A Plain Vision for the Church and Coming Persecution - Brian Long — From the Pulpit & Classic Sermons

Welcome to From the Pulpit and Classic Sermons. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers too.

This week, we have Brian Long with a plan vision for the church and coming persecution.

So grateful to be here with you tonight, brothers and sisters. Thank you, Brother Frank, my dear brother. I have that testimony of Algerius written down. I'd actually written down his testimony at home and have it in my study.

It's ministered to me time and time again. The glory of Jesus in the dungeon. He found infinite sweetness in the bowels of the lion. I don't think I'll ever forget that expression. Very grateful to be here with you tonight.

Habakkuk’s Vision and the Certainty of Coming Judgment

I do have a burden on my heart that I'm convinced, absolutely persuaded is from the Lord. And I want you to turn with me to the book of Habakkuk, please. Habakkuk, and we'll begin in chapter two. My message is a plain vision for the church and coming persecution.

A plain vision for the church and coming persecution. Habakkuk chapter two. We'll begin in verse one. I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I'm corrected.

Then the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Now, the vision that the prophet Habakkuk saw was a burden from the Lord. You notice, if you would, in the first verse of chapter one.

The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw, his burden was a vision from the Lord. A vision that God said would surely come. It wasn't that it might come to pass. It wasn't that it could come to pass. He said, though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come.

Now, there are two parts to this vision that I want to share with you tonight. And then having shared the vision, to see how we are to run with it. Because that's what he says. Write down the vision, make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.

So, first of all, the vision. What was it that the prophet Habakkuk saw? What was it that God said would surely come? He first saw a vision of coming judgment. It was judgment that was sure to come from the hand of God to Judah.

According to the word of the Lord in chapter one, judgment was surely coming. And the way that God was going to send judgment wasn't exactly what the prophet Habakkuk had in mind or had expected God to answer him this way in his prayer.

He had been praying. Verse two, you can see that in chapter one, his prayer. He says, O Lord, how long shall I cry and You will not hear? Even cry out to You violence and You will not save? Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble?

For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife and contention arises. Therefore, the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.

Habakkuk is praying. He's interceding for God's people. And he's saying, how long? How long, Lord? How long will the iniquity, the perversion, the violence, the lawlessness, the injustice in this land continue?

How long will You show me all of this trouble in our nation and yet it seems like You're not doing anything about it? How long, Lord, will godly people pray for revival and yet there is no revival? He was crying out to God from an honest heart.

He was praying for God to stop the sin and the decay and to stop this dishonor and disgrace that was being brought to the name of God through God's people. And yet it seemed like God was not answering.

How long will godly people pray and there's no revival? And he's begging God to turn God's people back to Him in repentance. Brothers and sisters, how long have we prayed the same way? I know I'm not the only one.

How long have we prayed for revival? I remember the first conference that was held here. The burden that I came to Atlanta with. With such expectation that there was a revival conference and I knew some about sermon index, so I knew this is real revival we're talking about.

And fully expecting that after this conference we're going to see a great spiritual awakening. How long have we prayed for revival? And yet there is no revival. Granted, God has moved in little pockets around the nation.

He is moving. But I'm talking about spiritual awakening, the kind of revival that turns the whole tide of a nation, you know, a city or even a society. We've not seen that in this nation. We've not seen anything that compares to the great awakenings of the past nor of the great revivals like the Welsh revival or the Hebrides revival.

We prayed and yet God hasn't answered like we might have expected Him to. But I want to tell you tonight that God does answer. God has heard those prayers. God heard the prayer of Habakkuk and He answers.

Maybe not like Habakkuk expected Him to answer. Maybe not like we expected God to answer. But God speaks. And here's His answer in verse 5. God says, Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded.

For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. Now, that sounds amazing to me when God says, Be astounded, I'm going to work a work in your days that you would not even believe, though it were told you.

But the question is, what kind of work? And the next verse, the Lord says, For indeed, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

I'm going to work a work in your day. And here's the work. I'm raising up the Chaldeans. Who were they? Babylonians. These were not God-fearing people. These were enemies of God, enemy armies that God would sovereignly raise up and use as an instrument of His judgment to chasten His own people.

Now, can you believe it? Can you believe that God would do that? Maybe that's why God said, Be utterly astounded, for I will work a work in your day which you would not believe, though it were told you.

