recently that have no understanding of who Jesus is.
Speaker A:And you would think, like, they can live in America and not have a recognition of who Jesus is.
Speaker A:That, that is a common thing more and more today.
Speaker A:And it was, it was really neat.
Speaker A:They asked the question.
Speaker A:And I love questions, by the way.
Speaker A:Anytime someone wants to ask a question, don't ever fear like, pastor might not have time for that.
Speaker A:That's what I like to do.
Speaker A:I like questions.
Speaker A:And the question was this.
Speaker A:What is the story of the Bible?
Speaker A:What's the Bible about?
Speaker A:They had no clue.
Speaker A:What's the Bible about?
Speaker A:And I could have said a lot of things.
Speaker A:I could have said, well, it's this, this, this.
Speaker A:And you know what the answer is?
Speaker A:This, the b.
Speaker A:The story of Jesus.
Speaker A:It's a story of Jesus and who he is, what he has done and why we need Him.
Speaker A:It's a story of redemption.
Speaker A:It's a story of, of.
Speaker A:Of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation.
Speaker A:Now, are there other people in the stories?
Speaker A:Yes, there's Old Testament prophets.
Speaker A:What are the prophets doing?
Speaker A:They're proclaiming the one that is to come.
Speaker A:Okay, there, there's the epistles, how do we live our life?
Speaker A:But it's about how to follow Jesus.
Speaker A:It's, it's all about ultimately the story of Jesus, and He is our Savior.
Speaker A:And so I love that how there I, and I explained it this way.
Speaker A:There's a scarlet thread from Genesis 1:1 all the way to the end.
Speaker A:There's a scarlet thread of Jesus Christ throughout all scripture.
Speaker A:And you can see Him.
Speaker A:If you understand that perspective, you can see that all the way through.
Speaker A:And I love how it says here in verse 13, thou wound is the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck.
Speaker A:And I believe this is speaking specifically to the complete victory that Jesus has over the enemy.
Speaker A:We know that the enemy crushes the heel of the Messiah, but ultimately the Messiah crushes the head of the serpent and the seed of the woman is the ultimate victor.
Speaker A:And then we are more than conquerors.
Speaker A:And so here in the book of Habakkuk, which a lot of people don't think that Jesus or the Gospel can be identified in a lot of the Old Testament books, folks, the Gospel is, is throughout the whole Bible.
Speaker A:And we see that all happening there.
Speaker A:And, and so you can see that all the way through.
Speaker A:We're not going to finish out here tonight.
Speaker A:All of this next week will conclude the book of Habakkuk.
Speaker A:But he essentially gets to the very end.
Speaker A:And I'll give you a little bit of a.
Speaker A:A preface the next week.
Speaker A:He basically know, he recognizes God's strength.
Speaker A:And he basically says, lord, you can be trusted in anything.
Speaker A:I can trust you.
Speaker A:I can have confidence.
Speaker A:And I can tell you here this evening, you might not understand why God's doing something.
Speaker A:You might not have all the answers.
Speaker A:You might ask him questions.
Speaker A:And remember we talked about at the very beginning how to ask God biblically, how to ask him questions properly.
Speaker A:You do it with authentic truths.
Speaker A:Truly, Lord, I don't understand.
Speaker A:But you never question him.
Speaker A:You're allowed to question God, but you're not allowed to question his character.
Speaker A:And so I would think that that's something that we can all learn through this.
Speaker A:And ultimately we get to a place at the end where as a true believer in the Lord, we honor him, we worship him, and we rest in his confidence.
Speaker A:And so next week, we're going to talk about how we can rest in the confidence of God even if we don't get the answers that we want.
Speaker A:And I can tell you in my life, just transparently I praise the Lord louder when he gives me what I'm expecting.
Speaker A:I'm just going to be honest.
Speaker A:I remember the most recent time where I was calling out to God was when our son was born, when Silas was born.
Speaker A:I had the most real.
Speaker A:That from that point on, I'll never doubt him, I'll never question him.
Speaker A:It is real to me.
Speaker A:And I've understood that lesson a lot more now.
Speaker A:But you know, there will be a time probably where I need to go back and appeal to the revival of my spirit, the revival of, of the heart of God in my life.
Speaker A:And so all of us need that revival.
Speaker A:Revival is not just for the person who is, is in the drugs or, or out outside of the family of God or in jail.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Revival is for everybody.
Speaker A:Every believer needs revival at some point in their life.
Speaker A:And I think that's all of us have to recognize that it's not just for that person.
