Revive Us Again - Part 2 of 2

O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, The praise of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. This is L. S. Bradley Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. We continue with the subject today, Revive Us Again. Surely that is a great need among all of us in this time. If the message is a blessing to you, let us know about it.

Mention the call letters of the station over which you hear the program when you write us. That's at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Then back in Psalm 77, after Asaph says, I'm wondering if the Lord has cast me off. I'm wondering if it's forgotten about me. Verse 10, and I said, this is my infirmity. I've reasoned this way, I've raised all these questions, but it's really my weakness that's caused me to say it. But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord, surely I will remember thy wonders of old. So when spiritual trouble comes, you need to remember something. That's exactly what happened with Jeremiah. As he said in Lamentations chapter 3, there was that moment that he tried to pray and God shut out his prayer. And there was that moment of deep despair when he said, my hope is perished from the Lord.

But was that point of turnaround when he said, this I recall to mine. It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Great is thy faithfulness, there new every morning.

You see, in the darkness, we forget about some things. And we need to remember, we must remember, God is our help. Now the second thing in this passage, quickening a need in the believer's life. Plead my cause and deliver me, quicken me according to thy word. This is a request that was oft repeated by the psalmist. He's praying, revive me, lift me up, keep me going.

I feel to be dead at this point. I need to be quickened. Now we know, of course, that in the initial experience of grace, that that quickening is God's work. Ephesians chapter 2 says, you have to be quickened who are dead in trespasses and in sin. And that new birth experience doesn't have to be repeated. But there are times after you have been born of the Holy Spirit, and you have been walking for a while in God's service, you reach that place feeling a sense of complacency or wholeness. In that lukewarm state, as the Lord described, the church at Laodicea said he was not pleased with them because they had lost their first love.

You need quickening. It's interesting how many times he refers to this in this 119th Psalm. He speaks of it in verse 25, 37, 40, 88, 107, and 149. And then we come to this one section and three times in this eight verse segment, verse 154, 156, and 159, he says it again. On one hand, it is a lot of repetition because it emphasizes how much he felt the need of it.

And yet, those phrases are not perfectly identical because if you look at each of them in their context, in the words that he connects with it, there's a slight shade of difference in the meaning in many of them, simply to convey to us how broad the scope is of this need, how much we need quickening. Do you have a desire for greater liveliness, to be stirred with a greater zeal in the service of God? You see, the need for more faith, stronger faith, more love. The apostle Paul was constantly writing to the churches in his day, talking about the fact that he was desirous of seeing them abound more and more, never to be complacent, never to be satisfied with the status quo. Oh, satisfied with the Lord, but never satisfied with ourselves, with our progress, always pressing towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus.

What of your need? Do you find it necessary to pray this prayer? Quicken me, quicken me, according to thy word. What about your view of sin?

Do you need to be enlivened, awakened, out of slumber, quickened, so that you are more sensitive to sin? In verse 104, it says, Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. That's not just the false way you see in others, that's the false way you see in yourself. Do you hate it? Do you hate it? Verse 113, I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. Do you hate vain thoughts? Do you hate sin? Do you hate the sin when you fall into it? Too many times, a person has a tendency to defend and justify their own sin. Somebody says, Oh, I know, I've got a short fuse and a hot temper, but you know, that's me and just periodically I blow up and when I do, just dunk it out of my way.

But in other words, they've settled in that this is the way I am and I don't intend to change. God's Word says, Let all wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Whether it's the sin of anger, whether it's the sin of pride, whether it's the sin of lust, whatever it may be, rather than just making the excuse, Well, this is me.

No, you're to hate it. Do you hate your own sin? You need them to pray, Lord, quicken me, stir me up, that I may see sin as black and vile as it is. That I may see sin, not just a frailty of human nature, but an offense, a rebellion against a holy God. What about the reaction you have to your own sin?

Are you humbled by it? When you see your own faults, when you see that you're still struggling against the weakness of human nature, do you overlook the beam in your own eye while you're trying to take the moat out of someone else's? The literal translation of that word beam indicates that it's as though it were a great log sticking out of somebody's eye. Now, the moat is a small object. Can you imagine somebody saying, Open your eye, I see there's a little speck in there and I want to get that out of there. You've got a little moat in your eye. But at the same time, they've got this big log sticking out of there.

I can hardly get close to the person because it's very much in the way. And they haven't recognized that. Oh my, the hypocrisy of human nature. I see all these faults over here, but blind and oblivious to my own. Quicken me, Lord. Help me to see my own sin. Help me to grieve over it. Help me to be quick to confess it.

Help me to be ready to forsake it, to turn my back on it, to root it out. What about your love for the Savior? Sometimes sing the hymn in our book, Oh, how I love Jesus. Well, how do you love Him? Is that just a lot of words or do you really love Him devotedly with all your heart?

Are you really thinking constantly on a daily basis in every detail of life? How can I honor Him? How can I serve Him?

