When We Need Revival: Longing for Righteousness — Ronald Glass

Thank you Kevin for that beautiful offertory. I was gorgeous really blessed with a good voice, isn't he? Psalm 119 once again Psalm 119 as we return to our series of studies in biblical Revival. Psalm 119 and our text today is verse 40.

Longing for God's Precepts and Righteousness

I'm also going to be referring to verse 88 verse 40 reads this way Behold, I long for your precepts revive me through your Righteousness. And then verse 88 which reads revive me according to your loving-kindness.

So that I may keep the testimony of your mouth. Well this week our kids went back to school. Now imagine this first day of school. Kids all come into the classroom and one bright little guy comes up to the desk and says hey miss miss Smith.

I Am so Motivated to learn this year. I want you to teach me everything. You know, and I'm going to work until I learn it. Well, miss Smith would probably have a heart attack. She would probably think she died and gone to teacher heaven, right?

Since when do students do that kind of thing so eager to learn? That they want the teacher to impart everything that he or she knows. Why is it that parents spend large sums of money for well, for example Their sons to send them to a baseball clinic.

What's wrong with just the kid picking up a bat and ball and going out in the backyard. And throwing and hitting the ball or playing with his friends somewhere or even playing on Little League team. Why do you got to go to a clinic?

To and pay a lot of money to hear somebody teach you how to do it. Well, the point is just that that they want to learn everything they can from the professional that guy's been there. He's done it. He's an accomplished and skillful Practitioner of the sport and therefore they want to know everything.

They can learn everything they can so that they can be a good ballplayer. Well, it's something of this dynamic that we see in the author of the hundred and nineteenth Psalm. We don't know if it was David many think it was.

I think that's a good guess. But we don't know for sure the author of some Psalm 119 seems to have had this preoccupation. And this desire when it came to the subject of living righteously now. That term as you probably realize is a word that is not found in our modern culture's Vocabulary, you don't hear very many people talk about righteousness about living righteously.

But that is what we are going to be seeing today now so far in our series on biblical revival. We have learned what revival is. We have seen that revival is God supernaturally intervening into the affairs of man and especially into the affairs of his church.

It is Christ once again sending his spirit to breathe a fresh Dispensation of power upon the church. It is God Awakening his sleeping people. It is God bringing his abnormal people into a normal Christian walk once again.

We have studied examples of revival in Israel's history as we see it in the Old Testament. Throughout these studies we have referenced anecdotes and insights from some of the great revivals in the history of the church.

How Revival Comes

Well, then we've asked the question. How does revival come? We have three answers to that question. Looking at the Great Awakening in the city of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah. We saw that revival comes by the sovereignty of God looking at the At the Story of Jacob as he wrestled there at the brook with the angel of the Lord with God himself.

We saw that the second answer of how revival comes is in response to the desperation of the Saints when God's people get very Urgent to the point that they will say we will not let you go until you bless us.

And thirdly by the power of the Spirit by the same kind of power That anointed the church in its birth there on the day of Pentecost. So now we are asking the question When do we need revival? How do we know that we need revival now?

Revival in Psalm 119

There are multiple answers, but this is this is a question that the writer of Psalm 119 Answers as I pointed out to you last time. It is true that the 119th Psalm is Distinguished as the great passage in Scripture on The scriptures its theme in virtually every verse is the Word of God.

However throughout the 119th Psalm there is a sub theme a secondary theme and that theme is Revival. It appears over and over again and we're looking at a few of those passages in our study. So today we arrive at the third of these and the first one We saw that the answer to the question When do we need revival? was We need it when we are experiencing barrenness of soul when our spiritual lives go into decline and the request of the psalmist was Revive me according to your word.

We saw in the second place that when we find ourselves addicted to sin. We know we need revival and the prayer was revive me in your ways. Now this third time the psalmist pleads revive me he does so out of a resolute desire To live a life of integrity that pleases God a life of righteousness.

Now there's a New Testament verse that I think we all ought to keep in mind Day in our day-to-day lives a good verse to memorize Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 which says this pursue peace with all men and The sanctification or the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

Now this tells us that righteousness or holiness. Sanctification is an indispensable part of the Christian life. If you are not living a righteous life if you are not striving to live a righteous life.

Then you can ask the question am I ever really going to see the Lord because if I'm not pursuing that Then there's something wrong with my Christianity. But today I would suggest to you that the majority of Christians are lukewarm when it comes to the matter of righteousness.

