Our text for this evening is in Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2. Habakkuk 3 verse 2. 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. Our subject for tonight is revival. 3,000 years ago Habakkuk prayed for revival. He felt a great need in his own day. And we today are in great need of revival. We cannot be content with the mess we are in spiritually. The situation that we find ourselves in in the churches is a desperate one. We need God to intervene. We need indeed a mighty revival from the Lord. Nothing else will save the church in Scotland. Well, first of all tonight then, what is revival? Basically, Revival is God coming down. God acting in a new way. God working mightily. Not in wrath, but in mercy. We are helpless to turn the tide. We can't change the spiritual atmosphere in Scotland. We can't convert one's soul. We can't stir up the people of God. We know there's a duty to pray, and we know we should be praying day and night, but we struggle to pray. We need God's help to pray, and the only prayers that are really effective are the prayers that come down from heaven, and then they will ascend back up to heaven from us. We need repentance, don't we? personal repentance because of our own sin. We need reformation in the churches, a turning away from all these false things that have come into the church, the dilution of the gospel, the distortion of the worship, the man-centered, easy-believerism or seeker-sensitive kind of approach, marketing kind of approach to the church, trying to provide people with what they want without any concern with what does God want? What pleases God? Why does a church exist? It exists to glorify God. Why are we here? To glorify Him. Instead of focusing upon ourselves, We need to lift up our eyes and to focus on God. We need then reformation in the churches, repentance in our own lives. We need to see the salvation of men and women and the course of history being changed. We need to see the church growing and flourishing and the fear of God coming down on our communities. With some people there's a great concern that the Sabbath day has been trampled underfoot, but is it any surprise when God himself is trampled underfoot? If people don't appreciate God and fear him, they're not going to appreciate the Sabbath. How did the Sabbath come to be established in the Highlands, in places like Skye and Lewes? It happened, actually, over a very short period of time. At the beginning of the 19th century, in Skye and Lewes, the Sabbath was a day for sport and entertainment, and they would come to church and they would be selling illicit liquor at the church door. And then the gospel came with power. And how different things were in the 1820s. The fear of God coming down upon the communities. That's what we need to see again. And we have many examples of revival in the scriptures. Think, for example, of Israel down there in the land of Egypt for 300 years. They were slaves to the Egyptians. They were under the lash of the taskmasters. And they cried and they sighed and they groaned. And God heard them. And God sent a deliverer. He sent Moses to them. And then he sent plague after plague upon the land of Egypt. And so he brought them out with a mighty arm. God saved his people from Egypt. We think of the days of Gideon, when the mighty armies of Midian conquered the land because of their idolatry. There were the Midianites with a million soldiers. What could Israel do? The whole land was being stripped of its produce. Whenever they produced harvest, the Midianites, like grasshoppers, ate up all that they were producing. God had judged them because of their idolatry. And then God, in his great mercy, sent to them Gideon. And God's hand rested upon Gideon. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And so he destroyed the altar of Baal and cut down the grove. And he offered the first bullock unto the Lord. And he blew the trumpet, and with his 300 men he overcame the mighty army of Midian. If God's for us, who can be against us? If the Lord's on our side, what can we not do? God is mighty, and through God we can do great things. Think of the days of Josiah, how things had declined, how much idolatry there was, how much Sabbath-breaking there was. The law of God trampled underfoot and then one day the book of the law was discovered in the temple. And you remember how that Torah, how the books of Moses were read to the King Josiah, to the people, and how they humbled themselves and they wept and they repented and the grace of repentance was given to them. And then they went out over the land destroying the shrines for the for the false gods and defiling their altars, the altar that Jeroboam had built, causing Israel to sin. And then you remember the Passover that they observed and the great blessing that came with that revival. You move on to the New Testament and there's 120 disciples in the upper room praying to the Lord. And then something wonderful happens. There's a sound as of a great rushing, mighty wind, tongues of fire coming down upon the apostles. And they begin to speak in other tongues and to speak with power. And Peter preached a sermon. We're given little snippets of it in Acts chapter two. What a mighty sermon it was. You remember how the people cried out, men and brethren, what shall we do? They were convicted, convicted of their need. What are we to do? And the answer was, repent and be baptized that your sins may be blotted out. And 3,000 souls were converted that day. what a mighty change came about. You think of the medieval church with all its darkness and all its superstition and the mass and the priest crafts and you think of the justification by works as well as faith and how they were thinking that they were going to save themselves through observing the rituals of Romanism. And then God came into the life of Luther. He discovered that just shall live by faith. Justification by faith alone. Proclaim that message and Slingley and Calvin and Knox and others. What a mighty