I am sure that in this meeting there
are some of you who made a start
towards spiritual commitment in a very real way
nine months ago.
And as has already been said and prayed
tonight, revival is not something you take for
granted, it's something that keeps on needing to
be revived.
That is very scriptural.
Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy
people may rejoice in thee?
It's the Old Testament text of revival.
Notice it says, Wilt thou not revive...
Already there is life that has had to
be re-life.
There is one revival.
Revive us...
what's the next word?
Again.
So the psalmist is saying, the revival needs
it again.
And that is as scriptural as can be.
And I am just encouraging you in the
area to make sure that this will not
be the last refresher time, but that it
will be one of many kinds of ministries
like this that will keep on reminding us
or refreshing us in the truth that God
uses to set us free.
Some of you may be here tonight discouraged.
You say, you know, I made a start
nine months ago, but it hasn't all yet
come to gel in my life.
That's why a refresher week is here.
God may reveal a specific truth that you
need to see more clearly now.
Thank God for the progress you've made.
But there could be another area, some area
that God's after.
Keep open to it.
You say, I know I need to respond
to God, but what will people think if
I have to go to a place of
prayer?
When I was in the place of prayer
nine months ago, you know what people think?
Praise the Lord.
Amen?
Thank God we are honest enough to recognize
that we do have needs, that none of
us have arrived, that we're all candidates for
further touching from God in our lives, but
there's a need for sharpening the focus, and
whatever it is God's saying to us tonight,
be open to respond to what He's after
in your personal life.
All right, now tonight, where revival begins?
Where does personal revival begin?
Isaiah chapter six is a biblical evaluation of
that subject.
It is one of those stories that I
love because it is so to the point
of what God really says to us in
personal revival.
Isaiah six.
It's on page 718 in my Bible.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I,
Isaiah, saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His train
filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings.
With twain he covered his face, and with
twain or two he covered his feet, and
with two he did fly.
And one cried unto another and said, Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory.
And the posts of the door moved at
the voice of him that cried, and the
house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, 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, for mine
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which
he had taken with the tongues from off
the altar, and he laid it upon my
mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched thy
lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and
thy sin purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will
go for us?
Then said I, Here am I, send my
brother.
Here am I, send me.
And if we were to read on, he
said, Go and tell this people, and it
goes and tells the story of how God
Almighty gave Isaiah exactly what to say, and
the continuation in the chapters to come.
Now in order to get the truth I'm
after this evening, we must have a background
to the verses I've just read.
You see, Isaiah was a prophet, already commissioned
by God, but ready to quit.
He was laboring with little success, confused as
he saw the chaos, and the lawlessness, the
rebellion, the homosexuality, and so on of all
the people around him.
This day that we have read about is
the prophet Isaiah walking into the temple, confused,
frustrated, discouraged, disappointed, upset, hopeless, not knowing which
way to turn, even though he had been
commissioned by God into a ministry.
Suppose he went to church that morning, like
some of us go to church, merely expecting
some easement from the harassment of the cares
of life through the week, or maybe expecting
to spend one hour in which he could
settle down and relax and not have anybody
bothering him, possibly even go to sleep while
the preacher was preaching.
One of those hours where his wife couldn't
bother him.
Children couldn't bother him too much.
They were often children's church.
An hour to get caught up with himself.
Does that sound familiar to some of us?
Suppose he went there that morning expecting to
hear the pastor say something that would soothe
his nerves or a pleasant building up of
his ego, telling him how faithful he was
in the cause of religious duty.
Suppose he went like that, like some of
us would like to go to church and
enjoy hearing those things.
What a shock it must have been to
assist him.
For him to go to church that morning
and in the light of what we have
just read, to have his eyes blazingly filled
with the glory of God and his heart
burned clean in the fire of Almighty God.
Imagine what a shock it must have been
to assist him to go to church and
find the doorpost moving with God's power and
the house filled with smoke and rising incense
and the atmosphere literally flated with the presence
of Almighty God and before that service was
over he was forced down to his knees,
gripped and smitten, broken and cleansed, empowered and
renewed and reassured of the commission.
What an hour in church!
He probably never noticed the sign at the
entrance of the church that morning that said,
enter at your own risk.
A risky place to be when God is
on the scene and ready to do something
in the life of a prophet that had
to be done in order for him to
be able to serve God in reality.
Now what is the application?
We all have our cozy ideas and our
notions as to what church going ought to
be like.
It ought to be respectable and comfortable and
predictable and satisfiable and amiable.
Everything is orderly as a biscuit cutter.
The tragic sentiment of our day is that
most of us and many of us think
that good form is the main thing in
worship.
