======================================================================== RESTORING THE ANCIENT FOUNDATIONS by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of restoring the ancient foundations of the church, focusing on rebuilding what has been lost, raising up the solid doctrinal foundations of past generations, repairing the breaches in the walls of the church, and restoring the paths of righteousness to dwell in. The preacher calls for a return to the narrow gate, the real gospel, and a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, urging believers to stand firm in the truth and live holy lives. Topics: "Restoration of Faith", "Return to Righteousness" Scripture References: Isaiah 58:12, Matthew 7:13, Jeremiah 6:16, Nehemiah 6:15, Jeremiah 18:15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of restoring the ancient foundations of the church, focusing on rebuilding what has been lost, raising up the solid doctrinal foundations of past generations, repairing the breaches in the walls of the church, and restoring the paths of righteousness to dwell in. The preacher calls for a return to the narrow gate, the real gospel, and a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, urging believers to stand firm in the truth and live holy lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want you to turn in your Bibles here this morning to Isaiah chapter 58 and I'm going to read one verse here this morning. Isaiah 58 and verse 12. I have never preached on this verse but it is a dynamic, powerful verse. Certain verses in the Bible don't just contain a bit of information but they contain a principle, a dynamic truth that flows through the entirety of Scripture. If you learn that Scripture, it's more than a statement or just adding to other teachings or adding to a chapter. An entire verse can contain entire principles of the character of God, entire doctrines. In fact, in that one Scripture, you can have the history of God's dealings with God's people. I believe Isaiah 58 verse 12 is such a Scripture. It is not a small Scripture, a confined Scripture. But in that one verse, if you learn the principle of that verse, it is so dynamic that through your entire Christian life, you will know the principles of God's work and his character and what he does in every generation or at least on a frequent basis. I want to communicate some of this. We have been dealing for months on this series of foundations. Let me just remind you very quickly and briefly before we embark on this part 14 of this series. In part 1, we looked at Christ, the only foundation. In part 2, the evidence that you have an actual solid spiritual foundation. In part 3, we looked at a sealed foundation, how God puts his mark on the real spiritual foundation. Do you remember what we said? A building, you see it outwardly. Everybody admires that. But it's the foundation underground, unseen, that's going to sustain you spiritually in your life. Your entire life eternally depends on your spiritual foundation. If you have the wrong foundation, you are in serious trouble. If you have the real foundation that God talks about in the Bible, you can stand through any storm. You can stand even through the storm of death itself and you will go out into the presence of God. You better make sure you have a real foundation. We also carried on looking at part 4, the rock of my salvation. Part 5, a solid doctrinal foundation. Part 6, the church's only foundation. Many churches are built on the wrong foundation. They won't stand. Heresy comes through. Troubles come through. Immorality, sexual sin, false doctrines, they don't stand. They get carried away with it. Part 7, carnal builders. Part 8, spiritual builders. Part 9, preacher builders. Part 10, Jesus saying, I will build my church. Part 11, the cross, the conflict, and the cost. Part 12, if the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? Then part 13, a solid foundation in the storm. I've been away for a few weeks. I just want to remind you, we've covered a lot of ground. We've dealt with a lot about foundation. If you get the foundation right, you can build anything on it. High, breadth, weight, anything, but it depends on your foundation. I wonder again, as we come to this part 14, how are your foundations? Will they endure the storms? Will you be found standing when all the storms come through this world? I believe storms are coming to this world the like of which you can't even imagine this morning. Part 14, there's my message this morning. Restoring the ancient foundations. Restoring the ancient foundations. Reading this one verse, Isaiah 58 verse 12. Listen to this so carefully. This is our message. And they that be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. Let's pray together. Father, I do pray this morning. Lord God, as we've gathered around your table to remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, will you move mightily in every single heart? We're not here by accident. No visitor, no person here this morning is here by accident. There's some who need salvation today. There's others who need to be set on fire. There's some who need correction and guidance. There's some who are discouraged, who need lifted up out of despair, oh God. There's those that need a touch in their physical body. And Lord God, we know that you're the same yesterday, today and forever. You do not change. This world changes. Our lives change. Lord God, many things change, but you are the immovable rock of ages. You are our everlasting foundation. You're a foundation that will rest sure upon, oh God, that will keep us in the storms of life, that will keep us in the hour of death, that will keep us in an hour when many judgments sweep through this world of ours. And Lord God, we thank you. There's no other foundation than the Lord Jesus Christ and that he shed his blood upon the cross for us. And we just bless you this morning. Lord God, will you encourage us? Will you speak to our hearts? And Lord God, will you speak prophetically to this church, LCC, here in this hour? Give us a timely word. Help us to understand the times and the seasons, your will, your plan, and your purpose. