Zechariah chapter 8, the 8th chapter of Zechariah. Good to see you here this evening. Good to be with you for another time around the Word of the Lord. And as we gather together, of course, there is the consciousness of our great need of the Lord to visit us and really come among us with power. And I trust you have been praying for that. And even as the Word is being preached, Pray that the Lord will be gracious to us and minister to our hearts and visit our souls and give help as we consider the message for tonight. So we'll keep our Bibles open and we'll just bow in prayer again and ask the Lord's help before we come to this passage. Father in heaven, we continue before Thy throne of grace. We thank Thee for the way to Thee by the blood of Jesus. Lord, we come always focusing upon that new and living way, for we realize that in us there is no good thing, we have no merit whatsoever, no righteousness to plead. O Lord, we come depending fully upon the righteousness of another. We thank Thee that the Lord is our righteousness, and we pray, Father, that Thou wilt hear us for His sake, and Thou wilt visit us tonight here In this time that we spend in consideration of the Word, we pray for fresh power. Lord, what we have known already is not sufficient for now. We need Thee to come and breathe on us again. And Lord, we pray that this will be our portion at this very moment and right on through the time that's given to the consideration of the Word of the Lord. Heavenly Father, breathe on me, breathe on the people. Come down among us, we pray. We ask, Lord, that Thou wilt graciously come tonight and visit our souls and meet with us here in this season around the Scriptures. Hear and answer prayer and bless us, we pray in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. So, Zechariah chapter 8, and we'll read part of the chapter. Just the closing section, we'll refer to earlier parts as we look into the message, but just to read from verse 18 down to verse 23. And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. therefore love the truth and peace. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, It shall yet come to pass that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts. I will go also, yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And the Lord will bless the reading of this His own precious Word. Now Zechariah, as far as his person is concerned, was one of the post-exilic prophets, namely those prophets who ministered to the Lord's people at the time and afterwards in relation to the return from the captivity and the exile in Babylon. And this means that in his day, Zechariah's ministry was to the remnant, that company of people who were called upon by the Lord to return to Jerusalem, called upon by the Lord to rebuild God's house and restore the true worship of the Lord. And in those three words, return and rebuild and restore, we have summed up essentially the work and the ministry of the remnant of God's people in every generation. The remnant is that company of believers who may be regarded as spiritual pioneers. And I know that in the history of our own denomination, we've often focused on the thought of the remnant and on the concept of the remnant as it's found throughout the Word of God. And certainly we would have thought of ourselves to quite a degree as being a remnant whom the Lord called out. brought out of the apostasy of our days to pursue that vital work of rebuilding and seeing the restoration of the things of God again, those precious things that to such a degree have fallen away. And certainly, therefore, the remnant's work is to see something of that done after the spiritual desolation of a former generation. Therefore, it is vital that the remnant are encouraged in their labor for the Lord, what they're doing in their ministry and in their work for Jesus Christ. And certainly this remnant people who lived in those days represented by Zechariah were a people who really needed to be encouraged. And therefore, Zechariah's ministry was truly one of rich encouragement. The thrust of his ministry was directed to give momentum to the work that had been allotted to these people, that work of rebuilding. And as we think about the ward and we think about what happened in these days, we certainly know that literally and physically there was a rebuilding. There was the rebuilding of the temple. You may remember the story of how that magnificent building that Solomon had raised up for the Lord, had been destroyed at the time of the captivity, and now there's need for it to be rebuilt. And that did take place in these days in which Zechariah lived and other men who were his contemporaries. The temple, of course, was the center of the spiritual life of the nation. It symbolized God's presence. Its whole system of worship was directed toward presenting to the people the only way, the one and only way of true approach to God, namely through the shed blood of the appointed sacrifice. That really was the heart and life of all that took place in the temple as it stood there in Jerusalem after being rebuilt and the people came there to bring their offerings and to meet with the Lord. They were always reminded that the only way to God is upon the ground of the blood and through the atoning sacrifice. And to the end of the rebuilding of that temple, of course it was not so magnificent, the second temple, as the one that Solomon had put up, but to the end of the rebuilding of that temple by this remnant people, Zechariah was sent by the Lord along with his colleague Haggai to encourage these people and to help them in their work. If you turn back to Ezra just for a moment, you'll see how these two men served the Lord together. Back into that little book of Ezra and into chapter 5 and also a verse or two in chapter 6. Ezra chapter 5, look at the first two verses where we read these words, Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Ido prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jashua the son of Josedach, and began to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God helping them." Those are very important words. With them were the prophets of God helping them. These prophets. were there to help, they were there to encourage, they were there to give, as I say, momentum to the work and enable the Lord's people to see the whole focus that the Lord had set before them and see the direction in which their work was to go. These men were there to help them. It may even be that they lent a hand in the physical labor. I wouldn't be surprised if that thought was also contained in what it says there, then were the prophets of God with them that were the prophets of God helping them. Maybe physically involved as well as preaching the Word and bringing God's truth. Then turn to chapter 6 and look with me in that chapter as well and you'll see what it says there in verse number 14. It says, The elders of the Jews built it, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ido. And they built it and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel. Notice those words in this verse where it says that through the prophesying, through the preaching, through the telling forth of God's Word by these two prophets, the people prospered. And of course that's a very striking little term there, they prospered. We're not told the full extent of what that prosperity was, but we can We can think and we can, as it were, imagine what it means. They would have prospered spiritually in their own hearts, prospered with regard to their input into the work of the Lord. They would have prospered in the labor that they were carrying out. Here were people who prospered under the preaching of the Word. And of course that should always be the desire of any work, any true witness for Christ that The preaching will cause the people to prosper and cause the Lord's people to be encouraged and to grow in grace and to prosper within their souls and to go on with God. And therefore, here are men, including this man Zechariah, who were sent to encourage the Lord's people and minister in such a way that they were a help and they were a profit and they were a benefit to the saints of God in those days. It's a marvelous thing when the Lord raises up men like these two prophets who have a ministry like that. It causes people to prosper within their souls and to develop and grow in the things of God. Now one of the messages brought by Zechariah is contained in the verses before us here that we have read this evening, here in Zechariah chapter 8. A close reading of this chapter, in fact it doesn't even have to be a close reading in a sense, but a close reading of this chapter will indicate that this message has of course a prophetic significance. Speaking not only of the times in which these men lived, that is the message as a whole here, but of future days as well. Now it's not my purpose tonight to deal with the prophetic significance of this passage, but what I want to do is deal with it from a spiritual perspective because it is true that the applications of God's Word are manifold, and there are many senses that in which we can take the Word of God and draw lessons from it and help from it, leaving aside its own setting and its own prophetic meaning as it is in this chapter. We can draw lessons from this chapter that are on another dimension altogether. And that, of course, is in keeping with the whole week that we are involved in here in this church in Lisbon. We're dealing this week with the subject of revival. And what we see here in these verses that I've read with you this evening is applicable to that very subject. In fact, the very verses here are talking about revival. They are dealing with revival. And they are showing to us some tremendous truths, I believe, about that subject and about that theme. And I pray that tonight the Lord will come and will help us as we deal with the passage in that particular way. Spiritually speaking, this passage tells us that when the Lord comes to bless His work with reviving power, there will be certain signs and certain tokens of that great work that He alone performs. I've already mentioned in the setting here itself that the agenda of the remnant is to return rebuild and restore. And in those very words, there is truly the idea of a reviving. A reviving work is a work of rebuilding. Maybe after desolation, after times of decadence, that there is a rebuilding. It's also a time of returning to the things that need to be cherished and need to be pursued. It's a time as well of restoration, and therefore we can certainly see the theme and the idea and the concept of revival from that perspective. And we can say tonight that, as already indicated this week in referring to these books of Haggai, Zechariah, and even into Ezra at different times, that God's Spirit was mightily at work in those days. Those were days of great movings of God in their own right. Those were days of quickening and revival as God moved. Remember what we saw on Sunday night? In order to preserve His work alive. That's one of the meanings of the word revive in the Old Testament. To preserve His work alive. And the work of God, if we think about the captivity and then the return and those particular days in which these men lived, the work of God had sunk to a very low ebb. And it needed the visitation of God. It needed this reviving work in order for it to be preserved alive, even to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah. Because these prophets and the work that was done then certainly paved the way for the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as I've said already, there's much in the book of Zechariah that has to do with the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore it's a marvelous book and a wonderful book for our study. So we come