You're there in Psalm 85, the middle of
your Bible, Psalm 85 and verse number 6.
As I mentioned a moment ago, this morning
we're going to begin a simple, really short,
but what I'm praying is going to be
a significant series of studies on what you
might refer to as the biblical doctrine of
revival.
And I know that when I mention the
word revival that today there are a lot
of different connotations and even misconceptions about what
that really and truly is, especially here in
the South.
There are cultural connotations and there are traditional
connotations and there are even social connotations that
sometimes can get in the way with us
understanding what a real true biblical revival is.
It's kind of like the old lady I
heard about one time who was standing there
at the ticket agent trying to get a
seat on an airplane and she told the
ticket agent, she said, I don't want a
window seat.
And the ticket agent was just kind of
caught off guard by that because everybody wants
a window seat.
And she said, well why wouldn't you want
a window seat?
She said, because I don't want my hair
to get messed up.
And there are a lot of people today
in the church that are kind of like
that lady being confused or having a misconception
about what it means to sit by a
window.
There are people in the church today who
misunderstand the biblical concept of revival, what it
is and why it is, and then how
it comes about.
And so this morning we're gonna be learning
what real revival is.
Next week we're gonna be learning what are
those things that hinder revival in our life.
And then lastly we're gonna see what real
revival looks like, what happens when Jesus shows
up.
Because a lot of times people, especially here
in the South, if you were raised in
that real traditional country church, can I see
your hands, especially if you were raised in
one of those ones where you had a
spring revival and a fall revival, remember?
And we would put out the signs on
the side of the road and we would
put placards in the windows and we would
have flyers printed up and we're gonna say
revival is every year the third week in
November.
We just knew God showed up the third
week in November every single year because we
called it revival.
No, that's not what revival is.
Revival is not people taking laps around the
room.
Revival is not people walking on tops of
the of the pews.
Revival is not people acting like dogs and
those sorts of things.
Revival is when Jesus shows up.
And even though we're not gonna spend a
whole lot of time here this morning, let
me just encourage you to be a part
of every single one of these studies because
I really do believe that they're gonna be
a real encouragement to your heart.
They're gonna be a a real help in
your walk with the Lord.
And maybe, just maybe, you might be the
person and this might be the place where
God chooses to show up and show out.
When you think about revival, there's probably not
a greater authority, if you will, in modern
times than a man by the name of
Dr. J.
Edwin Orr.
J.
Edwin Orr is considered to be the greatest
authority on revival, really, in the modern day.
And Dr. Orr was preaching and teaching a
series of lectures over at the Columbia Bible
College and after, on revival, and after one
of the lectures there was a young college
student that walked up and he asked Dr.
Orr, he said, Dr. Orr, besides praying for
revival, what can I do to help bring
it about?
And he didn't even hesitate.
He looked back at that young man.
He said, you can let it begin with
you.
You know, we used to sing a song
like that, right?
Lord, send a revival.
Lord, send a revival and let it begin
in me.
You know, a generation ago, those who longed
for revival and lived to see revival in
their time, that little slogan like that, that
they had, a motto, if you will, and
it hadn't been developed by a team of
marketers.
It certainly hadn't been put together and designed
to be packaged neatly on t-shirts and
hats and on wristbands, those sorts of things.
No, it was just a simple, straightforward little
model that said this right here, revival in
our time.
Revival in our time.
Because you see, they had heard and they
had read about how God had moved before
and the amazing transformation that his manifest presence
had had on cities and communities and counties
and even entire nations.
And so they pleaded and they prayed for
God to send revival to their generation.
And as they cried out and as they
prayed for revival, they were simply echoing what
the psalmist says here in Psalm 85 verse
6.
As he penned these words, this powerful personal
prayer, watch what he says, will you not
revive us again that your people may rejoice
in you.
That really is an amazing verse, right?
Because in that one little verse, we have
the author of revival and we have the
action of revival and we even have the
aim of revival.
Now again, the word revival, people misunderstand it.
They really don't understand what revival is.
And so let me just kind of help
you understand.
It comes right, it's found right there in
the word.
The word revival literally means to renew, to
restore, to repair, to refresh, literally re-life
or life again.
And it's talking about what God does supernaturally
in the lives of believers.
This is not evangelism for the saint or
rather for the sinner.
This is not evangelism for the sinner, but
rather this is empowerment and encouragement for the
saint.
Paul Rees, well-known Bible Conference preacher from
Canada, he wrote this.
