Revival is the work of God, and not the work of men. For 100 years God has blessed us as much as He did, but He has not opened the windows and taken charge.
My greatest heartbreak is the fact that I preach to people all over this country who claim to be saved, but they give no evidence. They don't know what daily repentance is, and they do not know what it is to sob over their sins. I don't believe a person like that is a Christian.
Oh, for men and women who know the Lord, and instead of telling how good they are, they say, "I am vile," but "He is precious." Most people will say, "I am all right," and they don't know that they are on the road to hell. If God Almighty leaves us alone, we are going to hell saying, "I am all right." We are judging ourself by someone else, and not by "the Word of God." Oh, that God would visit us and convict us, till once again the houses of God would be full of people for more of Christ to taste Him; that would be revival, wouldn't it?
I want to talk about a revival that took place in a church in Jerusalem. This church was set in order in a prayer meeting, and in the filling of the Holy Ghost, and in the presence of the Risen Lord. Something had already happened to the members of that church that were already saved. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they went all over the city proclaiming the wonderful works of God in Christ. Acts 2 confronts us with what a revival is.
The Scriptures say: Peter stood up with the eleven and preached this great Gospel sermon; he spoke for all the members of that congregation, and through this one man the Holy Ghost spoke; God spoke. And as a result of this message verse 37 says: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
The first thing that takes place in a revival is the reviving of people who already know the Lord. The second is the conviction and salvation of people who do not know the Lord. Those two things can be brought to pass only by Almighty God. Nobody on earth can revive His people; He will have to do it. Only God can breathe new life and put a song in their heart, and joy in their praise and power in their witness. And only God can convict a sinner and give him Godly sorrow for sin, and repentance and faith unto salvation in Christ.
When I compare myself with you, I am not under much conviction. I doubt if any of you live much holier lives than this poor weak preacher, but even you do not cause me to lay awake at night crying, "How vile I am." But just a little glimpse of a thrice Holy God in Jesus Christ, I have to throw up my hands, and with the Apostle Peter say, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." These nice people, the reason they are so nice is they don't see the holiness of Christ. Facing Him we lose all of our niceness, and all we can do is cry, "Oh. Lord, have mercy on me."
Here were some people "in revival." They were pricked in their heart and said, "What shall we do? We murdered the Son of the Living God, and God Almighty has raised Him from the dead and put Him on a throne and given Him authority and power over everything, and given Him the job of saving or damning every human being. And here is the One that God exalted and turned everything over to Him, we killed Him. Is there any hope for us?" Here were some people who were desperate and you will never get saved, if you don't get desperate also. They wanted to know if there is for giveness with God. If there is any hope for sinful men and women. What shall we do?
With the exception of God's ordinary blessings, for which we thank God; it has been a 100 years since there has been much of that going on in America. In most places our churches are not full of people who got so desperate that they were saying, "Is there any hope for a sinner like me?" Most of the people in our churches are people who decided to accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, because they were told by somebody that if they did that, they would be saved. That is a lie of hell.
Oh, how could we call ourselves Christians and not long to live just a little while when people would be desperately anxious to find out if a Holy God was going to send them all to hell or whether they could find mercy in His sight. Nothing short of men and women asking God's people and begging you to intreat the throne of mercy that God might show mercy to them.
Nothing short of that is a work of revival. It's been so long since we've had anything like that, till it makes us wonder if any of us are saved. There is so little evidence in my life and in yours, that we came in our desperation and experienced such great deliverance, that we have never been able to thank God enough for. We take it so for granted that it scares me, and I wonder if any of us have ever experienced so great a salvation as it would take to keep sinners such as we are, out of the pits of hell.
Here is "revival" when men got desperate about their condition in the sight of God. And this is what we must cry to God for; only He can bring it. There are lots of church members that don't want this, but saved people do. I haven't any hope for unsaved church members unless God is pleased to show them their sinful lost condition and put them under Holy Ghost conviction of sin. If God doesn't save them, they will go to hell, for He is the only One Who can save. If you are a Christian, you know our churches are in a desperate condition. I hope you will stop saying, "I'm all right," and get to where you will be honest with God and say, "God we have done so many things but it has not got the job done. Oh, God, You please come and revive your children and speak to sinners, so they will cry out, 'What must we do?'" Then men will say God done that. If men and women are not brought to the place they have to say, "That's God working," this generation is going to hell. Just our little efforts as good as they are, they are not getting the job done. God must work if any sinner is saved. This world is getting more and more rebellious against God and His Holy Law.