tonight to look at these verses where there is portrayed for us what I want to call a revival scene. and maybe specifically refer to it as a season unto the hand of the Lord when the remnant of God's people are met with and stirred up and revived and encouraged and the Lord does a work in their hearts. So let's look at the passage as the Lord helps us tonight and draw some lessons about revival from what we see right here. The first thing I want to mention is the essence of revival, and it's seen there in those closing words of verse 23. We will go with you, and then underline these words, for we have heard that God is with you. We have heard that God is with you. Those words reveal to us something of the essence of revival. You see, revival is the return of God's presence to His people. God is with you. And as we think about those words, they certainly would infer or imply that the Lord's presence had been lost to quite a degree at some previous point. But now the message comes, the word goes out that God is with these people again. You see, the Lord has returned. If you go back to the opening part of the chapter, look at verse number 2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Words that signify a return of the Lord, and a fresh moving of God. You see, the Lord's presence, as I've said, had waned among these people, but now the Lord comes again, just taking them and their day. You see, this was a word for those people in their day and in their labor and in their work. And while the words may have significance for the future, yet we must not fail to see, rather, that in those days, this meant something to these people. The Lord says, I've come back. I have returned. If you go back into the first chapter of Zechariah, you'll see the same words basically. Chapter 1 verse 16, Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, my house shall be built in it. And again the Lord uses the language here that indicates that having withdrawn his presence from his people, he now returns to them. It does not mean, of course, that the Lord had left them all together. He was with them even in their captivity, but His presence had been withdrawn to some degree at least. And they had lost the sense of it and the consciousness of it. And they had been plunged into a state of desolation in that whole period of the captivity. But now there's the return. And along with the people returning, the Lord says, I have returned as well. And the word went out, and it's expressed in those marvelous terms at the end of verse 23. We have heard that God is with you. Now let me say to you, dear people, this evening, as we think about this statement, we have heard that God is with you, and in it you have summed up the essence of revival. Is it not true that you and I, in our day and generation, would want that to happen, that it would be said by those around us that we're going to go with you. We want to be in your company. We'll see more about that later. We want to be with you and in your presence and in your company and in your meetings because we've heard that God is with you, that the Lord has returned, that He has come again among His people, that He has visited His church, that He has manifested His presence once more in a very real way in the midst of His people, His remnant people. Remember that the loss of the conscious presence of the Lord is always because of sin and disobedience. It can happen at an individual level. There may be somebody here tonight and you have lost as it were, the consciousness or the awareness of the presence of God in your soul, in your life. Things are not the way they used to be. You're not enjoying the Lord as you used to do. You do not have that joy, that gladness, that delight in your heart that always is there when the Lord is near, and we know His touch, and we know His hand upon us. We can lose that, brethren and sisters, because of our carelessness, because of our worldliness, because of our sin. We can lose the awareness of the presence of God. Is that not what happened to David as he himself makes very clear in the great penitential Psalm, Psalm number 51, where he actually pleads with God along these very terms that I am mentioning. Turn to Psalm 51 with me and just look at those verses a moment or two, because they do bring before us something of what I am saying here. Psalm 51 and the verse number 11. Cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. He hadn't lost the Holy Spirit, but he's not where he used to be or once was. And therefore he says in verse 12, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He had lost much because of his sin, obviously, his terrible sin at that period in his life. And now he gets before the Lord and he wants back what he used to have. What about Samson? How greatly Samson lost out with the Lord, and yet he wasn't even conscious of it at a certain point. When we read Judges chapter 16, verses 20 and 21, we're told that after he'd been shorn, he said, I will go out and shake myself as on former occasions And then there's the awful comment, he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. He'd lost out with the Lord. The Lord had withdrawn His presence. What about Mary and Joseph? As an illustration, really, and it's a very vivid illustration. You know the story when they went up to Jerusalem, and then they're making their way back after the feast, and they're caught up with the crowd. And they did not know at that moment that the Lord, the young boy Jesus Christ was no longer in the company or he was back at Jerusalem. But it says there that they supposed that the Lord was there. I want an illustration of the suppositions that so many of us make at times, that we've got the same strength or the same power or the same enjoyment of the Lord that we used to have, but it's just not so. Brethren and sisters, at an individual level we can certainly lose out in this way. And it's