As long as the form is right it
is good worship.
We have our temples, we have our altars,
we have our songs, we too have our
anthems, we sing holy, holy, holy but that's
where it ends for most of us as
far as God is concerned.
C.S. Lewis in his book called Miracles
describes it in a most unique way.
He suggests that most of us prefer living
in a world with a God who is
manageable by us.
We like the idea of having a God
that we can manage, who we can manage.
He says a harmless God.
He says one that literally is in our
control as it were.
We control Him.
Everything in order.
In his own words here's what he says.
There comes a moment when children who have
been playing at burglars hush suddenly.
Suppose was that a real footstep in the
hall?
There comes a moment when people who have
been dabbling in religion suddenly draw back.
Suppose we really found Him.
Or he said we never meant to come
to that.
Or more rightly we're still suppose He found
us.
C.S. Lewis We never expected that.
We thought we were just playing cops and
robbers.
We thought we were just playing as burglars.
But now we find ourselves all at once
in the presence of Almighty God.
That's what happened to the prophet that day
in the temple.
That's what could be happening to some people
in this meeting tonight who merely expected to
come and enjoy a good night out, the
singing, the rejoicing, the overflow of nine months
ago.
And tonight you may find yourself literally with
your eyes filled with the glory of God
and a sense of God's presence and would
to God we'd understand it and before the
night's over some of us would be so
smitten by the power of God that we'd
be on our faces before God like the
prophet was.
Commissioned and anointed to serve God in reality.
Remember here's a prophet.
If such was true of a prophet who
was already commissioned by God how much more
all the rest of us need to be
open to whatever it is God's after in
our personal lives?
Personal revival.
Where does revival begin?
Can I say it this way in one
simple statement?
Personal revival is a revolution of our self
-image.
It is a revolution of our self-image.
Now having said that what kind of a
revolution is it?
What needs to take place?
What needs to be revolutionized in my life?
Here are the areas of revolution.
First of all four things.
The pride of self.
Secondly the standard for self.
Thirdly the death of self.
Fourthly the revival of himself.
That's where we're going tonight.
That's the revolution that must take place in
every one of our lives if we want
to understand what the prophet Isaiah experienced to
be able to serve God in reality.
Let's look at the first one.
A revolution.
The pride of self.
In order to catch the truth of that
we must understand a little bit of chapter
five.
You see in chapter five the prophet Isaiah
looks at the world around him.
He looks at society about him.
He sees all those around him.
And there are six times he makes one
statement.
The statement is Six
times.
You find them.
Verse eight Woe unto them!
And without my elaborating merely to mention.
In verse eight he's pointing a woe to
those who are caught in the bondage of
materialism.
In verses eleven and twenty-two Woe unto
them!
Those who are gripped in the bondage of
alcoholism.
Woe unto them!
In verse eighteen he says Woe unto them!
Those who are gripped in the bondage of
sensualism.
Immorality.
Woe unto them!
In verse twenty Woe unto them!
Those who are gripped in the bondage of
liberalism.
Theologically and morally.
Woe unto them!
Liberal theology and morally.
And then in verse twenty-one Woe unto
them!
Those who are gripped in the bondage of
something we hear much about these days.
Humanism.
Where man is the end in himself.
Where man is his own boss.
Where man calls his own shots.
Dictates his own terms.
Man is the ultimate authority.
Humanism.
Five specific areas that he saw a problem
with people.
And he was absolutely right.
Every one of those groups of people were
in problems.
But the problem I'm suggesting tonight is the
pride of self is such that even though
he cries out six times Woe unto them!
And there was plenty wrong with all of
those people.
Self esteem thrives on revealing the sins of
other people.
Self esteem thrives on finding what is wrong
with everybody else around.
Could that be your condition tonight?
You can tell us what's wrong with the
preacher.
You can tell us what's wrong with some
people who are hypocrites in the church around
you.
You have all the reasons why everybody around
you needs to be revived.
You can tell us how everybody ought to
be straightened out.
And on and on we go.
You see, the problem is that the pride
of self having arrived, having attained, comparing yourself
with other people always points a finger at
someone else.
And never sees himself.
In chapter 5, I find no sign of
any recognition at all that the prophet himself
had pride in his own heart.
That he was setting himself up above other
people around him.
That he saw himself as destitute and in
need.
There's no idea that the prophet sees himself
as a problem.
But rather I catch the Laodicean attitude in
the prophet Isaiah in chapter 5.
I have need of nothing like the Laodicean
said in the book of the Revelation.
I'm rich.
I'm increased with goods.
I have all these things going for me.
I have need of nothing.
