turning your Bibles this morning to the book of Habakkuk. If you find the last book in your Bible, Old Testament that is, Malachi, and then you go back three books, it's like go to the corner, turn left, If you go back from there, three books, you'll see Zechariah, Haggaiah, Zephaniah, and the next book is the book of Habakkuk. We don't go there a lot, so that's why the directions. And if you'll find chapter three, and let's read at verse one. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon Shigenoth. 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. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we pray that you would, for a few moments, take us into the incredible prophecy of these words. Help us to see something of the way that they stretch throughout the word of God and apply directly to every person here. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. I want to think about this second verse of Habakkuk chapter three this morning. It's a verse that has tremendous tentacles. We've been talking about tentacles recently. It's a verse that goes back to the very beginning and then the message addresses the coming of the Lord Jesus. It addresses our day and then it reaches into the future. into the time of the tribulation period. O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. The fear of the Lord had taken hold of Habakkuk's life. The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord that causes men to depart from evil and to hate evil. The fear of the Lord that prolongeth days and is a strong confidence and a fountain of life. That's what has happened in Habakkuk's life. And that's what we see in these words, O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. And hearing the Lord's speech and having that speech, having that word penetrate his heart brought change. It brought revival to Habakkuk's life. Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. But now notice the next words of his prayer. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. The order here is important. Revival has come to Habakkuk's life. That's where it began. And then and only then does he look outward to the work of the Lord. Revival has to begin personally and individually in our own hearts before we can look out and pray that revival would spread to the people around us. That word revive is a very key word here because it tells us something of the condition of God's people in the time of Habakkuk. The word revived suggests to us that God's people were weak and discouraged and disheartened. If Habakkuk prophesied in the latter days of Josiah, in the days following his death, which is when many Bible scholars believe that he did, Then the Lord's people were watching as their government became more and more intrusive and corrupt, just as our government is. We're learning something about that, aren't we, the depth of it? They lived in a time when the government of Judah taxed them to pay a foreign government, the government of Egypt, who was their enemy, kind of like the way our government taxes us. to pay our enemy, China, for all of our debt that they hold. The people of God lived in a time in Judah when the Lord sent these marauding bands of bandits and outlaws, raiders, terrorists, if you will, who sought to destroy Judah. They would be comparable in our day to the Islamic terrorists that are in our nation, as we were reminded of on New Year's Eve in New Orleans. The people of God in Judah watched as the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem. The city which God chose to put his name there, just as we watch as the Babylonians of our day, the secular humanists, lay siege to the local church. the place that God has chosen in our day to put his name there. The people of God in Judah lived in a place where the government under Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, just as we live in a nation where the government, through its policies, has filled this land with the innocent blood of 250 million babies when you count chemical abortions that are now, I believe, the leading cause of abortion. And we mention these things to remind us how similar the conditions are in our country today, and in Judah then, to remind us that these words have an application to us. God's people in America today, I believe, are in the same condition as the people of Judah. Weak, discouraged, disheartened. We need to be revived. We need to be restored and quickened and awakened. And there are two words here in Habakkuk's prayer that will do that. Habakkuk says, oh Lord, revive thy work. He doesn't pray, he doesn't ask the Lord to revive his work. or our work, he asked the Lord to revive thy work. Those two words are so important because they teach us something that's very critical. The work of salvation, the work of redemption, the work of the ministry, the Lord's work here in the world is his work. David said in Psalm 51 and verse 12, restoring to me the joy of thy salvation, not the joy of my salvation, Because we don't have any. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Jonah said in Jonah chapter three in verse nine, salvation is of the Lord. And Peter said in Acts 4.12 that there is salvation in no other. There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. It's his possession, it's his work. He began that work before the foundation of the world. He continued the work of salvation from the foundation of the world. When he shed the blood of a lamb to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin. He continued the work of salvation through the Old Testament with the sacrifices and the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats. And then the Lamb of God came into the world. And on the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus finished the work of salvation. It's finished. That was his cry from the cross. The work of salvation then is so complete, the price so completely paid, that salvation is the gift of God. The gift of God. We talked about Isaiah 55 in verse 1 a couple, three weeks ago. Come, buy without money and without price, because the price is paid. It's the gift of God, none of works, lest any man should boast. The work of salvation is so completely finished that Paul would write in Romans 4 or 5, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. In