He said, revival and evangelism, although closely linked,
are not to be confused.
Revival is an experience in the church.
Evangelism is an expression of the church.
So I've got a buddy of mine by
the name of Bradley Graves.
He pastors out in Oklahoma.
And about a week and a half, two
weeks ago, he and another friend of mine
named Malachi O'Brien.
I love Malachi.
Malachi's a squirrely little dude.
Today he just ran his 150th consecutive days
of marathons.
He's run a marathon a day for over
150 days.
I told you he's squirrely.
I love Malachi.
And so Malachi and Bradley decided to go
to Asbury.
We've been hearing a lot about Asbury.
They want to see, is it real?
Is it genuine?
What can they tell by being there?
And so they went there and they came
out of it.
And we were talking back and forth on
text.
And Bradley Graves made an amazing statement and
it's absolutely true.
And don't you think about this.
He said revival is the work that God
does for and in the church.
Evangelism is the work that the church does
for God.
That's a great way of understanding the difference
between revival and evangelism.
Dr. Stephen Oldford.
I love Dr. Oldford.
And I love my time getting to be
around him there at the Oldford Institute when
I was first starting my first doctorate.
And Dr. Oldford had that heavy British accent.
And Dr. Oldford, he wrote a little classic
book called The Heartcry for Revival.
And he wrote that the term revival is
one which is grossly misunderstood.
In many quarters today, primarily in the United
States, it is employed to describe evangelistic meetings.
Now while the salvation of sinners and the
restoration of backsliders are both byproducts of revival,
these spiritual experiences cannot be said to define
revival.
So what is revival?
You've heard a lot about it lately.
You've been watching it online.
Tucker Carlson had an episode on it.
It's been on Fox News, so you know
it's got to be real, right?
Just kidding.
And so what is revival?
Well, I've got a definition for you.
I want you to look up here.
So this is the definition.
As far as I know, this is mine.
I went back and checked it last night
and some dude had lifted like 95%
of one of my sermons and posted it
as his.
But I'm not bitter about it, okay?
As long as the truth being preached, I'm
fine with that.
But I want you to look right here.
Don't you see what this is?
It's a pretty good definition of revival.
Watch what it is.
So revival is the sovereign, that means it's
all of God.
Revival is the sovereign supernatural, which means you
can't market it, you can't make it up.
The sovereign supernatural movement of God among His
people, so it's for Christians, that comes as
a direct result of repentance and prayer and
holiness.
It results in a fresh Christian walk in
believers and the drawing of the lost of
Christ.
So we're going to leave that up there
for just a second in case you want
to write it down.
But it's a pretty good definition, if I
do say so myself, of what revival is
and what revival does.
Now sometimes it is referred to as spiritual
awakening.
Sometimes it's called spiritual renewal.
Other times it's referred to as the outpouring
of the Spirit of God.
But the simplest, most straightforward, time-honored term
is simply revival.
And that's what we're gonna be looking at
and learning about over the next few weeks.
So if you're taking notes here this morning,
just jot down a few little simple things.
Number one, as we're taking some notes and
learning about what revival is and what revival
does and why do we need revival, number
one, notice the special prompting for revival here
in Psalm 85, because we need to ask
ourselves the question, why do we need revival?
Why are we even talking about this this
morning other than the fact that there seems
to be little pockets of revival breaking out
around our nation?
Well look there at the word the psalmist
uses.
If you look at the word the psalmist
uses, you're going to get just a little
bit of a hint.
He says, will you not revive us again?
So revive, re-life, life again.
In other words, something has happened, something's gone
wrong, something has happened in the life of
the believer, something has happened in the life
of the church, something has happened in the
walk and the witness of those of us
who have received the gift of eternal life.
Now the question that everybody always wants to
ask and have answered is, does this mean
that we've lost our salvation?
Look right here.
No, you cannot lose your salvation.
Once a person is really, truly, genuinely, actually
saved, you can never become unsafe.
That's why it's called eternal life.
It is forever.
It is eternal.
So a Christian can never lose their salvation,
but the Bible does teach that a Christian
can lose the joy of their salvation, or
the power, or the vitality in their salvation.
For example, remember David, Bathsheba?
He sinned with Bathsheba.
He did what he shouldn't have done, and
then on top of that he had her
husband Uriah murdered.
And this is a guy who's a man
after God's own heart, right?