And God Almighty turns to the Laodicean church
and He says, Thou knowest not that thou
art poor, thou art miserable, thou art wretched,
thou art blind, thou art naked.
Five things wrong with you and you don't
even know it.
And that's the tragedy.
That's the problem of the pride of self.
Cannot see yourself because your eyes are on
someone else.
Where does revival begin?
It begins when you and I recognize the
anguish and the devastating power of the pride
of self that thrives on showing the wrongs
in other people and esteeming ourselves better than
others and with the attitude that I have
arrived and I am not a candidate for
personal revival.
Whenever I get that feeling in my own
spirit, I am reminded of the last supper
of our blessed Lord.
When He turned to His disciples in that
hour and He said to them, One of
you will betray me.
And I have often thought it must have
been Peter the first one to say, Lord,
it is not I.
Lord, it is not I.
And around the room they went, Lord, it
is not I.
Lord, it is not I.
Until by process of elimination, Judas Iscariot was
the only one left.
And Judas said, Well, I guess, Lord, it
must be I because everybody else says they
are not guilty.
Is that what your Bible says?
Not mine.
Maybe the reverse vision says that.
The devil's perversion says that.
But that is not what God's Word says.
It was as if instinctively I get a
picture of all of those disciples.
Who were they?
Those who had walked three years in the
presence of our blessed Lord.
Who had felt His heartbeat.
Who literally walked side by side with Him
as they ministered day after day and month
after month for those three years of His
human earthly ministry.
You talk about people who ought to be
those who recognize that they have got it
all put together.
Certainly those people ought to be the ones.
But with one instinctive boy's eye, catch the
picture when the Lord said, one of you
will betray Me.
It was as if collectively they said, Lord,
is it I?
The twelve men closest to Christ recognize the
potential for sin.
They recognize that they could be men in
need.
Men with sin in their lives even though
they were that close to the Savior.
If such is true of such men, who
is there in this meeting tonight who would
say that I am not a candidate for
personal revival?
That because I'm better than some people I
know, that's a sign that I don't need
a broken spirit before Almighty God and let
God deal with me at a personal level
so that my life can be transformed by
God's glory.
So that I'll not be content merely to
be a good person in the church and
have it all put together religiously, but I'll
have the anointing of God such as I've
never known before.
The pride of self says, esteem yourself better
than other people around you.
Secondly, the standard for self.
The standard for self.
Right from chapter 5, we move right into
chapter 6 in verse 1, and the prophet,
and it says, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I, Isaiah, saw also the Lord
sitting upon a throne high and lifted up,
and His train filled the temple.
Now the standard for self.
Who is the standard for self?
I also saw the Lord.
What a contrast from what he saw in
chapter 5.
All he could see in chapter 5 was
people around him.
And he was judging himself by those around
him.
But now, his eyes blazingly filled with a
sense of God Himself.
Now the standard is the Lord and no
human being.
Isaiah, as a possible historian, could have written
to us about a great funeral of a
great king, Uzziah.
But he didn't say one thing about it.
It is significant that those words, in the
year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.
Uzziah was a great king.
In fact, Uzziah was a tremendous model to
the prophet Isaiah.
In fact, it was such that the prophet
Isaiah was sad at the death of that
king because it seemed to him that the
last hope for Judah was gone because of
his tremendous righteous acts as a righteous king.
He saw go before him a king with
whom he could work.
A king who had the same affinity as
the prophet did.
And when that king died, instead of Isaiah
recording to us the story of a great
king, he said, in the year that King
Uzziah died, somehow when I walked into the
temple that day, there was someone in the
temple that was bigger than the temple itself.
Someone in the temple that the temple actually
could not contain.
The Lord of hosts.
Why talk about anyone else?
All I could see is Him.
The standard for self now becomes divine.
When did Isaiah see the Lord?
When he closeted himself in with that God.
Not until he got his eyes off of
everyone around him.
Not until his human resources were gone.
King Uzziah was gone.
His last hope was gone.
He no longer could depend on anything human.
Not until the bottom dropped out of everything
he considered of reality that could make the
difference.
Conditions were in such shambles and all hope
gone.
Everything crashing in around him.
No longer could he depend on anything human
or anyone human to make the difference.
Could I suggest tonight that you and I
are not candidates for personal revival as long
as you and I figure that we have
some kind of human resources that we can
depend on to solve our problems.
It's not until God Almighty strips the scales
from our eyes and all we can see
is a magnificent God who alone can make
the difference that all of our righteousnesses, all
the good things about us are as filthy
rags in His sight.
It's not until we get to that place
will we be candidates for revival.
The practical lesson is this tonight.