Speaker A:Because I used to, when I grew up in the, and the pastor got up or the evangelist got up and preached a hard message on revival, you know what I would always do, I wonder who he's preaching to.
Speaker A:Not me.
Speaker A:I, I don't need that much revival.
Speaker A:I'm, I'm okay.
Speaker A:I'm a good person.
Speaker A:And the truth is, is that all of us need to recognize at some point in time that when that person's preaching, I'm not going to be concerned about, hey, I wonder if so and so heard that message.
Speaker A:They need that.
Speaker A:What, what can I get from this?
Speaker A:And then sometimes on the flip side of that, sometimes you have a preacher preaching and you go, who, who told him about my personal life?
Speaker A:I remember there was times like that for me.
Speaker A:I'm like, I know that my parents were telling this preacher about what I was doing last week because he's right on the dot.
Speaker A:Maybe they did.
Speaker A:But the truth is sometimes that's how the Holy Spirit speaks as well.
Speaker A:It's pointed.
Speaker A:And he and he.
Speaker A:And he convicts us, he convicts us of where we are and where we need to change.
Speaker A:And so have a soft heart.
Speaker A:You know, a lot of times we harden our hearts because of whatever reason.
Speaker A:But, but a soft heart, a soft heart is able to be molded.
Speaker A:And the Bible speaks In Romans, chapter 12 of Not Being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Speaker A:And, and that's not just talking about a one time thing at salvation, my mind was renewed at salvation.
Speaker A:But the Bible says that that's a daily process.
Speaker A:We need to have our minds renewed and our hearts renewed in the truth of God.
Speaker A:And that goes back to the Word of God.
Speaker A:So how can we know what God wants from us if we aren't understanding his letter to us?
Speaker A:And I would encourage you to get deep into the Word of God.
Speaker A:Love the Word of God.
Speaker A:Love the things of God.
Speaker A:And it is the most amazing thing that you can do is just be walking in the will of God.
Speaker A:I can tell you over and over again, God confirms in my heart that the will of God is the best place to be.
Speaker A:It's the safest place to be.
Speaker A:It's the most joyful place to be.
Speaker A:And continue searching after that.
Speaker A:For you might be the will of God is, what am I going to do tomorrow?
Speaker A:For some of you, it might be, what am I going to do tonight?
Speaker A:But ultimately, the Word of God will never lead you away from the will of God and continue to seek after what he calls for you.
Speaker A:So revival doesn't have to happen once a year.
Speaker A:I grew up in the church that we had our spring revival and our fall revival, and we had to just wait for those revivals.
Speaker A:I really want to revive, but I'll just have to wait till the special speaker comes in.
Speaker A:Folks, you don't need a special speaker to have revival.
Speaker A:You don't even have to have a preacher preaching for revival.
Speaker A:Revival is a work of God.
Speaker A:So you got to have God in your heart.
Speaker A:The Holy Spirit's indwelling you, Holy Spirit speaking to you, the Word of God leading you.
Speaker A:That's enough for revival.
Speaker A:And so you don't need to have a special service.
Speaker A:Revival can happen in your home, can happen in your car, it can happen anywhere.
Speaker A:And I encourage you to seek after that in your life.
Speaker A:And I hope that, that we all can have revival together.
Speaker A:Because you know what?
Speaker A:Revival is contagious.
Speaker A:Studying some things in history about the Great Awakening, and some of you might know a little bit about the history of the Great Awakening.
Speaker A:There was a huge revival in our country and around the world, or at least in Europe.
Speaker A:And sometimes we forget about that.
Speaker A:I got caught talking about that.
Speaker A:I was like, you know what?
Speaker A:We were struggling with things 20 years ago, and we never thought that 20, 30 years ago we'd be dealing with things today that we're dealing with today and 20, 30 years from now, what are we going to be dealing with?
Speaker A:And the truth is, is that left undone, Our culture will continue to erode.
Speaker A:But do we still believe that God can have a revival in the hearts of man today.
Speaker A:I believe it.
Speaker A:I believe God can change the hearts.
Speaker A:I don't think we're destined for, you know, ultimately the Bible says things will get worse and worse, but, you know, I don't know.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I believe that God has us seeking after revival, and I think we can change those things around us, and I think we can change it through the gospel.
Speaker A:So just be praying about how that can happen in your life, how that can happen in my life, how that can happen with the lives of those around us.
Speaker A:Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Speaker A:I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Speaker A:If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletown baptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Speaker A:You can also email me directly at Josh massaroiddletownbaptistchurch.com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:God bless.
Speaker A:Have a wonderful day.