And then David, as a result of all
of that, he cries out, Oh God, restore
to me the joy of your salvation.
He didn't say restore my salvation.
He said restore to me the joy of
your salvation.
He hadn't lost his salvation.
He lost the joy.
And as a result, now there was a
chore, now it was a challenge to even
live the Christian life.
And that's kind of where we are today.
We no longer pray like we should, if
we're being honest.
We no longer live like we should.
We certainly no longer witness like we should.
We are not being sought and light in
a dark and corrupt world.
And as a result, we see all the
degradation, all the depravity, all the degeneration in
our community, in our nation.
Something has to take place.
If you looked up there at the beginning
of Psalm 85, that very first verse, he
says, Lord, you've been favorable to your land.
You've brought back the captivity of Jacob.
You've forgiven the iniquity of your people.
You have conquered all their sin.
Selah.
In other words, what do you think about
that?
You have taken away all of your wrath.
You have turned from the fierceness of your
anger.
So that's salvation.
They've been forgiven.
They've been set free.
They're no longer at war with God.
But now watch this.
Something happens in between these two verses.
Verse 4, Restore us, O God, of our
salvation.
So he's still the God of their salvation.
Restore us, O God, of our salvation and
cause your anger toward us to cease.
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Now, time out.
Wait a minute.
Time out.
Wait a minute.
He just wrote in one verse that God's
anger had been turned away, and in the
next verse, he's praying for God's anger to
cease and even asking that it not proceed
to be passed down upon the generations.
So what's going on here?
Well, to put it in Bible terms, they've
left their first love.
They've left their first love.
They've gotten cold and comfortable in their salvation.
They've gotten cold and comfortable in their walk
with the Lord, and as a result, they've
drifted into sin and rebellion.
And so in order to make them realize
what's going on and what they had done,
God begins to judge them.
In West Tennessee, we would say God takes
them to the woodshed.
Anybody here raised in a family that believed
and practiced corporal punishment?
Can I see your hands?
In other words, you got spanked when you
were growing up.
Can I see your hands?
My daddy could jerk a belt so fast,
it's like starting a weed eater.
And so you get disciplined.
That's what God is saying.
God is gonna judge them.
In other words, this is always what perceives
in prompts of moving of the Spirit of
God.
This is what happens before a real revival
breaks out.
In the church, there is coldness and apathy.
In the culture, there is corruption and anarchy,
and into that setting, in direct response to
the prayers and petitions of usually a small
handful of believers, a small group, that then
begins to pray and ask God to move.
And God begins to stir in that little
group, and they begin to tell others within
the church, and God begins to stir and
strengthen them.
And then they begin to tell others outside
of church, and God begins to save and
sanctify them.
And it grows and spreads and moves and
manifests itself until the entire area is embraced
with the power and the presence of God.
And you say, Pastor, I don't know.
Pastor, I just don't know.
I think the days are too dark.
I think we're too far gone in order
for God to do anything like that today.
Look right here.
It's on the darkest night that you need
a flashlight.
It's on the darkest night that you need
a flashlight.
D.M. Patton said, it is a foolish
blunder to suppose that any age can be
too evil for revival.
And so the prompting for revival is a
sin-soaked society and a cold, complacent, comfortable,
even carnal church.
Let me ask you a question.
Do you think that we're living in a
sinful society?
Do you think that we're living in a
wicked world?
We got people who don't even know what
a woman is.
Good Lord.
I mean, if they just lived on a
farm, they would know the difference between boys
and girls.
I mean, you can go on—I mean, any
farm boy knows the difference between boys and
girls.
I mean, you learn that really, really quickly.
We live in a sinful society.
We live in a wicked world.
And so, let me get a little more
personal.
Do you think that we as a church
and as individual believers have gotten a little
comfortable, a little complacent, a little cold,
maybe even a little carnal?
I can pray when I want to pray,
and I can watch what I want to
watch, and I can go where I want
to go, and I can drink what I
want to drink, and I can do what
I want to do.
If I want to witness, I'll witness.
If I want to tithe, I'll tithe.
If I want to come to church, I'll
come to church when I want to come
to church and preach.
You can't say nothing to me about it,
or I'll get mad at you, and I'll
go somewhere else where they won't say anything
to me about it.
Those things are not opportunities for the Christian.
They're obligations.
Reading your Bible, and praying, and witnessing, and
giving, and serving, and attending, and worshiping—those are
the SOP.
Those are the standard operating procedures for a
Christian.
