Let us turn—I am following the King James Version—to Habakkuk 3.
Habakkuk 3:1-2 is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet:
O Lord, I have heard Thy speech, and was afraid:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we praise You. We come before Your gracious throne, Lord. Though we may be present in our midst, Lord, help us to focus upon the Word, the meditation of Yourself. We seek the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Lord, I am an unworthy sinner before Your presence. Lord, sanctify me; sanctify us, that we may glorify Your name, praise You, and worship You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
So, in the midst of the years, the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet is that God would revive Thy work—renew Thy work in the midst of the years. So, we are seeking the newness of the Lord God as the years pass by.
Those who wait upon the Lord—in Isaiah 40:31—we see that they shall renew their strength. I like the words in the NLT translation: they soar high on wings as eagles. They will not grow faint. So, these words I like very much: the renewing of strength. When you wait upon the Lord, He will renew our strength, and we soar up high.
This is the renewal of our life.
Before we come to know the Lord, before we come into salvation, it would be very difficult to understand the Word of God—to know the Word of God. Unbelievers cannot understand the Word of God. The god of this world has blinded the minds of those unbelievers, so they have many questions and doubts in their minds.
The Sadducees one time came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they asked many questions about the resurrection—what happens after resurrection? Then the Lord Jesus Christ replied to them:
Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
So, they did not understand the Word of God. Even some of the disciples, in the beginning, did not understand the words spoken by Jesus Christ, and it was difficult for them to believe in Jesus Christ.
Even John the Baptist, one time, asked Jesus Christ, “Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?” Then Jesus Christ told him:
Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.
This was the situation for unbelievers before coming to know the Lord. When Jesus Christ was resurrected and appeared to the disciples for the first time, they were frightened. They were scared. They were afraid.
Then the Lord Jesus told them, “Why are your hearts troubled? Why do you have so many doubts?” Then He did one thing for the disciples. We see in Luke 24:45:
Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
This is the work of the Lord: He opened their minds. Today, we will focus on the opening work of the Lord among the disciples and the saints.
He opened the minds of the disciples so that they understood the scriptures. That is the first thing He did among the disciples. God’s Word is true. God’s Word is true. We have to believe God’s Word.
Jesus told us:
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
The grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth away, but God’s Word endureth forever. God’s Word is true. We must believe God’s Word.
God’s Word is light; it shows our path. God’s Word is a hammer; it softens us. God’s Word penetrates into our soul and spirit. God’s Word is milk; it nourishes us. God’s Word is honey; it gives sweetness to our tongue. God’s Word is food; it gives us strength. God’s Word is like water; it washes us.
Also, we know that in the beginning was the Word, correct? And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It did not stop there:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.
That was Jesus Christ. So, God’s Word and Jesus Christ are the same. They are inseparable. We cannot separate them.
“Search the scriptures,” He said. “You think you have eternal life in them. They testify of Me.” So, to understand the Word of God, the mind has to be opened up.
One man of God was travelling on a train. He was reading the Bible, and the man next to him saw this and asked him, “I don’t believe the Bible. It is not true.”
The man of God said, “Why?” Then the person told him, “How can a man be inside the belly of a fish?”
Then the man of God replied, “This is God’s Word. This is true. Even if it is written that the fish is inside the belly of the man, I will believe it.”
This is God’s Word. This is true. Neither you know the scriptures nor the power of God. We must believe God’s Word. Jesus opened the minds of the disciples.
The second thing: the God of Israel inhabits the praises of Israel, correct? So, praise is important. I will be jumping through the scriptures, but we are focusing on the opening work done by the Lord.
How do we praise God? What do we need to praise God? We need a mouth, right, to praise God.
In Luke 1:64, we see Zacharias. When the angel spoke to him about the birth of John the Baptist, he did not believe the word of the angel, the Word of God. Then the angel told him, “You will be dumb until you name your son.”
Luke 1:64 says:
And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
Zacharias, when his mouth was opened, started praising God. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me,” He said.
What is praise? It is the offering of sacrifice continually, which is the fruit of lips.
All creation is praising God. Sometimes we, as believers and children of God, do not find words to praise God. We may be disappointed. We do not feel like praising God, and we keep quiet in the presence of God.