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Hello. I'm not sleeping much. I'm doing very much. I'm not getting all the time in this message I want, but I sure have had enough. I actually believe this message is very important, more important than my ability to communicate it. And that's fine. I'm not always in a pristine, able, mental, physical, emotional condition to give. But I tell you what, I'm going to make sure you hear the word of God. I want that. We're dealing this morning with restoring the ancient foundations. This is more than a general message. I believe it's sued for this church radically at this hour in time. I believe this scripture reveals something of God's plan for this church, God's plan for this preacher, God's plan for the word of God going out of this place. I believe this verse embodies it. That's why I want you to understand it. But there's a whole lot more here. This morning, there's the gospel. If you need born again, you can be saved here this morning. You can be called by God, added to the body this morning. But I want you to understand, I believe this message is of great importance. Things will not always continue as they are, both good and bad. God changes things, changes directions, adds, takes away. He does many things. But I want to give you this principle of restoring the ancient foundations. For months, we dealt with foundations, but I want to deal with something very important in an hour and at a time where God comes to a remnant to rebuild very ancient foundations amidst this church again. I believe this is such an hour and such a time. In the year 597 BC, I haven't moved on with the schools because I don't like them changing things, okay? So forgive me. You university students, forgive me for that. I'm still on BC and AD. But 597 BC, the siege of Jerusalem took place where Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, brought a massive army up against the small city and community of Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Judah represented the real people of God, the remnant of God, the last of the real, the ones who were the last always to compromise. But do you know what? It was an hour where they had a prophet in the city called Jeremiah. But God's people didn't like Jeremiah. He dealt with their sin. He prophesied what was about to happen. He dealt with them honestly. He didn't try to make himself a dynamic, charismatic preacher. He was a prophet of God. He was a mouthpiece of God. He spoke for God. He didn't add to it. He didn't take away. He didn't deviate. What God said, he said in the streets of Jerusalem. It was a ministry in Jeremiah from childhood. When God called him as a young boy, he said, but I'm only a child. But the Lord says, I have called you and ordained you in your mother's womb to be a preacher. God prepared this man, Jeremiah. It was vital he spoke truth. He spoke the word of God and he would not compromise. He was one lone preacher in the city of Jeremiah. And you know what? The king, the priesthood, the other priests, those in ministry, all of them hated and despised him. You know why? He spoke for God. He represented God and he dealt with the issues of their heart, their mind, their secret sins, their attitudes, how they lived their life in the home, in ministry, in church, in the workplace. And because he dealt with that, he become a hated man. For years, he had warned God's people that judgment was coming. That if they didn't repent, deal with their sins, change their attitudes. See, God's very patient. He'll speak to you. Don't think because God speaks to you and you don't change and you don't listen and don't obey him, that he's ignoring that. He never ignores anything. But he's so gracious. He holds back, he holds back, he speaks and he speaks and he speaks and you don't listen. And he's very patient, very kind, very loving, very good. But there's a day that comes to an end. There's a day he says, okay, I need to allow certain things to happen because you're not listening to me. You're not changing. You're not doing what I say, but I will get your attention. If he loves you, he'll bring you to a standstill. He won't just let you go live your own life. He so loves you that if you're in your sin and rebellion or in disobedience or casualness, he will stir up everything. He will wreck your nest in order to make you fly. That's what happens with a mother eagle, with her little eaglets. It's time for you to fly. We don't want to fly. We enjoy the comfort of the nest. I'll destroy your nest. That's an act of God's love. You know why? You will fly like an eagle. You're not going to stay in this nest. I'm going to stir you up. There's a calling on your life to fly, to feel the wind under your wings. You're not meant to stay in this nest. Now, I'm not telling you to leave this church, so don't misinterpret my message here this morning. Don't want to come back next week and everyone's gone. But this is what God done with Judah. It was so serious. The nation was in rebellion. And here's Jeremiah, God's mouthpiece, God's vessel, preaching, preaching, preaching. You know, they got so irritated with him, they put him in a hole in the ground without bread and water. The only friend he had was a black Ethiopian who actually helped him in that state and condition. That Ethiopian believed him, but God's people in the God's going to bring a great army. God's going to destroy the city. God's going to send you into 70 years of captivity if you don't listen to them. Well, they said, you're a traitor. You're trying to go on the side of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians. And so God sent Nebuchadnezzar. Do you know God does that? God can send a secular nation, a rebellious man, a pagan to fulfill his will. When God's church doesn't listen, God will use nations, secular powers, politicians to bring about a condition where you are going to listen to me. I believe God's allowed much in our nation right now, much in our world right now. You know why? Don't think you're so spiritual and the world's so bad. Oh no. God is letting certain things happen in our entire world. You know why? He is going to revive his church again. He's going to restore his church again. And so because the church hasn't listened and it hasn't listened. Hear me this morning. The church is not listening to prophets that have been sent to her, to the word of God, to the message of God. And so do you know what's happening? God has allowed world events to go to a crisis point where you are going to listen to me. I'm going to bring you to a point. And I believe that we're very much there again. And so in 597, Nebuchadnezzar come up, besieged the city with a great army, brought it down to nothing. He took the city, removed the king, installed his own Jewish king. And that king was a backslidden rebel against God. But for a little time, he'd become a puppet king for Nebuchadnezzar. That king was in place called Zedekiah. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. The last one ever. For 10 years, he was in his position. Still listening Jeremiah preach. Jeremiah's preaching, preaching, warning. Still they don't listen. And so 10 years after Zedekiah's in place, he rebels against Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar comes up, destroys the entire city. All the buildings, the houses, the houses of the rich men, the buildings that were the center of politics, the military, education, of religion, of worship. Every one of those buildings were destroyed. The walls were destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The foundations were destroyed. It was in pure rubble. Don't blame Nebuchadnezzar. Do not do that. It was Zedekiah. It was a people who consistently heard the word of God, but didn't do anything with it. There is always consequence in hearing the word of God, but not being a doer of the word of God. He'll catch up with you one of these days. Solomon's temple was utterly destroyed on March the 16th, 597 BC and the entire city pillaged and the people carried off into captivity for 70 years. Isaiah speaking here in Isaiah 58 verse 12 is speaking of a principle that's happened all through church history, all through Israel's history. When she's in captivity, when the city has been destroyed, the foundations of everything has gone, when it's been brought to ruin, then God raises up a small group of believers again. Listen to the verse again. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repair of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. My message, restoring the ancient foundations, I've got four points for you. They're the four statements in this one verse. Say, I believe the church of our generation, the foundations have been ruined. There's holes in the walls. The buildings have been destroyed. The paths that God's people used to walk in have been utterly ruined. And yet you've got this dynamic, bigger church denominations, movements, leaders, more power, more people, more influence, more resources than ever in world history. And yet it's a sham if you have eyes to see it, but many don't see it. But God's going to raise up a remnant. You and I in this church are a part of that. That's why God created this church, put this church here. And that banner and that will forge in the vessel of recovery is why God put this church here. I'm going to communicate something to you, four clear points of God's call in this church, because you know what? Things are not going to just continue as they have done. God is going to do something the like of which you can't even comprehend this morning. I've got four points concerning restoring the ancient foundations, foundations that used to be there for many generations. Now in this hour, they're gone. You can't find them. You can search cities and entire nations, and it's hard to find those old solid foundations, all that we preached on over these months. But I'll tell you what, we are going to find them again because a certain kind of preacher is going to arise. Churches are going to arise again, and we're going to restore those foundations. This is my four points. Number one, rebuilding the forgotten destroyed buildings. Look with me at the first statement of this verse. It says, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. This is the first and vital statement of four in this verse. It's talking about a certain group. They that are of thee. You that I'm going to work with, there's going to be a they. You, they. It's different. And so the first statement is about they that are going to come of you. Who are these they of you? They are the spiritual seed, the converts spiritually, or your children, or those that you're going to raise up. It is those that are you are going to give birth to, or the next generation, a new influx into the church, your converts. You see, I'm going to use you to restore the foundations. I'm going to use you to bring the church right back again. But you know, out of you is going to come a seed. You're going to birth children, spiritual children, men and women. There's converts sitting here. You see, I look in this room, I can remember praying in this city when almost none of you were born again in this room, who are members of this church. Some of you weren't, many of you weren't even born then, when those prayers were going up. But you know what? I can remember those prayers sitting here, or those that are converted out of drugs, the new age, out of Catholicism, out of atheism, out of Islam, and a thousand other isms. That's what's sitting here in this room. God, in recent years, in the past year, in the past two years, in the past three years, or in the past 10 years, has called you out. Do you know who you are? I think you are they. I'm not sure if we're all you or they, but you're a mixture of both, I'm sure. But I'm looking at many of they, those that are going to restore the foundations, those who have a calling and a vision. We've got to get back to the real foundation again. We are given birth to the next generation. Let's look at this next generation, or this new generation, or the new converts coming in on a real work of God. Not corruption, not a false gospel, not impurity, not an abuse and disorderly church, but they are coming in on a real message. They're hearing the Word of God. You know who they are? They are they. That's what I'm calling them. They are related to us, related to me. I've watched you get born again. I've watched you hear the Word of God. I've watched you be corrected in your theology. I've watched you find salvation in Christ, or to come to a better understanding of the Word of God. You are they. You're those that God is preparing. But what is your task? Why has God brought you in? Through those who know what the real foundation is. It is for this reason. They shall build the old waste places. You are going to have a task. You're saved out of the new age, saved out of all of these isms. Why has God done that at this hour? You know why? Because you are going to build the old waste places spiritually in the church again. Don't look at me. It's not my task to do it all. It is your task. The members of the body, this church, and many listening to us online. Don't lay it at my door. I'm concentrating on the foundations. My job is the foundations. But your job, if I do my job, we're going to get many of they. You know what they're going to do? They're going to go and build again the old waste places. See this word build is used in Genesis chapter 222. For God's making a woman for Adam. It's the word to build. He literally builds her. And so this word, as you look at this word through scripture, usually refers to buildings. Actual physical buildings. You know what it's thought about Jerusalem when all the buildings have been destroyed. The temple's been destroyed. The buildings of power. Solomon's buildings. Houses of great respect and of great influence. The buildings have been destroyed. But there's going to be those that come into the church. You're going to have a unique calling again. It's your job. We need to build the old waste places again. The word to build means you're going to do brick by brick. You're going to restore buildings. Solomon's temple was glorious but it's gone. It's destroyed. No stones are left. There are majestic buildings in the city. You know what this is talking about? There used to be churches in the generation before. They're gone now. They're absolutely being destroyed. It says build the old waste places. The word old