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Psalm 85. Take time to read the
psalm to the chief musician. Psalm 4, the sons of Korah. Lord, thou hast been favourable
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.
Selah. thou hast taken away all thy
wrath, thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine
anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry
with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? 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 on to
his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to
folly. Surely his salvation is now them
that fear him, and glory may dwell in their 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
her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him, and he shall set us in the way of his steps. Amen. We know the Lord will add his
blessing. do the reading of his word. Psalm 85, while a psalm
for the sons of Korah, yet this psalm, like so many psalms, does
not state the name of the human author or the exact occasion
when this psalm was written. That means there are many occasions
in Bible history where this psalm could be applied to and by application
to our present day. Some suggest this psalm was written
sometime after Babylonian captivity, where the city of Jerusalem had
been destroyed and there was the need to revive the city in
rebuilding. Others maintain it was during
David's day when the land was oppressed by the Philistines,
the ancient enemies of God and his people. However, it is clear,
this psalm in reading it, it does reveal a time of great need
in the land of Israel, a need that caused the psalmist to look
to the Lord for his divine, sovereign, omnipotent intervention in visiting
his own redeemed people. And therefore, the psalmist,
as they wrote this psalm, knew the answer for the present hour
was revival. And that is the answer for our
present need. It is revival. Among the other
pleas, and there's many wonderful pleas that we have read in this
psalm, the psalmist seeking for God's blessing upon a people
and upon a place. Here is one in verse six that
is our text today. In Psalm 85, verse 6, will thou
not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? The word revive, or this particular
Hebrew word revive, means to live. It's translated as reviving,
revived, to recover, to give life, to keep alive, to preserve,
preserve alive, and to quicken. It is a word, therefore, that
relates to the possessing of life, giving of life, and enjoying
life. And therefore, the biblical view
of revival is the re-giving of life. The very first time this
word revive is used in scripture is used in Genesis chapter 45
concerning Jacob. Now we have looked at this in
parts in our study in the life of Joseph. But you remember at
one point Jacob was under the impression that his son Joseph
was dead and for years Jacob seemed lifeless. He was just
going through the motions. He was just getting through each
day at a time. But upon hearing that Joseph
was actually alive, the Bible tells us in Genesis 45 verses
26 and 27, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. And that's the word. they brought
back to life as it were. There was this joy again in Jacob's
life. He began to live again. All those years, he seemed lifeless,
just getting through day by day, just going through the motions.
But when he heard his son was alive, he was stirred up again,
and it was life put back into him, a spring in a step. And
he couldn't wait to go and meet his son, to see his face again. Again, Nehemiah chapter 4, verses
1 and 2, we read about the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. You remember When the children
of Israel, Judah, were all taken into captivity, Jerusalem was
destroyed. The walls were brought down.
And so for the next number of years during the captivity and
after, Jerusalem lay in rubble. The city walls were just in rubble,
the stones having fallen down. So Nehemiah, he was led of God
to come to Jerusalem and rebuild again. The city of Jerusalem
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem But again as he was doing that
he was mocked there was hindrances There were barriers one of the
enemies of God called some ballot He mocked the people of God mocked
Nehemiah as they began to rebuild Jerusalem getting all these stones
and he said this I Will they revive the stones out of the
rubbish which are burned? In other words, this looks a
desperate case. Will they actually revive the
stones? Will they put the wall back again to bring life back
to the city again? Will we see the walls built again? Will they revive it? And so that
is the idea of revival, what revival means, to live again,
to restore, to bring back to life. You see, revival is not,
and I don't want anybody to misunderstand me, I'll make it clear in a minute,
but revival primarily is not about seeing souls saved. People think when they pray for
revival, They're praying for the Lord to save souls. That's
not revival. That is redemption. That's reconciliation. That is regeneration. That is
giving life where there is no life before, where life has not
existed. That's redemption, reconciliation. That is regeneration. And while
souls being saved certainly follows on from revival, and we long
to see souls being saved, we long to see God coming in great
omnipotent power and visiting dead souls and bringing spiritual
life and we pray that God will do that in this city of London
and this area of Walthamstow and even in this very assembly
that if there's some soul who is not saved that God will come
with great salvation blessing and by his power speak with that
voice that wakes the dead and call that soul on to himself. However, when we're thinking
about revival, when we're praying, will thou not revive us again?
