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Reality, Faith And Obedience

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• Open our Bibles to Psalm 81, verses 10 through 16. The title of the message today is "Reality, Faith, and Obedience." So in Psalm 81, let's begin reading there with verse 10. The Word of God says, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

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• "But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever."

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• "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." Reality oftentimes comes with a very rude awakening. We usually live in a dream world, and we like to fantasize. We may do that for a short period of time until all of a sudden reality runs us over, knocks us down, and wakes us up. I remember as a teenager fantasizing about my future. I could hardly wait to leave home.

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• I had a wonderful relationship with my parents. I did not hate them. I did not despise them. I did not fight with them, and I loved them. And believe it or not, for the most part, I did obey them. But the simple truth is, I wanted to get away so that I could do what I wanted to do. It's just that simple. Oftentimes I had to work when I did not really want to work. So I just figured, you know, if I could get off on my own, then I could live my own life and do what I wanted to, when I wanted to, and whatever pleased me.

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• Well, when Alice and I got married at 18, it kind of hit me hard that all of a sudden I have a wife. And then we had a child. And now I've got a wife and a child to support. And then I often thought that first year or two, you know, I was mighty stupid and foolish. All I had to do was stay home and obey and do some work, and Dad would take care of all the bills.

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• I would have no responsibility. And now everything is forced upon me. And I found out just in the first year or two of marriage, I did not have time to do what I wanted to do. My time was consumed with doing what I had to do. So reality kind of woke me up. I also remember when the Lord saved me, and when salvation was so fresh in my mind, and I was so happy and so joyful, and I thought, "This is so wonderful, because everybody is so eager now to know about sin and salvation and Jesus Christ." And I just wanted to tell them, and I did. And then after being laughed at, mocked, scoffed at, ridiculed, all of a sudden it dawned on me, most folks don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. They don't want to hear about sin and salvation, because they are condemned, and they don't want to hear about their condemnation. And so all of a sudden reality just kind of sunk in, and it sunk in pretty deeply.

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• I began then to understand the old Puritan adage that a sinner is a sacred thing; only God can make him so. Stop and think about that. There is a vast difference between intellectually understanding that you are a sinner, and being shown that you are a sinner by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Those are two totally different things. Most people live in a fantasy world, even today. Most people, even most professing Christian people, tend to think that as long as they live decent lives, try to do what's right, and not sin too much, that somehow, some way, they're going to make it into heaven. And reality will set in at death, and it will really hit hard at the judgment. You may fantasize temporarily, but reality will soon set in. We must consider the fact also that most professing Christians never really and genuinely and truly serve the Lord. Spiritual truths, biblical truths, and biblical principles never really enter into their minds, their hearts, and their lives.

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• They may be good church members. They may fellowship one with another. They may visit friends. And yet usually that is the extent of their Christianity. And so, again, reality will set in at death, and especially at the judgment seat of Christ. And of course, everyone in here understands that living a Christian life is far more than going to church and just listening to a few sermonettes. So, I can go on and give you illustration after illustration, but we're living in a fantasy land when we think that this nation will never suffer the righteous judgment of God. When we begin to think of the aborticide, the fornication, the sodomy, the theft, the fraud, the deceit, the idolatry, and the rebellion, when we think that all that's going to be overlooked by God, well, we're just deceiving ourselves. All you have to do is look around, and the truth is we're already under judgment.

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• And if you read Amos chapter 4, you'll find that when individuals refuse to hear God and repent and turn to Him, each additional judgment increases in its intensity, in its severity. Now, I said the title of this message was "Reality, Faith, and Obedience." Let me tell you something. Man does not determine reality. God is the determiner of reality. Reality is not what I think. Reality is not what I desire. Reality is not what I wish. Reality is what God determines. It can only be determined by God. Denial of God's reality does not negate reality. God's reality is real. And whether people like it or not, agree with it or not, believe it or not, deny it or not, His reality is still real. Man always somehow fantasizes and lives in his own dream world and thinks that somehow he can determine and he can make his own reality. That is impossible.