Keith Green said several years ago, When God wants to speak to His people, He will do it in three ways. First, He will touch their economy. He'll touch them where it hurts, in their economy. And if that doesn't work, if that doesn't turn God's people to repentance, then He said God will touch their ecology.

And then you have floods and pestilences and hurricanes, a drought this year that's covered a huge part of this nation, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis. Lastly, though, He said, God will raise up a nation to come in and invade them.

That is exactly the judgment that God is pronouncing here, and that is the judgment that is soon to come upon this nation and upon North America. God sovereignly raising up enemy armies to invade a nation, and America, this nation, believes she's too strong for that.

That her military force is too strong for that, that that can never happen. I want to tell you tonight that this nation sits on the brink of utter destruction. That she is ripe for the judgment of God.

She is ripe for the judgment of God. Judgment is at the door. America will not have a godly president to save the day, nor the nation. National leaders and politicians will become even more corrupt. Muslims and other anti-Christ groups will be God's instrument of judgment.

And what is most surprising of all, probably, is that this holy remnant, and she is found all over the earth, gathered in all different kinds of congregations, but this holy remnant that has seen the King, has come to know Jesus and is following Him wholeheartedly, she will be persecuted by a people who profess to be Christians.

Churches, if you will, persecuting them, because they're not pledging allegiance to patriotism or anything else, but the Lamb of God. And she will be arrested, we will be imprisoned, hated, beaten, and even executed in this nation.

And I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, when it happens, do not think that God's hands are tied. Don't think that this has taken God by surprise. God has actually executed the judgment however and whenever He chooses.

We need to see the sovereign hand of God behind it all. I love what the brother said earlier, the lions had to look up. God here raised up the Chaldeans. And God is the God who will allow even His people to suffer at the hands of enemies.

His hands are not tied. Judgment is surely coming. That is a hard message for some to embrace. Habakkuk himself is wrestling with this. He says in verse 12, Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?

We shall not die. We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?

Judgment was coming to Judah. Judgment is surely coming to North America. But I want to remind you again tonight that judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 17 says, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.

And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Habakkuk's question in verse 13 was, Why would God look on those who deal treacherously with His people?

Why would He hold His tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than He? It's true that the Chaldeans were more wicked than God's own people in Israel. But it's also true that Israel was sinning against much greater light.

Brothers and sisters, the Muslims aren't holding a Bible in their hand, but the prosperity preacher is. The Muslims aren't holding, the world's not holding a Bible in their hand, but I am. And when God's people sin against God, they're sinning against a much greater light than the world or any other religion has.

The angry atheist doesn't claim to preach Jesus Christ, nor do they rob from the people of God, but the wolf in the house of God does. The communist doesn't claim to know Christ, but hypocrites in the house of God do.

And God will not always strive with such mixture in His house. There is coming a shaking. There is coming a sure and definite judgment to the house of God. A shaking where everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

And it will bring about a holy separation from those who fear God and those who do not. Those who know Christ and those who do not. Those who have pledged their allegiance to Christ and those who haven't.

It is coming. It is coming to the house of God. God is merciful and He is so patient. He has shown me more mercy than anybody I know. I will never give up on the mercy of God. But I tell you this, He will not always strive with man.

Christ’s Headship and Judgment in the Church

And there is a judgment coming to the house of God. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And He must have the preeminence in all. It's His church. It's His body. It's His bride. And I tell you that any assembly where Jesus Christ is not truly the head is sliding rapidly to the judgment of God.

But here's where we've got to make the vision plain. We've got to make it personal. Do I honor Him as the head of the house? It's not enough for us to memorize scripture that says Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

It's not enough for us to know the Bible in our minds that says Jesus must have the preeminence. The issue is, do I honor Him as the head? Not enough to call Him King. Do you glorify Him as King? Do you obey Him as Lord?

Do I obey Him as Lord? There is hypocrisy in the house of God that comes under the judgment of God. We can preach, and before I could ever stand up here, God took me through weeks. Because I never want to preach something I'm not willing for God to do in and through me.

I've asked myself these questions that I'm posing to you tonight. How many of us listen to so many good messages? We even preach good biblical messages. But the issue is, not can we preach them. Not can we listen to many of them.

The issue is, do we live them? Are we the incarnation of these messages that we're receiving? There's more preaching today, good preaching, especially on Sermon Index. All these saints of the past, it's not an issue of how many sermons you listen to.

