A CHURCH TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Sermon Three: Touch the World by Revival
By
Jerry Falwell
A. INTRODUCTION
A month ago I preached to you that our church could change the world by greater faith and vision.
Then the following week I preached a sermon on ten world- changing ways to pray.
Today, I am going to preach on how revival changes a church and how that church can change the world. To do that, let me remind you what I call a revival. A revival is when “God pours His presence on His people.” The greatest thing about revival is when God invades a church, or His people with His presence. Revival is when God shows up to do wonderful things for His people. That’s what I want to happen to Thomas Road Baptist Church. I want God to come in and take over.
There are 3 verses I want to share with you on revival.
“. . . when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
“. . . I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh” (Acts 2:17).
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14).
Let me explain a revival by telling you what is not a revival. Not everything that describes itself as a revival, is a revival.
First, revival is not an evangelistic crusade, although many times an evangelistic crusade can turn into revival.
Second, a revival is not just a church meeting. Some of the great revivals of the past have not been held in churches.
Third, revival is not just a feeling of excitement of the Lord. We get excited about many things, but excitement is not a revival if God is not the thing that gets us excited.
B. CHURCHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD THROUGH REVIVAL
1. The Congregational Church, Northhampton, Massachusetts. Jonathan Edwards pastored this church in the 1700s that contained many unsaved people. In colonial days, it was important to join the church. Therefore, through a program called “the halfway covenant,” unsaved people were given membership in a church. They enjoyed the benefits of a church without committing themselves to its doctrine or becoming converted.
Jonathan Edwards fasted and prayed for three days, it was an absolute fast with no food or water. He wanted the unsaved in his church to be converted. Around 4:00 on Sunday afternoon, Edwards began to choke and gag; and violated his fast by drinking water. He was not supposed to end his fast until sundown on Sunday. That evening he went into the pulpit, a broken man. With a lantern in one hand and a manuscript in another, he read the sermon, “Sinner In The Hands of An Angry God.” The power of God fell on that sermon and men grabbed the pillars for fear of slipping into Hell.
Parts of that sermon were powerful and graphic. Jonathan Edwards said, “You are a worm, hanging over the precipice of Hell. The flames are licking at the spider web, and at any moment you may drop into eternal damnation.” As members felt they were dangling over Hell, they cried out in repentance. That evening the First Great Awakening began in Massachusetts, and spread throughout the 13 colonies. Later Edwards wrote a pamphlet entitled The Surprising Work of God in Northhampton to report the revival. Just as colonies experienced revival to be ready for the Revolutionary War and the formation of the United States of America in 1776, I want Thomas Road Baptist Church to experience revival and influence America.
2. Ebenezer Baptist Church, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Pastor Bill McCleod, invited evangelists Ralph and Lou Sutera, for special meetings. Because God’s Spirit visited the church, they moved to the largest evangelical church in town, then had to move to the largest United church in town, and ended up securing the 2,000 seat civic auditorium. The revival began on October 13, 1973; many of the meetings went on until four or five o’clock in the morning. The revival continued for over seven weeks, called the Canadian Prairie Revival. There is still now an organization called the Canadian Revival Fellowship. A Southern Baptist missionary pastor, Henry Blackaby, was part of that revival and later wrote the book, Experiencing God, which has influenced the entire Southern Baptist Convention today. Just as this church influenced Western Canada, I want Thomas Road Baptist Church to influence America.
3. John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland. John Calvin attempted to create a model Christian city and a model Christian church in contrast to the corrupt church and city of Rome. While I am not a five-point Calvinist, I salute the great impact that Calvin made on the world. With his high view of the sovereignty of God, his great commitment to word-for-word inerrancy of Scripture, his understanding of the total depravity of man, and his unashamed support for the blood atonement of Jesus Christ; Calvin’s anointed scholarship produced men who went around the world teaching the Reformed view that has become the foundation of the great Presbyterian church. Truly, the Geneva church was a church that influenced the world theologically. I want Thomas Road Baptist Church to influence the world, both theologically and experientially through revival.
4. New Chapel, Bristol, England. This is a church that will seat about 2,000 people, sandwiched in between two streets. Technically, today you would say it is located in the backyard of city apartment buildings. Yet, this church influenced the world. Every two or three months, John Wesley gathered his young, uneducated preachers to this church in conference. You see, John Wesley would ordain a man if he had “letters, numbers, and the Holy Spirit.” All an early Methodist had to do to be ordained was to be able to read, write and be filled with the Holy Spirit. But God has never sanctified or blessed ignorance, He’s blessed those who understand His truth, and correctly preach truth.