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• I pointed this word out in time past, and I want to point it out again in light of this message. One of my favorite words to talk about is the word "utopia." You've heard about the socialistic utopia, the communist utopia, the hedonistic utopia. The word "utopia" in our English language is derived from the Greek. It is made up of two Greek words. First of all, the word "topos," which means "place." And secondly, the word "u," which is a negative. Our English word "utopia" literally means "no place." It doesn't exist. It is not reality. The only place that a utopia exists is in someone's depraved, humanistic brain. There is no such utopia. The only reality is God's reality. And reality is determined by God.

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• Now when you look at Psalm 81, Psalm 81 is of special importance to the church because it reminds us of past mercies that God has shown to us and our obligations to praise Him for it. It also tells us about our present sins and rebellion. And it also tells us about the blessings and benefits of faith and obedience. So, I want you to look at Psalm 81 with me.

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• I've got three very simple points. First of all, the reality of that which was, and the word "redemption." Watch. Verse 10, God says, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Interestingly, the Lord God identifies Himself in verse 10 of Psalm 81 exactly as He identified Himself when He gave His law in Exodus 20 and verse 2. There He said, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Notice if you would, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out." When you get to the book of Hosea 13 and verse 4, He says it again, "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt. Thou shalt know no other God but me, for there is no Savior but me." So God is telling His people, Israel here, "I am the one that brought you out. I am the one true and the living God."

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• So what God is doing is He is speaking of an undeniable fact. He is speaking of the deliverance of His people from Egypt. Now, here is my question: Why does God repeat this over and over in the Bible, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt"? Think about that. Here is why: First of all, the Exodus was an undeniable fact. It is history.

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• It is real. God actually delivered His people out of Egypt. He delivered them and He destroyed the Egyptians. So first of all, you have to consider it is an undeniable fact. Secondly, God's deliverance of those people from Egypt was a claim upon their allegiance. They owed God. He delivered them. He brought them out. He was their Savior. Anyone that has been delivered, like Israel, should have pledged their obedience to God a thousand times over. Because God marvelously and miraculously delivered them, not only from Egypt, but look at all the miracles He did in the desert as well. And then thirdly, the great and glorious deliverance that was given to them was proof. God was able to provide, protect, and promote them as He had promised. So, if God had done the greater for them in delivering them, should He not have done the lesser as well?

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• And the answer is absolutely yes. So, let me put it like this: The Exodus was and is an objective fact. It is something that is real and genuine. Nothing can change it. Nothing can alter it. It was and is an objective fact. And it was accomplished by the power of God and the power of God alone. Now, you have to remember this, that the Exodus then was a picture. It was a type.

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• It was an emblem of the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. So if you can understand the type and the emblem, you ought to be able to understand the reality. What did the children of Israel do before the Exodus? They slew a lamb and placed the blood on the door posts and on the lintels. Every one of those lambs that were slain was a picture and a representative of Jesus Christ. That is why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." So deliverance from Egypt then was a picture and a type of salvation that is going to be wrought by Jesus Christ.

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• Now, I want you to hold Psalm 81 and look in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 9. And you might as well mark this passage because we will come back to it. But look in Hebrews chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 12. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. Remember now, they slew a lamb, but look what the Bible says. Hebrews 9 verse 12, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." So all of those calves and all of those bulls and all of those lambs that were slain were just mere pictures. Jesus Christ is the only one that obtained eternal redemption. Verse 13, "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh"—and that's all it could do, ceremonially speaking—verse 14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Now, just like the Exodus is an objective fact of history, listen carefully: The salvation, person, and work of Jesus Christ are also the great historical and objective facts of history.

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• Jesus Christ lived, He died, He was buried, He was raised from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and He's seated at the right hand of God. These truths are reality. Jesus Christ is salvation, and He is salvation alone.

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• Now if you'll hold Hebrews chapter 9, just hold it and let me turn back and read Romans chapter 1 and verses 3 and 4. Listen carefully, Romans 1 verses 3 and 4. Because the Bible tells us here how Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God. Romans 1 verse 3, "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." Now watch, He was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, "and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." So what in the world was it that declared and manifested that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God? And the answer is, it was the resurrection from the dead.

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• Now, men may deny reality, they may denigrate it, they may denounce it, but that does not change reality. So men can sit around and say, "Well, I would like to be saved in another way. I don't want to trust in Jesus Christ. I don't want to see His finished work. I want to do this." You can imagine whatever you want to imagine. You can fantasize whatever you want to fantasize.