means way long in the past. Out of your sight. Some of you sitting here don't know what the church used to look like. I grew up seeing the tail end of reality. Old men and women of God in the church of God. How people lived in the church. How churches function. I saw the tail end of that. Every church you went to evangelically, Baptist, Pentecostal, Brethren, whatever it was. It was safe to go in that church. They preached repentance. They preached the old gospel. They preached the Bible. They walked in holiness. And you know I remember that. But I've lived long enough in my very very short life to go, those churches are destroyed. You can search entire nations, cities. I'm not exaggerating. I know exactly what I'm saying. When it talks about the calling on they to build again the old waste places. It's those places long in the past, out of sight, out of memory, forgotten. You don't even know what it is. There's no connection. You didn't live long enough to know what that's like. So you come along. You've never seen the church in revival. You've never seen the power of God in the church. You haven't seen buildings where God's glory is. You can't just travel across Europe and say, I'm going to Oslo and I'll visit glorious churches. Or I'll go to Cardiff or London or Glasgow or I'll go to Dublin. You can't do that anymore. They have been destroyed. The churches, the conventions, the meeting places of past days that were glorious, revival sweeping, the power of God coming down. Preaching houses where Christ was revealed. Do you know what? They have been lost long out of sight. This verse talks about waste places. That means a condition of drought, no water. It means a desolation where it's been broken down to the ground. It means decayed. Nobody has looked after it in a generation. It means destroyed. Enemies have come in and broken it down. And so all you see in Jerusalem, Judah and her villages and towns is desolation. Do you know this happened in Israel? Time after time after time. There were times of revival. The entire nation blossomed. There was times of David's reign and Solomon's reign where Solomon built the temple and the glory fell as he offered animal sacrifices because God was there. But do you know what? There's been many times in history where it's all desolation. The old churches are ruined. The pulpits are destroyed. The old preachers have long gone. You have to go to some old YouTube black and white video or you need to go on sermon index and look up those old preachers. But you know what? Again, we're in an hour where the old waste places are desolate. What's my point? Rebuilding the forgotten destroyed buildings. There are houses, churches of glory you don't even consider anymore. You don't even know what you're looking for unless you get into the word of God, the Bible, and you begin to see God's plan for the church, what he says about it. Or you read your history books and you begin to read about what happened in 1859 or 1904 or at some other stage. And you go, where is this? Where is it when God's people are on fire? You walk into the churches, the entire congregation, they're praying, walking holy, evangelizing. Now you go in the average church, they're immoral in the church. The most significant evangelical preachers in the Western world, they are secret sinners with little girls. They're immoral. They're preaching to everyone else and they get caught out in adulterous relationship. Worship leaders that are superheroes, that are making so much money, they'll divorce their wife, go and marry another floozy. They're sleeping with her all the time anyway, out of ministry for one year, back into ministry again. You know what that is? Desolation. If you think that's normal and okay, you don't even have a clue what the church is. But you know what he says? And they of you shall build the old ways. See, I'm looking to you this morning. I'm not even looking to the video or YouTube. I'm looking to you at this room. There is a calling on you. Why not rise up to it? You build the old ways places. They've lost the old evangelism. They've lost the old order in the church or what a marriage is or what Christian friends are. Why don't you build it again? So, you're going to have to build it. That's not a quick job. You're going to have to build layer after layer after layer. You're going to have to restore it. You are the ones with this calling. So, you've come into this church. You've come under the word of God and now there's a calling on you. Why don't we rebuild? Oh brother Keith, it's all over. I've read the Bible. I know the history books. It's all gone. It's all apostasy. They destroyed the churches. It's all over. Get me out of here Jesus. Take me home. No, it's not that easy. You're going to pay a price. You need to fast. You need to pray. You need to say God, will you use me? You're going to use anyone. Use me. See, many generations have come and gone. What does this represent? Living places, places of worship. Real churches of this are destroyed. But then it begins to stir those who've been born, birthed because they heard a message about a real foundation. They begin to say, why don't we rebuild it again? Why don't we rebuild just one more time? My second point, raising up ancient foundations. What does it say? It goes on to say the second statement in this first here says, thou, it's not talking about they, talking about thou, thou, thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations. So it's not talking about they, those that are being birthed right now at this time and you that are being called in, you need to rebuild this. But why did they do that? On what basis are they? Who gave birth to those that say, let's rebuild glorious churches again, holy churches. Why is there a new generation of Christians? Why are there those listening to us online who are saying, let's do this again. Let's bring the church back again. Why don't we see the glory again? Why don't we see holiness in the church? Why do you think there is such a people? Because of this, because of us who were called to raise up the foundation of many generations. As a child, I watched the decay in the church. I watched it all change. I watched it every single year, every decade with a broken heart. As a child, I could see this. As a teenager, I wept tears over it. In my twenties, I besought God constantly, daily, nightly, morning and night in my twenties saying, oh God, rebuild again. He gripped my heart with a vision of ancient foundations being raised up again. The statement raising up ancient foundations, that word raise means to establish, put back in place very strongly, to covenant or make it immovable. That's what it's talking about, to raise up the foundations. I know that's my calling. I know that's a part of my ministry and preaching. You need to raise up the foundations of many generations. Say that word foundations