”Four Steps Towards Revival” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Habakkuk 2

The book of Habach I was planning to be

done with in five or six weeks. This is

I think the fifth week that we've been

in it and we're just now getting into

the we'll get to the end of verse four,

Lord willing, tonight. There are there

is so much in the book of Habach. It is

so relative to the day and age that we

live in. And then when we begin to

really dig down and pull back the layers

of the text, there are so many uh

applications that can be made that were

applicable in Habach's day and they also

fit our day and our culture. And so I I

guess I just admit to you tonight that

this might take longer than I

anticipated. Okay? It may take us more

than five or six weeks. In fact, I know

it'll take us more than five or six

weeks total to finish this. But uh I

don't want to belabor it. I don't want

to draw it out more than it needs to be,

but at the same time, we want to give uh

as the Lord is is as I'm studying it and

seeing things, I want to share those

things with you, and I don't want to

rush those things. And so, I hope that

you're enjoying this study. I hope it's

been a help to you and a blessing to

you. And uh I think tonight will be as

well. Here's what I've titled the the

verses this evening, the section, the

passage that we're in. The title tonight

is four steps towards revival. four

steps that we can take that will move us

towards revival over these weeks as we

study through these three simple

chapters in the book of Habach. We are

we've got two really themes where the

theme of the book is faith in a faithful

God and we're learning to trust God but

we're also emphasizing revival. That's

what Habach was praying for. He's

praying for revival. He wants to see

revival. And so that's what we are doing

as a church. We've just taken our

Wednesday nights for as long as we're

studying the book of Habachok and we're

going to emphasize praying for revival.

We've done that for several week several

weeks now after the message and we'll do

that again this evening for a few

minutes. And uh and and I I believe God

blesses that. And we ought to always be

praying for revival. But I hope that

maybe this emphasis has brought a

renewed uh energy to your prayers for

revival in your community and in your

family. The book of Habach is a

conversation between the prophet Habach

and God. And what they're talking about

is the sinfulness of the culture and

God's coming judgment on that

sinfulness. That's a relative topic to

today, is it not? The sinfulness of our

culture and the coming judgment of God

upon that sinfulness. God will judge

sin. He always does. In fact, many

preachers who are preaching tonight

would would say that God that America is

already living in God's judgment. That

many of the things that are happening in

our culture and in our nation right now

are are not leading us to judgment, but

God is turning us over to our own ways.

He He is letting the the people and the

leadership of America do what they wish.

And the human flesh has already caused

judgment to fall on this nation. And

we're already seeing the effects of sin

and we're already seeing the judgment of

God on our nation. And I would agree to

some degree with what they are saying.

Well, that's where Habach's at. He looks

at the sinfulness of his nation. He

looks at the sinfulness that's going on

in his culture. And he begins to have a

conversation with God about his sinful

culture, about the sin of his people,

and about God's coming judgment on that.

In chapter one, Habach is so burdened.

He opens the book, The Burden of Habach.

is so burdened. He's so broken over his

culture that he falls to his knees and

he cries out to God in desperation and

says, "Oh God, please help us." And God

responds in chapter 1 and says, "Oh,

I've got a plan. I'm going to bring

judgment." God answers Habach and says,

"The Babylonians, the Calaldanss,

they're going to come in and I'm going

to use that pagan people, that sinful,

wicked people to judge my people for

their sin." Well, that's not what Habach

wanted to hear. And so in chapter one,

they're the end. In those last verses,

Habach says to God, "You can't do that.

That's not what I was praying for. I

don't want you to bring judgment. This

isn't who you are. This doesn't match up

with your character." Habach begins to

argue and he's very blunt with God. He's

very bold in some of the things that he

accuses God of in those final verses of

chapter 1. And then we get to chapter

two, and Habach's just kind of waiting.

And we looked at this last Wednesday

night. Habach's kind of just watching

and waiting to see what is God going to

say now. What is God going to respond

with? So throughout the book, we're

looking at this conversation. There's a

wicked culture and God and Habach are

talking. They're having a conversation

about the sinfulness of the culture and

God's coming judgment upon that culture.

And tonight we come to chapter two.

Habach is anticipating, watching,

expecting God to give him an answer. And

that's exactly what God is going to do

throughout most of the rest of chapter

2. God is going to respond to the

accusations

that Habach made at the end of chapter

1. And I think that this will take us

tonight and then we'll finish it next

Wednesday night as my plan. You know,

conversation is a part of our life.