change, what a great revival came. The face of Europe was transformed. Scotland here had been going through the dark ages, but the light of the gospel shone. Multitudes were saved and the history of our nation was changed. A great transformation. Think of the 18th century when there was so much moderatism, that religion with no enthusiasm, no zeal, no love, cold, dead, lifeless, frozen Christianity as it were. And then along comes Whitefield and the Westleys and others and God's Spirit comes down and Jonathan Edwards and over in America. There's a great awakening, wonderful things happen, multitudes saved. Surely that's what we need today, isn't it? We need our land to be transformed. We're becoming more and more ungodly. A revival is a mighty work of God, a spiritual revolution. Individual repentance, churches repenting, humbling themselves and a nation on its knees turning to God. We need the fear of God in our society, a return to the Bible, an appreciation for God's law, a delight in the gospel of Jesus Christ. To see the Sabbath observed again, to see the churches packed full, and to see the preaching of God's word with power. Powerful preaching instead of our weak preaching. So that's what revival is. Secondly, why do we need it? Well Habakkuk, he's very concerned of the need in his day for revival. We're told at the beginning the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet at sea, chapter one, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go abroad. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. God was seeing the wickedness that was going on in Judah. And God said, I will raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not there. They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards. and are more fierce than evening wolves. Their horsemen spread themselves abroad. They shall fly as an eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. The Chaldeans are coming. They're going to destroy the land. They're going to burn up Jerusalem. They're going to destroy the temple. They're going to carry away the people to Babylon. God is angry, God is chastening his people, Israel. Habakkuk sees the judgment approaching and he cries out, 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. Do not destroy us, O Lord. Destruction was threatened, and so he cries out to the Lord for mercy. Why do we need revival today in Scotland? Well, think of the huge decline that has taken place in the Church. Think of the Church of Scotland, for example. Fifty years ago, They had 1.3 million members. Today in Scotland, 60,000 people attend Church of Scotland. What a decline. 1.3 million declined to 60,000 attending services in the churches of Scotland. We think of the decline that there has been in other churches too. In the free church, 25,000 when I was a student, 25,000 members and adherents. It's only a fraction of that today, despite those that have come in from the Church of Scotland. We think of our own free church continuing, particularly in the last few years, what a drastic decline there has been. After the division of 2000, things seem to keep going for for the first 10, 15 years, but today, the church is so weak. There's so few men coming forward for the ministry. Just two men studying at the moment for the ministry here in Scotland, and there's, what, seven or eight vacant congregations looking for a minister. And many of our ministers are old and at retirement age. And then when you think of the preaching today, how weak it is, how lacking in power. We think of preachers that we heard 50 years ago and how the congregation were silenced and the fear of God came down as God's word was preached. But today everything's taken so People shrug their shoulders, doesn't make any impression. People come to church, they listen to a service, they go away and they don't bother coming back. How many people over the years we've seen coming to our churches in Glasgow, they come in and they go away, unmoved. The power of God does not grip them. They are not brought to their knees crying for mercy. We need powerful preaching. And there's so few converts in our congregations, so few children. Think of your own congregation here. There's so few children, really. When you think of the new generation, so many greyheads. Congregation getting older, and that's typical of our churches. I look at the declension that there has been in the island of Skye since I was minister there myself and the big congregations and how small the congregations have become. How we should be concerned. We're just a little branch of the church but right across Scotland there's this problem and this worldliness has come into the church. There's a lukewarmness amongst Christians. There's a lack of zeal. the prayer meetings, there's not that seal in prayer, there's not that pleading with tears before the Lord, crying for mercy. Why are we so dead when the church around us is passing out of existence, when our country is becoming secular and atheistic? And the churches generally departing from the faith, gospel watered down, heresy promoted. And practices in the churches that we'd never heard of before going on, things that you won't find in the Bible, being carried out today. And serious immorality too in the churches, church leaders having to be disciplined for serious immorality. And there's no fear of God in the land. No fear before God. No thought of death and judgment and eternity. Everybody is going to heaven if there is a heaven. There's no such place as hell. There's no such thing as the wrath of God. God is love. God loves everybody. and everybody goes to heaven. It doesn't matter what you do. Secularism has come into our nation. Homosexuality promoted. Pride marches promoted in schools. This transgender ideology, confusion of the genders. Abortion, 10 million children killed in our country since 1967, the massacre of the innocents and the blood, the guilt of that blood lies upon our land. A society ripe for judgment, Christ and his gospel despised and general