always because of sin. It can happen at a congregational level. Again, I take you to the Scriptures, and I want you to go to Ezekiel chapter 8. And look with me at a selection of verses, beginning there, Ezekiel chapter 8, where you see this very pattern affecting what we might call the congregation. Ezekiel chapter 8, verse number 6, and it says, He said furthermore unto me, the Lord speaking to Ezekiel, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary." There had been great abominations brought to the attention of Ezekiel and they had caused the Lord to withdraw Himself to a certain degree, that I should go far off from my sanctuary. In chapter 10 and verse number 4, then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house." Notice that, the Lord moves, as it says here, from the cherub. You see, the glory of the Lord came down in the temple where the cherubim were, over in the mercy seat. And that's where he tabernacled, that's where the glory appeared. And the Lord has already said to Ezekiel in chapter 8, 6, that he's going to go far away from his sanctuary. And now the departure begins, as it were. And he moves from that point above the cherub to the threshold of the house. And go a step farther, go to verse 18. Then, chapter 10, verse 18, "...then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim." Then chapter 11, verse 23, "...and the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city." And there's a gradual departure. Notice that? The Lord gradually moves away. As it were, little by little. He goes from this point to this point and he lingers, then he moves on and he goes farther. And that's what he had said to Ezekiel about going far off from the sanctuary because of the abominations that were in the very temple there in Jerusalem. You see, the captivity came and the destruction descended on Jerusalem and on the temple in that time. Because of the sin of the nation. Because of the sin of the congregation. Let's make it specific. Because they were the visible church of that day. And they had sinned against the Lord. And the Lord began to withdraw. And move away. Move away. And when that happens, then there is desolation. Turn to Joel. For a moment please. Joel chapter 2. In verse number 17, and we must tie these verses together. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Now when you read those words, where is their God? Asked by the heathen. the unfair, that even the ungodly can sense that the Lord is no longer with His people. They ask the question, where is He now? Because His people have lost out with God, and they've lost His presence, and they've lost all that He is to His people to such a degree. And the ungodly mockingly ask the question, well, where is their God now? Oh, brethren and sisters, I feel that these are very relevant words and very appropriate words for our day because the ungodly could ask the very same thing as so many of us. Maybe individually or at congregational level we don't have in terms of what God is to us what we used to have. And notice here the reference, well, the priest, the minister of the Lord, Joel 2.17, need to weep. You need to pray, you need to cry, spare thy people, O Lord. But notice where they actually weep, between the porch and the altar. That's very significant. I want you to go back now to Ezekiel chapter 8, please, Ezekiel chapter 8, and look at verse 16. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house. And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord," listen carefully, brethren and sisters, between the porch and the altar, the very same point, very same location, between the porch and the altar were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun. In God's house, at that very location between the porch and the altar, the greatest sin was being practiced. And now in Joel, little wonder that there's a cry, that there needs to be a weeping between the porch and the altar, because that's precisely where the sin, the awful sin had been committed. And the Lord is saying, is he not? If we want to know Him again or see Him return among us again, we need to get to the very spot where we lost out with Him or where we failed Him or where we sinned against Him. Here it is between the porch and the altar. That's where the damage was done. That's where the Lord was grieved. That's where the sin was committed. And now Joel, just bringing all the verses together, he says that that's where we need to get and pray. and weep before the Lord at the very spot where all this has taken place in terms of what drove the Lord away. And therefore, when we read these words, which are setting before us the essence of revival, we have heard that God is with you. We need to stop and think of what they are saying in terms of the background and what led up to this in the sense that God was not there. God had withdrawn Himself for a time. And I warn you again, that is such a reality. It can be such an awful reality in an individual's life or a church's life. But we're seeing here that the Lord does return. He returns mercifully, and He manifests His presence again among His people because revival is the return of the Lord's presence. That's what it is, in essence. It's the return of the presence of the Lord among His people. I must hurry here. It is also the return of God's power. Because they say, we have heard that God is with you, and when God is with His people, then power will be their portion. You can't have God with you and not know something of His power. Now, I haven't time tonight maybe to say all I need to say, but for this to be the case, for the return to see As we're trying to show you what revival is, the return of the Lord's presence and the return of the Lord's power, there needs to be repentance and brokenness and confession of sin and getting right with God. And it may be tonight that there's someone here and in your soul you feel this. You've lost