How can I please Him? Do you find sometimes your love is rather cold in comparison to the warmth of His love? Are you amazed at His love for you? Are you deeply touched when you think about His sacrifice for you? When you sing these wonderful hymns about the blood of Jesus Christ, His death for sinners. When you think about the fact that He was the perfect Lamb of God, that He laid down His life, suffered in your stead, paid the price for your redemption. Are you touched by that or is it just a lot of words?

Oh, Lord, quicken me. Stir me up that I may better appreciate the marvels of your grace, the abundance of your mercy. Are you sluggish in your service to the Lord? Are your prayers fervent supplications?

Are they frequent requests? Do you pray without ceasing? What about your attention to the Word of God? He says in verse 159, consider how I love thy precepts. Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness. Do you love the precepts of God? Do you love to read His Word? Has it just become a duty?

It's something I know I ought to do, and I feel like I need to get it done, but there's no delight in it. How I love thy precepts. Must we not pray, Lord, quicken me. Bless me when I go to your Word, that I may delight in it, that I may find joy in it.

Where is your help? His prayer is, deliver me. And that word in the original language, it's translated here deliver, deliver me, refers to the kinsman redeemer. That relationship that is depicted so well in the book of Ruth, when Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, is the one who rescues Ruth. Jesus Christ became our kinsman redeemer because He became a man, and connected to us, He, as our redeemer, went to the cross and laid down His life.

We then have one who is our advocate, our intercessor. As we're praying then, Lord, quicken me. As we're praying, Lord, stir me up. It's not that we expect that He's going to do this because we're entitled to it, because we deserve it.

It's on the basis of our own merit, not at all. But as it says in 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. And what's the basis of His plea? He's pleading for us. He ever lives to make intercession for us. And He's not making the plea that might be made to say, Lord, just please excuse me because I'm so frail. I'm so weak. I do come short many times. No, there's a sound basis on which His plea is made.

1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18 says, For as much as we know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, redeemed by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's the basis. That's what He is presenting. That's the plea that is made as He intercedes for us. Quicken me.

Quicken me. A need in the believer's life. The third thing there is here, knowledge. Knowledge which is certainly a blessing in the believer's life. Something that is so important that we understand His word. In verse 153, as he speaks of affliction, he says, Consider mine affliction. Deliver me, for I do not forget thy law.

Even what affliction comes, I do not forget it. How do you respond in the day of crisis? So many times a person that goes to church every Sunday gives lip service to believing the Bible, said, I believe in a great God, I believe in a sovereign God, and yet when a crisis comes, it's like all that goes out the window. They forget all about everything they've learned and they behave just like an unbeliever would. They turn to worldly sources for their help.

They turn to humanistic counsel for their guidance. They don't really trust in the living God. David says, I do not forget thy law, even in the time of my affliction. That needs to be uppermost in our mind. That's why it says, Thy word, thy hit of mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. How vital it is that we think biblically. If you have spent time in the word, you've meditated upon the word, you've applied the word, then when the crisis comes, rather than falling apart, rather than compromising convictions that you claim to have at another time and say just whatever the quickest route of relieving the pain and getting out of the trouble may be, I look for the escape hatch, that's all I want, I'm not concerned about honoring God.

No. Instead, the word is now entrenched. It's a part of you. And you think biblically. And one of the first things you remember that no matter how great the turmoil, how great the swelling tide that swept you off of your feet and seemed to strike you down so you just couldn't bear the bad news that came, the difficulty that you encountered, you remember the Lord is in his holy temple, that all the earth keeps silence before him. My world may be suddenly falling apart, but God's still on the throne. And since God's still on the throne, I can trust him and I can wait before him and I can conduct myself in a way that will bring praise and glory to his name. In verse 157 he said, Many are my persecutors and my enemies, yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. No matter what my enemies may do, no matter what they may say, I'm not going to turn from your testimonies, Lord.

I'm going to stay committed to it. You know, it's easy for a while for a person to say, if they're under a lot of pressure, persecution comes, opposition's there, say, oh, by the grace of God, I'm going to honor the Lord in the midst of all this. And after a while, somebody said, I've had it.

This is all I'm going to take. Where do you find that verse? Where do you find that that says, I'm going to behave myself up to a point, but you know there is a limit.

I'm now going to take things into my own hands. No, he says, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Yes, we see the importance of obedience, not to forget God's truth in time of affliction, recognizing according to verse 165, that great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. How do we get peace? Peace comes to those that love his law, that love his word, that apply his truth in their lives. Strange how a person gets in their mind that it's God's truth that's standing in my way.

It's God's commandment. If I could just find a loophole and get around that, I think I could have peace. No, I can guarantee you, friends, according to the authority of God's word, that you decide, I'm going to pitch his law out the window. I'm going to do it my way. You're not going to have peace. You're going to make matters much, much worse.