Righteousness Against Moral Relativism

Why is that? Well, it's because we have been profoundly influenced by the lies of moral and ethical relativism. That's what absolutely saturates our society today our convictions about right and wrong have been Softened as our culture tells us that you can't say anything is right or wrong that it might be right for you but it might be wrong for me and So that whole concept of truth and error and right and wrong.

It has been lost and so today even many Christians tolerate what God hates. Too often we are like those Israelites in the days of the judges we are doing what is right in our own eyes. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinions.

No one has the right to impose their preconceived morality on anyone else. God's Word however tells us something very different you say. Well, what about this whole matter of righteousness? Yeah, I was interested as I was reading in our insert today what in the world insert that first one the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church called the Evangelical notion that individuals can be right with God a great Western heresy.

Bishop Catherine Jeffords scurry told leaders of the Episcopal Church that there's a great Western heredity that heresy that we can be saved as Individuals and that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God she said.

This is a heretical and Individualistic understanding which has led people to neglect the environment and contribute contributed to the global recession. Well, I have news for her I still believe in the Word of God which says that there is a way that pleases God.

There is a way that displeases him. There is such a thing as being in a right relationship with God and we call it righteousness now that's what the Word of God tells us and here is the anchor to all of this verse 89 of this psalm, which says Forever.

Oh Lord. Your word is settled in heaven. That's why I don't I don't even blink when I read something like this garbage that I just read to you. Because God's Word is settled. It will not change not ever not from the day.

The first word was penned by Moses to the day in which it was completed. It it still stands in heaven forever. Oh Lord. Your word is established and therefore We can use it as our authority as we study it together.

Now the truth is that you and I know how we're supposed to live. We know that we are to live righteously according to God's Word. We want to do so. The problem is that we so often fail. And that's why we should feel a continual need for personal revival or a longing for Righteousness, which is the way in which the psalmist here in the 119 psalm puts it.

Passion for Revival and Obedience

Let me ask you three questions to bring this subject in to focus and I hope that you will that this will resonate with you and that you will go out of here today with this prayer of the Psalmist on your heart behold.

He said I long for your precepts revive me through your righteousness. Let me ask you the first question. Do you have a passion for revival and I'm looking now at the first part of this verse and if you do if you have a passion for God's The the life of God to flow in a fresh and more powerful way through your life.

You will recognize it in two ways and this is very interesting. Look at the first part of this verse behold. I long for your precepts. Two ways that you will recognize this passion one you will be driven by what I am calling a volitional commitment to obeying God a Volitional.

When we speak of volitional we are talking about the will. We are talking about the the desire Of a person to act in order to obey God. Now the writer begins with the word behold. It doesn't use that much in this song.

But in this verse he begins with behold. Behold is a word which says look here. He's looking into the face of God and saying God pay attention to me. Listen to what I have to say. I Long for your precepts.

Now I want to look at those two words long for for just a moment. They translate a rarely used word in the original text now. Words mean something in Scripture the Spirit of God did not Inspire the holy writers arbitrarily he superintended every word that was written in the text and here it is a rather rare word in the Hebrew language.

It derives from a verb which carries the nuance the meaning of being willing or Consenting to do something under Obligation to be willing to do something at the request of another person. It means wanting to act against Natural inclination.

Let me go back to the student in school. Analogy what about that young man or young woman that? Has enough foresight for their life to say I'm going to take my studies seriously and So they set goals.

They say I want to be on the principal's list. I want to be Valedictorian. I want to go to a Good college. I therefore want high scores on my College boards, and I am going to do everything I can to achieve it and so day after day.

Throughout his or her academic career he or she Applies themselves to the work that is assigned them. They sit down every night, and they pour over the books and they Study hard. They go beyond Maybe just the simple assignments.

They do extra reading. They do they take advanced placement courses Working hard in order to achieve now. Here's the question. I would ask is that natural. No that's not natural. Most young people in that situation would rather be sitting and watching television or would rather be out with their friends Socializing somewhere or involved in some kind of sport or other extracurricular activity but rather than doing any of those things that are pleasant those things that are pleasing to them or that are gratifying to the flesh.

They have defied what is comfortable and defied what is pleasant and applied themselves to doing their assignments. Now that's the picture that we have here in this word long for it is wanting to act.

Against natural inclination it is saying I will do what somebody else has told me to do. I will do my assignments. Even though it may not feel Particularly good even though I may Really rather be doing something else.