Revival came to this local church when the Holy Ghost came and made Christ real. Acts 2:32-33: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. "Verse 36: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said ... what shall we do?" What did the Holy Ghost do? He quickened, He revived the 120 who were already the first church, and bless God He made Christ real to 3,000 unsaved people. Now I ask a question which is the most profound question any person will ever be called upon to face. Do you know for yourself who Jesus is? Who do you say He is? On the day of Pentecost 3,000 people who did not know who Jesus was, found out Who He was, they found out that the One Who was crucified and hung on a cross; God Almighty raised Him from the dead, and they found out that He was the exalted Lord of Glory, and the Saviour of believers. Three thousand of them found out personally "Who the Son of the Living God is." Now Jesus is God the Son, whether you believe it or whether you have experienced His power or whether you ever know Him or not. But the big question for me, you and everyone else is not what somebody else said about Jesus, but what you have experienced yourself. A man cannot be saved unless he surrenders to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, and Christ must reveal Himself to you. Do you know Him by revelation and experience? Is He real to you? The Holy Spirit made Jesus Christ real to 3,000 people, and He made Him real in the truth about Him; when that happens, that will be revival. Christ Jesus revealed Himself through the Holy Ghost to this church in the city of Jerusalem, and that was revival.
If He would be pleased to reveal Himself to any church, that would be revival. If He would be pleased to make Himself known in the truth of Him and the reality of Him: He is a person, He is the exalted God. This generation does not know this Living Lord. They know something of the Christ of history, they can tell about what the Bible says, but they don't know Him. They do not know by experience this One, Who is at the right hand of God now ruling and reigning on a throne as Prophet, Priest and King, and He has all power in heaven and in the earth. He is working out the will of the Father right now in the course of human history. This generation doesn't know my Christ, they just know about Him. "Do you know Him?" Not this little Jesus you can accept but the Lord Jesus Christ, Who you hope will accept you. Not this little Jesus Who has been robbed of the truth of Him, but this Lord Jesus Christ in all of the truth of Him, absolute Saviour, and absolute Lord. Do you know Him?
I say this with a heart that means well, "This little Jesus that has been preached for 60 years in America wouldn't harm a flea and He couldn't save a knat. I speak the truth, so help me God. The way we have got nearly everybody in America to profess to be Christians was by preaching a Jesus and hiding from them the truth about Him. Nearly everybody accepted Jesus, but they haven't accepted the truth of Him, and you can't have Christ if you don't have Him as He is and in the truth of Him which is only found in the Bible."
The Lord Jesus Christ in Whose presence only, men and women feel their sinfulness. He manifested Himself in that congregation in Jerusalem and revived the children of God and filled them with the Holy Ghost, and sent them out to be witnesses of what they had seen and heard. He also pricked the heart of 3,000 people and convicted them of their sins. Why? They were confronted with the only One that can convict men of their sins. That was the thrice Holy Living Son of Almighty God. Brother, this generation is going to hell unless we have revival, where one more time Jesus Christ will make Himself known, and people will be crying, "Oh, God is there mercy for me, such a wicked sinner as I am?"
We need to band ourselves together in honest confession saying, "Lord, we are not big enough, our testimony is not powerful enough, our prayers are not powerful enough, this generation is not paying any attention to us. Oh, God, we are helpless, we can't do anything apart from Thee, we confess it. Oh, God, we know You can if You will. Please have mercy on us as God's people, open the windows of heaven and confront men and revive your children and convict sinners. That is our only hope."
I want to tell you two things about how Christ was pleased to make Himself known in this local church. (1) Christ revealed Himself according to His sovereign will. We have been taught that if we did 1, 2, 3, 4 things, then God would work, but God couldn't work until we did some things, but that is not true. That is what got us in the mess that we are in now. You can not limit God. He has all power in heaven and in the earth and does whatsoever it pleases Him. The heart of what we mean by the sovereignty of Almighty God is that God is above condition, and that right now; if it pleased Him, He could change things and bring revival. That is the only hope that I have got. My only hope is that under the same conditions that this chapter talks about, my Sovereign Lord, if He pleases, He can do it again.
If there ever was a time when conditions weren't right for a revival, it was on the day of Pentecost. The political world wasn't looking for anybody to praise that fellow Jesus, were they? They had just put Him to death a little while before and they wanted to be rid of Him. And the religious world was a mess, they had screamed until the Roman Empire had put the Son of God to death, and it was still fresh on their memory. The religious people were not praying for revival.
There were just one hundred and twenty people hiding in the upper room, but they were with one accord. Acts 1:14a: "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication .... "And God's Son revealed Himself in great power and revived God's children and convicted sinners of their sins and their lost condition. The religious world today doesn't want revival, but God's Son can do it, if it pleases Him.
If there is one thing that makes religious people mad today, it is to preach a big God and little people. Oh, just to mention the truth that God is not subject to our own manipulations; you cannot hem Him up. That takes all the pride away from us and we have nothing to glory in, in what we have done, because the Lord did it, we didn't. Oh, I am asking people to pray to a Sovereign Almighty God, Who works according to His will, and when it pleases Him. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if just for a little while we would honor God a little bit. We haven't been giving any glory to God, we just talk about what we've done.