John chapter 6, the Lord Jesus revealed himself as the bread of life. And he told the people there in John 6, 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth under everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. And the meat that he was talking about that he would give to them was his flesh, his body, his blood that he was going to give for the life of the world. And yet these people, like people today, ask, what shall we do? What shall we do that we might work the works of God? And this was the Lord's answer to them. John 6 and verse 29, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Salvation is God's work. The question this morning is, have you ceased from your own labors? Have you ceased trying to save yourself and do something to save yourself? When all you have to do is enter into the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for you. The work that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. This morning, you can cease from your own labors. You can give up. all of the filthy rags of your righteousness, and you can be clothed in the righteousness of God, if you'll believe on him whom he has sent. If you'll do that this morning, the promise of the Lord is, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Salvation is God's work. And so is his work here in the world. This church is his work. This school is his work. It's not ours. It's his. These two words, thy work, in this verse, if we'll think about them, they'll revive us and strengthen us and encourage us. Because God's work in the world belongs to him. It depends on him. It doesn't depend on us. It doesn't depend on us. In Isaiah 55 in verse 11, God says that his word, his word, his word that is his mind, his word that is the detailed plan of his work in the world. He says, it shall not return unto me void. But it will accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. God is going to prosper his work and perform his work and completely accomplish his work here in the world. The Lord Jesus told Peter in Matthew chapter 16, and I want us to turn over there. I don't have to tell you how to get to Matthew. But if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 16, this is where we want to spend the rest of our time this morning. Matthew chapter 16, and look at verse 13. Matthew 16 and verse 13, when Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples saying, whom do men say that I the son of man am? And they said, some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias or Elijah, and others Jeremiah's or one of the prophets. He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven. Now look at verse 18. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock, not upon Peter, not upon Peter, this rock is not a reference to Peter. If the Lord had wanted to refer to Peter, he would have said and upon thee. Well, I build my church. The Lord doesn't have any problem saying what he means to say. He doesn't say that. He says, upon this rock, it's a reference to himself. Upon the Christ, the son of the living God. Upon the stone which the builders rejected, which has become the head of the corner. Upon that foundation which no man can lay, then that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, I believe there's a connection that we ought to think about between Habakkuk 3 and verse 2 in Matthew 16, 18. Habakkuk prays, O Lord, revive thy work. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. When is the midst of the years? What time period is that referring to? Hebrews chapter one and verse one says, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. The speaking to the fathers by the prophets ended with Malachi around 400 BC. And for the next 400 years, there's silence from heaven. There are no prophets. But then what happened? God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known. And God answered the prayer of Habakkuk. because in the midst of the years, God revived his work. After 400 years of silence, God made known when the fullness of the time was come. The fullness of the time of the midst of the years, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. I believe that the midst of the years of all eternity, is marked by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. And I believe that the precise exact moment of the midst of the years of all eternity came at the end of those three hours of darkness on the cross of Calvary. When God made the Lord Jesus Christ sin for us, when he laid on him the iniquity of us all, when it pleased God to bruise his only begotten son and put him to grief and make his soul an offering for our sin. At the end of those three hours, the Lord Jesus says, it is finished. I believe that moment. is the precise, exact midst of the years of all eternity. The precise moment when God answered the prayer of Habakkuk. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. Make known what? In wrath, remember mercy. One of the reasons that this verse is such a blessed verse is because of those words, those four words, in wrath, remember mercy. Those words span the whole Bible. They span from Genesis to Revelation. We mentioned a few minutes ago, Genesis chapter two. God told Adam and Eve, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And they ate of it, and they died spiritually. At that moment, they were eternally separated from God, and God pronounced judgment upon them. We read his judgment in chapter three, verses 16 through 19. But even as we read those verses, we can hear the words of Habakkuk's prayer in wrath, remember mercy. And in Genesis 3.21, we can see God's mercy shining through the clouds of his wrath. We read there unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin In Genesis chapter 6, we come to the days before the flood, and we read, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And in verse 7 of Genesis 6, we read, and the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. There's the wrath of God. But as we see his wrath, we again hear those words from Habakkuk's prayer. In wrath, remember mercy. And the long suffering of God waited for 120 years while the ark was being prepared. And not only that, God sent a preacher of righteousness. a man by the name of Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, to preach for 