there. In the Hebrew, it's Mossad. Mossad. You may have heard the word Mossad. That's actually the name given to the Israeli secret service, the Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations. Mossad are professionals. I want to tell you, isn't it interesting their name means foundations? It's the word used here. There's those in the church like myself who have had a burning passion and vision, walking in a different direction than most of the church. Do you know what it's been? To raise up the foundations of many generations. When it says many generations, it means that endured from generation to generation, that stood in the past, that were noted, hailed, talked about, that were familiar. In other words, those foundations, they're not there anymore. The very foundations have been destroyed, ruined by what's happened in the church. But do you know what? Those foundations, it says there of many generations, that they used to be there hundreds of years. I can go to history books and I read about this generation after generation after generation. They were there. Now my generation, they're gone. Now the church has become contemporary, new, moving with our generation, molding to the world, moving with the times, new ways of thinking. We're a young generation. We like worship, not the word of God. We're not focused on the word. Young people, I've heard preachers say it, young people don't want the word of God. They want to worship God. There's a new generation, a different generation. God's doing a new thing. God's doing a different thing. And that becomes the cover for everything. In other words, you can change the gospel, change what God says, change what always was when it was real. And you just say, oh, God's doing a new thing. That has to be one of the most abused verses and statements of the Bible. God's doing a new thing. Yeah, I heard that when I was a kid and when I was in my teens and in my twenties and thirties and forties. And you know, that statement's taken it further away from what has always been real in the church. And it's burned to my bones as a child. I went, oh God, the foundation, the ancient, solid, pure, godly foundations that I read about in my Bible. I want to see that again. The foundations that were once noted, but are now lost and forgotten. Do you know what I want to do? I want to raise them up. I want them to be established again. There is no other foundation than the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other foundation than the ancient truths. You say, so you're not a contemporary Christian? No, absolutely not. You're not moving with the times. No. Brother Keith, you need to come into the 21st century. No, I don't. I'm trying to go back to the first century, back to biblical doctrine again. You know, when I was a kid, I wasn't moving with the trendy times. And when I was a teenager, I'd go in, they had a young girl in the worship team standing there, tight jeans, dancing like a floozy. This is when I'm a teenager. All the old men in their suits have been around for years. They're all smiling, proud of themselves saying, we are going to reach the young generation. I, as a kid, went, I didn't come to church to see her body up there parading itself. You know what? I came here to hear men of God teach me the ancient way of walking with God. We're an entire generation now where if it's not new, it's not cutting edge. It's not popular. They'll say you're old fashioned. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. Do you know what this verse actually tells us about those that are going to raise up the foundations of any generation that in their day, the foundations have been lost. The old solid biblical foundations, they're destroyed. What are they going to do? They're going to begin to raise up those old foundation, not something new. It seems new. You know what I preach seems radical. People write all the time. We're not hearing this in our city. I mean, right across the Western world. I can give you thousands of emails saying the same thing. None of these people are connected. They're saying the same thing in South Africa, in Australia, in Canada, in America, out across Europe. I hear time after time after time. You know what they come on and say, nobody's preaching like this. Well, they used to. They used to. This is basic. This is elementary. I don't have a special revelation. Nothing I preach is new or fancy. Nothing comes through a dream that I'm going to preach. I'm just telling you what was given to that early church. I am a part of those that are called, and there are those out there, but they're isolated, persecuted, mocked, scorned, made to think you're old- fashioned. You're not on the cutting edge of this. I'm telling you, I'm on the cutting edge of this, because God's going to do a radical work on our generation, and it's through those that lay the foundation. You know those other churches won't be here tomorrow. You're going to see entire mission movements. You're going to see mega churches. You're going to see denominations crumble in our generation. I mean, they're going to fall like a house of cards. You know what isn't? It's going to be this small godly remnant that have gone back and built on the foundation. All hell will not move them. The greatest storms will come, and they'll say, how come this people are still standing? Why is this preacher still there? Why are they going forward? Why is that family standing through the storms? You know why? Their foundation was right. Point three, repairing holes in the walls, and those shall be called the repair of the breaches or the breach. So those coming out of this, both those who lay the foundation, raise up and establish those old foundations, as well as that new generation coming, being brought in on that solid foundation, who begin to say, why don't we build the buildings again on this foundation? Why don't we build the church again on this foundation? Why don't we build worship on this foundation? Why don't we build evangelism on this? See, that has to be in your heart. You've got to burn with this. You've got to run with this. Well, it says they, all of them together, those shall be called. They're going to have a name, a designation. This is more than a title. It's more than a position. It's a calling. You know, in our world, they often say certain professions are callings. They're not just jobs, like nursing. They say nursing is more than a job. It is more. It's far more than that. There's certain jobs in our world. I know it isn't always that way nowadays, but in my lifetime, they used to say, that's a calling. In other words, your whole life is given to it. It's not a job nine to five you go and do. It's far bigger than that. If you don't love people, if you don't have a heart for people, you would never do this. I want to tell you, see this, this isn't just going to church or being in the worship