The Results of Revival
Galatians 6:14-17
Revival Sermon
July 18, 2005
Introduction
On August 5, 1949, a fire ignited in a remote forest in a remote Montana wilderness area named Mann Gulch that permanently changed the way the US Forest Services fights fires. A crew of 15 young firefighters parachuted into the area, ready to extinguish what was to be a manageable fire.
The Mann Gulch fire was spotted in late morning, on the point of a ridge overlooking the river and the mouth of the gulch. By the time the smokejumpers arrived, the fire had disappeared from its point of origin and migrated more than a mile along the ridge top, up from the river. The men landed in the head of the gulch, a half mile below visible fire.
They gathered gear as crew foreman Wag Dodge climbed the ridge to scout. He returned in minutes with news that the gulch would be allowed to burn, saying the fire was a death trap and ordered the crew to hike down the gulch toward the river, over a mile away.
One of the men would later describe the fire as a very interesting spectacle; some of the men took photographs. As they moved along, something about the fire had spooked the foreman. Halfway to the river, Dodge crested a rise, turned, and came rushing back toward the crew, ordering them to retreat.
Flames, which boiled in the crowns of Douglas fir and ponderosa pines, catapulted forward on heavy winds partly of the fire’s own making-a classic crown fire. The fire was right behind the men as they emerged from the timber onto a broad, grassy slope, the amphitheater-like expanse. The flames dropped from the crowns of trees into dry grass and began to close the gap with the men.
In panic, the men broke for the ridge above them, but the 76-degree angle of the slope made escape all but impossible. The men barely had made 300 yards before Dodge told them to drop their gear to lighten the load. Flames were estimated at 50 feet high and were moving 50 yards every 10 seconds. The grade was steep and the men were becoming exhausted, but they moved even faster because of what they saw happening around them. Ashes and hot firebrands were beginning to fall around them, and the heat and smoke were becoming sickening. Dodge was a seasoned fireman. He knew that fires tend to loose intensity near ridge tops. His plan was to take the crew to the rock slide he had seen before the jump. However, the slide was on the other side of the ridge, toward the head of the drainage.
The crew made another 200 yards when Foreman Dodge knew the fire was going to catch them. Dodge then did something that had never been heard of in the 50,000 fires the Forest Service had fought to date. He lit the first escape fire known. Dodge’s theory was that the escape fire would quickly burn out, allowing his men to get into the burned area and be saved, while the fire burned around them. So with the fire breathing down on him, he knelt down, struck a match and ignited another fire that, pushed by the wind, burned quickly up the hill. For reasons unknown, Dodge could not get this idea across to his men. They panicked and continued heading for the ridge top. Dodge stood there mouthing silent shouts as four or five jumpers hesitated nearby. He waved at the men, urging them to join him in the ashes of his fire, but no one joined him.
Dodge survived by lying in the ashes of his fire. As the main fire passed, it picked him up and shook him like a dog with a bone. After the flames had passed, Dodge climbed to the ridge top and discovered that two of them had survived. All the other men would die that day in the fire. What happened that day is known among firefighters as a blowup. It begins with what is considered to be a normal and manageable fire, but in an instant rages out of control. The Mann Gulch fire is estimated to have burned 3,000 acres in 10 minutes.
There is no question that a fire is raging in our land today. Some years ago it may have appeared to be manageable, but today it is burning out of control. It is more than a matter of sex and drugs and the rock culture. The fire that is raging today is fueled by abortion, people living together, racism and a lack of love for family. The fire is being fueled by a people who are busier today than ever before in the history of man. The political world is in disarray. Our economic world is hanging on a tight rope. We are facing moral and ethical dilemmas like never before, with everything from stem cell research to euthanasia to human cloning and much more.
We are a people in need of revival: we have lost our fear of God and have thrown out the rules. We are unaccountable to anyone but our own feelings; we fail to keep our promises; our vows mean nothing; and God’s Word is negotiable. We have abandoned absolute truth. We have lost sight of the value of marriage and are now raising a generation of “throw-away” kids. It is not an American problem, it is a global problem; and worse than that it is a God’s people problem. It is a problem called sin, and perhaps the most tragic evidence of our need for revival today is the fact that most people who call themselves believers cannot even see the need for revival. Not only do we feel powerless to bring about change and renewal, we cannot see the need to allow God to start a fire of His own in our hearts so it might spread and strike others around us.
Husbands have given up trying to be the head of their homes. Wives have given up trying to influence their husbands. Parents have given up trying to shape their children. Children are giving up because they have no hope. Christian workers are giving up and are giving in to the evils in our world today, and we have now become a people who are quietly living out our faith and are waiting for Christ to return and set things in order. But I want to tell you today that this is not the answer! The answer is not in running, it is not in retreating, and it is not in giving up and going home. The fire that is raging today is consuming people left and right, and until we come to the place where we are willing to get down on our knees and start our own fires we too will be consumed with the “woe-is-me” “down-and-out” “the world is going to hell in a hand basket” mentality that makes us hole up and hold out faithful behind our Baptist monastery walls.