What will it take in our lives before
we will be in the place where God
can reveal Himself to us like He revealed
Himself to Isaiah?
What yet must God do in your life
and in your home and in your family
and in your circumstances to strip you from
all of your reliance on human resources before
you can finally see the Lord as the
One who longs to sit on the throne
of your life?
What did Isaiah see when he saw the
Lord?
What did he see?
He primarily saw three things.
First of all, he saw God in His
sovereignty, in His divinity.
Verse 1, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up, sitting on a throne.
His train filled the temple.
I saw Him high and lifted up.
You know what he's saying?
He's saying, I'm seeing Him as God sitting
on a throne.
He's saying, no longer do I bring Him
down to a human level.
I see Him higher and above all that
human man can talk about.
I see Him as sovereign.
I see Him as King.
I see Him as Lord.
I see Him as Master.
I see Him as the One who must
sit on the throne of my life.
Sovereign God.
Though to him from a human perspective it
looked as if man was still trying to
run things, now that day in the temple
he finally caught the right vision.
He now sees that there's still hope because
though the things are in shambles around him,
there are no shambles on the throne.
Amen.
That God is still in control.
And though your world may be crumbling around
you tonight in so many aspects, it's a
thrilling comfort to know that God is still
sitting on the throne and He cares and
He loves and He reaches out tonight for
you to bow your knee in full surrender
to His Lordship.
He not only saw Him as sovereign, secondly,
He saw His holiness.
In verses 2 and 3, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of His glory.
He saw Him as holy.
Verse 3, One cried out, holy, holy is
the Lord.
The whole earth is full of His glory.
What does it mean?
It means not of this earth, not earthly,
but pure and holy.
It's a purity that transcends far beyond the
limits of our human perception.
It's a holiness whose height is beyond our
imagination.
It's a cleanness that makes all the cleanness
of man, that all the cleanness of man
could ever hope to have and to attain
look like corruptible garbage.
That's what He saw that day.
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among
the gods?
Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful
in praises, doing wonders, and the Bible is
full of it?
Thou art of pure eyes than to behold
evil and hence not look on iniquity.
The tragedy is that when you and I
try to describe God in His holiness, we
can only describe Him hinged to our own
concepts of God which are already tainted by
our own frailty and the inevitability that emerges
because of our own sinfulness.
We cannot understand what kind of a God
He really is because of our finite frailty.
But that day, the prophet saw a God
who was holier than anything man could ever
dream about.
Thirdly, he saw Him in His judgment.
Not only did he see Him sovereign.
Not only did he see Him in His
holiness.
Can I pause long enough to say no
wonder there is so much of the world
in the church these days.
We have such a low view of the
character of God.
But he sees Him in judgment in verse
4.
In verse 4, it's a reminder of a
sign of judgment.
And the posts of the door moved at
the voice of Him that cried.
And the house was filled with smoke.
A symbol or a picture of the judgment
of God.
The power of Almighty God descending in the
midst of His people.
He saw Him as the judge.
Will not the judge of the earth do
right?
The judge who keeps the book straight?
Nothing is hid from His eyes?
If we judge our sins and ourselves now,
the judgment seat of Christ is one of
tremendous reward.
That day, the prophet Isaiah saw a God
who not only has love and mercy and
tenderness, but also holds justice and judgment as
the habitation of His throne.
He saw Him as a God who knows
everything about us.
Who keeps the record straight.
Nothing is hid from His eyes.
Thou God, seest me, and the sin that
I commit under the canopy of night is
still not dark enough to hide from Almighty
God.
The judge of the earth will do right.
And the prophet that day got a glimpse
of the fact that one day he would
stand before that kind of a holy, sovereign
God and have to meet Him in judgment.
And if you have a mamby-pamby, sort
of a weak, anemic concept of God, who
is only a God of love and tenderness.
You see Christ as the tender shepherd.
You see Him holding the children in His
arms.
But I very rarely have gone into a
church and have seen a picture of a
God of judgment on a wall.
Somehow we don't like that concept.
But He must be a God of judgment
if He is a God of love.
One is a counterpart to the other.
And so when the prophet saw that the
standard was no longer those inconsistent people around
him or those worldly people on the outside,
the crowd of the underworld that he pointed
his finger at in chapter 5, but now
he saw God sitting on the throne, a
God who is absolutely pure, a God who
keeps the book straight.
Now his standard was altogether changed of who
he really was.
And that's what has to happen in your
life and mine.
We must see God like that, as the
standard.
When I catch a glimpse of that, how
do I continue to stand upright when I
take a look at that kind of God?
Thirdly, the death of self.
Not only recognize the pride of self.