team or preaching or evangelizing. Oh no, this is far, far more. See, what I'm talking about is a divine calling, a special work and ministry. Whether you're sitting in the back row of this church or whether you stand on the pulpit and preach. Whether you feel nothing of yourself or you feel God has gifted you in some way. I don't really care. There's a calling on this church. There's a calling on those that listen to us every single week. There's a burning passion. It is more than merely going to church. It's more than being a Christian. There is a calling upon us and it says they shall be called the repair of the breach. Now this word repair and breach, when it talks about the breach, it's not talking about the walls in Jerusalem. You see how this, it's the buildings, it's the foundation. Now it's the walls. Here they are, they've laid the foundation. Here they are building houses. You better fix those walls or this isn't going to last. The enemy will come in through those walls. You won't have any protection. You see, what are walls on a city for? It's to keep out what shouldn't be in that city, to keep out the enemy. If you don't have a good wall, you can build all the nice buildings, all the nice churches, all the nice worship teams you want. It could get destroyed in one hour. You need walls. You know, it says that these, they not only raise up the foundation and build the waste places or the buildings that have been forgotten about, they also repair the breaches in the wall. The breaches in the wall takes you to Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah. Some years ago, we were only beginning this church. And that's the series of God, give me, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem about Nehemiah, the 10 walls. And we dealt with that thoroughly in this church. You know why? I believe it was the reason we were here, to rebuild, to restore again. But listen to what Nehemiah worked with. 38 individuals are mentioned by name. 50 individuals are referred to. Sometimes it gives their names, even their addresses or the professions. One of them's a perfumer. He works on a perfume shop during the day, but then he's on that wall with a sword in his hand and a trial to build. This is what I'm talking about. We are going to be called the repair of the breaches. We're building God's house again. We're restoring the foundations. We're saying, why don't we go back to what once was and has been destroyed by immorality and heresy and foolishness and likeness? I'm sick to the back teeth of it. Church, we need a real church. And this real church will be filled with the worst of sinners in this city. Won't be all the clean cut ones. It's going to represent this entire city. Pamela, it's for you. I want to tell you, a real church is for ones exactly like Pamela. I'll never stop praying for her to get saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the power and presence of God. This isn't only for us. It's for her. We're praying for her. We're praying for her kids. I tell you, the devil comes to destroy. But there's a people who say again, why don't we repair the holes in the walls of Jerusalem? Well, here is Nehemiah. He wasn't a preacher. He wasn't a prophet. He wasn't a prince. He was a cupbearer in a foreign land in an hour when it had all been lost. And he began to hear a message. Do you know what's happened in Jerusalem? It's burnt down. There's no buildings and there's holes in the walls. And he sat down and cried. He's a cupbearer. That's his job. But do you know what? He is going to be called the repair of the bridge. You know why? He's going to make that journey back to Jerusalem. He's going to walk around the walls. He's going to see the holes in the walls. It shouldn't be there. And a good day that wasn't there. You know, I go to churches and I go, why is there all these holes in the walls? Oh, we just love everybody. We don't contend. We don't fight. We don't disagree. We don't get negative and talk about what's wrong in the church. That's why you've got churches filled with holes in the wall. Oh no, be positive. Just pretend it's all okay. Yeah, and the devil comes right in that and destroys people. And they'll destroy the buildings. They'll destroy the foundations. You need good walls in the city. Listen to what it says in Nehemiah 6, 15, 16. So the wall was finished. That word finished means rewarded, repaid, restored, restituted to make peace. That's when we can be at peace. Make sure that wall is rebuilt again. No holes in the wall. Stop what is wrong coming in and out of the churches of our generation. We need to finish the wall. And it says that all the heathen were downcast for they perceived that the work was wrought of our God. 52 days and a handful of nobodies rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Daniel prophesied it hundreds of years before. There's going to come a people who are going to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and troublesome times and times when they're opposed and hard days. Saints, we're here. It's time. Will you with me rebuild the wall again? God help us. We need the foundations rebuilt that have been lost to this generation. We need a church here in Limerick where people began en masse to arise and say, we're going to rebuild those old forgotten buildings. They've forgotten what a house of glory is. The holy goose coming down in our meetings, a visitation of God, evangelism on fire in the streets. But we can do it, saints. But we must repair that wall again. Fourth and lastly, restoring the city streets. It says there in this verse, the fourth and last statement, the restore of past to dwell in. The restore. You're going to be called. You will be called the repair of the breach. It's going to mark your life. Do you hear me? It's going to mark your life. This is a lifetime calling. This is what's going to mark you. Nehemiah was marked, a repair of the breach. But not only that, the restore of past to dwell in. Yous are going to be marked. When people think of you, when people think of me, when people think of this church, we are going to be called or have a reputation or be known for this. Known for what? We fix the breaches in the walls. We fix them. We put back in the wall what's decayed. Enemy can't walk in and out anymore. But also, the restore of past to dwell in. When they look at you, you're going to be known and called by this name. You restore the past. The word restore means to return, bring back, to repeat. See, you can't go forward into a new contemporary movement in the church. Well, they used to do that. I'm not talking about dressing old fashioned. I like you ladies to dress nice, okay? I'm not talking about trying to dress old fashioned. I'm not talking about styles of worship where we can't sing any new songs. I'm not talking about that. I'm definitely not. But I'm talking about a people coming to the house