Thousands of Methodist preachers gathered monthly at New Chapel for a three-day conference where they heard four sermons every morning, four sermons in the afternoon, and one in the evening time. John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Francis Asbury, Joseph Parker and the other great Methodist leaders preached to these young preachers. The young men furiously copied down the sermons, then went out and preached the sermons they heard from these great men of God.
They brought an “empty bucket” to New Chapel, got themselves filled, then went out and poured out great powerful sermons around the world. I like to put it like this: “The sermons that were received in the power of the Holy Spirit, were then preached in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The Methodists became the largest denomination in the world. While there were many Presbyterian, Anglican, and Congregational churches during this time, even a sprinkling of Baptist churches, none were as evangelistic as the Methodists. At the end of the Revolutionary War, there were 240 Methodist churches in the United States. Within the next forty years, there were over 5,000 Methodist churches planted. There has never been more passionate church planting, or evangelism in the United States than we witnessed from the Methodist circuit riders. And it all goes back to the pattern of New Chapel in Bristol, England. This one church changed the world. I want Thomas Road Baptist Church to do for the Body of Christ what New Chapel did for the Methodist church.
I’d like to think that many of the sermons that our young men have heard here at Super Conference and from the Thomas Road Baptist Church pulpit have been re-preached in other pulpits throughout America.
5. Loughor Chapel, Wales. A few people think this small unknown church may have had the greatest impact of any church in history. Dr. Towns did a study of the ten greatest revivals in the world. He put together a panel of scholars like Bill Bright, D. James Kennedy, David Cho, Jack Hayford, Chuck Smith, C. Peter Wagner and others who voted that the 1904 Revival was the greatest revival that the world has ever seen. It began when 23-year-old Evan Roberts left Bible school and went home in October, 1904. He had asked to preach to his home congregation, and the pastor allowed him to speak after prayer meeting (their prayer meeting was on Monday night.) The pastor didn’t even give him time at prayer meeting, but after it was over he said, “Any of you who would like to stay, Evan Roberts has a few words to say to you.” The meeting went on into the early hours of the morning. By Friday of that week, revival had broken out, the church spilled over into other congregations. Revival spread across Wales, churches staying open all night, people crying out for God. Listen to J. Edwin Orr’s description of this revival:
“Drunkenness was immediately cut in half, and many taverns went bankrupt. Crime was so diminished that judges were presented with white gloves signifying that there were no cases of murder, assault, rape or robbery or the like to consider. The police became unemployed in many districts. Stoppages occurred in coal mines, not due to unpleasantness between management and workers, but because so many foul-mouthed miners became converted and stopped using foul language that the horses which hauled the coal trucks in the mines could no longer understand what was being said to them” (J. Edwin Orr, The Flaming Tongue: Evangelical Awakenings, 1900).
Just as this church touched the world, why can’t Thomas Road Baptist Church touch the world?
6. The Azusa Street Revival, 1906. William Joseph Seymour went to Los Angeles to preach. He first went to a little storefront church on Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles; but the woman preacher considered what he was saying different from that what she believed, and locked the doors on him. He ended up on Azusa Street, preaching primarily to domestic servants and women who took in laundry. People began gathering to hear this man who had never spoken in tongues, telling how God would bless them when they all “got the gift.” On April 9, 1906 “the power fell” as the Pentecostals called it, and they began speaking in unknown tongues. Seymour also said that the Lord was coming very soon. On April 18, 1906, nine days after the first of speaking in tongues, the great Los Angeles earthquake along the San Andreas fault hit Los Angeles not near as violently, as it almost completely destroyed the city of San Francisco. The building on Azusa Street was quickly filled. There were so many standing on the front porch to listen, that the front porch collapsed. The Pentecostal denomination was born. The Associated Press called the revival on Azusa Street one of the 100 most influential events in the past one hundred years. Today, some Pentecostals claim that as many as 25 percent of Christendom belongs to their church. While I am not sure about that, I do know that God has unusually blessed the Pentecostal church. Just as the Azusa church changed the world with their Pentecostal doctrine, why can’t Thomas Road Baptist Church change the world with our Baptist doctrine?
C. HOW THOMAS ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
I remember a few of those times here at Thomas Road. (Illustration of Presbyterian preacher who threw his Bible in the air.) Now I don’t think that throwing the Bible is appropriate nor do I advocate it; but when people get happy in the Lord; you can’t tell what they will do.
In the old country churches, they shouted. We don’t do that today but there is nothing wrong with that. Dr. Towns in his research found over 500 gospel songs that included the word “shouting” in their titles in the original Methodist movement. At Thomas Road Baptist Church, we shout “Amen,” we shout “GLORY,” some even applaud.
In some country churches, “they run the aisle.” We don’t do that here, but I am not opposed to it.