The psalmist therefore recognizes that his desire is not natural and Neither is yours or mine. You see we have a natural inclination to follow the dictates of our flesh we have a natural inclination in our souls to disobey God to live for self.

It's just the way we're made we're sinners and So our natural inclination is to reject God's Word then God comes along and says Here's what I want you to do. We read it in this book. Here's how you are to obey me.

We say that chafes against the flesh, I don't really like that very much. But if you are a righteous believer if you are living The power of the Spirit of God you will say Lord. I don't want to do it.

But I will because you tell me I Don't want to get up in the morning and read the Word of God. But I'll do it Lord because that's what you've told me to do. I don't want to pray, but I'll do it. Because that's what you told me.

I don't want a witness to that person at work and that other person at school or my neighbor. But Lord you want me to do that and so I will do it. Now because we don't naturally want to do these things and because the flesh is warring against us.

That's why we appeal to the Lord for personal revival, that's why he is praying behold I long for your precepts. Lord pay attention to me here. I Want to do what is normally repulsive to me? I want to obey you even though it's not the natural inclination of my heart.

So you will be driven by this volitional commitment. If you are a Christian today wanting to live a righteous life in the power of the Spirit of God. You have to be willing to do some things you don't naturally want to do.

Christianity is not always comfortable. You have to realize that that's just a given. Accept it and live on it. But now there's another part of this and that is the word precepts. You will be driven by a volitional commitment to obeying God, but you will also be driven by a biblical commitment to obeying God.

I long for your precepts. That which controls the psalmist's desires is God's Precepts now this too and this is interesting to me as I study this this word is also a fairly rare word in The Old Testament the writer has used two rather Uncommon words.

The root meaning of the word precepts is that which is appointed or entrusted it means orders or directions or Assignments, it's not just your word. But it is what you have assigned to me what you have directed me the directions that you have put in front of me.

All right, let me paraphrase this first line then and it would go something like this Lord Pay attention to me. I Want to do your assignments because even though it's not always much fun. It pleases you.

That's what he's saying the precepts the commandments the assignments of God were his Passion verse 45. I will walk at Liberty. I will seek your precepts come over to verses 93 and 94 for a moment. I will never forget your precepts your assignments your Directions to me for by them you have revived me.

I am your save me for I have sought your precepts your assignments your directions. You know how in school we used to take out that little assignment book and write our assignments down. Maybe we need to do that when it comes to living the Christian life Lord.

What are your assignments? That's why many people journal as they read God's Word. They write them down. This is what God wants for me today. This is what God would have me to do these precepts these Commandments these assignments or directions are of no value if they're not studied if they're not understood and that's the psalmist desire.

If you look at this entire section of eight verses beginning in verse 33 Concluding with verse 40 you will see that that is the burden of this section you are committed to keeping God's Word For all your life teach me.

Oh Lord the way of your statutes verse 33 and I shall observe it to the end. Give me Understanding that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart by the way. That's why I'm interested in teaching the bit the principles of biblical Interpretation so that any of those who study this with us here this year Will not just know they not just have understanding but also that they will keep it with all their heart.

That's the passion. It's a determination to persevere to the end and Through good times and bad notice. I shall observe it to the end unreserved obedience. To the end even when times get tough even when I'm tempted to say I don't want this any more.

What has Christianity ever done for me? There will be times when you will be tempted to question God. When you will be tempted to question his providence how he has worked in your life and when you are remember this Passage teach me.

Oh Lord the way of your statutes and I shall observe it to the end. Committed to keeping God's Word for all your life. And then in addition you're committed to keeping God's Word with all your mind. Verse 34 Give me understanding that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.

I've often remarked to you that that word heart Tends to focus on what we call the mind in the Hebrew thinking heart was the place where thoughts happened where thinking took place and So what he is saying here is that there are no Reservations because we're so easily distracted.

This might be the most difficult part of obedience. It is Not being distracted it is being focused just like the student who's so focused on doing the schoolwork. You discover that in this process of learning the statutes of gaining Understanding of keeping it with your heart Certain things happen.

There is a joy in obedience verse 35. Make me walk in the path of your commandments for I delight in it you become Satisfied there's a joy in obeying God. Not only that you refuse Dishonesty sin is something that you turn away from verse 36 incline my heart to your testimonies and not to dishonest gain.

I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to To steal. I am NOT in any way going to be dishonest. We looked at verse 37 last time you would reject immorality. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me in your ways.

You're committed to honoring the Lord which becomes apparent in your reverence for him. Verse 38. Establish your word to your servant is that which produces reverence for you? This reverence by the way is an accurate barometer of the true condition of our souls.