Your trouble is going to be significantly increased. Oh, to learn, have the knowledge that we need to trust God and stay true to his word, no matter what may come. Verse 158, he said, I beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy word. He expresses something similar to that a number of times in scripture. He was certainly grieved at the sight of his own sin.

He was grieved at the sight of sin in others. And so, if we are respecting God's word, if we see the importance of obedience and remaining committed to it and firm in our walk, we're going to insist on that as far as our own conduct is concerned. And if we have opportunity to minister to others, to counsel them, I'm going to say, I'm grieved when somebody turns aside and say, I'm not going to do it God's way.

I've had times in counseling someone that they would decide that what was required was just a little too tough. And it was though they could get my permission to say, we'll just lay that aside for the moment and do something else. I said, you know, I'm not here to tell you my opinion.

My opinion doesn't count. What God says means everything and I don't find a line in the Bible where we, under certain circumstances, can set it aside and do our own thing. I can't give you that permission.

It's not available. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6 and verse 46, these are the words of Jesus and he says, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? If there's something the Lord says and you say, well, I'm not comfortable with that.

Does that mean you don't have to do it? No, that means you need to bow your stubborn will and pray, Lord, help me to humbly submit to what your word says. Why call him Lord and do not the things which he says? So the knowledge of the psalmist was such that he saw the importance of obedience and he saw the truth about mercy.

That's what he's asking for. Mercy. He saw the need of it. He saw his own failings. He was concerned about his own complacency, praying, Lord, quicken me. So he saw there was a need of mercy and how wonderful to see the supply of it.

Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 17. As they review the experience of God's people in olden times, it said they refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou ditched among them, but hardened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are to God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not. Isn't that wonderful to consider? If you are convicted of your own failings, your own sin, your own shortcomings, and you're ready to give up the accuser of the brethren, Satan, would have you believe, you might as well forget it all.

There's no hope for you anyway. And then you read here, thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. We need mercy. That's why we come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in the time of need. Joel, chapter 2, verse 12. Therefore also now sayeth the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rend your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil. And who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God. He is a merciful God.

His mercy endures forever. And then he saw the value of the Word, the value of the Word of God. In verse 142, thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy law is the truth. Verse 151, thou art near O Lord and all thy commandments are truth. Verse 160, thy word is true from the beginning. Over and over again an emphasis upon the fact that God's Word is true. One of Satan's attacks is to raise question about the validity of the scripture.

Is it really inspired? Is it really God's Word? Can you really trust that what you're reading is right? David said it over and over again, thy word is true. It's the only place you can go and know that there will be total absolute truth, pure truth with no mixture whatever. And you think about the many ways in which he described the uses of the Word of God. In verse 9 of Psalm 119, he describes it as being that which cleanses the young man who needs it so desperately.

How is he going to cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto to the Word of God. In verse 24, he says, thy testimonies are my counselors. Where do we go for the counsel we need, the guidance we need in making our decisions and guiding our steps in life?

Go to the Word of God. In verse 50, he says that the Word is his comfort. Where are we going to go for comfort?

Oh, somebody might feel good if they listen to some of the humanistic philosophy that builds your self-esteem, but what kind of fluff is that? What's going to hold you up in the difficult trying times of life? That crumbles and falls, but the Word of God, which is a book of truth, tells you the truth about God and the truth about you, but the truth about God's mercy and about the help that he will give you. That's where you find comfort. Verse 81, he says, gives me hope.

So you're down in the pit. You're discouraged. You're ready to give up.

Say, I don't have any hope. You come back to God's Word and you find hope because Romans chapter 15 tells us in the 13th and 14th verses that he is the God of hope. I love that terminology that the God that we worship is the God of hope, not the God of despair, not the God of darkness, but the God of light. Oh yes, the God of hope.

You feel the end of your way. You see the many failures and missteps that you've taken, but there is hope in God because of his great mercy, because of the mercy that's given us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Furthermore, he is the God of light and in his Word we find light. Verse 105 tells us that thy word is a light under my feet, a lamp under my pathway. Yes, light springs from God's Word. It is valuable to us. Verse 130 says, the entrance of thy words giveth light.

It giveth understanding under the simple. So in a world that is full of darkness, where do we go for the light but to God's Word? You today have struggled with some of the burdens, challenges, and difficulties of life, have been pressed down feeling there is no hope. If God has shown you your sin as painful as that experience is, let me tell you that one of the greatest blessings heaven can give you is to show you you're a sinner. If you know that today, the gospel message is for you.

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Do you see yourself a sinner? Then there's hope for you. Hope for you, not by turning over a new leaf and doing better.

You can't do good enough. Whatever you do, all of your righteousnesses are mixed with sin. But there is hope through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. I hope the message is a blessing to you.

If you would like to help with the support of this ministry, you can make a donation at our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Now until we greet you next week on Monday, this is LeSaire Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story.

This is my song. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior. All the day long.