Every day of your life, you find

yourselves in conversation with other

people, right? Uh you go to the grocery

store and the teller, the clerk there is

ringing up your items and you you make

conversation. You begin to talk to them.

Perhaps they begin to talk to you. You

go back and forth and you begin to

discuss your friends that you talk with

your family, your daughters, your

grandkids, maybe you have conversations

with and we begin to talk with one

another because that's how we were made.

We were made to communicate, to

conversate.

Some conversations are very enjoyable.

Some conversations are not so enjoyable.

Have you ever Have you ever had a

conversation with I just call them close

talkers? You know who I'm talking about?

The people who have to be this clo they

feel like they have to be right here in

order to have a conversation with you.

And you start on that side of the room

and you just keep nonchalantly taking a

step back ever so often and then you end

up on that side of the room, right?

Yeah. You've had a conversation with

these types of people. There's all kinds

of conversations and we we conversate

with one another uh every day and God

desires to communicate with us as well.

And God has communicated with us. God

has answered us through his word. I

believe that if we are ever to

experience true heaven-sent revival, it

must come through God's word to us.

Heaven-sent revival is going to come

through a return to the word of God. And

in Habach chapter 2, I think that God

himself comes to Habach and gives Habach

the template for a real revival. There

are six things in chapter 2. I'll give

you the whole outline. We're not going

to get all of this tonight, but get your

pen ready to write fast. I'll give you

all six of these things from chapter 2

and then we'll take the next two weeks

to kind of work through this outline.

In verse one, we see the watching for

God.

Habach says, "I am going to watch and

see what he will say." There's this

anticipation. There's this expectancy.

God is going to do something. And if we

want revival in our day, that ought to

be the case. We ought to be watching and

ready, anticipating for God to move. So

in verse one, the watching for God. In

verse two, the word of God.

Verse two says, "And the Lord answered."

The answer did come. And how did it

come? Through the voice of God. And you

and I have the word of God. And revival

will come through a return to the word

of God. So with the watching for God in

verse one, the word of God in verse two,

the waiting on God in verse three,

we want revival often. We want it on our

schedule and on our timetable. But God's

going to teach Habach, hey, you're going

to have to wait on my time. You're going

to have to wait until I'm ready. God's

timetable. So we see in verse three, the

waiting on God. Verse four, the way to

God.

the way to God in verse four.

And then in verse number five through

verse number 19, the bulk of the

chapter, most of the rest of the

chapter, we see the woes against God.

Verse five through 19, the woes, woe,

apostrophe s, the woes against God.

In these verses,

there are five times

that you will see the phrase, "Woe to

him." Woe to him. And what God is doing

in these verses is he is naming the sins

of Israel. He's naming the sins of the

culture. And we're going to study those

next Wednesday night, Lord willing. So,

we see verse 5 through 19, the woes

against God. And then verse number 20,

the last step to real revival is the

worship of God. In verse number 20, the

Lord is in his holy temple. All the

earth keeps silence before him. So, six

steps, a template in Habach chapter 2,

six steps to real revival. Tonight,

we're only going to look at the first

four of them. Four steps toward revival.

Verse one, the watching for God. Verse

two, the word of God. Verse three, the

waiting on God. and verse four, the way

to God. So, we've got a lot of ground to

cover. Let's read these verses together

and then we'll we'll go through this and

we'll do so quickly this evening.

Chapter 2, verse number one, Habach

says, "I will stand upon my watch and

set me upon the tower and will watch to

see what he will say unto me and what I

shall answer when I am reproved." We

spent a great deal of time on that verse

last week. And now in verse two, God's

going to answer. Verse two. And the Lord

answered me and said, "Write the vision,

and make it plain upon tables, that he

may run that readeth it. For the vision

is yet for an appointed time, but at the

end it shall speak and not lie. Though

it tar, wait for it, because it will

surely come, it will not tarry." Verse

four, behold, or look, pay attention.

His soul which is lifted up is not

upright in him. But you should be

familiar with this phrase, the just

shall live by his faith. That phrase is

repeated three times almost verbatim in

the New Testament. Four times if you

count 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, which

changes it just a little bit, but

essentially the same meaning. So we find

this phrase, the just shall live by

faith over and over again in the New

Testament. And it's really the theme

that God is communicating to Habach in

this conversation that hey, faith is the

the thing. Live by your faith, not by

sight. All right, let's look at this

little outline this evening. And I've

got some subpoints for you. I try to

limit the amount of subpoints that I

give you, but tonight I'm loaded up with

subpoints. So, here we go. You ready?