You find those who profess to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but who are Irreverent in their attitudes. You have a real reason to question that. Now the conclusion of all of this is that you cannot say that you long for the Lord's precepts that you are willing to obey the Lord's Assignments if you neglect the means for Understanding them.

It's why it's so important to stay in the Word of God to study it and understand it and to Hear it taught and hear it preached. It's why you should be in Sunday school every Lord's Day 945 and here in church on a regular basis hearing the Word of God during the week listening to Christian radio and studying your Bible.

The Process of Revival Through Righteousness

So the first question is do you have a passion for revival? Now the second is this do you know the process of revival the latter part of verse 40? Revive me through your righteousness. Through actually is the same word that we had verse 37 in in your ways.

But I think the word through here captures the essence of what he's saying. Last year, I went Underwent heart surgery now. I had to. I was at the point of Having risking a heart attack. But I got I gained in a sense new life.

How did I do it only by going through the surgery? I had to have My arteries repaired. I had to go through the surgery. Or to think of it in another way if you are going from Long Island to Pennsylvania generally you have to go through New Jersey.

You don't get there without going through New Jersey or let me put it this way. Going back to our school analogy in order to graduate you have to go through Several years of coursework. In other words in all of these examples.

There is something that has to happen in the intermediate phase in order to get to the end result now that's what David is saying revive me through your righteousness and This righteousness is a very rich concept in Scripture.

I want to share it with you this morning first of all. You need to grasp God's revealed righteousness. What is God's revealed righteousness? This is revelation and it is contained in the Word of God. When we talk about righteousness We have no other source to look to than the Word of God.

Let me remind you of what David said concerning Scripture in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 Verses 8 and 9 he says the precepts. Here's that word again of the Lord are right. The precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous all together. When we come to the New Testament you remember those words that we quoted so often in our series on Romans.

Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Where is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek or the Gentile. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.

It is in Scripture that we have the full range of God's righteous nature and his righteous works. We learn who God is. We learn what God does. We learn who we are. We learn what God expects from us. Scripture reveals to us the way in which we can access the righteousness of God and live righteously in the world.

That is therefore our standard of righteousness. Let me just say to you that you will never be revived in God's righteousness without saturating yourself with the Bible. It is the instruction book. Go back to our school analogy.

The student walks into chemistry class and says teacher I really have to tell you I am NOT the least interested in atomic theory. I don't care about balancing Equations and frankly the periodic table is irrelevant.

Get me to the lab. I love pouring stuff and doing things in the lab. The teacher is going to say you got to be crazy. You can injure yourself. You could blow the place up if you don't know what you're doing.

You've got to study the book first. How would you like it? Would you like to go to a doctor's office and have that doctor walk in to the exam room to? Look at you when you come to find out that the doctor never studied anatomy.

Physiology microbiology doesn't know anything. Well, I think he would say you ought to go to school first, right. Or the guy hit the young man or young woman. Who's it who? Says I have a passion to be a lawyer.

I just love to argue cases. I want to get into court and argue. Well, you got to go to law school first. You got to hit the books. You got to study case law. You got to put all this stuff in your head first.

No. No, I'm not interested in that. I just want to go into court and argue. Well, you see the ridiculousness of all of this. The fact is if you're going to do something right you have to do the study.

You have to put the time in. It's the same thing with the righteousness of God that he has put it in a book and this is here for our study. This is how you access the righteousness of God. You cannot master a skill without studying the fundamentals.

But a lot of us Christians try to do that we say we want to be good Christians. We want to live a godly life. Yes, but we're not really applying ourselves to the Word of God. So the first step therefore with regard to the righteousness of God is Understand it understand it and it comes through the revealed righteousness of God.

Imputed Righteousness Through Christ

Secondly gain Christ's imputed righteousness. This is the righteousness of God. Which is credited to your account through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ now. We went through this in great detail in our study in Romans, and I don't have time to go into all of it here.

But let me remind you that we all begin with a horrible deficit in our account. We are debtors and we will never be able to pay our debt to God because of our sin. However, God has made a way for us to balance the account and that way is the Imputed righteousness of Christ that is righteousness that is posted to our account in our ledger book.

The Righteousness of God is put there in order to eliminate the the debt that we owe and that we cannot pay. For this we go back again to the third chapter of Romans. We read it earlier in our service.