120 years to give the message of salvation. And I would say he's not the only one. There was Methuselah, whose very name was a message. His name means, when he dies, it shall come. And when you trace the genealogy through, you find that Methuselah died in 1656, measuring the years from creation, the exact year of the flood. So here was this man's testimony. In Exodus 12, we find the children of Israel in the land of Egypt. And God's wrath is about to be poured out on that land. The death angel is coming at midnight. And they're in the midst of that scene. We can again hear the words of Habakkuk. Oh Lord in wrath, remember mercy. And the Lord tells the children of Israel that they're to take a lamb without blemish and in the evening on the 14th day of the month, they're to kill the lamb. They're to take the blood of that lamb and they're to strike it on the two side post and on the upper door post of their houses where they're going to eat it. And God says in Exodus 12, 13, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. Amazing words. In wrath, remember mercy. They're amazing words because they're a description of what took place on the cross of Calvary. For three hours, God cast the world into darkness as he poured out his wrath against our sin on God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who could have called to his Father and he would have delivered him by sending more than 12 legions of angels. God could have delivered his Son and poured out his wrath on those who deserve it. That's you and me. But he didn't. The Lord Jesus endured the eternal wrath of God. And because he finished the work of salvation, his work, God remembers mercy. Lamentations 322, verse we ought to think about often. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Because his compassions fail not. They are new. Every morning great is thy faithfulness. Titus three and verse five, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make known. In wrath remember mercy. But God isn't through answering Habakkuk's prayer. These four words stretch all the way to the tribulation period. Revelation chapter six ends with these words, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? And then what we would expect to read in the next chapter, in chapter seven, is the detail of the great day of his wrath, but that's not what we find. In Revelation chapter 7, in the midst of wrath, God remembers mercy. And we read about the 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and what are they gonna do? They're gonna preach the gospel. And we read about there in chapter 7, those which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Oh Lord, in wrath, remember mercy. The words of Habakkuk stretch, those four words, they stretch from Genesis to Revelation. And right in the middle, right in the midst of the years, is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to revive his work. And mankind is his work. You and I are his work. He came to endure the wrath of God that he might remember mercy and revive and quicken and give life to those who were dead in trespasses and sins, but to those who will turn to him and trust him to be their savior. That first and foremost is the answer to Habakkuk's prayer, the cross of Calvary. Again, if you're lost today, God is still answering the prayer of Habakkuk. John 3 and verse 36 says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. But listen to the last part of that verse. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. That word abideth is present, present tense. Right now, as you sit in this meeting, the wrath of God abides on you. But in wrath, God has remembered mercy because he's brought you here this morning. He's brought you here one more time to hear the message of the gospel and give you one more opportunity to turn to him from your sin and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be your savior. You can do that this morning right where you are. And he will take you and he will wash you from your sins in his own blood. and you'll pass from death that you deserve to life that he freely gives. But there's another answer to this man's prayer. And it's the reason that we came to this 18th verse of Matthew chapter 16. And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world marks the midst of the years, then that's when the Lord revived his work. That's when he revived his work. He revived his work in the midst of the years on the cross of Calvary. But he did something else. He revived his work in the world in this same time period. 50 days after his resurrection, The Spirit of God came down from heaven and filled the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and the church was born. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known. It'd be good if we could somehow had a Bible where we could draw a line, literally, from Habakkuk 3.2 to Matthew 16.18. But we can't do that, but here's what we can do. We can underline, at least in our minds, the words thy work in Habakkuk 3.2, and my church in Matthew 16.18. Habakkuk prays, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. And a little over 650 years later, the Lord Jesus Christ answers his prayer. Upon this rock, I will build my church. How's the Lord revived his work in the midst of the years? By building his church. The church of the living God that is the pillar and ground of the truth. His church is the reviving of his work. He spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets. But the prophets are gone. He's speaking unto us today. How? By his son. Through his word. And the vehicle is the church of the living God. The pillar and ground of the truth. His church. His work. And we don't want to miss what the Lord says about his church here in verse 18. I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord could have said, upon this rock I will build my church, and hell itself shall not prevail against it. So why did he say the gates of hell? I believe the answer is in the symbolism of this word gates. In Bible times, the seat of government was at the gate of the city. the authority of government was exercised in the gate of the city. And so that's what one of the things that a gate speaks to us of, is government. And when we apply that symbolism to the Lord's words here, we learn