First of all, we see the watching for

God. We talked about this last week and

uh we dissected this verse and expounded

this verse. We saw Habach's posture in

verse one. You see that as he is

watching for God. He is standing. He's

not seated. He's not lazy. He's not

taking a break, but he's standing. He's

ready. He's alert. He's expecting God,

anticipating God to do something. Are

we? So often we can get so bothered by

the culture around us that we lose our

faith that God will ever do anything.

And in verse four, God said, "Hey,

Habach the just live by faith." So stay

standing, stay ready, stay expectant,

stay alert. So we see he's his posture.

Then we saw last week his practice. His

practice was to engage the word of God.

He's standing. He said, "I will watch

and see what he will say to me. I'm

going to engage with whatever he says. I

am ready to hear from God. I am

expecting to hear from God. He's

watching. You get the idea. He's He's

watching. He's expecting. He's

anticipating. He's ready to receive

God's word. Oh, that we would have some

churches today that would once again

return to the word of God and expect to

hear what God has to say. And then we

saw his preparation last week. He was

preparing. He was expecting an answer

from God. So that is number one, the

watching for God. Are we ready? Are we

standing? Are we watching? Are we

anticipating that any day now, God could

break through? Would it surprise you if

God answered your prayers about your

family? Or are you ready for that? Are

you expecting that? Do you have faith

that it could be tonight when you get

home that you get a phone call and and

it's a family member or a neighbor that

says, "Hey, I need to come talk to you

about the Lord." Would that shock you?

I think many of us would we wouldn't

even know what to say. Myself included.

We wouldn't even know what to say if

that person that we've been praying for

were to call us and say, "Can I come

over right now?"

Not Habach. He's ready. He's watching.

He's anticipating. I'm going to hear

from God. That's verse one. Number two,

and in verse two, there is the word of

God.

The word of God. George Whitfield uh is

one of my favorite. He's becoming one of

my favorite uh people to read after to

to follow his ministry. He had a a

wonderful ministry, great man of God. He

said this, "God condescended to become

an author, and most people will never

read the book that he wrote."

God came down for the purpose of

becoming an author and he wrote the word

of God and most people will never read

the book that God wrote. There's a few

things I want you to notice from verse

number two.

First of all, there is the revelation.

He said, "The Lord answered me." You see

that in verse two, we're talking about

the word of God. If we want real

revival, we have to have the word of

God. That is a step towards revival is a

return to God's word. The Lord answered

me. That's revelation. God revealed some

of himself to Habach. Aren't you

thankful that God has revealed himself

to you and I? Aren't you thankful that

God has revealed a little bit of who he

is through his word? You and I have the

complete and finished revelation of God.

This is all we need to know about God

until we get to glory. And I suppose

that when we get to heaven, we'll learn

more things about him. But for now, God

has given us the full revelation of

himself that we need. The Lord has

answered you and I. The problems of our

culture, the problems of our society,

the issues in our homes, the issues in

in in our nation, it's all been answered

in the word of God. He answered us. And

then there is the response. So his

revelation, the Lord answered me and

said, 'Then the response, write the

vision. Hey, there's something I need

you to do, Habach. Write down what I'm

getting ready to say. That's

preservation, by the way.

God came to him in inspiration,

revelation, and then preservation. Write

it down. That's how he got our Bible is

because Habach obeyed and began to write

the word of God. Write the vision. And

we get to read God's word tonight

because of Habach's obedience. And so

there is the revelation. There is the

response. Then there is the reading.

This is where it really the rubber meets

the road for you and I. He says that

readeth it. That's where the verse ends.

You see that word he that readeth it.

If you don't read it, if you don't open

it, if you don't get into it, if you

don't study it, it it will it will not

have an effect on your life.

No. If if you will read it though, if

you will get into it, if you will fall

in love with the word of God, then I

believe we will see revival. If God's

people return to God's word, then God's

spirit could return to his church.

So he that readeth it, the purpose of it

is that it be read. Habach is writing

God's word so that it can be read. And

then what happens? Well, I skipped a

little part of verse number two, and

it's a key word. We see the revelation,

the reading. We see the revelation, the

response, the reading, and then the

running. See that little three-letter

word in there? That he may run that

readeth it.

When you read God's word, it tells you

the direction of your life. And you can

begin to run in that direction. You know

what running indicates? It indicates

progress. It indicates movement.