But let me take you back there for a moment again to verses 21 to 26. Now every human being is lost. Hopelessly lost apart from God's saving grace. Verse 21 now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested.

Being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. Apart from God's saving grace. We are hopelessly lost chapter 3 verse 10 of Romans.

There is none righteous not even one. You understand that none righteous not you. You may think you're pretty good. You're not you are lost. You are hopelessly unrighteous in the eyes of God. How bad.

Well Romans chapter 1 verse 18 talks about it. It says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and notice the word unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

The problem with simple human beings is we hear the truth. We even know the truth and yet we suppress it. We say no, I don't want that. No Truth like that for me. I don't want to live that way. And so we are all Rebels against God that's our debt now all of the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the Lamb of God.

That's what Romans 321 tells us apart from the law. The righteousness of God has been manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets under the Old Testament Way of doing things those innocent animal sacrifices pointed ahead to the innocent sacrifice.

That we call today the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus Christ. God Demonstrated his righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ 2 ,000 years ago. He came to this world He the Son of God Died on the cross in order that we might be able to access the righteousness of God to our own personal lives and we act we access that righteousness through faith notice that's what it says in verse 22 of Romans 3 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

Now the result of faith of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ of accepting his gift of grace is What is called? Justification what is justification? It is a judicial act in which God declares us acquitted of sin and Righteous in his sight.

How does that happen verses 24 to 26? We are justified declared righteous as a gift not that we've earned it or that we deserve it. But as a gift through grace by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation that is as a an intervention in through in his blood through faith.

He stepped in between the wrath of God and our sin. This was to demonstrate his Righteousness, there's that word again because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed for the demonstration I say of his what? Righteousness at the present time so that he would be just or righteous and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Now, there's so much that needs to be said there that I can't say at this point but what I do want to point out to you is that God has given us the gift of the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

His blood shed in our behalf turning away the wrath of God if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ God then at his heavenly bar of justice Declares us to be acquitted. We are innocent. We no longer are Our unrighteous in his sight now that's summed up in that great verse in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21.

For he has made him the Lord Jesus to be sin in our behalf he who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So the first step is in this matter of righteousness is grant to grasp God's revealed Righteousness as we see it in his word.

The second is to accept it. That is to gain Christ's imputed righteousness, which leads then to the third step which is to grow in Your acquired righteousness this act of receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is only the beginning.

We are saved from sin. We are justified. But there then begins a process that we call sanctification in which we become more and more Like Jesus Christ the practical righteousness that we pursue as we grow in grace.

Remember in Romans chapter 1 verse 17. It is in the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith. That is the faith when which we receive The saving grace of God to faith the faith by which we live as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith.

Righteousness is a matter of Daily life in the life of a Christian. It's not something you can just leave it leave. For the day in which you receive Christ as Savior. 1st John chapter 2 verse 29. You know, if you know that he is righteous that Christ is righteous.

You know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of him. What is the mark of a Christian the mark of a Christian is a person who practices? Righteousness based on what well again, we come back to the Word of God.

2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 tells us that all scripture is God breathed and Profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in Righteousness, so we come back to the Word of God.

We read it we study it and then we are enabled to do what Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy or in 1st Timothy chapter 6 and verse 11. He says flee from these things you man of God. Pursue righteousness.

Godliness faith love perseverance gentleness. See those are the characteristics that mark out a Christian. Good righteousness godliness faith love perseverance Gentleness, those are the things that mark out a Christian how should a Christian live.

2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 22 flee from youthful lusts and pursue Righteousness, that's what we ought to be doing. Let me give you an example from the New Testament. James chapter 1 verse 20 Tells us in very simple terms that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

If we if we get angry and we sin in our anger that is not Righteous that is not doing what God wants us to do therefore all of our lives because our lives become patterns of Growing in righteousness becoming more and more holy more and more pleasing to God so The question that I've asked here.

Do you know the process of? Revival revive me through your righteousness this revival comes through righteousness. This is the pathway to revival grasping God's revealed righteousness. Understanding this book and what it teaches to gaining Christ's imputed righteousness accepting what he has done in Jesus Christ and being justified by faith.

Thirdly growing and you're acquired righteousness as we live daily being sanctified by him. All right. Now let me quickly come to the third question and for this I go to the 88th verse here in Psalm 119.

The Promises of Revival

And do you expect the promises of? Revival verse 88 revive me according to your loving-kindness so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth. Now this is another word that I have mentioned many times before but that word loving-kindness is a word which refers to God's covenant faithfulness.