Why Revival Tarries Series, Part 2
Series based on Leonard Ravenhill’s work Why Revival Tarries
May 18, 2011
Introduction
A There are two things that are indispensable to successful Christian living: vision & passion.
1 When we become serious about planting the cross of Christ in our lives, we’re going to feel it, know it.
a You can’t go to the Dollar General or Dollar Tree to get a Coach purse or diamonds (neither of them would be real). A real Coach/diamond would cost you!
b Real spiritual victory, successful Christian living will be expensive, & come at a high cost.
c If you’re not prepared to pay the price to go beyond the cross; are content to be saved, sanctified, & satisifed, then the Lord’s Battle doesn’t need you.
aa You may have to lose some friends or a career.
bb No cheap nickel & diming for revolution of the soul.
2 The price to be paid is doled out in vision & passion.
a A vision without a task makes a visionary; a task without vision is drudgery; a vision with a task makes a missionary.
b Isaiah had a vision in 3D. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.5 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. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 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. 8 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 me.9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Isaiah 6:1-9 (KJV)
aa Woe (v. 5): confession
bb Lo (v. 7): cleansing
cc Go (v. 9): commission
c Isaiah’s vision was...
aa Upward: he saw the Lord (sitting on His throne)
bb Inward: he saw himself (unclean lips)
cc Outward: he saw the world (people with unclean lips)
dd Height: Lord was high & lifted up
ee Depth: recesses of his own heart
ff Breadth: he saw the world
d We need a vision of holiness not unlike Isaiah’s.
aa See the helplessness/hopelessness & certainty of the hellishness of eternity of death without Jesus.
bb Modern churches know more about publicity than prayer, forgotten consecration by fostering competition.
B Vision is missing, & “...where there is no vision the people perish.”
1 Where there is no passion/unction the church perishes (even if the building is full).
2 Hell is real, & without Jesus real people with real souls die to spend a real eternity in a real hell.
a (IL) Stephen Hawkings article May 17, 2011 on Yahoo.
b Every week, nearly a million people enter hell’s flames.
c The seriousness of the situation calls for a fresh vision & renewed passion.
3 I’m not telling you to pray for lost people to get a vision of hell (yes, Calvary), but the church needs a fresh vision of hell.
a We are too consumed with religion, denomination, an experience.
b The Holy Spirit convicted us, brought us to a crossroads, the reality of hell & the promise of eternity with God through Christ.
aa When we were saved, we couldn’t shut up about it.
bb Youth minister came to my house to bring me in.
c Because we’ve lost the fire of the Holy Ghost, men go to hell fires.
4 We need a fresh vision of God’s holiness.
a The cherubim weren’t crying omnipotent (3x’s), omnipresent (3x’s), omniscient (3x’s)
b HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!
aa We don’t escape His holiness. If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol , behold, You are there. Psalms 139:8 (NASB)
bb Size, distance doesn’t matter to God. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8 (NASB)
• He’s got the world PLUS everything else in His hands.
• When we die, He’s waiting for us in eternity.
c We had better be at peace with Him HERE, & be in the center of His will now.
C If & when we get serious about the 3x’s Holy One, we’ll be changed.
1 Before we go to work/school, we go to God.
a Fear God, fear no man
b Kneel before God, stand in any situation
2 A glimpse of Him daily would change us.
a Be staggered by His omnipotence, silenced by His omniscience, & solemnized by His holiness.
b We can teach holiness all day long, but if we contradict it with unholy living, we’re wasting our time.
D In Isaiah 5, Isaiah gives out a lot of woes, but in 6:5, he sees himself & cries out, “Woe is me!”
1 It’s not others, them, they...it’s me!
a True! Ungodly images in our mind, skeletons in the closet of our heart.
b The Holy Spirit can take us by the hand down every hall, every room, inside every drawer.
c There are 3 people in each of us: the one we think we are, the one others think we are, & the one God knows we are.
aa Until we get desperate for victory, we’ll be too easy on ourselves & too hard on others.
bb Let’s invite the searching eye of God to locate corrupted, spoiled, stinking self in us.
cc ...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin...Romans 6:6 (NASB) Crucify it, do not serve it.
2 No matter what we call it...it’s sin.
a That guy has a horrible temper; mine is righteous indignation.
aa She’s touchy; mine is just “a case of nerves”.
bb He’s covetous; I’m just expanding my business.
cc He’s stubborn; I have convictions.
dd She’s proud; I have superior tastes.
b There is a cover-up for anything if you want it that way.
c The Holy Spirit isn’t going to spare us/cheat us if we ask Him to expose our sin!
aa When we ask Him to convict, clean, He does!
bb Jesus died for our sins, & He wants what He paid for.
cc The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?10 "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind , even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. Jer 17:9-10 (NASB)
d Video: The Hall Closet (Sermonspice)
Invitation
A And answering him, Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you?" And the blind man said to Him, "Rabboni , I want to regain my sight!" Mark 10:51 (NASB) What do I have to do to see?
1 Our prayer! See, vision
2 Upward, inward, outward
a Upward: the Lord in His holiness
b Inward: our need for cleansing & power
c Outward: world that is perishing, in need of a Savior
3 Come forward to pray
a Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalms 51:10 (NASB)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts;24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Psalms 139:23-24 (NASB)
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