But the Lord says:
Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Open thy mouth wide. He will give us the words to praise Him. We must praise God for the mighty works God has done.
This morning, a brother also spoke about Isaiah 6:1. The Lord was sitting upon the throne, a high and lofty throne. When Isaiah saw this vision, then he said:
Woe is me! for I am undone;
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
When he saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, he realized that he was undone and that his lips were unclean. Then one of the seraphim took a burning coal from the altar and brought it near to the lips of Isaiah. It touched the lips of Isaiah and told him, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
How do we know when our praises are acceptable to God? When our sins are purged, when our sins are forgiven, our praises are acceptable unto the Lord.
What is this altar? It is the cross of Jesus Christ, Calvary. Through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His blood, our sins are forgiven.
He is a faithful God. When we confess our sins, He is just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
When paint touches my hand, can water wash it? Is water able to wash my hands? No, water cannot wash it. It needs some oil, special oil. Back home in our country, they use kerosene oil, if you know that, or turpentine oil, to wash their hands. Paint will not go otherwise.
For sins, only one thing can wash: the blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing else. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash the stains of sin.
So, to praise God, our mouths have to be opened up. To understand the Word of God, our minds have to be opened up.
What do we mean by using our lips to praise God? What have we done before coming to the Lord? We confess that Jesus is Lord.
Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and that God hath raised Him from the dead, and you shall be saved. You shall be saved. Believe and confess—believe in the heart and confess.
These are the words of how we receive salvation. The first thing is to believe, to understand the Word of God, and then confess with our mouth. Then we shall be saved. Our mouth has to be opened up.
The third thing we see is the opening of the heart. So, we have seen two things opened up: our mind and our mouth.
Acts 16:14 says:
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened.
Here, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. She was a worshipper of God. What do we mean by the opening of the heart?
In Joel 2:13, the Lord says, “Rend your heart, and not your garments.” In Psalm 51:17, he says:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
The opening of the heart is a contrite heart, a broken spirit, a contrite heart. This is the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was moved with compassion when He saw the multitude suffering with hunger. He was moved with compassion. This is the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly.” “Take My yoke upon you,” the Lord Jesus Christ said.
Clearly, this morning, we heard a great thing: how the Lord humbled Himself. He was sitting upon the highest throne, a glorious God, and how He humbled Himself, coming to the cross of Calvary. The humility of God, Jesus Christ, we can never understand. That is a mystery. We cannot understand it with our mind.
So, this is the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ: the broken heart, the opening of the heart.
What comes out of a broken heart? Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it comes out as a new plant. It brings forth much fruit. The seed must go and fall into the ground and die. Then only it comes out as a plant, and a tree grows.
The cover of the seed should break. When it breaks, sprouts come out—the new life, the new thing. It is the newness of God. The shell should break. It shall die.
Also, in Bethany, in the house of Simon, the woman broke the alabaster box of ointment. When the alabaster bottle was broken, then the room was filled with fragrance, perfume.
What does this symbolize? Beautiful worship comes out of a broken heart.
From the broken heart, you see, a beautiful worship to the Lord comes out. This is the opening of the heart.
Watchman Nee, in his book The Release of the Spirit, explained about three parts of the human being: the outer part, the inner part, and the innermost part.
The outer part is the physical body. The inner part is where the soul lies. The innermost part is where the spirit lies. In order for the spirit to be released, the outer part and the inner part should break. Then the spirit comes out.
“The release of spirit touches the spirit,” he said.
When you worship, the spirit of worship is released from the broken heart. We all know God is Spirit. They that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
When the spirit is released, it touches the Spirit of the Lord. It joins together. It worships together. It communicates together.
When worship is happening in the house of the Lord, the house of the Lord and heaven are joined together. They both worship together. It joins with the Spirit of the Lord.
“This is the house of God, Bethel. This is none other than the gate of heaven.” The house of the Lord is the entrance to the gate of heaven.
Beautiful worship comes from the broken heart. Our heart must be opened up; our mind must be opened up to believe the Word of God; and our mouth must be opened to praise and confess that He is Lord. Thirdly, a broken heart is a contrite heart, and beautiful worship comes from the broken heart.