Not only recognize the standard for self, the
Holy God.
The death of self.
Verse 5, Then, then, then, then!
Not before that, where he saw God and
himself in the sight of God.
Then said I, Woe is who?
Me.
Isn't that a change?
Isaiah chapter 5, six times you said, Woe
unto them.
All at once your language changes.
Woe is me, for I am undone.
Isaiah chapter 5, they were all undone.
Your language changes.
I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips.
Isaiah, in chapter 5, you were pointing your
finger at all those unclean people, and you
did not even want to relate to them.
You did not want to consider yourself as
a part of them.
You were trying to set yourself apart from
them.
In chapter 5, and now in chapter 6,
you are saying, I am a part of
them.
I dwell in the midst of them.
I am no better than they are.
You talk about death to self.
Woe is me.
I am undone.
I am unclean.
I am a part of this unclean generation.
Do you want to know what the problem
is in the United States of America tonight?
It's not the crooked politicians in Washington.
It's not the women of the underworld.
It's not the Iran gate.
It's not any other gate you want to
find.
Ushers, lock the doors of this church, and
don't let anybody out.
And then, those of us on the inside,
my people, called by my name, shall what?
Humble themselves.
Deal with that pride.
Pray.
Seek my face.
Turn from their wicked ways.
Then will I forgive their sins, and then
watch what I'm going to do to their
land.
Whenever the church gets up off its knees,
whenever God's people no longer recognize their absolute
dependence on God, whenever we think we have
arrived, and we no longer see ourselves as
sinners saved by grace, and as candidates for
the blood of Christ to be applied to
our hearts on a daily basis, whenever we
think we no longer need the cross, whenever
we think we no longer need the finished
work of Christ, we are the reason for
the world on the outside the way it
is.
A church that becomes powerless, that can no
longer affect its society.
The reason for the outside.
Have you ever used the four spiritual laws?
I've often suggested that if I were to
write them, I would write a fifth one.
And I would make the fifth one the
first one.
And it would be something like this.
Law number one.
Neighbor, will you please forgive me for not
coming to you sooner with the greatest news
in the world?
The reason is, I have been so backslidden,
and so cold, and so out of touch
with God, that I didn't have that much
a concern for you.
But thank God, God has finally shown me
myself, and I have repented of it, and
now I want to share with you the
rest of the spiritual laws.
What about that?
The reason why you neighbor don't have an
interest in the things of God could be
the fact that I have not been walking
with God the way I should have been.
And I'm no better than you are, neighbor.
I am undone.
I am unclean, and I am a part
of this society.
And most of us here tonight, our neighbors
think that we think that we are the
holiest people around.
And that we have arrived.
And when we get off of that high
pedestal of pride, and God breaks our hearts,
and we see ourselves the way we are,
and we see God the way He is,
and we're able to go to our neighbors
and say, Oh neighbor, God has broken my
heart.
I've been religious.
I've made professions.
I go to the farm.
I've got a lot of right things going,
but God has broken my heart about my
self-sufficiency, my ego, my self-determination of
my own life, and on and on we
can go.
There's the death of self.
And there are some of us in this
meeting tonight who still think that we have
a lot to offer God.
That when we finally surrender totally to God,
that God really is going to get a
great package.
Any greater than the prophet Isaiah?
And yet, here he is smitten, coming to
the end of himself.
I have an idea that that moment, the
prophet Isaiah never saw another person in the
world.
He could only see himself for a holy
God.
Self-esteem ends where a vision of God
begins.
You see?
Now a vision and awareness of our own
unclean lips can be a reality where we
have finally seen God.
Now we are willing to identify ourselves with
those people around us.
You see, now we are recognizing that there
is iniquity and sin in our own lives
that needs to be taken care of.
You see, now that the standard has changed,
we no longer pride ourselves in what we
are, but we see the holy God.
The truth is that if Isaiah did not
see God in his holiness, he would have
never seen himself in his filthiness.
And therefore I can almost sense the prophet
Isaiah saying, Thank you God.
Thank you God for revealing yourself.
Because if you had not revealed yourself like
that, I would have never seen myself.
And if I would have never seen myself,
I'd still be as filthy as I was
before.
I'd still be as self-righteous as I
was before.
I'd still be pointing my finger at others
as I was before.
The holiness of God.
There's a wall.
It's the wrong color, for what I'm saying.
But if that wall were white, and I'd
say, That wall doesn't need to be painted.
Look how white it is.
You'd say, Yes it does.
Let me show you.
And you take one brush, and dip it
into a can of white paint, and you
splash one brush full onto that wall.
You then would say, How dirty that wall
is.
What made the difference?
The pure white.