We've got far too many Christians today who
are playing church, not being the church.
And there may be those of you here
this morning, and you've gotten a little cold
and comfortable in your Christianity.
You've gotten complacent.
Maybe you've got a little bit carnal, and
you've fallen into sin, and as a result
of that, you've severed your fellowship with God,
and you're not watching what you ought to
watch, and you're not going where you want
to go, and you're not doing what you
ought to do.
And as a result of that, when you
go to bed at night, and you lay
your head on your pillow, there is no
joy.
There's no peace in your life.
There's no joy in your heart.
And as a result of that, when you
pray, your prayers feel like boulders, and heaven
seems as hard as concrete.
What you need more than anything else is
repentance and revival.
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the good doctor, as
they called him, he said, I am profoundly
convinced that the greatest need in the world
today is a real heaven-sent revival in
the church.
And again, this isn't people acting crazy.
It's simply God showing up.
So you've got this special prompting for the
revival.
Then number two, you have the scriptural picture
of revival.
Look back in verse 6.
He says, will you not revive us again?
And as you study your Bible, what you're
going to notice is that there are many
pictures and illustrations that God uses to describe
revival or spiritual awakening.
Sometimes it's referred to as fire, like in
Acts chapter 2 verse 3.
Sometimes it's referred to as a fresh wind,
Acts 2 verse 2.
Sometimes it's described as refreshing rain.
Hosea 6 verse 3 says, he will come
to us like the rain, like the latter
and former rain, to the earth.
And those are great illustrations.
I love them.
But my favorite, and I really think the
best illustration in all the Bible about what
God does in revival, is found in Ezekiel
37.
And you don't have to turn there, because
you know the story.
In Ezekiel 37, you've got the prophet who's
standing before a valley that is full of
dusty dry bones.
And I bet we could all sing that
little song.
I bet we could.
Matter of fact, we're going to.
I bet we could all sing that little
song.
It goes something like this, them bones, them
bones, them dry bones, them bones, them bones,
them dry bones, them bones, them bones, them
dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord, the
toe bones connected to the foot bone.
You're not singing.
The toe bones connected to the foot bone,
the toe bones connected to the foot bone.
Now hear the word of the Lord.
And it goes up from there.
The toe bones connected to the foot bone,
the foot bones connected to the ankle bones,
connected to the shin bone, the shin bones
connected to the knee bone, the knee bones
connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bones
connected to the hip bone, the hip bones
connected to the back bone, the back Connected
to the neck bone the neck bones connected
to the Yeah, y'all didn't get that
too good.
Did you?
But them bones them bones gonna walk around
them bones them bones gonna walk around them
bones them bones gonna Walk around and guess
what they did The Lord the Lord Arranged
it the prophet Proclaimed it and all of
a sudden them old bones began to rustle
and rattle and come back together and as
they did that they began to come back
together and the sinews began to stretch out
and muscles began to build up and the
skin began to Stretch out and cover all
those dried dusty dead bones, but there's still
a problem because Ezekiel is standing there and
there's this bunch of bones that have been
brought back together They're standing up.
But all he has now is a bunch
of bodies standing there.
No doubt in formation, but they're dead No
life in them They had eyes but they
could not see they had hands but they
couldn't fight they had feet but they couldn't
walk and by the way That's a pretty
apt description of the modern-day church Organized
formalized pasteurized but no life No breath No
spirit And so in verse 9 I can
tell y'all really like that Was my
singing that bad And so the Lord said
to Ezekiel prophesied to the breath prophesies on
a man and say to the breath Thus
says the Lord God come from the four
winds Oh breath and breathe on these slain
that they may live so I prophesied as
he commanded me and breath came in to
them and they lived and stood up on
their feet an Exceedingly great army the psalmist
put it this way all the way through
the book.
He says revive us Oh Lord, will you
not revive us again?
Revive me in your way Revive me according
to your loving-kindness Revive me according to
your justice revive me according to your judgment.
Revive me according to your Revive me O
Lord for your name's sake and so it
is personal.
It's intimate.
This is the Christian This is the church
crying out for God to bring them together
and bind them together and to breathe a
friend's life into them again So that they
can be the church militant and not the
church impotent for his name's sake She got
the scriptural picture in the special prompting then
lastly There's a special purpose of revival look
back one last time somebody somebody five he
tells there's no uncertain terms What the purpose
of revival is he says in verse 6
That your people may rejoice in you Show
us your mercy Lord and grant us your
salvation.