Movement towards what? Towards becoming

more like Christ. This is the key to

revival. When we get God's word and we

become serious about God's word and we

begin to read God's word, it begins to

show us places in our life that need

changed and we fix those places. And the

more we get into the Bible, the faster

we run towards the person of Jesus

Christ. The more into his image we

become.

So if we are to see revival, we must

return to the word of God. I'm moving

quickly. Have I lo y'all still with me

tonight?

Okay. We've seen the watching for God in

verse one. We see the word of God in

verse two, four steps towards revival.

We got to be ready, watching, expecting.

We've got to get back in God's word. And

then number three in verse three, the

waiting on God.

Waiting on God.

Awtoer said this genuine revival cannot

be worked up from below but it must be

sent down from above.

We sometimes get this idea that if I

sing loud enough, if I pray hard enough,

if I obey well enough, then God will

send down revival. Then we can we can

have real revival. The evangelical

movement has adopted this philosophy in

their worship and they they they think

that if they can get it loud enough, if

they can get it excited enough, if they

can get enough emotions in the air, then

that's revival. But revival is not

something that we work up from us.

Revival has nothing to do with us. It

has everything to do with God pouring

out more of himself on us.

And so it's it's not more of me. Revival

is not more spirituality in me. It's not

more religion in me. It's not more songs

in me. Revival is not in me. Has nothing

to do with me. Revival has everything to

do with him. And when I fall in love

with him and I return to the word of God

and I begin running towards God and I

begin changing into more like his image

and he becomes my everything, then the

more like him I become and the more in

love with him I get I I go, then the

more of his spirit he'll pour out and

the holy presence of God will begin to

dwell in us like never before. Not

because we've become more religious. Not

because we've done something special,

not because we're doing something

different or something new. No, it's

simply because we've fallen in love with

Jesus.

The waiting on God.

When we get impatient, we try and make

things happen, don't we?

When when we want to see it right now,

so I'm going to force it. I'm going to

make it happen. I'm going to try

everything I can. And sometimes God is

saying, "Hey, I've made I've told you

it's coming. I've made you a promise.

Just be patient.

Just be patient. Wait on God's time."

The first part of verse three is the

patience.

We see the patience that's necessary.

The vision is yet for an appointed time.

God said, "Hey, I've got a timetable,

Habach. There is something coming, but

it's it it's going to it's on my time.

Not your time. My time.

And at the end of it, it shall speak.

cannot lie. It's going to be true.

It's going to terry, but you can wait

for it. Wait for me. God is saying,

"Wait for my time."

Just wait on God. Don't get impatient

with God.

We may see God do a great move in the

next few months in our community and in

our church. I'm anticipating that. I'm

ready for that. I I would be so excited

if God would just pour out his spirit

and his blessing and and just show us a

glimpse of true old-fashioned revival.

Oh, that would I'm anticipating I think

it would be wonderful. Could happen in

the next few months.

Could take years.

Are we willing to stay faithful where we

are and wait on God's time

and just wait on God? And when God's

ready to move, let God move.

So there's the patience. And then there

the last part of verse three, there is a

promise.

He said, "Because it will surely come,

it will not tar." Now I want to I want

you to notice something. There's two

times there's a word used in verse three

and it's used opposite of each other.

Same word but two different meanings.

Verse three he says though it tar. Wait

for it. You see that middle of verse

three though it tight for it. God says

it may take a little while but wait on

it. But then the end of verse three he

said it will not tar.

Well that seems like a contradiction

doesn't it? God just said it may tar.

Wait on it. Don't worry though, it's not

going to terry. Well, what is it, God?

Is it either going to terry or is it not

going to terry? Here's what God's

saying. It It may take a little while on

your timetable, but it's going to be

right on time on my timetable. It may

seem late from your perspective. It may

seem like it's taken forever from your

perspective, but from my perspective, it

will come right on time.

It's been said that God is rarely early

and he's never late. Aren't you thankful

for that? God always shows up right on

time. Just wait on God. Keep praying.

Keep being faithful. Don't give up. This

isn't a reason to give up. No, no, no.

Remember, we're watching. We're

anticipating. We're in expecting. We're

being faithful. But we're not going to

rush God. Steps to revival. How do we

see revival? Well, we're watching for

God. We return to the word of God. We

wait on God. Number four, the fourth

step to revival is in verse number four.

We see the way to God.

And this is a a fascinating verse here

at verse number four. God speaking to

Habach.