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• You can have your own salvational utopia in your own mind, but it is not real. The only reality that we have is God's reality, because reality is determined by God and not by man. Now let me make something clear: Jesus Christ in His person and His work are the objective basis for our salvation. Just like the Exodus, what God did outside of the children of Israel, so Jesus Christ, the work that He did, is outside of us. It is an objective fact. It is an objective reality. That cannot be changed.

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• Now, we must understand that there is a subjective basis of our faith. But the subjective is dependent upon the objective. The subjective basis of our faith happens to be the faith and repentance that God gives us, and we experience it through the power of the Holy Spirit. The subjective has its foundation in the objective. If there had not been the objective work of Jesus Christ in His person and His work, there would be no subjective work.

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• There would be no grace. There would be no mercy. So nothing subjective can change the objective. I've heard people say, "Well, I don't feel saved." Well, there is a good reason for that. Salvation is not a feeling. Salvation is an objective fact. It is something that was accomplished by Jesus Christ. It was accomplished outside of us. It is true that He applies that work in us, and that is subjective, but the reality is our Lord said, "It is finished." And it was done. It is an objective fact.

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• Now, I want you to look at this. Hold Hebrews 9, we are coming right back there. But look in your Bibles at Acts chapter 5. Let me show you how important this is. We are talking about Acts chapter 5 and look at verses 30 and 31 and what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 5 verses 30 and 31. The Bible says it like this: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Now I want you to note that Jesus Christ, the great objective reality of salvation, is the one now who actually gives repentance. Let me explain this. I want you to go back to Hebrews chapter 9 and look, if you would, beginning now with verse 14. We ended with verse 14, now I want to read through verse 17. So let's watch it. Hebrews 9 verse 14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

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• "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

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• So, let me explain it like this. Let's suppose that Steve is a multi-millionaire. He's been hiding that fact from Lorraine and from all of us for all these years. And Steve comes up to me and he says, "Brother Weaver, I've made my will, or my testament, last will and testament, you know, and I'm going to leave you two million bucks." And I say, "Well, thank you, brother. I really appreciate that." Don't be upset. He's leaving you 20 million. Okay, so he leaves me two million, leaves Lorraine 20 million. Now here's my question. Now he's told me he's leaving me the two million bucks. Can I go out and spend it? Can I enjoy it? I don't have it. Because although that might be his last will and testament, it does not go into effect until he dies. Right?

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• And let's suppose he died and he did have all this money and he did leave me two million and he did leave Lorraine 20 million, and somehow an unscrupulous lawyer gets a hold of it, and what can he do? Divert most of it to himself. So I might end up with 500,000 and Lorraine might end up with just two million. He would end up stealing everything.

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• What did our Lord do? Now watch this. Our Lord, through His person and work, the objective basis of salvation, made a new covenant. The new covenant could not be put into effect until He died. He gave His life to put it into effect. Then He rose from the dead that He might administer the covenant that He made. So in this covenant, there is no fraud. There is no corruption. There are no misapplications.

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• There are no slip-ups. No one is going to slip in or slip by, because obviously He is the divine advocate. He is risen from the dead, and He is administering now His own covenant.

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• Now remember what I told you: In the Exodus, Israel owed their allegiance to God because He delivered them out of Egypt. How much more so in the New Covenant? Do you remember what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 and 20? "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." What is reality? The reality is that God has provided redemption. And that redemption is in Jesus Christ. Whether people like it or not, agree with it or not, believe it or not, it's reality. And there is no other reality. You will either be saved through Jesus Christ or you will never be saved. It's just that simple.

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• Let's go back to Psalm 81. I want you to see here is the reality that was, that is redemption. Now here is the reality which is, and that is rebellion. Look at verses 11 and 12. After He said in Psalm 81, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."

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• Verse 11 and 12, "But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Is it not strange that those whom God has created, and even many whom He has delivered, will not hearken unto His voice? The truth is we are a most ungrateful, unthankful, and unappreciative people. We refuse to acknowledge the goodness and graciousness of God.

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• I want you to look in your Bibles just a few pages over to Isaiah chapter 1. You know this passage, but it is so illustrative of exactly where we are today. Look in Isaiah chapter 1 beginning there with verse 3. Look what God says: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger."

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• "They are gone away backward." But notice what he said in verse 3: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider."