The fourth one: Mark 7:34.
And looking up to heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
And straightway his ears were opened.
The fourth thing: the Lord Jesus Christ opened the ears. Ephphatha: “Be opened.”
How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing—by hearing the Word of Christ, nothing else. You can hear many things, but you cannot get faith except by the Word of Christ. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” So, our ears must be opened up to hear the Word of God.
Back home in India, in a class, the teacher was teaching the lesson to the students. The teacher asked one student, “How far have we reached in the lesson?”
The student replied, “Everything went through; only the tail is left.”
When the teacher saw the student, he was looking at a lizard passing through the window. Everything had gone outside, but only the little tail was left. So, the student did not hear in the class.
What do you say? The body is present, but the mind is absent. Our mind is very fast. It can go anywhere very quickly, faster than the speed of light.
So, hearing the Word of God is important, and the ear must be opened up.
In Matthew 7:24, the Lord Jesus Christ says:
Whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them.
Hearing does not stand alone. Hearing and doing go together. Hearing and doing—both are together. If we hear and then do not do, it is not useful. Hear and do; both go together.
The Lord Jesus Christ says that whoever hears My words and does them is a wise man. They are like those who have built their houses upon the rock. So, hearing and doing go together.
Before coming out of our house, anybody will look in the mirror. They see whether they are okay or not; they look in the mirror, and then they come out.
Whenever we see any bad spot or something, we go closer to the mirror and observe it. “What is it? Is there a bad thing on my face?” Can a mirror wash our face? A mirror cannot wash our face.
But God’s Word does. It shows us our original face, our original condition, and it also cleanses us.
Can anybody see a bad spot on his face in the mirror and walk away like that without washing his face? It is not good. Whenever we see something bad, we want to wash it, correct? Clean it, and then we go out.
So, hearing God’s Word and correcting ourselves is important. God’s Word is useful for instruction, for conviction, and for correction.
Applying what we hear from God’s Word is obedience. Correcting ourselves and walking with the Lord is following God. It is discipleship.
Discipleship is how you follow the Lord. Hearing and correcting, hearing and following the Word of God, is discipleship.
“I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.” So, this is the opening of the ear.
In the last verse of the same chapter, Mark 7:37, all the people were astonished beyond measure by the work of Jesus Christ, and they said:
He hath done all things well:
He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
He hath done all things well—our Lord Jesus Christ.
These are the steps we see. First, believe the Word of God and understand His Word. Confess with our mouth that He is Lord. Worship in truth and spirit. Then follow the Lord in discipleship.
Then the last thing is the opening of our eyes—the spiritual eyes.
Jonah was inside the fish’s belly, and he was praying to God. In Jonah 2:4, he says:
Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight;
Yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple.
He was looking toward the holy temple, and he was praying from inside the fish’s belly. Normally, how do we pray? We close our eyes and pray to God.
Jonah was cast away, far away, inside the fish’s belly, and he was praying. Maybe he was closing his eyes; we do not know. But he says, “I am looking toward Thy holy temple.” How could he see the holy temple from so far away? Through his spiritual eyes.
He was looking at God’s temple through his spiritual eyes. So, to see the things of God, our spiritual eyes have to be opened up.
When the Syrian army came to take away Elisha, his servant came out early in the morning from the house and saw that the Syrian army had surrounded them. He was afraid and went back inside the house and told Elisha, “What shall we do now? The Syrian army has surrounded us.”
Then Elisha said, “Fear not. They that are with us are more than they that are with them.”
How could Elisha see the things of God, but not his servant? Then Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Lord, open the eyes of my servant.” Was his servant blind? The servant was not blind. But still Elisha prayed, “Open the eyes of my servant.”
Then the Lord opened his eyes. Now he saw, upon the top of the mountain, the Lord’s army, full of horses and chariots of fire.
Elisha could see the protection of the Lord through his spiritual eyes, but his servant could not. To see the protection of the Lord, our spiritual eyes must be opened up.
When Jesus Christ was crucified, He died on the cross of Calvary. He was buried and resurrected also, but still the disciples were not in a situation to understand the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had many doubts and many fears in their hearts. They were disappointed. Actually, they thought the Lord Jesus Christ would go to Jerusalem and establish His kingdom. But He died on the cross of Calvary, and the disciples were disappointed.