If Isaiah had never seen the pure white,
he would have considered himself all right.
And some of us in this meeting have
never really caught a glimpse of the pure
white.
And that's why we still put our hands
under our arms and tell God how good
we are.
And God needs to break our hearts to
the end.
But when that happens, thank God, God doesn't
leave us there.
The revival of himself.
Verses 6 through 11.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me,
having a live coal in his hand, which
he had taken with the tongues from off
the altar.
And he laid it upon my mouth.
And he said, Lo, this hath touched thy
lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and
thy sin purged.
And I also heard the voice of the
Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
And then who will go for us?
Then said I, here am I.
Send me.
The revival of himself.
Four statements made.
The first one, Thine iniquity is taken away.
Holy Spirit anointing.
And now for what reason?
To fulfill the Great Commission.
Not to enjoy it for ourselves.
But the world at our doorstep, that needs
the touch of God, that needs the anointed
lips, that needs the voice of the one
who has already met God at the altar.
And if you can remember clearly those truths
that were brought into focus during our time
together, when we go to the prayer room,
we say, deal honestly with our sins.
Deal honestly with self.
Bring it to the cross for death union.
And claim by faith the ministry of the
Holy Spirit.
To be able to go out from this
place walking in the Spirit.
To fulfill what God longs for you to
do.
And here in the story of the prophet
Isaiah, those same truths come into focus.
There is now a revival of himself.
Whereas to begin tonight, dealing with self, with
self-esteem as sin, now there is a
revival of himself, which is, can I say,
the proper self-esteem, which is the anointing
of God, that shows us who we really
are in Christ.
People who are set apart for God's glory,
with a job to fulfill, a mission.
Is that the kind of revival you need
tonight?
You know, I have often thought that when
Isaiah was on his face before God, broken
in such a way, could he have had
the idea in his spirit, God, I am
so undone.
When I see a holier, I am so
unclean.
My lips are so filthy.
Just be content if you will just cleanse
those lips and cleanse that vile heart.
God, is it possible that you can use
me?
The marvel that God, you would want to
use such a one who was so unclean,
so unworthy, so filthy.
I am nothing, I am wretched, I am
useless.
You are such a holy God and I
am such a sinner.
Do you really mean me?
God, do you really want me?
Could it be possible that you can take
the broken strings of my self-centeredness, the
broken cords of my life that have been
shattered by sin and self and pride and
ego and all the contamination?
Could it be, God, that now in the
midst of the cleansing, you want to perform
a healing to make me whole again so
that out of this broken life there can
come a sweet melody that can play a
beautiful tune for the glory of God?
Amen!
A revival of myself so that God can
now receive the glory.
So that anything good that comes out of
me, I cannot take the credit because I
was so undone.
And until you see yourself like that, in
the view of a holy God, you'll still
be serving the church and serving people around
you and looking for brownie points in heaven
and looking for people to applaud you on
the back.
And when they don't applaud you just right,
you're not sure you're going to keep serving
all in the energy of the flesh, wood,
hay and stubble as far as God is
concerned.
But when God finally brings you to the
end of yourself, then the marvel of marvels
is that He says, I want to use
you.
And God can take the smallest life in
this meeting tonight.
The one who considers that you are so
insignificant that there's no place for you in
the service of God.
God Almighty can do such wonders for you.
The truth is, God Almighty can take a
little old crooked stick and He can use
it for His whole glory as long as
He's the one who owns the stick.
A broken spirit He will not despise.
For the first time, the prophet Isaiah had
a sense of anointing, had a sense of
fulfillment, had a willingness to say, here am
I, send me.
For the first time, there was no hesitancy
about fulfilling the commission.
And if we were to take time tonight,
which we will not.
God used the prophet over and over again
to stand and cry against the sins of
the people, to proclaim the love of God
who wanted to restore them and what that
God could do in their lives.
He became a witness by His life to
a whole nation.
And as you go on and read in
the book of Isaiah, He became a joyous
and happy testimony despite the circumstances around Him.
His whole family was used of God.
And in chapter 8, you see how the
prophet became the spokesman of God for the
nation.
And then God literally named all of His
children with such meaningful names that were an
asset to the fact that God anointed His
whole family.
What a thrill!
Because one day a prophet allowed the purging
power of a holy God to penetrate the
resources or the outward shell of His veneer
and His religiosity.
And even His commission had get to the
innermost depth of His being.
And He dealt with His pride and He
became that vessel for God's glory even to
His family.
I stand here tonight and thank God for
that kind of an influence in my own
life.
Parents who recognize their need for a holy
God and in the midst of a religious
background as an Italian family, how God Almighty
and His love and His kindness and His
tenderness would call one family out of a
whole relationship and allow a mother to say
yes to God.
