De You Really Want Revival?
New Hope Community Pastor Bob Briggs June 20, 2004
Often times over the years we have seen advertisements for church’s promoting revival. They invite in speakers who conduct revival meetings, people gear up for revival and things are shaken for a moment, but they are not really stirred. It is not so much revival they are seeking but increased church attendance. Do you really want revival?
What most want is a pseudo-revival, something that looks like, even feels like the real thing, yet does not come with the price tag. We eat imitation crab because it looks like, even feels like real crab but costs less. We wear man made diamonds because they look like, seem like the real thing but cost a fraction of the price. We are a society of life imitating life. We are looking for the next action hero, the next last comic standing, the next American idol, the next survivor, the next wife for my dad, the next swan, the next millionaire, the next great revival. What I find interesting in all these next reality shows is the majority of people who try out have no talent, or a weak talent because they are unwilling to pay the price of what it takes to arrive they want instant stardom, instant success, instant riches, instant fame. When they go unselected, they have an instant reason why they were mistreated through the selection process. Do you really want revival?
Turn to 1 Samuel 4, or look up on the screen, or in your notes. Before you say yes to something you had best understand what you are saying yes to, and be prepared to pay the price it will cost for your answer.
Verse 1, Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped in Aphek.
Prior to this, the Lord had revealed Himself to Samuel and told Samuel He was going to judge the house of the priest Eli.
We begin chapter 4 with Israel meeting the Philistines on the field of battle. Israel is the people of God, the Philistines the enemy of God.
Verse 2, And the Philistines drew up in battle array and meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four hundred men on the battlefield. Not a victorious day for the people of God. The victory they expected did not pan out and the excuses and blame for their defeat did not focus on themselves and the price they were unwilling to pay for victory. Instead they passed the blame on to God.
Verse 3, When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? How often do we hear that said today? God doesn’t love me anymore because he didn’t get me this job, he didn’t get me this raise, he didn’t get me, you fill in the blank. We bear no personal responsibility. We expect God to respond in the manner we dictate.
We try to manipulate God, they did it in Samuel’s day and it continues on in our day. Look at the rest of verse 3, Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
I know it is other people, other places, but we need to talk about them so when we see them again we can help them out. The natural inclination when God does not respond our way is to try and put Him in a position where He has no other option than to do what we consider the right thing. Am I right?
“God, its me again. You know those people I have been telling about You and how awesome you are and how you love and care for your children. Well, if you come through for me on this, they will see just how great a God you are, but if you don’t my reputation as a witness will be ruined, these people will never listen to what I have to say about you again, and well, they won’t become Christians and all the work I did to bring them to this place of almost accepting you will be lost. So do this for me.”
I won’t ask how many have talked to God in some form or another like that. That is what the Israelites were doing. They lost a battle, and so they brought God into the conversation. In there case, they brought the ark that represented where God resided there with them into the battle. They were going to force God’s hand, God would have to bring revival to them.
Just because you have the presence of God does not mean you will have the victory of God. Maybe I had better say that again. Just because you have the presence of God does not mean you will have the victory of God. Just because God is here does not mean He will bring revival. I might also say, just because you don’t feel Him here does not mean He is not here either. There is a price to pray for the victory. Are you prepared to pay the price? Do you really want revival?
In verse 5 the ark arrives, And it happened as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp.
You can dance, you can shout, you can do all kinds of things to try and coheres God into action but if you are not doing the right thing, if you are prepared to pay the price, all you have done is make a spectacle.
How many revival meetings end with nothing? When we leave, do we leave the same way we came, do the same things as before, unchanged by experiencing the presence? Revival is bring back to life that which was dead and killing off those things that should be dead but have lived as parasites feeding off what really needs to be brought back to life. Are you ready to make a life change? Do you really want revival? Or would you prefer a comfortable, pseudo, make a feel good event?
Advance with me to verse 10, 11 So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent, and the slaughter was very great; for there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
They had the presence of God in their midst, and because they misused and tried to manipulate God, they lost Him. God was not lost, they were. They thought through the ark’s presence God would bring the victory. We make the same mistake Israel did when we try with our formulas and symbols to bring about answers to our prayers, or to usher in renewal and revival.
Kenneth Chafin said, “Having the paraphernalia of God and having God are not the same.”
In chapter 5 we read of the problems the ark of the covenant caused the Philistines who did not know how to deal with the presence of God in the midst of their pagan culture. Their false god Dagon was no match for the one true God. When the presence of God comes into the midst with the gods of the world, these other gods will fall down.
Verse 11 of chapter 5 highlights the problem, it says, They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy.
Do you really want revival? Are you willing to pay the price revival brings?
If you are earnest in your desires, there are things you can do to bring revival. Revival will not come as the result of an all night prayer meeting, though prayer is important. Revival will not come by being anointed with oil, though anointing does not hurt. Revival will not come because you followed man’s teaching, though teaching is good. Revival comes when the natural man and natural woman have an encounter with the supernatural God, Jesus Christ, and are filled with the power and presence of His Holy Spirit and make a life change.
If you want revival, God wants to anoint you with the power of His Spirit, this is something God centered, something only God can do. And He does it without force or manipulation.
If you want revival, you need to learn confidence and dependence on the Holy Spirit.
If you want revival, you will have to tap into and begin to do the will of God for your life.
If you want revival, you will have to yield your natural desires to the will of the Holy Spirit and following the Spirit’s leading.
God wants to revive His church, and each individual believer make up His church. God wants to revive you, from the dust and parched land to a land flowing in the life giving water of His Spirit.
I have continually made reference to the cost of revival. The price tag—your life, all of it. 1 Peter 2:9 states But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. You might want to underline the park, belonging to God. Hophni and Phinehas were part of the priesthood, but they did not belong to God because they had allowed sin to overtake them and they fell even though they thought with the ark in their presence they were safe.
Revival, true revival, begins as a matter of the heart because the heart is where we know what really matters. It begins with repentance, and turning away from sinful activity. It moves into what for most of you in this room will be a major lifestyle change. Do you really want revival?
People moving in true revival complain but for different reasons. They complain because the church doors are not open enough, there is not more opportunity for spiritual growth, they want to grow deeper and not when it is convenient for them, but when it might even be inconvenient. Have I lost anyone who said earlier they wanted revival? Revival disrupts schedules, it refocuses priorities, it creates problems and tension, and it ushers in an era of God.
As a result, most revivals are short-lived. Do you really want revival? Who hear wants to take the step, is ready to pay the price, and would say, I want to begin the journey today?
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