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• Now the truth of the matter is this: Every dumb animal that we call dumb recognizes their owner. They know who feeds them. If you don't believe that, you just come to the farm and let me call my cows. And I will tell you what, if you stand in their way, you will get run over. Because they're coming when I call. It's just that simple. They not only know my voice, they know where the feed comes from.

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• I remember as a boy seeing my dad drive in the cow pasture in his truck. Those cows could be scattered hither and yon, and all of a sudden when he stops that truck, there's almost 200 cows just all around him, because they know who fed them and they knew his voice. This is what God said. God says, "But my people don't know. They don't consider." And the reality is simply this today, that we are a sinful, disobedient, rebellious, and wicked people.

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• We claim to be Christians and revel in the fact that we are a Christian nation, and at the same time we are in the deepest rebellion and apostasy against our Lord and against His law. Stop and think about it. We claim to be His, and yet we do not want Him. We claim to be the people of the book, and yet we never read it and we never study it. We claim to be His children, yet we will not hear and we will not obey. We claim to be His servants as preachers, but we won't preach and teach the whole counsel of God. I was reading this morning in the book of Jeremiah. I'm probably going to be preaching a message in the not too distant future on the title "Teaching Rebellion." And when you look at the context, God was condemning a false prophet, and God killed him. And He said, "Because he taught rebellion against the Lord." So it is possible to teach rebellion.

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• So the reality is very clear. We really do not want God. We really do not want to repent. We really do not want to be holy. We really do not want to be godly. We really do not want to be obedient. No, we love our lust. We love our flesh. We love the pride of life. We love our material possessions. We love everything more than we love the Lord. And we are idolaters in the worst sense of the word, because we profess to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and we really and truly only worship ourselves and our lusts.

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• And let me point out the fact in Colossians 3 and verse 5, covetousness is idolatry. God says, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." Now, I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 44, and I want you to see what God says about sin in general and idolatry in particular. Look at it, if you would, please, Jeremiah 44 and verse 2. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah."

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• "And, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers." Now look what He said: "Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate." So God refers to idolatry in specific and sin in general as that abominable thing which He hates. And God hates idolatry because it is a denial of His person and a usurpation of His throne rights. And each time you and I violate the law of God, we do so by first violating the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." In that we dethrone God and enthrone ourselves.

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• There was an old Puritan by the name of Ralph Venning, and he wrote a book entitled "The Plague of Plagues." It's a wonderful book. And "The Plague of Plagues," of course, deals with sin. And I want to read to you just three or four paragraphs of what he says concerning sin, and you can see why God says it is the abominable thing which He hates. Listen to what he writes. He says, "Sin, first of all, sin is contrary to all the names and attributes of God."

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• "It sets itself in opposition to them all. It deposes the sovereignty of God as much as in it lies. It will not that the King of kings should be on the throne and govern this world which He has made. It was by this instinct that Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I know no Lord above me. I will not let Israel go.' The voice and language of our sin is, 'Our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us?'"

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• "It was from hence that the Jews of old said, 'We are lords; we will come no more to thee.' Thus it attempts to dethrone God."

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• "Secondly, listen to this: Sin, it denies God's all-sufficiency, as if there was not contentment and satisfaction enough to be had in the enjoyment of God, but that vanity and wickedness had more pleasure and profit than He, whose ways are all pleasantness, and whose service is the health of man. Every prodigal who leaves a father's house says, in effect, 'It's better to be elsewhere.'"

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• Now just stop there for a moment. I've got just a few more short paragraphs, but listen to what he's saying. Sin denies the all-sufficiency of God. So anytime, anytime I'm saying, "Well, I want that," when that is contrary to God and contrary to His law, what I'm saying in essence is, "God, You're insufficient to satisfy me. I must have that sin. I must have that lust. That will satisfy me when You cannot." So, it is a denial, not only of God's sovereignty, it is a denial of God's all-sufficiency.

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• "Thirdly," he says, "it challenges the justice of God and dares God to do His worst. It provokes the Lord to jealousy and tempts Him to wrath."

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• Now, let me just stop there. It challenges the justice of God and dares God to do His worst. If I had in this room a 6'4", 250-pound martial artist, who was absolutely the best in fighting and the best of health and the best of everything, would some of you come up and just slap him in the face and spit in his face and say, "I dare you to jump on me"?