That deals with God's people. Revival is God revisiting, restoring,
remaking, reshaping, refreshing his covenant community and worshipping
and rejoicing in Christ. Revival is God visiting believers
whose spiritual life is cold, frozen, and by His defrosting
power, soften and melt their hearts to make them burning and
shining lights for Him. Revival is God visiting believers
who day by day, Sunday by Sunday, just go through the motions,
just turn up for the sake of turning up. They're here in body
but they're not here in heart and God visits them that they
be in the spirit on the Lord's day. Revival is God visiting
believers who set their affection on things below in order that
they will set their affections on things above. Revival is God
causing his people to live for him again, that he will have
all the focus, that when it comes to God's house, all the other
little things that they can do at other times, They will want
to be in God's house, in God's place of worship. That is revival,
God moving among his people. Not even during the week, there'll
be that thrill to get to the place of prayer, the place of
studying God's word. Instead of watching whatever's
on at seven o'clock, Coronation Street or EastEnders or Amadil,
whatever's on, there'll be that desire to get to the house of
God. Psalm 85, verse six, is a prayer
for revival. And I will say this here, we
need revival. I, as a preacher, need revival. You, as a believer, need revival. This congregation, as you can
see clearly, needs revival. We need the power of God upon
us again. Charles Burton, who ministered
in London, during days of great revival blessing, preaching to
8,000 Sunday by Sunday, said this here on this verse. Brethren,
if you will pray this prayer, it will be better than my preaching
from it. And my only motive in preaching
from it is that you may pray it. And that's what Spurgeon
said when it came to Psalm 85 verse 6. If you will pray this
prayer, it will be better than my preaching from it. And my
only motive in preaching from it is that you will pray it. And I say the same as Charles
Spurgeon. Our great need is revival. And therefore as we think of
revival, the prayer of revival, notice first of all the request
for revival. The psalmist in requesting God,
revive us again, do so, because God is the author of revival. If revival is ever to come to
any place or any people, but we're thinking here about London,
it will only come from God. The history of revival shows
us that God stepped in in the most unlikely times. When the
days were spiritually dark, church gatherings were declining. Prayer
meetings were nearly abandoned. People had a flippant attitude
about God's house. Should I go? Should I not? Should
I go? Should I not? Revival comes not
by people stirring up themselves. It's not by people creating their
own excitement. It's not get in the mood for
revival for the day. There's going to be a revival.
That's how people present revival. They need to get some sort of
emotion up here. Rather, revival is believers
coming to prayer and requesting God, will thou not revive us
again? Take out the negative. Revive
us again, O Lord, because we need it. There's a coldness in
my heart, a laziness in my heart. When it comes to the Bible, it's
take it or leave it. When it comes to prayer, take
it or leave it. When it comes to God's house,
it's not as important because there's other things that I could
do and do do. We need a revival, a movement
of God again. Human instrumentality is not
the author of revival. If we'd just had a better preacher,
we'd have revivals. Human instrumentality is not
the author of revival. God is. And God uses the people
that we think won't be used to show that no flesh will glory
in his presence, to show that he is the one who sends revival. And so like the psalmist, we
must acknowledge the divine visitation we need as a church body individually
can only come from God. A church cannot be revived unless
God revives it. You as a believer cannot be and
will not be revived unless God works in your heart What gave
the psalmist hope to pray for revival? What gives you hope
to pray for revival? What gives this believer hope
to pray for revival? And I could say a lot more things.
