Restoration and Revival

Order of Service

• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: Restoration and Revival

Scripture: Psalm 85

I. Past Restoration — Verses 1–3

A. The historical setting is likely Israel's return from Babylonian exile, prophesied in Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29, after 70 years of captivity

B. Under Nehemiah and Ezra, the walls and temple were rebuilt (538–515 BC), yet the post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) reveal spiritual complacency and lukewarmness among the returned people

C. Verse 2 uses the language of covering sin — the language of atonement

1. Covering/hiding sin before the face of a holy God brings atonement and reconciliation
2. This points to the Day of Atonement: the high priest sprinkling blood on the mercy seat

D. Verse 3 uses the language of withdrawing wrath — the language of propitiation

1. God's wrath is satisfied, poured out not on the sinner but on the substitutionary sacrifice
2. New covenant believers look back on the propitiation of Christ per Romans 3:23–25

E. Application: In times of spiritual depression or backsliding, look back on the finished work of Christ — the atonement and propitiation — as the incentive to be drawn out of spiritual darkness

II. Plea for Restoration — Verses 4–7

A. Having recalled God's past mercies, the psalmist cries out for God to restore his people again

B. The post-exilic era is characterized by a lukewarm, "going through the motions" religion — neither hot nor cold

1. The older priests wept when the rebuilt temple was dedicated, remembering Solomon's temple (Ezra 3:12)
2. There were moments of corporate confession alongside continued sin — marrying foreign women, pursuing idols

C. The psalmist is crying out for true spiritual revival among the covenant people of God

1. True revival begins within the church, not in tent meetings among unbelievers
2. The First Great Awakening under Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield began with lukewarmness within the church being confronted by powerful gospel preaching
3. At Enfield, Connecticut, it was church members who cried out "What must we do to be saved?" under Edwards's preaching of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
4. The Second Great Awakening under Charles Grandison Finney — the anxious bench, manipulative mechanisms — is contrasted as not true revival
5. True revival bleeds outward to unbelievers and the surrounding community only after it begins among the covenant people

III. Patient Restoration — Verses 8–9

A. Verse 8 — "Let me hear what God the Lord will speak" — is the language of patient waiting for God to answer the plea of verses 4–7

B. The book of Habakkuk is a helpful parallel

1. Habakkuk questions God's justice in sending wicked Babylon against Judah (Habakkuk 2:1)
2. He makes his complaint and then waits: "I will take my stand at my watchpost"
3. God's answer: "The righteous shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4)
4. Paul applies this to the gospel in Romans 1:16–17 — faith from beginning to end, looking back on Christ's propitiation and forward in anticipation of blessing

C. Verse 9 — "Let them not turn back to folly" — shows that faithful waiting and obedience go hand in hand

1. Like a soldier's fiancée who says "I will wait for you" — meaning faithfulness, not turning to another
2. Contrasted with those in Matthew 13 likened to rocky ground, who receive the gospel with joy but fall away under tribulation
3. We wait on the Lord in service and obedience, not turning our hearts to idols, even in times of spiritual depression

IV. Peaceful Restoration — Verses 10–13

A. These verses capture the Hebrew concept of shalom — all things in harmony together

B. Verse 10: Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other

C. Verse 11: Heaven and earth in harmony — faithfulness springs from the ground, righteousness looks down from the sky

1. This imagery may echo the reversal of the fall — the cursed ground now bearing the fruit of righteousness; the sky no longer raining judgment but peace

D. Verse 12: The fruitfulness of the land is tied to these spiritual realities — righteousness, faithfulness, steadfast love, and goodness all working in harmony

E. Application for new covenant believers in times of spiritual depression: read Revelation 21–22 — the new heavens and new earth — and allow a sanctified imagination to sink those realities deep into the heart

1. The future shalom must come to us in symbolic form because we cannot fully comprehend it
2. We are called to contemplate and meditate on that future day when nothing will be out of joint
3. We wait for that day in longing, faithful expectation