And a dad who weeks and months later
who fought like cats and dogs as it
were against anyone who would step on the
religion of our family.
Ready to leave mother with five children all
under ten years of age.
But mother had so seen God that she
turned to dad and said dad as much
as I love you if it means giving
you up or giving up my God I'd
have to give you up but Christ has
become so real I cannot let Him go.
And then God breaking my dad's heart to
think of where we might be tonight had
those parents never allowed the breaking process of
God in their hearts.
To think that six children bowed their knees
in salvation not in a revival meeting but
all at mother's knees.
Dad's in heaven.
I don't know if he's looking on tonight
but I say to you every father in
this meeting who thinks that your pride and
ego keeps you from saying yes to God
in His fullness and personal revival is worth
it.
The tragedy may be that someday your children
may rise up and curse the day that
you gave them birth for the fact that
you never lived the godly lifestyle the example
of a surrendered life to the Lordship of
Christ.
Children never having the potential of the influence
and impact of godly parents to lead them
on like Isaiah led his family.
What a story.
Where does revival begin?
One day Isaiah walked into the temple confused,
discouraged disappointed, hopeless, upset didn't know
which way to turn but he went out
of the temple a man encouraged with hope,
joy victory, anointing, glory a ministry.
That's the revival.
Where are you tonight?
You see?
He could not see himself until he saw
God.
Neither can you.
He could not see his sin until he
saw himself.
Neither can I.
He could not see the world until he
dealt with sin and self and was anointed
with fires from off the altar.
Then he could see the world and say,
here am I, send me.
And neither will you have a burden that
is consistent for the world and a broken
heart for the world until you have a
genuine personal revival and then you'll see through
God's eyes a world that's closest to God's
heart.
Tonight, there are some people in this meeting
who need to be revived.
Are you a candidate?
Let's stand and pray.
O God, I pray Thou wilt
show us where we've allowed the enemy of
our souls to thwart us from seeing Thee
in Thy holiness and Thy power.
Spirit of the living God, do Thy office
work in every one of our hearts tonight.
We are such a proud people, better than
the people next door because we have more
truth than they do.
Better than the church down the block because
we have the truth and they don't see
it clearly.
Better than a lot of people who call
themselves Christians.
O God, strip us tonight of that damnable
pride that points a finger at everybody else
who needs to be revived.
God, Thou art in Thy holy temple.
Holy, holy, holy, holy.
Lord, God, almighty, sitting on a throne, forgive
us for belittling Thee, bringing Thee down to
human level.
Lord, we want Thee to be on the
throne.
Holy, God, break our hearts.
Show us who we really are.
Smite our hearts.
So religiously proud.
All of our accomplishments, show us that they
come to naught if done in the energy
of the flesh.
Self has Thy way.
While we're praying, where are all the hungry
hearts in this meeting?
We say, well, I could not have heard
it any straighter.
I need God to do such a deep
work in my heart that He delivers me
from the bondage of my pride.
I have been such an arrogant, self-sufficient
person.
I can see what's wrong with everybody else.
But I have need of nothing.
It's been my attitude for so long.
Men, especially, tonight, I am a candidate for
personal revival.
I've seen God in His holiness.
He's spoken in my heart.
And I want to go to my knees
and repent of my pride, my ego.
I want to deal with my sin.
I want to surrender all the rights of
self and lay it all before God.
And by faith, I want to claim the
fullness of His Spirit to have an anointing
in my life.
Maybe some of you were here nine months
ago and you've allowed the enemy to trip
you up along the way.
And tonight, God Almighty wants to sharpen the
focus.
Why don't you go to that place of
repentance?
Go to your knees.
Nobody will say anything to you until you
have responded to God.
And don't get up off your knees until
you can thank Him for the victory and
claim it by faith.
Before you go, I'd like for us to
pray collectively for you.
Express your desire.
Slip your hands up.
Place them down all across the congregation.
Yes, yes, hands are being raised.
Yes, recognition of my need.
Keep on recognizing your need.
Others, express your desire for God to bring
you out.
Yes, God bless you.
Hands are being raised.
Others, Oh, I just need that kind of
a thorough cleansing in my life.
Yes, God bless you.
It's nice to see men as well as
women, young and old, expressing that desire.
How many others?
I know I'm not walking in spiritual victory
tonight.
I've seen myself.
I need God.
Pray for me.
I want to be included in this prayer.
Others, before we pray.
Yes, God bless you.
Way in the back, I see it.
Others, desire to be included now.
A moment of truth.
Yes, God bless you.