Do you live them? And listen, why do you call me Lord, Lord, Jesus said, and not do the things that I say? Why do you emphatically call me Lord and not obey me? To live this way is to build your house on shifting sand and to have it all fall down and blown away in the coming storm.

There is lukewarmness in the house of God. This attempt to serve two masters and it will come under the judgment of God is coming a day where people now are trying to combine allegiances. There will be a shaking.

Christ alone or Christ, not at all, the pride of leaders and pastors who love to have the preeminence will have the rug pulled out from under them very soon, except they repent. Secret sin in the house of God.

There's no fear of God and secret sin in the house of God is coming under the judgment of God. Judgment is surely coming upon the American dream message of your best life now. The word of faith movement, the prosperity gospel, which is another gospel preaching another Jesus, a false gospel that promotes the love of money, self-centeredness and pride.

And not only will God demand an account of the deception and dishonor that it has brought to his name in this nation, but he's especially going to demand an account of those who have piped it into nations all across the world and robbed the poor to line their own greedy pockets.

That is coming under the judgment of God. Every house of worship where the Holy Spirit has been rejected, resisted, ignored because we want to have church without him, it's coming under the judgment of God.

When the shaking comes, that house will shake and it will not stand. We cannot have church apart from the spirit of the living God. Yet he's been grieved, he's been resisted, he's been rejected. Listen to this scripture from Ezekiel 16, 49.

God says, now this was the sin of your sister Sodom. We think of homosexuality and perversion. God, that that was an abomination to God. God sent fire and brimstone on Sodom, but that was not the sin he even mentioned here.

These were the sins of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy. Arrogance, pride, overfed, we've been given so much and yet unconcerned while the poor and needy die outside the doors of the house of God.

Have we abandoned our mission, Church of Jesus Christ? Have we forgotten the great commission to go and preach the gospel to every creature? And it's twofold also to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded us.

Have we forgotten that? Have we forgotten what true religion is in the house of God? Caring for the orphans, the widows in their trouble, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, ministering to the poor, visiting those in prison and keeping yourself unspotted from the world.

I tell you, because we have neglected this, we have not taken it seriously. Judgment is coming to the house of God. It's sure to come, but even that judgment will be an expression of God's mercy and love.

The worst thing that could happen today is for God to allow Christendom to continue as she is without Him. And there is a clear distinction in First Peter, chapter four, that the Lord makes between the punishing judgment of God upon the unbeliever and the purifying judgment of God upon the believer.

The punishment that will be the judgment that will be punishment for one will be purifying for another. For one, it's punishment and utter destruction. But for the remnant, that shaking, that persecution.

Will be to test and try and refine his holy remnant, his beloved bride, his cherished church. Now, I want you to watch this because someone inevitably says a message of gloom and doom. It's not gloom and doom to me.

Gloom to me is for the church to continue as she is. Hypocrisy in the house of God, hypocrisy in my heart, that's gloom. This is not a message of gloom and doom, and this vision of judgment is not all that the prophet saw.

He did see judgment coming. He saw the suffering of God's people coming, but that's not all he saw. God says to the prophet Habakkuk, write down the vision and make it plain. Habakkuk, what do you see?

I see judgment that is sure to come. Persecution? Yes. Incredible suffering of God's people. Yes. A storm unlike we have ever experienced before. Yes. But that's not all I see. Chapter two, verse 14, surrounded by verse after verse after verse of coming judgment.

The Coming Glory and the Church as God’s Temple

There's this little nugget, like a nugget of gold hidden inside the side of a mountain. Habakkuk 2 .14, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

What do you see Habakkuk? Coming judgment. But wait, I see something else. I see a coming glory, a glory that is so great that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth even as the waters cover the sea.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. As the waters cover the sea. Now where do the waters not cover the sea? Seas make up the waters. In other words, there's no place on earth where the glory of the Lord will not be known.

Have you seen that, saints, through the eyes of faith? A coming glory, a latter glory that was greater than the former, that is the greatest display of God's glory that has ever been known in the history of the world.

A coming glory where the knowledge of that glory will cover the earth even as the waters cover the sea. Why? Because in the fires of persecution, the church gets purified. Yes, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but suffering for Christ and the sake of Christ always precedes glory.

Suffering for Jesus equals glory to Jesus. Paul the Apostle says in Romans 8, verse 16, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Suffering, glory. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Suffering with Jesus precedes the glory of Jesus and his glory will be revealed where?