I will hear what what God the Lord
will speak For he will speak peace to
his people and to his Saints But let
them not turn back to follow it's a
word of warning let them not turn back
to following Surely his salvation is near to
those who fear him that glory may dwell
in our land Mercy and truth have met
together righteousness and peace have kissed truth shall
spring out of the earth and righteousness We
shall look down from heaven.
Yes, Lord Let's just Lord will give what
is good and our land will yield its
increase Righteousness will go before him and shall
make his footsteps our pathway.
That is The purpose of revival It's not
the excesses that you see.
I Mean even in some of our Baptist
subculture, it's not the excess that's not revival
Revival he says here He says that your
people may rejoice in you that your glory
may dwell in our land So if you're
like me the last several weeks, I mean
you got my attention All of a sudden
you got a Wednesday Morning chapel service at
a Christian University Anybody here go to a
Christian University that you had chapel that you
had to go to require Can I see
your hands anybody so, you know as well
as I do They not that day black
came from Tennessee, right All those degrees didn't
help me on that one Those are not
normally spiritual things you have to show up
check in or you'll fail And it on
a Wednesday morning just in a regular service
Evidently God just showed up And then you
hear reports Samford University Other universe Cedarville up
in Ohio Years ago when it happened the
first not the first time but the last
time 1970s what 73 75 I think at
Asbury It started at Asbury But the greatest
beneficiaries if you will quote-unquote of that
revival were Southern Baptist because it sat down
on the campus at Southwestern Seminary And you
had a generation of pastors that were sent
out as a result of that and so
if you're like me, I love studying revivals
and so the revivals of the 20th century
revivals of the 19th century going back into
the 1800s and 1700s you've got The first
and second great awakenings you heard Jonathan Edwards.
You're familiar with that name You get the
haystack revival the Sandy Creek revival, but there's
there's one that maybe you hadn't heard of
It's called the Shantung revival and it took
place in northern China 1930s Charlie Culpepper Who
ended up being a professor at MidAmerica, dr.
Charlie Culpepper, dr.
Culpepper served In that area of China for
something like 42 years Served alongside miss Bertha
Smith from Calpin, South Carolina and you say
well what kind of revival was it?
Well, he described it as Revival that was
marked by prayer repentance confession Are you Baptist
holding on to your seat?
Healing Renewing life in the churches and boldness
and witnessing.
Dr. Culpepper.
Thanks.
I'll see his face in my mouth.
Dr. Culpepper He said they were having a
prayer meeting one night during that revival and
they were meeting with dr Culpepper's wife who
had had some issue with her eyes for
a year I don't think she was totally
blind but but an issue with her sight
with her eyes And he said in the
middle of all that God touched her eyes
and healed her He said well, I just
don't know whether God still does that or
not.
Well, he ain't gonna do it in your
life then He still Jehovah Rapha the Lord
who healed by the way, but then he
wrote this He said it was though God
had walked into the room Everybody prayed aloud
and We felt that heaven had come down
how about you but man, I I won't
revival in our time I'd love for revival
to break out right here this morning I
mean where people are praying and confessing their
sins are getting right with God.
They're getting right with each other They're energized
by the Spirit of God.
They're out witnessing and sharing the goodness the
gospel people are being saved You say that's
right preacher.
That's right.
I won't I won't God to do that
Well, you know, the only thing stand between
you and revival is you it's just you
Lord send revival And let it begin in
me I Think it was Gypsy Smith Romania
Gypsy Smith.
I Think it was Gypsy Smith.
I think it's that's right So he was
an evangelist Served in Romania for many years.
I think it was Gypsy Smith who said
They was praying for revival and he went
into his room he took a piece of
chalk and And he drew a circle on
the floor and then he stood in the
middle of the circle and he prayed for
God to send revival To the circle you
can experience revival in your life.
If you'll just get right with God.
Did you know that?
and then when a group of folks get
right with God and then They begin to
pray and confess and they begin to say
it begins to spread.
It's got like wildfire And so what I
want to do this morning number one if
you're here this morning and you've never been
saved You don't need to be revived.
You need to be vibed You need to
be saved and you can be saved like
that grown man was in the first service
You can just simply repent of your sins
Surrender your life to Jesus Ask him to
forgive you of your sin and he will
do just that give you the greatest gift
You could ever receive the gift of eternal
life And oh, it's eternal