Many church historians have said, “When the Spirit of God fills a person, because God is omnipotent and infinite, God puts more into a person than they can hold. Then the presence of God breaks out, and people do unusual things.” So, let em’ shout, let em’ run, and let them get happy in the Lord. That’s an evidence of revival, but that’s not revival. Remember, revival is God’s presence in the church; He’s doing with His people what He wants to do.
However, let me give you two quick warnings about revival:
1. Don’t judge the success of any revival meeting by its outward manifestations. I remember what Dr. B. R. Lakin used to tell me, “You can’t tell the power of an automobile by the toot of its horn; but rather, the power of a car is measured by what’s under the hood.” So, I want you to get happy, but getting happy doesn’t mean it’s revival. Some churches today have a lot of “happy-clappy” Christianity. But that doesn’t mean God is present. They shout, clap and sing, but that doesn’t mean that church is spiritual, that they are experiencing revival.
2. Don’t look to methods or results, look to God. Remember, I told you a revival is God’s presence in the midst of His people. Therefore, when you look for revival, always look for God.
D. SEVEN CONDITIONS TO BRING ABOUT REVIVAL
1. First of all, you must have an intense desire for a revival blessing. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isa. 55:6). You must first want revival with all your heart. “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Isa. 44:3). Let me ask you, “Do you want revival? Then, what are you willing to do to get it?”
2. You must pray interventionally for revival. This is not just prayer, but you must pray until you “pray through.” “Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him [cometh] my salvation” (Psa. 62:1). Here is the greatest prayer of all: “Wilt not Thou revive us again?” (Psa. 85:6).
3. Repentance to all known sin. God cannot pour Himself upon our sin because He is pure. When we ask for God to fill us, how can God pour pure water into a dirty vessel? How can the Holy Spirit come into a container that is filthy? “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear”(Isa. 59:2).
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psa. 24:3-4). The beginning of the Great New Hebrides Revival in Scotland came when a young man stood before the church and held up his hands, asking how could God bless him with dirty hands. He kept asking if his hands were clean before God. The young man kept quoting Psalm 24:3-4, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.” A great revival broke out where Duncan Campbell preached, and almost the entire island was saved.
4. You must yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To have a revival, Jesus must rule every part of your life. “Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom. 6:13).
5. You must have unity with the brethren. God has always withheld His blessing from churches that fight and squabble. If you don’t get along with your family, with your brethren, or with others; God withholds His presence from you. This means God withholds revival. Remember when you pray the Lord’s Prayer, you pray “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
Many of the great revivals began when people confessed their sins against other people. Then they went to one another asking for forgiveness. That’s when revival broke out. I remember when Freddie Gage preached a revival for us over twenty years ago. He talked about forgiving one another, and gave an invitation to go make every thing right with those we had offended. Students were going to faculty members asking for forgiveness; people in the church went to one another. We had a little touch of revival because we were getting things right with one another.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity! [It is] like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, [even] Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, [and as the dew] that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, [even] life for evermore” (Psa. 133).
The ointment is a picture of the unity that the Holy Spirit gives us.
6. The praise and worship of God. We must realize that the one thing God wants from us more than anything else is our worship. “. . . for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).
There was a movie several years ago entitled The Field of Dreams. There was a famous line in the movie that said, “If you build it, they will come.” It was a reference to building a ball field so that legends of baseball would come and play on the field. I’d like to take that analogy to a higher spiritual level. “If you worship the Father, He will come.” Because the Father seeks worship, and He wants to hear worship, He will come to the place where people worship Him. So, worship the Father to entice His presence into your life. When you worship the Father, He will come to you with revival.
When we worship God through praise worship here at Thomas Road Baptist Church, God, the Father, comes to receive our worship. And, when He comes, that’s His presence. That means we can instigate revival by worshipping God.
We Baptists don’t call our church buildings sanctuaries. It has to do with our view of theology. We don’t think our church buildings have more of the presence of God than any place else. As a matter of fact, we think God dwells in the temple of our bodies, and He dwells in our homes. However, when we worship God with praise music, He comes and dwells in our church in an unusual way. I am going to call it revival. When we worship God, His presence comes among His people.
7. When you tithe and give gifts to God. There is one verse we always use with tithing, Malachi 3:10. As I read this verse for you, listen carefully to the revival language that’s tied to tithing, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it]” (Malachi 3:10). Did you know what God said He would do when you tithe? The phrase, “opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing” is revival language. When God’s people are revived, what happens? They give money to God, and they give it abundantly above what they have been giving. As a matter of fact, when God gets a hold of a heart, no gift is too small, and no sacrifice is too great. We give to God.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord,
I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
For more information on the TRBC Pastor’s Bible Class, log on to the Internet for TRBC Home page at www.trbc.org/pbc.