According to Romans 8, in the heavens somewhere, among the stars, in some cathedral temple somewhere we have to go find that man made. No, where? In us. The glory of the Lord revealed in us how through suffering.

Through persecution, Habakkuk sees something else in verse 20 of chapter two. But the Lord is in his holy temple, he says. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him and the Lord beloved in his holy temple through his holy temple will display his glory and the knowledge of that glory will cover the earth even as the waters cover the sea.

You remember under the old covenant when God chose to reveal his glory in the days of Moses, he commanded Moses to build a tabernacle. Moses built the tabernacle just as God had told him to do and in that tabernacle in the holy of holies, the Shekinah glory of God would come down.

God's glory would rest among his people. God would visit his people in the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord displayed in the holy of holies and everybody who was there knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he is God.

The glory of the Lord. But that tabernacle one day was no more. And King David had a deep desire in his heart to build a house for the Lord, a temple for the most high God. And God honored that request in David, but he said, David, you're not going to build me the house.

Your son Solomon will build my temple. And King Solomon did build, he built an incredible, magnificent, beautiful temple for the Lord. And you remember what happened when Solomon finished dedicating the temple to God in prayer.

The glory of the Lord came down so much so that the priest could not even enter the temple, but down on their faces they went on the pavement and they worshiped God. And what did they say? For he is good and his mercy endures forever.

And that display of God's glory was greater than the former in the tabernacle. God manifested his presence, God displayed his glory, his glory came down and was revealed through the temple. But that beautiful, magnificent temple of Solomon's was also destroyed.

And God's people were taken captive for 70 years to Babylon. But God then raises up a remnant. God always has a remnant. And the remnant marched to Zion, back to Jerusalem to once again build a temple for the Lord at the command of the Lord.

They were few in number, but they were one in purpose, one in vision. They'd come to build the house of the Lord so that the Lord could visit his people. Another place for the glory of the Lord to rest, to come down among his people, that all may know that he is God.

And God said this, though that outward temple wasn't as spectacular as the previous temple, Solomon's temple. Yet God said, I will fill this temple with my glory and the latter glory will be greater than the former glory.

And what happened? Was it greater? It was greater because one day the son of God himself stepped down and he walked into that temple and he opened up the scriptures and he read. And Jesus Christ stood in the temple and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And John said, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God once again filled his house with glory. And that glory was much greater than any of the former glory, because this is the son of God himself, Jesus Christ.

Displaying, seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we beheld his glory. But our Lord went to the cross, died on the cross for our sins, was raised again on the third day, ascended into heaven. He's now seated at the right hand of the Father.

That temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A .D., not one stone found left upon another. And I still hear the spirit of the Lord say, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will build for me?

Where is the place of my rest? God longing to visit his people. Where is the place once again where God will display his glory? Habakkuk said, I see the Lord in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent.

And through that holy temple, the knowledge of his glory covers the earth, even as the waters cover the sea. But where is that temple? Stephen said in Acts chapter seven, the most high no longer dwells in temples made with human hands.

Where is that temple? And the answer resounds to the Apostle Paul, first Corinthians, chapter three, verse 16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him for the temple of God is holy.

Which temple you are. The prophet says, I see the Lord in his holy temple and the Apostle Paul says, yes, the temple of God is holy. And which temple you are. You see it, brothers and sisters, that's the vision.

The vision of God's coming glory is the coming of the greatest display of the glory of God ever in the history of the world. I want to tell you that this is the church's finest hour. I believe it with all of my heart.

We are living in incredible days. God Almighty wanting to display his glory once again to such a degree that glory will be greater than the former glory. It has to be if the knowledge of his glory covers the earth, even as the waters cover the sea.

And he wants to do it where? Through his church, through his body, through his temple, which is us. Coming judgment, yes. Coming persecution, yes. Suffering, yes. But a glory of God and to God that makes it all worth it.

I agree with the Apostle Paul, the sufferings of this present time are not even worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. There's the vision, but how do we run with it? He says, write the vision, make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.

Running the Race by Pursuing Christ

And in other words, do something with this vision. It demands a response, a practical response. Run with the vision. And someone who is running is either running away from something or they are running in pursuit of something.

And I want to say to you tonight to run with this vision is to run in pursuit, not of something, but someone. Hebrews chapter 12, if you turn there with me. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one, run with the vision, but how?

Run pursuing someone, therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance.