They were talking about the death and burial of Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus. They were saying, “Our women went to the tomb. They saw that the tomb was opened. They saw the angels. The angels told them that the Lord was risen, but we do not see His body.” They had many questions in their minds.
When Jesus Christ heard these things, He drew near to them, and He expounded the scriptures. “Do you not know that Christ must suffer like this and enter into His glory?” He expounded the scriptures from Moses and all the prophets. He spoke with them.
Then He broke the bread. Then their eyes were opened. Then they saw the Lord. Then they knew Him. They saw the resurrected Lord when their spiritual eyes were opened—the living Lord.
Before, they were talking about the dead God. God was dead, not raised. They had many questions. They had no hope. It was a hopeless situation.
Now, when their eyes were opened, they saw the resurrected Jesus Christ. Now they had hope—the hope of resurrection.
For any man to live on this earth, he needs hope. Without hope, I do not know how you can live. In a hopeless situation, by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has given us this living hope. He has given us the glorious hope. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the glory of hope.
Paul says, “I want to know this resurrection. I want to take part in His sufferings. I want to take part in His death. I want to take part in His resurrection also. I want to attain the power of resurrection.”
In Ephesians, Paul prays that your spiritual eyes may be opened and enlightened, that you may know the power of the resurrection of God. It is very, very important to know the power of resurrection.
So, our spiritual eyes must be opened to see the things of God and the resurrection of God. Looking unto Jesus—looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of faith.
He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Looking unto Jesus—this is very important, to know the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You know the sunflower. The sunflower turns towards the sun. Wherever the sun goes, it turns toward it. It is called heliotropism.
When it sees the sun, it gets all nutrients and energy. When the sun is not there, it goes down. The flower goes down, and it resets itself for the rising of the sun the next day. It is ready for the next day to receive the power of sunlight.
The sunflower turns toward the sun. Our Lord is compared to the sun. Psalm 84:11 says that the Lord is a sun and shield. Malachi 4:2 says that He is the Sun of righteousness.
So, where should our eyes be? Looking unto Jesus, toward Him.
When Elijah was to be taken up into heaven, Elisha, his servant, was following him. He followed from Gilgal. Elijah said, “Wait here, pray for me.” But Elisha said, “No, I will come with you.”
Then he went to Bethel. There also he told the same thing. Then he went to Jericho, and then he went to Jordan.
What do we mean by Gilgal? Gilgal is where the shame is rolled away. Gilgal is called salvation—you receive salvation. Then he went to Bethel. Bethel is called the house of God; it is fellowship with God. You have fellowship with God.
Then comes Jericho: faith, victory over the world. Then comes Jordan: death. He followed Elijah from salvation to death.
When they crossed the River Jordan, Elijah was taken up into heaven. There was a whirlwind surrounding him, and horses of fire and chariots of fire taking him up into heaven.
What was Elisha seeing? Did he see the whirlwind surrounding Elijah? Did he see the horses of fire taking him up? Did he see the chariots of fire? No. He was seeing only Elijah.
He was only seeing Elijah. He was not distracted by any of the other things—not distracted by the whirlwind, not distracted by the horses of fire, not by the chariots of fire.
What did Elisha receive when he saw Elijah being taken up into heaven? He received a double portion of his spirit. A double portion.
This is what he learned: looking unto Jesus. Our Jesus is the heavenly Elijah. Our eyes must be fixed unto Jesus Christ, who is the Author and Finisher of faith.
So, we have this opening work of the Lord: the opening of our mind to understand and believe the scriptures; the opening of our mouth to praise Him and confess that He is Lord; the opening of our heart to worship Him and have a contrite heart; the opening of our ears to hear and do the things of God, following Him as a disciple; and the opening of our spiritual eyes to see the resurrected Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, we praise You. We thank You for this time You have given to us. We honor You and worship You, Lord, as our Savior, Master, and Lord. Lord, help us to focus and see You, Lord, looking unto Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of faith. Sanctify this Word. Bless this Word. In Jesus’ precious name, I pray. Amen.