of God who say, let's go back again. If you don't go back, you can't go forward in the plan of God. If you despise what God done in a previous generation, God will never use you for what he's about to do. And so, we have to have this calling on us, the restore of past to dwell in. The word past means well-worn ways to walk in, to dwell in. In other words, you're going to be known as fixing where people walk, how they walk, what direction they walk in. Do you know what this means? You're going to fix how Christians live their life in this generation. Again, what's come into the church, we have destroyed so much. It says in Jeremiah 6 and 16, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways. There's lots of paths out there. And see, and ask God for the old paths. Do you want the old paths or do you want these new paths? We've got a new way to live the Christian life, really. I'd throw it in the bin if I was you. I want the old paths. Jeremiah prophesies the one that was there in Nebuchadnezzar's day. And he says, stand in the way and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. So many in the church aren't finding rest because they're going the new paths. You go back to the old paths. What are the old paths? It's how you walk with God. Again, it says in Jeremiah 18, 15, because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not cast up, to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing. Jeremiah dealt with this. You've destroyed the ancient pathways. Those old ways that men of God walked in, that real Christians walked in. I hate what they've done to the born-again experience. Do you know, we need to restore again the real message of the gospel. Repentance needs to be in the church. We call being born again. I said a little sinner's prayer and moral. I believe the Bible. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me. That is not the new birth. You could be on your way to hell and not be a real born-again Christian. I'm talking about the new birth is a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ where he changed your own character. There's people in the church today, they've never changed their sinful attitudes, actions, words, deeds, or doctrines. They just try to add Jesus to it all, and we've destroyed the church of this generation. I know what I'm speaking about, but here, there is a calling for us to restore these ancient pathways. Listen to what Jesus said as I close. Matthew 7, 13, enter ye in at the straight gate. There's Jesus, not a preacher, not a church. Do you know in this parable, he gives two entranceways, two pathways, two final destinations. He's not comparing the way of the world to the way of the church. He's not doing that. Do you know what he's talking about? Remember like he talks about sheep and goats. Sheep and goats look alike in the Middle East. Even a good shepherd has to put them under the rod and examine. You're a goat, you're a sheep. Weed and tares, Jesus talks about again, they grow together in the field, they look alike. One is a real wheat, one is a tare, a weed, but they grow together. You can't tell. You look at them, not until the harvest, and then they start to change at the end. Now you can tell what is a weed and what is real. Jesus does the same in these two pathways, two entranceways, two walkways or pathways, two final destinations, but they're radically different. Listen to what Jesus says. Enter. He's telling you to enter at the straight gate. It's narrow. Do you know what this is? Two different kinds of salvation in the church with those who think they're going to heaven or they know God. Two ways, two entranceways. Notice it has a beginning, two different gateways. One is very straight, very narrow. The other one is broad. It says for wide is the gate. It's all about a conversion experience, wide. So it's a narrow gate, and Jesus elsewhere says it'll take agony to get in there. You need to squeeze in there. You're not bringing your sin in here. You're not bringing all your trash in here. You're not coming in the way you are in here and adding Jesus to your miserable life. You won't do that, not with the narrow gate. You can do it with the broad gate. The broad gate is a type of salvation. Anyone can walk in there. You don't lose anything. You don't lose your baggage. Come as you are. Yes, come as you are if you're coming to the blood for cleansing, but you're not coming in here as you are to live your Christian life. Well, I think I just look at it this way. I think we should do it this way. I think you're too extreme. Do you even read your Bible? Do you think I've spent all these years trying to invent my own way or a narrower way than everyone else? My way isn't narrower. Go and read the word of God. Go and read the words of Jesus. And so he says enter the straight gate. Don't go for that broad entrance. Oh, I know Jesus. Do you? Is it a broad experience of knowing Jesus? How did you get into this? When did you get saved? When did you get born again? Remember what Jesus said, the religious man. He comes to Jesus. He's really seeking. What must I do to inherit eternal life? He said, be born again. What do you mean born again? Born again. You must be born again. Jesus said it. John also talks about being born of God. Even St. Patrick several times talk about being reborn. Thousands getting reborn, then baptized and mortared. St. Patrick, the real Patrick was a real man of God, I want to tell you. And so Jesus deals here. He says, but there's another great, it's very wide. You can be anything and say, well, I'm Christian or I'll be okay, or God will answer all my prayers. But he says that lead us to destruction. The broad way. I'm talking about restoring past to dwell in. I'm talking about that narrow way of the gospel. We need to restore the real gospel, the real Christian life. And the church out there is not restoring the real gospel. Everywhere you go, turn on YouTube. I'm in the biggest, most influential ministries. They are not repairing, restoring the old fashioned gospel of what it means to be born again. Our sanctification holiness. You must be born again. You might be religious. You might claim to be saved. You may claim to be to know Christ. What did you lose in your conversion experience? What changed in your life? How did repentance come to you? We need to restore the foundations again. We need to preach repentance again, holiness in the house of God. They say, oh, it doesn't matter what you're like in the house of God. Who told you that? Not my Bible. What Bible are you reading? The really small condensed Bible you can read in a day. Latest version. Passion Bible takes out the word repentance. