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Sermon: Are You Ready For Revival? - Part II
I Samuel 7:2-4
2 And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 3 And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. 4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
a lot of people think that when people are surrendering to Jesus in salvation that a church is experiencing revival.
Evangelism and won souls may come after revival.
But God does not send revival to the lost,
now don't get me wrong I hope there are many souls saved in this upcoming revival but God performs revival among His church.
In revival, God does a fresh work in those who have life, yet who have grown weak through sin or neglect.
as we get started this evening
I would like to share some quotes that I got offline describing revival:
."Revival is that sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring and releasing them into the fullness of His blessing."
"Revival is a return to spiritual health after a period of decline into sin and broken fellowship with God...
Revival is for God's people when they need to be forgiven and restored to life, spiritual health, and vitality"
"Revival is an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results."
Background: Let’s take a moment and see how we arrived at this point.
In the sermon this morning we examined the events in the life of the Children of Israel.
They had faced several intense attacks from the Philistines.
On one occasion Israel lost 4,000 men
On another the Philistines slew 30,000
The Philistines seized the Ark of the Covenant
Eli, his sons and his daughter-in-law died.
After a series of devastating plagues the Philistines thought it best to return the Ark to the people of Israel.
The Ark remained in the house of Abinadab for a period of 20 years
After an extended period of time Israel came to their senses and desired to return unto the Lord.
They sought counsel from their leader Samuel and took the proper steps to return to the Lord.
This morning we looked at these events and asked the question “Are You Ready For Revival”?
Through the scriptures we saw:
I. The Recipients Of Revival
II. The Requirements For Revival
The recipients of revival are the people of God.
We saw in the life of the Children of Israel that God desires to bring revival to His people.
We also looked at what is required before we can experience revival.
verse 3
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
In this verse we saw 3 things that are required for revival :
A. There Must Be a Realization - We must realize our sinful condition.
B. There Must Be a Removal - We must remove anything that we have placed between us and God
C. There Must Be a Resolve - We must turn from our man made idols and SERVE THE LORD ONLY!
After considering the Recipients and Requirements of Revival we briefly examined some of the Results of Revival.
It is that thought that I would like to consider this evening.
SO join me as we continue to answer the question
“Are You Ready For Revival”
I. The Results Of Revival
Before we get to the results of revival,
I would like to read what C.H Spurgeon
had to say about revival.
he said "We need a work of the Holy Spirit of a supernatural kind, putting power into the preaching of the Word, inspiring all believers with heavenly energy, and solemnly affecting the hearts of the careless, so that they turn to God and live. We would not be drunk with the wine of carnal excitement, but we would be filled with the Spirit. We would behold the fire descending from heaven in answer to the effectual fervent prayers of righteous men. Can we not entreat the Lord our God to make bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the people in this day of declension and vanity?"
There are many different results that will be seen when God’s people experience revival.
Tonight we will see 6 of them.
I want to begin with the fact that:
A. The Lord Will Hear Your Prayers -
verse 7
And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.
Remember, Israel had been devastated by the Philistines in the past.
You can rest assured that they remembered this fact.
The Philistines saw an opportunity and Israel was afraid.
Israel begged Samuel to intercede on their behalf.
Look at v8 “the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”
The benefit of revival was that they were in a place where:
They knew that they needed the Lord’s help.....
They could reach out to God to protect them.
They were claiming the promise given in verse 3
if you will remove the false Gods and turn to the Lord) and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
The barrier of sin will hinder communication between you and God.
Judges 10:13&14
Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
This is referring to another occasion when Israel had turned from God and served false gods.
When you are away from God the same is true for you.
What would you do if God told you to cry out to some possession or whatever false God you might have for deliverance in a time of trouble?
But when you are in a right relationship with the lord …
when you experience revival
you can rest assured that the Lord hears your prayers!!
Remember what Jesus said in -
Luke 11:9
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
That alone ought to be enough for us all to desire to experience revival!
As we move further we will see another result of Revival,
B. The Lord Will Accept Your Offering -
verse 9
And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.
A “Burnt Offering” speaks of an offering that is completely consumed by fire.
The “Burnt Offering” was regarded as ascending to God while being consumed.
We find in the story of Cain & Abel that not every sacrifice or “offering” is accepted by God.
Genesis 4:4&5
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
This morning we considered the fact that many are doing nothing more than playing church.
They are offering:
o Half hearted praise
o Half hearted worship
o Half hearted service
Just because you offer these things to the Lord this doesn’t mean that He is pleased or will accept them.
Half hearted praise is no praise at all ....
Half hearted worship is no worship at all...
Half hearted service is no service at all -
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. -
- To obey is better than sacrifice,
When you expereice revival the lord will accept your offering!
C. The Lord Will Protect You From Attacks -
verse 10
And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.
Now we see the promise from verse 3 as it is fulfilled. -
Samuel told the people of Israel that IF they would turn from their idols and serve the Lord, that the Lord would protect them from the Philistines.
The Philistines heard that Israel was encamped at Mizpah.
Surely they thought that this would be easy pickens.
Maybe they were somewhat arrogant because of their past victories over Israel.
Look at verse 10 - “the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them”
God confused the Philistines and made a way for Israel to be victorious!
We have seen what the Philistines can do.
They were an intimidating adversary.
I believe that if Israel had not experienced revival, they would have been slaughtered just like before.
But God protected them from their enemy.
We have an intimidating adversary as well.
When we experience personal revival, God (who is much stronger than our adversary) will protect us just as He did for Israel!
Intertwined with the fact that God will protect us from an attack is the fact that:
D. The Lord Will Give You Victory Over The Enemy -
verse 11&12
11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar. 12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
The Lord didn’t do all the work…
He required Israel to put up a fight.
Notice this “the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them”.
Instead of running and hiding, Israel is now pursuing the Philistines.
Things sure change when God’s people are revived!
Samuel reminded the people who was in control -
verse 12
Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
When we experience revival,
God will help us to overcome anything our enemy throws our way.
Through Jesus we can truly have victory.
When we are revived we can say like the old hymn:
“Here I raise my Ebenezer”
“Here by Thy great help I’ve come”
Not only will the Lord provide us with victory, when we experience revival:
E. The Lord Will Provide Peace In Your Life -
verse 13
So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. …
.verse 14 And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
Notice the phrase in v14 “and there was peace” ..........
Israel had experienced the fulfilled promises of God.
They had been protected by God.
They had gained victory over their enemies.
I believe that these things helped the fact that Israel possessed such peace.
They had peace because they knew that God was on their side.
once you experience revival and see God move in your life you too will experience peace.
When you know that God is on your side there is an amazing sense of peace
Paul said in Romans 8:31 … If God be for us, who can be against us?
I don’t know about you but revival sounds pretty good to me!
There is one last result of revival that I would like to consider this evening.
F. The Lord Will Restore What The Enemy Has Taken -
verse 14
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines.
The ground that the enemy had seized was restored to Israel.
Some of you may have lost ground to the enemy.
You have maybe faced attack and were consumed.
if so You have the opportunity to return unto the Lord today.
You can experience personal revival today!
After all we have seen do you still need more reasons to return to the Lord?
Fortunately there are many …many more but for the sake of time we will just stick with these six.
What are the results of revival?
a) The Lord Will Hear Your Prayers
b) The Lord Will Accept Your Sacrifices
c) The Lord Will Protect You From Attacks
d) The Lord Will Provide Peace In Your Life
e) The Lord Will Restore What The Enemy Has Taken
Again I close with this same question
“Are You Ready For Revival”?