The religious world is not friendly to a revival now but my hope is not in the religious world, my hope is in Him. The Scriptures say these things about this church: They were united on the basic teachings of the Word of God. Our churches today may not be united on all the teachings of the Word of God, but this assembly is not even a church unless the inner circle in the mixed multitude are united on the two central teachings of the Word of God. On the day of Pentecost they were all of one accord, they all believed the same thing about Christ's bloody cross and Christ's glorious throne. That was the doctrines that Peter preached, he said, "You took Jesus of Nazareth and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; God brought Him out of the grave and put Him on a throne, and made Him both Lord and Christ." Unless the working members of this Assembly are sold out completely to the absoluteness of the saving power of the blood of Christ alone, why, you need not expect God to ever bless. And unless you are absolutely sold out to the absoluteness of Christ's claims from the throne, why, you are not a church.
Every Baptist church in the Southern Baptist Convention is split wide open today over the Lordship of Jesus Christ. How many people that dare to call Him your Saviour and the marks of His absolute rule and reign are not in your daily life? How many of you deny the very heart of the Gospel; that before you may have Him as your Saviour, you must come to know the absoluteness of His rule in your life? What's killing our churches? It is the men and women who call Him your Saviour and refuse to bow to Him as Lord to rule and reign over you. What can you tell a man, who is not a Christian? You are not under Christ's rule either, so you are on the same road to hell that he is. You have never met Him; because you can't meet Christ except where He is, and bless God, He is on the throne. Some of you have never bowed to Him in absolute surrender, thus He has never been revealed to you, and you can't know Him until He is revealed to you. John 17:3: "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." Luke 10:22: "All things are delivered to Me of My Father: and no man knoweth Who the Son is, but the Father; and Who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him."
You can differ on lots of truths in the Bible, but God help you not to differ here. This is it. A church that is united on the fact there is only one thing that will keep a man out of hell; and that is absolute confidence and dependence on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And the only thing on earth that will bring power into your life is to be in vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives on a throne. Oh, what will keep a man out of hell is the blood of Christ. What will make a new creature out of a man and put a song in his heart, and put his feet on the solid rock and help him to overcome the hellish atmosphere of this hour? Brother it is vital union with Christ, being joined by holy faith to the Living Christ as He sits on the Throne of God; forever be united there.
The second thing about this church: It was a praying church. Acts 1:14a: "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication." The third thing about this church; they waited. Acts 1:4: "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith He, ye have heard of Me. "They waited for ten days. Let me tell you what waiting means in the New Testament. It means obedience and utter dependence on the Lord. There was a world going to hell, but the Lord saith, "You wait."
You can't have revival in any church unless God comes and changes you. I tell you why; it is because you are not obedient to the Lord. You don't know anything about the Lordship of Christ and His utter claims. It will bring the most holy saint that ever lived to daily repentance, a daily crying to God, "Oh, God how far short I come of your glory." He demands 100% of your mind, your body, your soul, your spirit and your heart. He won't take 99%, He is absolute Lord. We are commanded in the Scriptures to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5: "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
The demands of God in Jesus Christ are the most flesh killing things that you will ever face. Oh, my soul this generation calling Jesus their Saviour and doing every-thing they want to do. All the days of my life most of us have decided what was right and what was wrong, haven't we? We haven't brought it to Him, and waited till He told us what to do. We haven't even brought our habits to Him, much less our thoughts. Thus we are a bunch of rebellious men and women. We don't know the meaning of obedience and we don't know the meaning of utter dependence on Him. The reason we do not know what it means to wait on God in utter dependence on His moving is because we have not understood what it means to be saved. You cannot get saved by accepting Jesus as your Saviour, but you must surrender to Him as your absolute Lord and Ruler in your life. If He does not rule you complete-ly, you will have to spend eternity in hell. I am preaching a relationship to Jesus Christ that will make you have to cry to God for forgiveness every day, it will make you know what repentance is in the Bible. If salvation is a sweet bowing of rebellious man, conquered and he sweetly bows and surrenders himself completely to the Lord Jesus Christ for time and eternity to have His way with him. That is exactly what salvation is. So we need to depend utterly on the working of the Holy Ghost, for no one will ever bow to the Lord Jesus Christ unless the Holy Ghost conquers you and bends your knee.
That is the reason we have been able to get along without revival for 100 years; we've been converting people, and we made them two fold more the children of hell. It takes the Holy Ghost to break your wicked heart and make you bow to King Jesus, no power on earth can bring that to pass except Almighty God. And so Jesus said, "Don't go out there till you are filled with the Spirit, you will make them worse unless you are filled with the Spirit." You can get people to accept Jesus as their Saviour, but that is not found in the Scriptures. But you can't get anyone to have a change in masters, for the Scriptures say in 1 Corinthians 12:3b: "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." If we believed that, there would be some crying to God, because multitudes have made a confession, but they are not living holy lives. They all claim Jesus as Saviour, but you can't see a mark of His rule in their lives.