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. We remove the blood. But then you don't get into this verse. Because in this verse, a generation are going to rise. Saints, it's time for this church. You need to understand the calling on you. Why God birthed this church? Why God put this preacher here? Why God is touching life? What the calling is, what the vision is, that we are going to restore this again. And so it says in this scripture, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shall raise up the foundation of many generations, and thou shall be called the repair of the breach, the restore of the past to dwell in. Thomas Walsh in 1747, who was later to become the second most influential man in the entire Methodist revival and movement worldwide. The greatest soul winner. John Wesley said he was the greatest soul winner. Just two streets down the road from here. On St. Patrick's Day, 1747, as an 18-year-old coming out of Catholic mass, he come out and he stood there as a preacher stood, a Methodist preacher stood, and started to preach, you must be born again. Religion won't save you. Good deeds, mass, confessional, or anything else. You need a born again experience. You need an encounter with Jesus. He was born again radically and become one of the greatest preachers this nation ever knew, that Britain ever knew. He actually almost took over from John Wesley. If he would have lived, he died at 28 years old, 10 years after hearing the gospel down the road. But he shook the entirety of Ireland. Thousands, numberless thousands got born again through him. The preaching was frequently drowned out by the prayers and the praises of those in the meetings where he preached. You bunch haven't quite got there yet. But as he preached, they would praise God. The praising, the rejoicing, the repenting, the weeping got so much. His voice couldn't even be heard. And he preached longer and louder than I do. I'm going to tell you from what I have read. He had old friends who knew him and they called him, in the streets of Limerick, they called him mad, deceived, a hypocrite, and a whole lot worse. The priests and other enemies of the gospel were outraged at this young man on fire for God, at his success and turning thousands to righteousness. His influence so began to spread across the nation that they had to start false rumors against him because he was so impacting lives. This did not work. So mobs, literally mobs, drunken mobs were stirred up and paid to attack him. Frequently he was attacked with stones, thrown in a well, threatened to be killed, chased by a butcher's knife. He had a run for his life. But I tell you what, he's seen revival in this nation. He lived for God. It was a short life, but a glorious life. Then he went home. Do you know what he done? He restored the foundations. He rebuilt the waste places. He became known for fixing the breaches on the walls and for restoring the ancient pathways. Just one more time. It's time. Saints of God, Thomas Walsh is gone. But there, a year or so ago, I picked up a book. One of his sermons started reading. I went, huh, he sounded a bit like us on a Wednesday night or on a Sunday morning. Sermons preached by him 350 odd years ago. And I go, I think you'd like come with us. You might think we're pretty compromised. You'd have to preach us into shape. But I tell you what, it's a long time from we've seen that in Limerick and in Ireland and out across the Western world. We've lost the old Salvation Army, the old Pentecostals, the old Baptists, the old Presbyterians. Give me those old Presbyterians in the place of all the Charismatics and Pentecostals today. Those old Presbyterians were the most unfair supernatural believers that you can ever imagine. Will you stand with me this morning? Saints of God, where are we going to go? There's a calling. Things aren't always going to stand, stay the same. Are you born again here this morning? Is your Christian the authentic one? Or have you just eased your conscience in? I'm all right. I'm okay. I'm fine. Have you had a divine supernatural experience with Christ? And as a Christian, are you compromised? Are you always trying to make this less? Always water it down. Always make an excuse. Are you saying, Lord, radically change me. I want that narrow way. I want that real way. I want a real gospel. I don't want to be changed in the teaching about how a church operates. I want to walk in the love of God. What you're hearing about the past three or four weeks, charity, the divine, agape love of God. Do you want to change that? Do you want something less? It'll curse you in the end. You don't want holiness? It'll curse you in the end. You don't want repentance? It'll curse you in the end. But I want to tell you, when you come back to the blood, back to the real, we begin to restore. It's not us doing it. We're simply obeying the word of God. I believe we're on the edge of a move of God the world has never seen the like of. I believe it's going to get a lot darker. Apostasy will continue to grow worse. But one last time, God's going to have a church, a bride on fire for God. We're not finishing like the saints of God. You think Jesus is coming back for less than what he ascended into heaven, leaving behind your gravely mistaken. He's coming back for a pure, holy bride, zealous for him, passionately in love for him. Let's pray together. Father, we love you this morning. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you for your hand upon us. Oh God, I do pray that you raise up the generations, the foundations of many generations. So God, Lord God, that we had begun to see the old buildings restored in our nations. We have a vision, we have a dream, we have a desire that's birthed out of the written scriptures that this island of Ireland would again be filled with your glory. That there just wouldn't be a preaching house here in Limerick. But oh God, that you'd raise up many assemblies even surrounding this city. That you'd raise up places and other towns and villages and cities across this nation. That this land would be filled with your glory. That you'd call your church back again. That you'd raise up preachers, many preachers, that you'd multiply them suddenly and supernaturally. That would lay again a solid foundation, an ancient old foundation, the like of which we haven't seen in this generation. And that the church of God would arise again, burning to see the glory, burning to see the power of prayer again, burning to see real evangelism in this land again. And oh God, that you'd bless us by pouring out your spirit. That you'd revive your church again. That you'd do a work in our generation, the like of which we can't even comprehend in this room. Lord God, that we would see the old glory restored. We would see the old past restored. That the old-fashioned gospel of Jesus Christ would be preached again in Jesus' mighty name. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/zTsD344bsAI.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/restoring-the-ancient-foundations/ ========================================================================