God's Call To Revival

HOSEA 10:12 “GOD’S CALL TO REVIVAL!”

A) I suppose nothing is more cluttered with false notions and contradictory ideas than the

matter of revival!

* More energy is misdirected, more carts put before the horse on this theme than almost any other!

* A revival is not an evangelistic campaign ... It is not paying out of debt ...

* Neither is it building a new building or putting on a stewardship campaign!

* These things may flow from revival, but they do not constitute one!

B) Neither is a revival a drive for church members!

* A revival is a work of God’s Spirit among His own people!

* In Psa.51:12, David is praying and says, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold

me with thy free spirit.” * When you think about it, that is God’s order!

* We always have to deal with our sin ... Experience His cleansing ... And our “joy” returns!

* A lot of so-called “joy of the Lord” is merely whipped up emotion, which leaves a lot of

unconfessed sin and hidden iniquity in lives!

C) We have made convalescents of church members who need operations!

* We don’t need to put a Band-Aid on cancer!

* Surgery needs to be performed to “cut it out!” * The same is true with sin!

* When God sent Nathan to David, He didn’t send him to get David to play his harp!

* He wanted David to see his sin so he would pray, “Create within me a clean heart ...”

* We must honestly deal with sin if revival is to come!

D) There seems to be a wrong emphasis in preaching on revival ...

* And I include myself in that statement! * But we have created the impression that revival is a

spurt of religious enthusiasm which is not possible to live up to for the entire year!

* Real revival, however, is simply New Testament Christianity getting back to normal!

* I like what Vance Havner said ... “Most Christians have been “subnormal” so long, that if they

became “normal,” we would think that they are “abnormal.”

E) It seems that most revival sermons are preached from Old Testament texts!

* However, one does not have to stay in the Old Testament to preach on the subject of revival!

* You might say that there is nothing about revival in the New Testament!

* Certainly, there is not much in Acts! * They didn’t need “revival,” they had a “vival!”

* There was no need for reviving!

F) But as you move from Acts into the epistles, we find such statements as Rom.13:11 ...

* “It is high time to awake out of sleep,” or, 2 Tim.1:6 “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee ...”

* Perhaps the greatest call to revival is from the lips of our Lord in the Book of Revelation!

* May we be reminded that the last word of our Lord to the church is not the Great Commission!

* The Great Commission is our marching orders ...

* The last word to the church from Christ is “Repent!”

G) To five of the seven churches, “repent” was His message!

* The truth is, we’re not ready to carry out the “marching orders” of the Great Commission until

we repent and honestly deal with our sin!

* The great revivals of the past have been accompanied by preaching against sin, and for

conviction, repentance, godly sorrow, confessing and forsaking of sin,

* Restitution, return to first works, return to Scriptures and to prayer, witnessing and godly living!

* We are almost willing to do anything, but repent!

H) You can’t get many “amens” anymore when you talk about repentance!

* Oh, we make a few polite references to it occasionally, but real repentance that would put us all

on our faces from the top officials to the least, would be awfully humiliating!

* Besides, we don’t have time for revival!

* Our programs are set up and if God wants to send revival He must do it in the time frame we

have allotted for Him!

* Jesus’ message to the church in Revelation was, “Repent, or else!” * It was revival or removal!

(1) EPHESUS WAS LOVELESS - REV.2:1-4!

* They were orthodox, busy, and had a lot going for them, but they were loveless!

A) Jesus told them they didn’t love Him as they once had loved Him!

* If He spoke to us today, wouldn’t many of us be guilty of the same thing?

* Jesus said our badge as a Christian would be our “love” - John 13:35!

* Did He say the badge would be: huge buildings; stained glass windows; a family life center;