The race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

This is a pursuit, namely of Jesus Christ himself. You want to run with the vision, pursue Christ with all your heart, fix your eyes on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Let Jesus fill your vision, go after him, let him be your chief delight, your highest ambition, your most passionate pursuit, your greatest desire should be the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Otherwise, you're not running the race and you're not running with the vision. So make it plain, make it personal, how is it with you? What is your greatest passion? What's your most passionate pursuit?

What do you talk about the most? Who do you talk about the most? Jesus Christ or your Bible translation? Jesus Christ or your particular doctrine, theology, eschatology, Jesus Christ. Or your ministry, Jesus Christ or your gifts, Jesus Christ or your head covering, Jesus Christ or your children, your family.

Jesus Christ or your denomination, it can be a number of things, brothers and sisters, and they're not all bad, but nothing. Everything should pale in comparison of love for him, love for Christ, the pursuit of Christ.

I'll tell you this remnant that God is raising up that is scattered all over the earth. She has one thing in common to you who believe he is precious. Christ is precious. Hallelujah. First Corinthians chapter nine and verse twenty four.

Again, the Apostle Paul says. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize run in such a way that you may obtain it? In other words, run to win, run on purpose. The Apostle Paul ran with purpose, he says in verse twenty five, everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.

Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore, I run thus not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection.

Let's when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified. He ran on purpose and Paul was so concerned about coming to the end of his race and finding out that he had run it in vain. He was so adamant that he would not run this race in vain.

He would not be distracted from his purpose. He's running with the vision. His eyes are on Christ. He disciplined his body. He didn't let food and sleep and leisure and entertainment master him, nor distract him from this vision of Christ.

He wouldn't be distracted from what Christ had clearly called him to do. He wouldn't waste time. He wouldn't become spiritually lazy. I get embarrassed of myself when I'm talking about persecution. I'm reading Foxe Book of Martyrs and all of this.

And I see a spiritual laziness that I'm prone to areas of my life where I'm not dying now. There is a lot of spiritual laziness and undisciplined in the house of God. Are we running on purpose? Are we running to win with our eyes fixed on Christ?

He wouldn't stray from his purpose. And what was his purpose? Verse 23. Now, this I do for the gospel sake. That's my purpose. And he wouldn't stray from it. Paul was passionate and determined not to run in vain.

His purpose was the gospel. He wouldn't waste time. He took every open door, every opportunity that he had, everywhere the Spirit led him. He was sitting on ready. To preach the gospel, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

My son, Luke, the other day reminded me of a quote that he'd read by D .L. Moody. Moody said, I don't find anywhere where God says that the world is going to grow better and better. I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel and God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, Moody, save all you can.

And, you know, Moody didn't stray from that purpose. Brothers and sisters, you and I have a purpose and it has to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Are you running with it? The messenger who runs with the vision is a messenger who is running with good news.

Christ died for our sins. He rose from the dead. He lives and he's coming again. Repent and believe the gospel. That's the man, that's the woman, that's the child of God is running on purpose. They have not lost sight of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I want to ask you again, what are you doing with the news that has been placed in your hands? Are you running with the vision? Have you gotten away from the true gospel of Jesus Christ? He came to save souls, to seek and to save that which was lost.

The sins of Sodom again. I tell you, the poor needy were dying outside her doors and she was unconcerned. And any Christianity that doesn't carry the compassion of Christ for the lost. Is a dead religion, it's not true Christianity.

Get back to your calling, brothers and sisters, who are you praying for that's lost? Who are you reaching out to with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Who are you discipling? There is at least one person who is younger in the faith than you are that you can disciple.

If you know, if you do not know one, you need to pray for someone, lead them to Christ and disciple them. Get back to your purpose. Get back to your calling. What is God called you to do? Get back to it.

Don't stray from your purpose. Run on purpose. Why? Because one day, very soon, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and we will give an account to what we have done. In this body, did I run on purpose?

Pity the man, God forbid, you come to the end of the race, you see the glory of Jesus, you stand at the judgment seat of Christ and it suddenly revealed to you, you ran in vain. You wasted time. You went this way, that way, the other.

You didn't run on purpose when you run pursuing Christ, you run on purpose. That purpose is the gospel. Can I tell you another purpose that all of us, it's a God given purpose given to all of us who are believers, prayer.

Prayer as Preparation for Persecution

You run with this vision by prayer in everything by prayer. Listen carefully to a verse that the Spirit of God has arrested my heart with here recently, continues to bring it back to my remembrance. Seems like every day now.