out, as I've said, or the Lord is not as real to you as He used to be. You need to get to the very point where there's confession, when there's a weeping, when there's crying to God that He will have mercy upon you and that you will be restored and renewed in your own heart and mind and again begin to enjoy the presence of the Lord with you and enjoy the power of the Lord in your life. Brethren and sisters, is there not something here for us all to consider very, very carefully and honestly before God? Here is what revival is in essence, the return of the Lord. And if ever there was a day when we needed that, this is it. I could say more about the power of the Lord. This very chapter brings before us some thoughts about what happens when the Lord returns among His people. Just quickly notice them. Verse 3 again says, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth. and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the holy mountain. Whenever the Lord returns and His presence is restored and His power is known again, then there's an elevation of truth and there is an elevation of holiness. These things will be seen and be very apparent again. Verse 4, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for a very age." When you read Ezra, you will find that some of those who had gone away in the captivity seventy years before then came back along with a new generation. And to me, verse 4, in the sense that I'm looking at tonight, speaks of restoration. Those who formerly knew the things of God and then lost out and now they've been brought back. And then verse 5 talks about a new generation raising up. Taking it that way. It says here the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Restoration, regeneration. When we have the presence and the power of God and revival, both these things will take place. There will be a restoring and there will be a regenerating of the hearts of a whole new generation when raised up by the Lord to serve God. And we should not think that such a thing is impossible. Look at verse 6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people. You see, when we think about restoration and a great regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and that is so desperately needed, we might say to ourselves, this is too good to be true, or this is a thing incredible. But now, my friend, it may seem incredible to us that such could ever happen, but it's not incredible with God. It's not beyond the realm of possibility because our God is the one who does these things in a moment when He returns and He moves and He visits and He appears again in His eyes. the essence of revival. And then we look a little here at the evidence of it, back in the end of chapter 8. Look this time at verse 19, and the following few verses. Here's something of the evidence of revival. Verse 19 says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, the fifth, the seventh, the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. therefore love the truth and peace." Those words speak of a spiritual transformation, and the verses that follow as well will come to them in a moment or two. But there's a thought here that this is the evidence of revival. Revival brings a transformation. It brings a change of the whole landscape, spiritually speaking. It brings about a difference. And right here, the deference and the transformation again, they pertain to the lives and the experiences of the people of God. When there's a reviving given by the Holy Spirit, then there cannot but be this transformation among saints as well as sinners. What are some of the indications or the evidences of revival? Well, verse 19 is speaking, is it not, of spiritual joy in the things of the Lord. It says there that these fasts shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness. Let me say this to you, put it this way. If you've ever been involved in a day of fasting, I think you had one last Sunday, a day of waiting on God. Unless it's a time of joy and gladness, it will be very tedious. The flesh won't like it. The flesh won't want to be there. And if you are in that mood or that frame where the flesh is rebelling and you're not even wanting to be there, oh, I tell you, it will not be a joyful experience. And yet so often this was true of Israel. They went through their face and their face in a perfunctory manner. It was all mundane. It was dead. There was no joy about it. It was just a miserable experience. And you know so many of us You can put on a show, go through what you might call the visible steps and obey the outward ceremony, but there's a misery in our hearts because we don't have the joy of the Lord. But when the Lord comes again, then these experiences are completely changed and there is this spiritual joy and gladness as these words in verse 19 tell us. Turn to John 7 now just to tie in something over there that will elaborate a little more on this as I talk about having a spiritual joy in the things of God as opposed to the old fleshly attitude where everything's miserable and barren and mundane and there's no life and no joy in it whatsoever. John 7. Look at verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink. Now the feast that's in view here is the Feast of Tabernacles. And at that feast, according to what we learn from historians of that day, the Jews, to try to put up a kind of a show, They had this practice of pouring out water, some kind of a symbol, symbolic gesture that they were really enjoying the feast. And that's the background of what the Lord says. If any man thirst, let him come on to me and drink. You see, their feast had become a dead ceremony. There was no life in it. And therefore the Lord says, if a man really thirsts, let him come to me and drink. And then verse 38, he that believeth in me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then just these words, but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive. Verses 38 and 39 show What? They show a heart that is revived by the Holy Ghost. And out of that heart there flow rivers of living water. In the Bible, living water is spoken of often. And living water in Scripture is actually a symbol of the Spirit of God. And here the Lord uses that very symbol. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then John explains it. This spake he of the Spirit. And here you have it. Living water symbolic of the Holy Ghost. Living water is what? It's fresh water. It's clean water. It's water that revitalizes. It's water that quenches your thirst. And the Holy Spirit does all of that. And when the Lord comes among his people, he causes out of their hearts to flow these rivers of living water. The heart bubbling up with joy and gladness. That's the thought there. It says out of his belly. That is out of his inward man. Out of the heart of the believer who meets with the Lord. And just think about it that way. If any man thirst, I'm saying it this way tonight. Certainly here, it could refer to the unconverted man. coming to the Lord and being saved and in doing so receiving the Holy Ghost. For that's what happens when you're saved. But just take it that other way. The Christian who has suddenly been made aware and conscious of his deadness and dryness and barrenness, and he gets to the Lord, and he looks to the Lord again with a thirst in his soul, and the Lord comes down anew upon him. And out of that man's inward parts there flow the rivers of living water, bubbling up in his soul. You know, the psalmist could testify that he knew something of that. Psalm 45 verse 1, my heart is inditing a good matter. And those words literally mean, or read, my heart is bubbling up. Psalm 45 verse 1, my heart is bubbling up. I speak of the things which I have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. And the whole psalm is all about Christ, of course. And here's the psalmist saying that he has this great joy in the Lord. There's freshness, there's joy, there's gladness in his soul. And that's how he puts it. He says, my heart is bubbling up. Or as it is in our translation, like the pen of a ready writer. Because he's sitting down to write about the things that have to do with the King. And as he sits down to do that, his soul's just on fire. His soul is filled with joy. His soul's bubbling up. Because he's going to write about the Lord. And that means that when, as we think about the evidence of revival and the Lord returns among His people and there's this spiritual joy and there's a transformation, oh then men and women, what will happen then is that the services of the church of Jesus Christ, our worship services, will be filled with joy, witnessing for the Lord will be done with Get into the place of prayer. We're going to see more of that in a moment or two. Ah, that will be a joyful thing when the Lord moves again. So there is a spiritual joy in the things of God. But there's also a hunger and a thirst for the Lord. So look at these verses again here. Go a little farther with me in them. Verses 20 and 22 through to 22. They speak of this hunger and thirst for the Lord. Verse 20, look at it. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also. Now, brethren and sisters, that is what happens when the church of Jesus Christ is revived. The evidence is not only having a joy in the things of God, but it's also having a hunger and a thirst for those things and for more of it, and especially as it is here, prayer. Now, renewed interest in prayer and in the gatherings for prayer, that is always a token for good. That is always a mark of reviving. Do you know tonight that as we talk about revival, the Lord could visit, just take the free church, the Lord could visit any one of our congregations at this moment and cause this to happen. He could do it here in Lisbon. It might happen purely on a local basis. I've often read, and I'm sure some of you have as well, of men of God who were part maybe of a certain denomination. And in their local church, in that particular ministry, at certain times God came down and did wonderful things. And the rest of the denomination maybe was untouched while God was moving there. That has happened over and over again. And when that happens then in that particular church, the evidence of revival is this renewal with regard to prayer. And this is urgent prayer. Verse 21, let us go speedily to pray. Here are people who feel their need to pray. There's no complacency here, there's no indifference, there's no apathy. Here's an urgency. Here is a people who've got a vision of the need all around them. And they say, let's go speedily. We can't waste any time. We've got to get to the place of prayer. The word speedily has other translations. And the margin shows some of them. One of them is continually. Let us go continually to pray. Is that not underlining urgency? The burden to go again and again and again? A people who, as it were, they can't get enough of meeting with the Lord and pouring out their hearts. And then another way this word can be translated, the word also means to go on or to proceed. in terms of constant motion. That ties in with the word continually, but there's an interesting way in which it can be translated in this other sense, to go on, to proceed, constant motion. And you know, this word is translated over in the book of Jonah. I'll just tell you the reference, you can look it up sometime. Jonah 1 verse 11, where it says, rot. W-R-O-U-G-H-T. And think about that, the sea rot. What does that mean? It means there that the sea was moving. It was in motion, constantly. in motion. Now in that situation there it was detrimental to the boys in the boat. But the point is there's the very same word as we have here that tells you that speedily or continually or means to go on and be in motion. It's used there of the sea and the motion of the sea or the movement