something. Government Government that is energized and controlled by hell is going to seek to prevail against the church. Isn't that what Paul described in Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 11? He says there, to the people of God, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And how is it that the wiles of the devil are manifested? Where do we see, more than anywhere else, the practical manifestation of the wiles of the devil? Well, Ephesians 6, 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. That's the gates of hell that Matthew 16, 18 is talking about. It's government. Government controlled by the principalities and the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world who are of their father the devil and the lust of their father they will do. If you look back through history, what is it that has sought to destroy and prevail against the church since its inception at Pentecost? The gates of hell. The authority of hell is manifested through human government. Who was it that began the persecution of the church in Acts 4 and 5? It was the government of Israel, the Sanhedrin, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees that made up the council of government of Israel. This is the same governing body that stoned Stephen. which led to this great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. It was Saul as a representative of this governing council of the high priest and the Pharisees who made havoc of the church, who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the church. Who was it that stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church and killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and then took Peter and put him in prison, intending to kill him? It was Herod Agrippa I, the Roman king of Judea. That murder of John's brother, James, by Herod, made him the first of the apostles to be martyred. and at least in the biblical record marked the beginning of the persecution of the church by Rome. Persecution that would last for the next almost 250 years. Who was it that beheaded Paul, crucified Peter upside down, exiled John to the Isle of Patmos? It was the government of Rome. As you look through history and you think about it, from the day of Pentecost through the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, the Reformation period, if you look at England and the persecution of the Puritans and the Pilgrims, what you will see is the gates of hell, principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places, governments, trying to prevail against the church. We see it in our own country. We have seen it. And it must be here, I was reading a little article yesterday or the day before, where Donald Trump, one of the things that he wants to do is to root out anti-Christian bias in the government. Well folks, if he wants to do it, it must be there. Wouldn't that make sense to you? It's there. And we thank the Lord that he recognizes it and he wants to root it out. But I'll tell you something else, if you think about it. All the governments of all the centuries, as hard as they've worked and tried to prevail against the church, They haven't succeeded, have they? Here we are, nearly 2,000 years after the day of Pentecost, and the church of Jesus Christ is still here. And it's like that because the Lord said he was going to build his church on himself. It's like that because the church is his work, his work that he revived in the midst of the years in answer to the prayer of Habakkuk. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In Acts chapter five, as the leaders of the government of Israel took counsel to kill Peter and the other apostles, there was a man there by the name of Gamaliel, doctor of the law, a man who was held in the highest esteem, not only by the council of government, but by the people. And he said this in Acts chapter five, Now I say unto you, refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it. Folks, government is not gonna get rid of the church. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. That prayer was answered by the Lord Jesus Christ. And God that cannot lie, said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That ought to be a comfort to our hearts today. It ought to embolden us for the Lord. This is his work that he has revived in the midst of the years. Can we not let him revive us in the midst of it? This is his church that he's built here in Southern Pines. This is his school that he's built here in Southern Pines. And the gates of hell, government is not going to prevail against it. They tried in the late 70s, and they failed. They're trying today. Don't have time to go into that, but they're trying. They're really working in a very subtle sort of way. Maybe we'll talk about that sometime. But these words, thy work, my church, they ought to be a blessing to us, they ought to be an encouragement to us as we do the Lord's work. It's his harvest, it's his work, the Lord added to the church. Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. And then here's the most amazing thing. To think that even though this is his work and his church, he's pleased to use us. He's pleased to use us. To think we are laborers together with God. To think he counted us faithful, putting us into the ministry here. Every day, every day. That ought to encourage us to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this prayer of Habakkuk and for the tentacles that it has. that go from one end of this book to the other, that magnify the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that tell us something about his heart, how in wrath, wrath that we deserve, he remembers mercy. And his mercies are new every morning. We pray that you would help us today to think on these things, to consider how we are part of this work that he's revived. The local church, that's the pillar and ground of the truth. We pray that you would help us to be faithful. Speak to any here who are lost today. Stress in their hearts that in wrath, God is remembering mercy. mercy that brings them to a place to meet with him. And he stands at the door and knocks and if any man will hear his voice he will come into him and suck with him and he with him. We just pray that you'd help us to think on these things today and we ask it in Jesus name.