Here's the keys, Habach. Here's what you

need to know. Verse four says, "Behold

that that is, look, his soul which is

lifted up is not upright in him, but the

just shall live by his faith." We hear

the last part of that verse quoted

often. We we quote it to one another. We

read it in the New Testament. We we we

love the last part of that verse, but we

probably, if we've ever heard it, it's

only been a handful of times that we've

ever noticed, if at all, the first part

of that verse, right?

Well, let's explain it. Let's talk about

it. In verse number four, there's a

contrast of two types of people.

There is in the first part of the verse,

there is the one who is full of pride.

And then the second part of the verse is

the one who is full of faith.

And they're a contrast.

They're put here beside of each other so

that we can clearly see who we are

supposed to be and who we are not

supposed to be.

We want revival. It only comes by being

full of faith, not pride. Let me explain

it to you. Pride is the only thing that

will separate you from God. Now, I know

obviously sin separates us from God, but

we're saved. This is Wednesday night.

We're Christians. We're saved.

As a Christian, sin I always boils down

from pride.

When we think about faith, what would

you say off the top of your head when I

say, "What is the opposite of faith?"

A couple of words probably pop into your

mind. One of them maybe unbelief. The

opposite of faith, unbelief. Or maybe

the we've heard this a lot over the last

five or six years. The opposite of faith

is fear, right? Well, those two are kind

of connected. I I want to submit to you.

I propose tonight that the opposite of

faith is actually pride.

Faith is completely trusting in someone

else to do what I can't do. I recognize

I can't do it. I understand I have no

ability. So, I completely trust in

someone else. Faith.

Pride says I can do it.

So, I'm going to trust in me.

Pride says, I've got this, so I'm going

to put my trust in what I am able to do

and not trust in anyone else. And so in

a in the sense of revival,

faith is coming to God saying, "God,

there's no way that any human, any

pastor, any church, any group of people,

any president, there is absolutely no

hope for America. There is no hope for

my family. There's no hope for my

community except

you.

So, I am coming before you in humility,

understanding I don't deserve you to

move on my behalf, but I'm asking and

I'm trusting and I'm just relying that

you will. I'm just going to live by

faith.

The alternative

is saying, "If we preach loud enough, if

we sing loud enough, I if if we can fill

this place up, if if we could come up

with some method, if I could if I could

just be more wellspoken, if God hadn't

given me this set of circumstances, and

we begin to list all of these things

that if it was different or if I can do

something, then God will send revival."

That's pride.

The way to God is to humble ourselves

and say, "I don't know how you're going

to do it, and I don't know when you're

going to do it, and I know I certainly

can't do it, but I'm going to believe

that God, you're going to show up.

I'm going to be on my watch. I'm going

to be faithful. I'm going to be in the

word of God. I'm going to be ready. I'm

going to be anticipating. I'm going to

be praying. I'm going to be seeking, but

but only because I'm expecting you to do

what I can't do. It has nothing to do

with you and I tonight. It has

everything to do with him tonight. If we

want to see revival in our church, in

our community, in our family,

it starts

with a little group of people who

recognize our own shortcomings

and say, "God, we could never do what

needs to be done,

but we are going to anticipate and

expect and believe

that you are going to do what only you

can do."

And that's how we want to conclude

tonight. What a what a fantastic four

verses. The way to revival. Four simple

steps towards revival.

We watch for God. Hey, he's going to

move. I don't know when. It may not even

be in my lifetime. I think about my

grandpa who pastored faithfully right

here on this same platform for over 20

years, praying and expecting and

anticipating a move of God.

And then he passed away and he went to

glory and he heard from God face to

face. Listen, I said the other night,

God heals all all Christians get healed

one way or another. God heals every one

of his children. Either he takes you

home and you get your glorified body or

he'll do a miracle and he'll heal you on

earth. But all Christians get healed.

He got to see Jesus face to face before

he saw God move in this little church.

It may not happen in my lifetime. We've

already seen God do some great things,

but I think there's more. I know there's

more that God wants to do. So, what do

we do? We just stay faithful and we keep

watching and we keep praying and we keep

preaching and we keep believing that God

is going to show up when he's ready to

show up.

Faith

and a faithful God. Here's what we're

going to do tonight. We're gonna find

somebody to pray with for just a few

moments and we're gonna tell God as

simple and as plain as we can. God, we

don't know how you're going to do it and

we don't know when you're going to do

it, but we know we can't.

So, we're asking you to move on behalf

of our family and our friends and our

community, our church. Would you please

show up as only you can? Would you pray

for just a few moments and then I'll

conclude our evening with a word of

prayer.