of the sea. It's about the sea running strongly. What can we say in light of that? Oh, for a swell tide of this kind of prayer, urgent prayer, when the church of Jesus Christ is laying hold on God. You see, brothers and sisters, When there's that urgency, it signifies that we have gained a sense of need, our own needs. You can't afford to miss prayer. Now, certainly that is true for private prayer. You can't afford to miss out every day in prayer. But talking here about the church, because it's talking about people coming together, the Lord's people going to pray, you can't afford to miss the prayer meeting. Now, it mustn't become a legalistic thing. It mustn't become a mere duty. Oh, that we would catch what's here, the urgency of it, and realize that for our own sakes, and because of the needs of our own hearts, we can't afford to miss the church prayer meeting. And may the Lord bring that upon us. Because when that happens, and our prayer meetings start to grow and multiply, it will be the evidence of a little reviving. I fear that in many cases the prayer meetings are on the decline, and we need God to revive and give urgency in the place of prayer. That urgency also reveals a desire for the things of God beyond or so in contrast with earthly things and material things and all those matters which may have a legitimate place, but so often dominate our lives. And whenever God moves, then things will be seen from a right perspective, and we'll have this urgency about us. Yes, we need to work, we need to run our homes and so forth, but those things, earthly things, must not take precedence. Here is what must take precedence. And you know, going with urgency to seek the Lord, you know what that also signifies? It signifies faith in God. We can't wait to get before the Lord, to lay hold on the Lord, maybe even with excitement, thinking of what this God we do, or we serve, is able to do. You know how often we quote in prayer those great words in Ephesians 3.20? That the Lord is able to do exceeding abundance. Above all that we ask or think." And you know, those are tremendous words. You know what they're really saying? The Lord is not limited by our praying. That would be an awful thing if He were, because so often our praying is full of doubt and unbelief and so on. But the Lord's not limited by our praying. The Lord is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think. But then from another perspective, even when we are praying with urgency and fervor and power, still then the Lord's able to do exceeding abundantly above prayers like that that are filled with fire and fervency and faith. And you know the greatest Proof of that, that God does answer prayer in that manner, is actually right there in the context. Because in the previous verse, Paul talks about the dimensions of God's love, the length and breadth and height and depth of the love of Christ. And then he says, now on to Him, that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. And brethren and sisters, if you want to see the greatest demonstration of the fact that God works above what we could ever ask or think, you go to Calvary. You examine the love of God in Christ. Who among us, who among fallen men would ever have asked for that or thought of that? See, God works. not according to our limited minds, but He works according to His own glorious purpose. And therefore, let us go urgently because we have a great God. This is also unsolicited prayer. It says here, let us go. There's no coercion here. Nobody's arms have been twisted up his back. There's a desire here. People say to each other, let's get to the prayer meeting. And I would say to you tonight, take those words and use them among yourselves and encourage one another. Maybe there's a brother or sister you've noticed is kind of not as keen. Try to help that brother or that sister. Go to that person and say, Would you like to come with me on Monday night to the prayer meeting?" That's a very good way of applying this. But the thought here is of prayer that's unsolicited in the sense of there's no call for it, there's no coercion. It comes, as I was saying last night, when we looked at Nehemiah 8 with regard to the gathering of the people there, it was so spontaneous. And the same thought is right here. people coming together to lay hold on God, and nobody soliciting, pressurizing, coercing them. They want to be there. Unanimous prayer as well, for it says here, let us go. Again, the thought of one mind, and believers going in agreement to lay hold on God and to seek His face. One stirring up and encouraging the other. Let us go. And then at the end of the verse it says, I will go also. I'll go too. I'm not urging you to go and I have no intention of not going myself. No, that's not the way it is. Let's all go and I'm going to be there too by the grace of God. This is what we long to see. This is an evidence of revival, isn't it? A fresh spiritual joy in the things of God, a new hunger and thirst for the Lord, especially in the place of prayer, the prayer meetings of the church. Spurgeon once preached a famous sermon that's entitled only a prayer meeting because he was Maybe being a little sarcastic, because that's how some people looked on the prayer meeting. It's only a prayer meeting. So Sturgeon took that as the title for his sermon, and here's what he said as part of his sermon or message. We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place. in the esteem of Christians. I was reading as well with that man, that mighty man John Howe, who was actually known, famous you might say, for his intercessory gifts. Mighty man in prayer. And the story is told that in his day there were prayer meetings all the time. under his ministry for young and old, and people coming together, and men and women, and laying hold on God, and there were prayer meetings for the ministers and so on. And one occasion when Howe was praying, he was praying with such power that he was sweating profusely. And his wife came along. This may seem a little amusing, but this is what happened. He was wearing a wig, and his wife came along and took off his wig and dried his brow and wiped away the sweat, and all the while he kept on praying. Those little anecdotes from history tell us, brethren and sisters, when the Holy Ghost comes down, unusual things happen. His wife coming along to wipe the sweat off, even as He prayed. And then I must draw near now to a close. What about the effect of revival? Look at verse 23 again. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you. for we have heard that God is with you." When the Lord revives His people, you know what happens? When God revives His church, then she has a spiritual attractiveness. Because here are people, we might say the heathen, coming to the Jew and saying, we will go with for we have heard that God is with you." Now just taking the word Jew, we all are aware, and it's true to this very day, that by and large the Jew is a despised person. If you take Christ himself, he was a Jew, and the Lord was despised. So that the name Jew has that connotation to it, in a very real sense. And it's indicative, isn't it, of the situation that very often happens whenever the Lord sends a move of the Spirit. Applying it this way, then those, I mean God's people who were formerly despised and mocked and people laughed at them, they suddenly take on a whole new a whole new exterior in the sense that people now say to themselves, those Christians have got something that we don't have. And we used to despise them, but now we want to go and find out what's going on. And that's a marvelous thing, you know. Nobody likes to be despised. If we're all honest, we will say that. We don't like anybody to dislike us or despise us. But it does come with serving Christ. It does come with standing for the Lord and knowing the Lord and serving the Lord faithfully. You're going to be despised by an ungodly world. But you know, when revival comes, then the church takes on a whole, as we've been saying, this transformation so much so that there's this effect of she then having an attractiveness. And those who are outside, outside the pale of the redeemed, those who watch on and who see that change, then been moved themselves to say, we will go with you now. We want to be in your company. We want to hear your preacher. We want to go along to the gospel meeting because God is with you. Notice what it says there. They take hold of the skirt of him as a Jew. And the skirt is, of course, the hem of the garment. That's what it means. And what's the significance of the hem of the garment? When you think of the Jew, and I've already mentioned our Savior, when you think of the times in the Gospels where you read of people coming to touch the hem of His garment, the woman with the issue of blood, and then even whole companies of people. And they came and they touched the hem of his garment and were told that they were healed of their sicknesses and so on. Now the hem of the garment, taking the Lord Jesus Christ, the hem of the garment has a symbolism. There's too much of that for me to try to deal with all of it tonight, but Sometime read in the book of Numbers toward the end of the book, and you will find that around the border or the hem of the garment, the Jew had a ribbon of blue. And it was to remind him of heaven and the Lord and to serve God. That was the significance of it. And then you carry it over to Christ. And we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who is He? He's the one who always had the law of God in His heart. Always. And He's the one who came and fulfilled that law, and honored that law, obeyed that law, and then died under the curse of that law. And in doing all that, He provides for men a finished work. Because the hem of the garment, therefore, signifies the finished work. Even the garment itself is the last part that's made, the finished, signifying the finishing of the work. And they come when they lay hold on the skirt of the Jew. And I believe we should not miss that. Because whenever revival comes, people see that the church of Jesus Christ has got a message. It's a message of the finished work. The message of redemption. And they suddenly see the preciousness of it and the value of it. And they want to come and enter into the blessing of the finished work. That's revival. That's the Holy Ghost at work. That's the effect of the moving of the Spirit. I know that we would say those days, when the Lord will visit the saints and visit sinners, And what we have seen here tonight from this approach to this passage will indeed be realized and become a very, very prominent and glorious experience when the Lord will come again and the evidences of His coming will be there. And the effect of it then will also be seen. Men and women, brethren and sisters, it is this that we need desperately. We need the Lord. And may all of us tonight who know Him, seek Him with all our hearts. Is there someone here tonight? And maybe perhaps more so in the earlier part of this message, the Lord has spoken to your soul and has reminded you this evening of having lost out, having grieved the Spirit, and you need to return. May you come and seek the Lord afresh and know again joy and gladness, spiritual thirst, and become useful again in the kingdom of Christ. Let's all just pray. Father in heaven, fly Thy Word with power. Use it, we ask, for Thy glory. Write upon our hearts and O God, we do pray that Thou wilt begin to do these things, begin to move among us, individually, collectively. Lord, give again Thy presence and power to us. Return, O Lord. Return, O Holy Dove, return. The evidence is there. May there be all of what we have sought to see here tonight. Lord, all around us, may the unconverted take note. Dear Father, move with power. We pray in the Savior's name.