It's you come to the psalmist's stead and you come to the scripture
and see God sends revival. The psalmist could pray based
on all that God had done in the past, forgiving the sin of the
people, delivering them from captivity, causing them to rejoice
in their savior. And on that basis, the psalmist
can pray for revival. He's praying based on all that
God has done in the past. We're not praying, Lord, do the
same thing you did for Spurgeon. We're saying, Lord, move amongst
us in our day and age. We need to know the breath of
God. Psalm 44, verse 1, we have heard
with our ears, O God. Our fathers have told us what
work thou didst in their days, in times of old. We want God
to do greater. We don't want a repetition. We
want God to come and move among us in great power. The Lord send
us revival again and cause his people to live. There is a need
in the church for the resurrection praying. revive us again. Therefore, when God revives his
people again, it is a spiritual awakening among God's people. Lord, awaken thy people from
the slumber. Bring back spiritual life and
vitality to his people. spiritual seal that will be renewed,
a power that is lacking will be renewed. When God revives
his people again, he creates a spiritual awareness among the
people. When the church is revived, there
is an awareness, the Lord has come, and that to bless it. The Lord has come to visit His
people in giving them bread. When God revives His people again,
He creates a spiritual appetite among His people. There is an
appetite for God, an appetite to want to be fed by the Word
of God, to meditate upon the Word, to memorize and to be motivated
by the Word of God. When God revives His people again,
He changes their spiritual attitude. That is a desire to live for
God, a desire, a greater love for God, a greater desire to
attend the house of God, a desire to hear God's voice. When God
comes in revival, our priorities are sorted out. God is first. We can't stay away from the house
of God. The Bible can't be put down.
Prayer must continue. Praise that glorifies God. Time
isn't even a consideration. The watch is an enemy to revival. There is an intense desire for
the house of God. You desire to be among God's
people, the place where God is praised. When you have to go
to work, school and do other duties, the presence of God or
you are aware that the presence of God goes with you and rests
upon you. People can see there's something
different in your life. The time you're absent from God's
community. a God's house instead of being
homesick as the term goes. You are church sick because you
want to be in the place where God is moving. You want to be
in the place where God is blessing. And you run quickly to the place
where God is meeting with his people, because you want to be
there. May God send this revival every
single Sunday, where people will flock to the house of God. They
will desire to be under the preaching of the Word, where Christ is
exalted and glorified. All the other things that we
have to do, can be put off for another time. Verse 9, the joyful
anticipation the psalmist had that God was going to send glory
and move again in the land. And how with thriller hearts
to see God move in revival, to revive us as a people and a place,
that Lord's Day after Lord's Day, we would be aware, not just
to go through, to have all the, yes, I know all the Lord's here
and that to bless us, God will never leave me nor forsake me,
I mean, we can just get through those verses and through that
truth and just go on with it, but to be aware. God is here
and that to bless us. To leave knowing and to stay
knowing. I've been in the presence of
God today. I've met with God. God's met
with me. In 1742, Jonathan Edwards, his
wife, and they knew great days of revival blessing. She wrote
in her diary about revival. It is the constant awareness
of the presence of God. You say, Preacher, can there
be such days of reviving again? I ask you, are you praying for
revival? Ask and it shall be given on
to you because revival has been purchased by the precious blood.
It's a spiritual blessing that God's purchased for his people. Have you ever requested God to
visit believers with an outpouring of his spirit in this country
of England, in this city of London, in this congregation at Wathamstow,
that God will come and give us a hunger and a thirst after him? Let it come. O Lord, we pray
Thee, let the showers of blessing fall. We're waiting, we're waiting. Come revive the hearts of all. The psalmist, his request for
revival. Wilt Thou not revive us again,
O Lord? We need revival. Notice secondly,
the recipients of revival. Notice the words, that Thy people
or wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in
thee." Notice those words, us, thy people. It refers to God's
own people who are the recipients of this revival. This is the
great emphasis and the favour that they have known the forgiveness
of God. They rejoice in who God is and
all that God has done for them. Verse 1, Lord, thou hast been
favourable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. When God's people were in Babylonian
captivity, God promised that he would revisit them and would
bring them back to their land. He gave them the promise, and
this is another word where revival is used, Habakkuk chapter 3,
verse 2. And you have prayed that prayer
many, many times, and we have sung the words many times. Habakkuk
chapter 3 verse 2. Revive thy work, O Lord. And you know that verse well.
Well, that's the exact same word. Revive, preserve, cause it to
live again. Remember, they're about to go
into captivity. For 70 years, they will be in
bondage. So what does he pray? Lord, during
such times, revive thy work, preserve thy work. And God answered
prayer, because during those times in Babylonian captivity,
you read the book of Ezra, and Ezra prayed, Lord, a little reviving
in our bondage. And God moved among the people.
