The Path to Revival

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This is a sermon that was given during the Lenten season to stimulate prayer and interest in personal spiritual renewal and revival. The message draws its emphasis from several different passages of Scripture that emphasize revival.

Written Excerpts:

Psalm 85:6 (NKJV) Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?

Introduction:

During the Lenten season it is common for us to speak about self-denial, sacrifice, seeking after God, etc. One of the emphases that is also appropriate to focus on at this time, and really any time, is the topic of revival or spiritual renewal. I felt led to concentrate on that theme for the message today. Springtime and Easter is all about new life and resurrection, but there is a sense in which we usually talk about renewal and getting closer to God as we are leading up to Easter.

The passage of Scripture from Psalm 80 that was read earlier had quite a bit to say about revival and restoration. We are also going to be looking at some other passages today in our discussion I’m calling “The Path to Revival.”

If you ask almost any Christian believer they will tell you that they’re interested in revival and renewal. However, it takes more than mere interest or conversation to bring about true revival.

A U.S. Lutheran bishop tells of visiting a parish church in California and finding a stirring red and orange banner on the wall. "Come Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!" it declared in words printed under a picture of a fire burning. The bishop was also interested in the sign directly underneath the banner which said: "Fire extinguisher." So much for that parish's commitment to spiritual renewal.  “One World,” May, 1982. (sermonillustrations.com)

Well, I’d say that the picture and banner were not located in the best possible place to avoid conflicting messages! But it does illustrate the fact that it’s a lot easier to talk about revival than to truly experience one.

With the help of the Lord I want to talk to us a little while about what revival is and some biblical instructions for experiencing it.

What is revival?

Revival is the inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse. – D. M. Panton (Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World.)

In the physical world or secular world we use the word “revival” to mean the resurrecting of something dead, the healing of someone that is sick, or the empowering or strengthening of something that is weak.

We’ve probably all heard of cases where a patient goes into cardiac arrest and dies for several minutes, but the patient is resuscitated and brought back to life again by medical personnel. We would say, “They were revived.”

Or, we may know of someone that is very sick and unable to carry on their normal activities or daily routine. They may go to the doctor or even go to the hospital, and after a process of healing and recuperation we would say, “They’ve been revived.”

The same is true regarding someone that has simply lost strength or maybe even regarding an electrical outage. When strength has been regained or the power is back on, we would say, “The strength was revived or the power was revived.”

The same idea of revival can be applied to the spiritual world.

“Revival” – The moving, energetic force of the Holy Spirit that resurrects the dead, cures the sick and empowers the weak.

·     dead = loss of spiritual life; dead in trespasses and sins, etc.

·     sick = false doctrine or at least misplaced emphases in theology and in practice. (Some people turn minor issues into major ones and major issues into minor ones).

·     weak = some spiritual life, correct theology or view of truth, but discouraged, unable to make inroads into the devil’s turf.

The only answer to all of these undesirable conditions is the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. We all know instinctively that the Spirit of God can do more than anything else or anyone else to change the condition the church world is in today. God can do more in mere minutes than anything man can accomplish in a lifetime.

But, history and biblical record informs us that God will only respond with revival fires when people truly seek Him in a way that is consistent with His will.

What is the path to revival?

1. Humble Confession

Isaiah 57:15 ^(NKJV) For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

2 Chron. 7¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves…

Revival won’t come until we admit our need.

In 1936 revival fires broke out on the campus of Wheaton College west of Chicago. A senior named Don Hillis arose in chapel to voice a plea for revival. Students responded with an all-day prayer meeting on Saturday. Both faculty and students confessed sin and made things right with one another. (Revival Insights by Oliver Price – sermonillustrations.com)

2. Repentance

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 ^(NKJV) When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

3. Prayer / Intercession

“…humble themselves, and pray and seek My face…”

J. Edwin Orr [a researcher] on prayer and spiritual awakening wrote: "Whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them to praying." This was certainly true during the First Great Awakening. (sermonillustrations.com)

In the spring of 1904 a young Welshman named Evan Roberts was repeatedly awakened to pray from 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. By November a powerful spiritual awakening was spreading through Wales. (sermonillustrations.com)

4. Obedience

Obedience is so important. All through the Scriptures, OT & NT, God makes it clear that He expects His people to be obedient. Praying will accomplish little or nothing unless we obey what the Lord reveals to us in prayer and in His Word.

What does revival do?

Revival is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God. – Stephen Olford.

When we truly get revived by the Holy Spirit, people will be able to feel His presence in our church services, but more importantly, in our lives.

(J.I. Packer, Your Father Loves You – sermonillustrations.com) Revival always begins with a restoration of the sense of the closeness of the Holy One.

Second, the gospel is loved as never before. The sense of God's nearness creates an overwhelming awareness of one's own sins and sinfulness, and so the power of the cleansing blood of Christ is greatly appreciated.

Then repentance deepens. In the Ulster revival in the 1920s shipyard workers brought back so many stolen tools that new sheds had to be built to house the recovered property! Repentance results in restitution.

Finally, the Spirit works fast: godliness multiplies, Christians mature, converts appear. Paul was at Thessalonica for less than three weeks, but God worked quickly and Paul left a virile church behind him.

Conclusion:

Howard Spring – The kingdom of God is not going to advance by churches becoming filled with men, but rather by men in churches becoming filled with God.

Isaiah 44:3 ^(NKJV) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;

Lady asked Billy Sunday:

"Why do you keep having revivals when it doesn't last?"

He responded by asking her, "Why do you keep taking baths?"

We must have repeated visitations from heaven. We need repeated outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon us. The tendency for a fire is to go out. The fuel burns low and mere embers are left glowing. It takes new fuel and the gentle blowing of the wind (oxygen) to cause it to flame up again. So it is in the spiritual realm. We need the wind of the Spirit to blow on use until we are ignited again into a brilliant flame for the glory of God.