On the side, I see it.
Others, before we pray.
God, it's full of my heart.
God bless you, sir.
Recognition of need.
A pride that stands in between me and
the anointing of God in my life.
Let's pray.
Lord, Yes, God bless you, sir.
Hands still being raised.
Are there others?
Lord, I praise Thee for what Thou art
doing, what Thou art saying.
Ministered by Thy Spirit, give us enough sense
to know what we've heard from Thee, and
by Thy power, may we not leave until
we know beyond a shadow of any and
every doubt that we've come into full agreement
to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our
lives, to be revived in ourselves.
Have Thy way.
I pray for each one who's recognized that
need.
Give him judgment day honesty.
Do Thy work in Thy way for Thy
glory, that lives can be transformed tonight.
Have Thy way.
While we're praying, and we prayerfully sing, have
Thine own way, Lord.
Those of you who've expressed your desire, slip
out from where you are, go to the
back of the auditorium, all the way to
the back, and there's a room for prayer.
Go to your knees.
Don't let anybody talk to you.
God's done all the talking necessary.
It's now time for you to respond to
Him.
And don't get up off your knees until
you know you're claiming the fullness of God
to be yours after that repentance and brokenness
before Him.
All across the congregation.
Don't hesitate a moment.
We know each other well enough that we
don't need to hesitate.
Folks are already going.
Go now.
Have Thine own way.
God bless you.
Just keep right on going.
Thou art the potter.
I am the clay.
Wonderful to see people respond to God.
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me.
After Thy will.
While I am waiting.
Yielded and still.
I'm delighted to tell you that a number
of people have already responded.
And you don't have to have raised your
hand.
There could be husbands and wives here tonight.
You know the problem in your home is
the fact that self is in control.
Someone is not willing to come to the
end of self.
And it demands its rights.
And tonight you want to be delivered from
all that bondage.
And you want to be purged clean and
anointed.
Oh, thank God.
He's doing it for people all across the
continent.
And you can be a recipient of what
God has for you personally.
We sing that second verse.
Have Thine own way, Lord.
Have Thine own way.
Search me and try me, Master, today.
Whiter than snow, Lord.
As we sing it.
Go now.
Join those at the place of prayer.
Have Thine own way.
Search me and try me.
Master, I pray.
Whiter than snow, Lord.
Wash me just now.
As in Thy presence.
Humbly I bow.
Now as we're praying, are we in need
of prayer partners?
Are we in need of prayer partners?
Yes, a number of prayer partners are needed.
Those who have assisted in the prayer room
ministry.
If you'll just go to the prayer room
now to quietly pray next to those that
are on their knees.
Go now.
Those of you who assisted when we were
here and who are familiar with the way
in which we were praying with people, go
now.
Join them at the place of prayer.
Many people are there responding to God.
I want to thank God for it.
Now let me say, as we look up
for a moment, this is the truth.
This is the basic truth that God's after.
And as we continue this week, as this
is an overview of the truth, as God
speaks to you this week, even though some
of the teaching relates to where do we
go from here, the follow through and some
basic principles, I want you to know that
the prayer ministry is always open, that there
are all kinds of people who'd be glad
to counsel and pray with you, take time
with you, relate to you as to what
God's saying, that together we might leave knowing
that everyone who needs to respond has responded.
Don't let this week come to a close
if there's something that's not settled.
That's what a refresher is.
If there's some questions, areas that are not
clear, feel free to see us.
Let's take time together.
This is a people ministry.
We're here to see lives changed.
And it doesn't all happen overnight.
Aren't some of you glad God didn't show
you everything during the last crusade?
Aren't you glad He waited until after the
crusade was over to show you some more?
Aren't you glad He's still showing you some
things?
Amen?
I'm delighted about that.
You know, it would be kind of boring
if we got to be perfect and nothing
else for God to show us.
Then I'd be sure we should be in
heaven.
But what a thrill to know that God
can keep on speaking to us.
We can keep on having that kind of
a love relationship when He's so interested in
us.
Keep your hearts wide open.
Well, it's been a wonderful evening and let's
thank God for it.
Let's pray, shall we?
Lord, we're so delighted to be here because
we're delighted that You have chosen to be
in our midst and we're consciously aware of
Your presence.
Not only do we know it, but we're
aware of it.
Thank You for the transparent honesty of people
who want to get this thing settled tonight.
And some who are going to take the
truth home and they're going to have their
hearts open.
Some who may respond to God even at
their bedside tonight.
Just keep on having Thy way throughout this
week as we anticipate a great time together.
And we'll give You all the praise and
the glory and all of God's people said,
Amen.
Good night.
God bless you.