ignorance everywhere. we need revival. Thirdly, what is our duty? Well, first of all, of course, to realise that we need revival, to face up to the situation, to look at it, to consider the churches, to consider the situation here in Inverness, to consider your own congregation, to consider your own heart and your own life. to look at ourselves personally, to look at our church, to look at other churches, to look at the nation around us and to see, yes, and to look at our own sin and repent of our sin, our immorality, our greed, our hypocrisy, our pride, our idols. our false gods, our Sabbath breaking, our sin. We need to consider our ways and humble ourselves before the Lord, confess our sins and forsake them and repent. And we need to cry to the Lord for mercy. Seek ye the Lord while ye may be found. We say that to the unconverted, but we have to say it to the Christians too. Seek and go on seeking and seek first the kingdom of God and every day of your life seek first the kingdom of God. Seek, seek the Lord and seek to put your faith in Jesus Christ. Look at Calvary again. See the person and the work of Christ. See the wonder of Christ and Him crucified. He's what we need. He's the answer to Scotland's problems. It's not an economic problem that we have in our country, as our politicians tell us. And it's not a problem with immigration either. It's a problem with turning away from God. It's a problem with despising Jesus Christ. If we were a nation full of Christ, what opportunities we would have and what a blessing we would be to other nations. We need to reform our churches as best we can, turn from our sins, turn from our evil ways, turn from our bad practices, return to the Lord. put a priority upon Christ and him crucified in our preaching. Give God the place he should have in our lives and in our churches. And we need to pray night and day for revival. Here we have a powerful prayer. Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech. I've read your word. I know what you're saying. I know that You find us guilty before Thee. You're angry with us. I've heard Thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. Don't leave us. Come back. Revive it. Do it again. Bring it to life once more. Revive Thy work In the midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make known. I know great things will happen in the future, but Lord, don't wait till the future. Come now in the midst of the years. Don't wait for some future date, a hundred years from now or a thousand years from now, but revive thy work in the midst of the years. In wrath, remember mercy. Lord, You are justly angry with us, but in your wrath remember mercy. You are a God rich in mercy. Is it not stated in thy word, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life? Is it not said that God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all? What wonderful grace and mercy and love God has shown to mankind. Remember mercy, Lord. Remember thy love. Be not angry with us. Awake, awake, put on my strength, O arm of the Lord. Why does it seem that God's asleep? We wouldn't dare say that, but for the fact that it's written in the Bible. Awake, O Lord. It seems like you're asleep. That in thee may thy people joy. Wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord, to us. to thy salvation give. Return, O Lord, to that vine which thou hast taken from the land of Egypt and planted in the promised land. Thou hast given it up, thou hast broken down its hedges. The wild boar from the forest wastes it out of measure. Return, O Lord, again to thy vine. Lay thine hand upon the son of thy right hand. We see the faith of the prophet. God came from Teman, the holy one from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. God, thou art so mighty. The Holy One coming over the mountains, His glory covering the heavens. His brightness was as the light. He had horns, this power coming out of His hand. There was the hiding of His power. Before Him went the pestilence, the plague. Burning coals went forth at His feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove us under the nations. The everlasting mountains were scattered. The perpetual hills did bow, his ways are everlasting. What's our problem today? Our God is too small. Is that not our problem? We don't have faith in almighty God. We think God's not able to turn the tide, to change the face of Scotland, to make us a God-fearing nation again. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite naked. God in this judgment coming, Lord come in mercy. When I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. And yet the Prophet, he expresses his faith. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vines, though the labour of the olive shall fade, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, though famine come, though desolation come, though destruction come, yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. There's the faith we need, isn't it? Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet. He will make me to walk upon mine high places, dancing over the mountains. I will rejoice in the Lord. Yes, you and I need to put our faith again in the Lord God. Well, finally, the promises. There are many promises in Scripture to encourage us. Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. He's praying that prayer with us. And his kingdom will come. The kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. Christ will be exalted. He says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will. Not I may, or I'll try, but I will. I will build my church. And the gates of hell, powerful though the gates of hell are, spiteful and deceitful as Satan is, he shall be bruised under your feet shortly. He tells us the parable of the mustard seed. The smallest of the seeds is planted in the ground, grows into a great tree, a herb like a tree so that the birds of the air come and rest in its branches. So is the church of God, so small and insignificant to begin with, but then growing. Or you think of the The leaven, hidden three measures of meal. A little leaven put in and soon the whole lump is leavened. And so God's church spreads throughout the world, leavening the whole of society. Remember how Jesus sent out his disciples with a great commission and he first said, all power in heaven and in earth is given unto me. All power. Every power in heaven and on earth is mine. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. What a wonderful promise. I am with you always. I, who have all power in heaven and on earth, I am with you always. We think of the picture that we have of Christ in the book of Revelation, riding upon a white horse, going forth, conquering and to conquer. Remember when he ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, the Father said to him, sit on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy food store. We're looking for that, aren't we? All the enemies of Christ made his footstool under his feet, and Christ reigning over the nations, head over all things for the Church. Think of all the wonderful promises that there are in the Old Testament. Psalms are full of them. Psalm 72, verse 11, Yea, all the mighty kings on earth before him down shall fall, and all the nations of the world do service to him shall. That's a promise. and it's going to be fulfilled. Up till now it hasn't happened. All the mighty kings on earth haven't bowed before him, but one day they will. And all the nations do service to him shall. Or Psalm 86 verse 9, all nations whom thou made shall come and worship reverently before thy face. We think of the prophecies in Isaiah, arise and shine for thy light has come. and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. The forces of the Gentiles shall be brought unto thee. Isaiah 54. Sing, O barren, and thou that didst not bear. Break forth into singing. Lengthen thy cords, strengthen thy stakes. Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left. A growing church, a mighty growing church, because we have a mighty Saviour. We have a powerful Holy Spirit. We have a God for whom nothing is too hard. Nothing is impossible. We go back to Abraham and the promises that his seed would be as the sand of the seashore. Children of Abraham, by faith in Jesus Christ, come out, said God to him, look at the stars. Can you number them? So shall thy seed be. We're to be optimistic. We're to be excited and look into the Lord for him to do great things for us, to take courage, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Yes, we must humble ourselves, confess our sin, repent before the Lord, but we must believe in Christ too and his finished work. and the satisfaction that he rendered to divine justice. We must believe that there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. All our sins, past, present and future, are forgiven when we believe in Jesus. And we must rejoice in that justification by faith. And we must rejoice that where he begins the good work, he will bring it on, he will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. We must take courage and look to the Lord in prayer and in expectation. We mustn't be depressed. We mustn't think that we're in the post-Christian era. No. The Lord claims this era for himself and we must seek to claim Inverness, Scotland, Britain, the world for Christ. God reigns, let the earth be glad. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. If you're not converted tonight, it's certainly time you were. Repent and believe the gospel. Flee from the wrath to come. Make your peace with God. It's surely better to be on the winning side. and God's Church and God's people are on the winning side. Let's pray. O Lord, our God, we thank Thee for all the glorious promises of Scripture. We thank Thee for the teachings of Thy Word. We thank Thee, Lord, for the hope that we can have that Thou wilt yet revive Thy Church in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known and in wrath remember mercy. Lord, stretch out that mighty arm to save. Bend down that ear to hear the cry and the groans and the sighs of thy people. And wilt thou again build up the walls of Zion and establish her bulwarks. Build up thy church, we pray thee, and pull down the strongholds of Satan. And may thy name be glorified. May we give all glory to thee. Keep us, O Lord, from secret sin. Keep us, Lord, from clinging to anything that would grieve Thee and grant us to repent and believe the gospel and follow the Lord. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Our closing praise is Psalm 72. one of these Psalms that are full of promises. Psalm 72 verses 16 to 19 of corn and handful in the earth on tops of mountains high with prosperous fruit shall shake like trees in Lebanon that be the city shall be flourishing or citizens abound the city of God's church flourishing or citizens abound and number shall like to the grass that grows upon the ground. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see the city of God and the church of God full of people like the grass upon the ground. 16 to 19, to God's praise. Of corn and handful in the earth, on tops of mountains high. With prosperous fruit shall shape thy trees, from heaven up the knee. The city shall be flourishing, Our citizens abound. In numbers sharp, like two log rams, that rose upon the ground. His name forever shall endure, love's light the sun it shall make. Shall be blessed in heaven blessed, ♪ All nations shall there call ♪ ♪ Now blessed be the Lord, our Lord, the God of Israel ♪ of Israel, for ye have owned a wondrous wealth. And blessed be his glorious name to all his people. eternity. The whole earth let its glory fill. Amen. So let it be. The intimations, the prayer meeting on Thursday evening at 7pm and it will be taken God willing by Derek MacLean. Reverend David Fraser is due to take the services here next week and the following week, 23rd and 13th June. He's also due to take the prayer meeting on the 27th of June. Oh God willing. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.