And then God brought them back victoriously. In the darkest
of days God moved. Again there was the awareness
that God had forgiven sin. Psalm verse 2, Thou hast forgiven
the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. The word iniquity, it
means crooked or bent. The people, remember they had
all their false idols. They had walked in the stubbornness
of their own hearts. And so now God, this prayer for
revival, this prayer is to turn them again to himself. And God
forgives them. God moves among them. They were
a people that had been forgiven. The word forgiven means to carry
away, to release, or to send away. And they knew this language. This is tabernacle language recorded
in Leviticus chapter 16 about sins being forgiven. Because
in Revival, there's the great awareness that i am a sinner
and he is the great savior he is the one who's forgiven me
of my sin christ is exalted as the only mediator on the day
of atonement two goats were used in sacrificial ceremony. One
was called the scapegoat, where the high priest would place his
hands upon the scapegoat's head and confess the sin of the children
of Israel, teaching that truth of imputation, transferral, transaction
of those sins placed from one on to another. This goat was
then sent away into the wilderness, never to return, never to be
searched for again, but all to teach symbolically that Christ
is the one who bears away our sin, and our sins are sent away,
never to return, never to be searched for again. The second
goat was the Lord's goat. It was sacrificed, its blood
was shed. It taught the people that sin
was covered by the death of a substitution in their place, again pointing
to the Lord Jesus Christ as the substitute of his people. His precious blood was shed to
put away their sin, to forgive them of their sin. As far as
the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions
from us. Therefore, only Christ bore the
sins of his own people on his body on the tree. His blood was
shed to ransom his people, to release them from bondage, release
them from captivity of sin, to turn away the wrath of God. So here the psalmist As he's
praying, will thou not revive us again? He's coming on the
ground of the blood. He's coming on the ground of
the everlasting covenant. And he's praying, Lord, thou
forgive the sin of thy people. Thou forgive our crooked ways,
our bent ways, our idolatry. Lord, thou didst forgive us.
Now, Lord, send us revival. Because God sending revival is
to visit his people again. And therefore, the recipients
of revival are the Lord's own people. God coming down and revisiting,
rekindling that fire burning within our hearts again. And
we pray that God will do that. Not only in this land, but in
this city and in our hearts. That God will intervene in mighty
power. That God will send in these days
great revival blessing. Revive me. Lord, make me to be
a recipient. of blessing. Pass me not, O gentle
Saviour. Hear my humble cry, while in
others thou art calling. Do not pass me by. Lord, revive my heart. The answer for every seat filled
in this house on Sunday morning, overflowing, on Sunday afternoon,
is not a better program, as people have said to me, change things
in the service, twist things up, get more excitement on. It's not getting more preachers
or having more conferences or do testimony Sundays and stuff
and that'll get people in. It's God sending revival. It's getting back to what needs
to be back to. Lord, send us revival. And if God does not send us revival,
this is the way it will be. We need God to move, and God
to move in our hearts. The rejoicing, finally and briefly,
of revival. Psalmist requests God for revival,
that thy people may rejoice in thee. You see, because of sin,
they were not rejoicing in their God. But God sends a revival
that his people will rejoice in him, who he is, the God of
their salvation, the God of the one who's redeemed him. Again,
verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. See, God's truth
says that you are a sinner deserving of hell, but God's mercy shows
there's mercy for you. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. God's righteous justice demands
payment for sin, for breaking his law. but peace is the payment
through reconciliation. And if God is pleased to send
revival, his people will rejoice in him for every blessing bestowed
upon them. And I long for revival. I long
the day God will move again among us, that it will be noise to
broad. The Lord is in his house. May not be our prayer, Sunday
by Sunday, Lord, revive my pastor. Lord, revive my wife. Revive
my husband. Revive my children. Revive my
mum, my dad. Revive the committee men. Revive
the office bearers. Because everyone, if there's
sin in the camp, there is no blessing. May God send revival
even to backsliders. Maybe there's one here today.
You've gone cold. You haven't been reading your Word. You haven't
been praying. May God send you a revival, a rekindling of that
flame again. May the Spirit of God come among
us and in great glory cause us to rejoice in Him again. For His name's sake. Amen.
Revive Us Again O Lord
Series Revival
| Sermon ID | 51523183246654 |
| Duration | 31:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Psalm 85:6 |
| Language | English |
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