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• You wouldn't be so stupid. I mean, he'd tear you apart. You know, none of us would do anything like that. And yet we'll thumb our nose at God. We'll challenge God and dare God to judge us. And that's what sin does. It challenges God. "God, I don't believe You. Let's see what You can do. Let's see if You'll really slap me down." I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in tempting Him like that.

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• He goes on, number four, "It disowns His omniscience. 'Fools say they, God does not see, nor does the Most High regard.'" So most people think that God doesn't really see their sins, and consequently they are not going to be judged for them. Fifthly, "It despises the riches of His goodness." Sixthly, "It turns His grace into wantonness, and it will make bold with God and sin because grace abounds."

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• Now listen to what he says, concluding paragraph: "In short, sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, the contempt of His love. It is the upbraiding of His providence, the scoff of His promise, the reproach of His wisdom. And as it is said of the man of sin, who is made up of sin, it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God, and above all that God has called, so that it is as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as if it were God."

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• So in essence, here's what he's saying: Sin dethrones God and enthrones itself. That's it. No wonder God says, "Oh, do not that abominable thing which I hate." So rebellion only merits the judgment and justice of God. And let me point something out. If you look back in Psalm 81, one of the worst judgments that God could pass upon us is to leave us to ourselves. Look what He said in verse 11.

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• "But my people would not hearken unto my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts' lust, and they walked in their own counsels." Do you know God does not have to rage in arms against us to destroy us? All He has to do is leave us to ourselves, and we'll destroy ourselves. The reality is that America is on a collision course with the divine hand of judgment. We've thumbed our collective noses at God. We've denounced Him. We've denied Him. We've ridiculed Him. We've mocked Him, as well as hated Him and turned from Him. And what is God doing? He's leaving us to our own lust.

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• Now we have a president that proclaims June as Transgender Month. Reality is going to set in. God slaps us down, and we begin to understand Deuteronomy 28. So we've seen the reality of that which was, redemption in verse 10; the reality of that which is, rebellion in verses 11 and 12. Very quickly, I want to show you the reality of that which could be, revival. Look in verse 13. God says, "Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" What would have been the result?

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• "I should have soon subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee." I want you to think about this for a moment. Think about all of that for which most Christians are really striving. And you could actually say this: Think about that which most unsaved and yet ethical worldly people are striving for. Most people, regardless whether they are saved or unsaved, want peace. They want provision. They want prosperity. They want protection. They want preservation.

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• But do you realize that all of those things are only found in Jesus Christ? They're not found in politics. They're not found in government. They're not found in socialism, or communism, or Marxism, or any other ism. And they're certainly not found either in the Republican or the Democratic parties. These things are fruits, and they are spiritual fruits. They can only be found in faith and obedience. Now, let me show you. I want you to look in the little book of Micah. Once you get to the little book of Micah, you will find Jonah, Micah. Right after the book of Jonah you have the book of Micah. Look in Micah chapter 4 and let's read verses 3 and 4. Just showing you in verse 3 that our Lord is in the context. Micah 4 verse 3, here it is: "And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

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• So here's the peace and the prosperity that we're looking for. Watch verse 4: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."

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• Now God says, look, if you want peace and prosperity and provision, preservation, it's found in obedience to Me. I tell people I really love that illustration, every man sitting under his own vine and under his own fig tree. I love figs. And I've got plenty of fig trees. And sometimes I get discouraged because they only come in the last of June and then July and then they're gone, you know. But God says obviously here this would be His blessing. Now, let me show you. I want you to turn to Psalm 85. I'm just showing you what could be with faith and obedience. Notice Psalm 85 beginning there with verse 4. Psalm 85 verse 4, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease."

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• "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Look at that. There is an ecclesiastical or corporate revival. "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew 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."

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• "But let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land." Did you see that? If we want glory to dwell in our land, if we want to be revived, if we want to be awakened, if we want to be turned, it has to be by the grace of God. We must turn and He must turn us. He must give us grace and mercy. He must give us repentance. He must give us a reviving. Glory will only dwell in our land when we have repented and turned back to the Lord. Now, there is a corporate, there is a congregational reviving. I understand that. But do you realize that a personal reviving comes from God as well?

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• I want you to look in Psalm 138 at verse 7. Look what David says. Psalm 138 and verse 7, David says, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me." But note, he said, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Wow. You know, we oftentimes think about and pray, "Lord, send us a revival. We need an ecclesiastical revival. We need a national revival." That is true. But have you ever stopped to think that all of that ecclesiastical and national revival begins with individuals? Because the nation is made up of individuals. The Church is made up of individuals. And David says, "Lord, revive me." Now I can quote this but I want you to see it. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 57 and look at verse 15. Isaiah 57 verse 15. Look what God says. Isaiah 57 verse 15, watch this: "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy."

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• That's God Himself. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." God says, "I'm holy and I dwell in the high and holy place, but I also dwell in the hearts of the humble and contrite ones to revive them." So, you know, while we're praying, "Lord, revive Thy people," we can also pray, "Lord, revive me."

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• And then thirdly, in the book of Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 2, Habakkuk says, "O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." So God can, by His infinite grace, revive His work. I read a quote the other day by Spurgeon. I don't remember it exactly, but here is the whole gist of it.

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• And yes, the latter part was there. He says, "Pastors are to be shepherds to feed the sheep. If we do not teach and preach the whole counsel of God, we will become clowns to entertain the goats." And that's just about where we are today. So obviously, we need to pray, "Revive Thy work." So here is my question. When you look at Psalm 81, and especially this latter part where God says, "Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" What would have happened? God said, "I should have soon subdued their enemies, turned my hands against their adversaries."

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• "The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves. I would have fed them with the finest of the wheat and with the honey out of the rock." In other words, God said, "If you had just obeyed Me, all of these blessings, all of these benefits would be yours." So here is my question: Have you ever really considered the blessings and the benefits that you are missing, and that your family is missing, from your lack of faith and obedience to God? Have you ever considered what your church is missing? Have you ever considered what our nation is missing?

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• The truth of the matter is this: We can change our lives, our churches, and even our nations by the grace of God through obedience to Him and His Word. All this would be ours if we would just simply obey. And the reality is we're never going to have these things apart from Him and apart from faith and obedience. Now, let me make just a couple of applications. The first one is this: We must first of all be thankful and grateful and rejoice in the fact that our Lord's salvation is an objective reality. It is history. It is fact.

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• And as He said in John 19, "It is finished." There's not one thing that we can add to His salvation, not one thing that we can take away. The only thing that we can do is rejoice in Him, trust in Him, love Him, serve Him, honor Him, be thankful for His salvation. I don't know about you, but I've often thought, "What if I'd been born in another country? What if I'd been born to unbelieving parents? What if?"

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• Do you understand what I'm saying? God in His infinite grace and mercy put us, placed us where we would hear the gospel. He gave us faith and He gave us repentance that we might embrace Jesus Christ. So we should be thankful for that.

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• Secondly, our sins—personal, ecclesiastical, familial, or national—must be dealt with, and we must turn from our sins and disobediences. Let me show you. Look in your Bible to Psalm 80 verse 3. I want you to watch this. Here is what David prayed, and I think this would be applicable today. Psalm 80 verse 3. By the way, I preached on this passage a few years back. I think the title of the message is "We Must Be Turned." But look in verse 3: "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." Skip down to verse 7: "Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." Skip down to verse 19: "Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." How will we be saved? Only when God turns us. And if you look in Psalm 85 and verse 4, again he said it like this: "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease." Our hope is only in the grace and mercy of God.

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• The third application is this: We need to really, genuinely consider all the blessings and benefits that we are missing because of our sin and disobedience. We think, "Well, I want that lust. I want that desire. That'll satisfy me." And it doesn't. The only one that can really genuinely satisfy is the Lord. And when we are obedient to Him, He puts all these blessings upon us. I've often said, when you read Deuteronomy 28, you can't outrun the curses of God. But neither can you outrun the blessings of God. We need to understand the reality of that which was—that's His redemption; the reality of that which is—that's our rebellion; and the reality of that which could be—a real, genuine revival and awakening where we could enjoy again the blessings and the benefits of God. Reality—it's what God says it is, not what man desires.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we ask, Lord, that You would indeed, as David prayed, "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved." Turn us individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. Help us to see Your reality, because that is the only reality that there is. And give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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• so so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:41:36Z