Folk, in the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ God is not pleased with such a mentality. The Great Commission is an offensive plan, not a defensive one. It is God’s charge to us to take the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ into a dark and dying world and lead people out of the chains of that darkness. In Acts 4:13, the Bible tells us about some men who were doing just that, and I want you to notice how they were characterized.
“Now when they (the rulers and elders and scribes) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
Luke tells us that some common men, just like you and me, were out doing what God had told them to do; they were on fire for the Lord, they were not going to be shut up, and the world took notice. We’re going to talk later this week about what brings revival: how you can experience revival, but tonight I want to start with the end in mind and talk to you about the results of revival. What should revival look like in your life? What will happen in your life so people will stand up and take notice of you – that you have been with Jesus? You won’t have to tell them you’ve been with Him! They won’t have to ask; they will know that you have been with the Savior. They will know you’re on fire and they’ll want to join you!
In Galatians 6:14-17 the apostle Paul said,
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.”
Paul had literally been branded for Jesus Christ. His body bore the marks of a man who had given his life to the One who had shed His blood on Calvary. Listen to me: when revival comes in your life there are going to be some marks. They may not be the marks of whippings and lashings and beatings by rods, but your life will be branded nonetheless: branded with the marks of having been with Jesus. What are some of these marks?
You Will Have a Heart for Worship
In Matthew 15:8-9, Jesus said,
“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
When we think about worship we tend to think about the outward acts of worship: the bowing and praying and singing and so forth, but you know as well as I do that you can do all those things and never worship. They can be pointless and empty.
Revival is nothing more than a restoration of your intimacy with God. I don’t care what the relationship is, all relationships grow stale over time if they’re not nurtured and given proper attention. I like to watch couples when I go out to eat. You can always tell those who are dating or are newlyweds from those who have been married for a while. The new couples sit and stare and talk and enjoy one another’s company, while those who have been married don’t. She is looking at the light fixtures or the wallpaper, and he is looking at the waitress or out the window. Being together is not the joy, nor does it contain the wonder that it once did.
We do God the same way. You see, we may hold hands with God, put our arm around Him so to speak, but the feelings of joy and wonder are gone. We are not captivated by His presence, but when our fellowship with Him is restored; when we once again experience the intimacy with Him that He intends then we long to be in His presence.
Imagine for a moment that it is my anniversary. Mine is next week. Suppose next Thursday I bring home a dozen long-stemmed roses for my wife. When she meets me at the door, I hold out the roses, and she says, “O Kevin, they’re beautiful; thank you” and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-factly, “Don’t mention it; it’s my duty.”
What happens? Is not the exercise of duty a noble thing? Do not we honor those we dutifully serve? Not much. Not if there’s no heart in it. Dutiful roses are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for my wife as a person, the roses do not honor her. In fact, they belittle her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection.
You see, worship is like that. I’m not asking you how much you come to church or whether you sing or show up on work days. Those things are extremely important, but what I’m suggesting is that what God really wants is to know that you take great delight in being with Him simply for the sake of being with Him. “Delight thyself in the Lord.”
If I take my wife out for the evening on our anniversary and she asks me, “Why do you do this?” the answer that honors her most is “Because nothing makes me happier tonight than to be with you.” Brother, when God gets hold of your heart and revives you your greatest desire is going to be to simply stand in His presence – to be, to commune with Him. Psalm 42:1-2 says,
“As the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God…”
Psalm 63:1-3 says,
“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”
You Will Have a Hunger for the Word of God
We have more Bibles in our homes than in any other country or in any other time in the world, but we don’t know what they say. The Scriptures are twisted and perverted to make them say whatever people want them to say. Throughout the Bible and history, man’s lowest points always followed an abandonment of love for God’s Word.
The Israelites received the Word of God in the wilderness of Sinai from God, but they did what they wanted to do – and they never saw the Promised Land. When their children and grandchildren arrived in Canaan Joshua rehearsed the Word of God to the people, but the Bible says they did what was right in their own eyes, and God punished them for it. The kings of Israel and Judah abandoned God’s Word and they were led into captivity. The scribes and Pharisees couldn’t see it, Catholicism in the Dark Ages couldn’t see it, the critics of the Enlightenment couldn’t see it, and people today still can’t see that an abandonment from the Word of God and a love for the Word of God is bringing the judgment of God.
The book of Acts tells us that when the people heard the Word of God and they placed their faith in Jesus Christ whom they had crucified they met daily from house to house because they couldn’t get enough of the Word of God. They hungered for it! They got tired of the milk and puree and wanted some meat!
Listen, I hear people say all the time that the Bible is old and boring, but it is far from it. Some people like romance: the Bible has it. Some people like action and adventure: it is in there. Some people like murder and mystery: all that is in the Bible too. Some like soap operas: the Old Testament is the original. I don’t care what needs you have, what problems you face, what concerns or doubts or worries or joys you have in your life today, the Bible speaks to them all.
When revival comes about in your life – when Jesus really gets control of you then you are going to hunger for His Word. You will want to be in it, reading it and studying it and exploring it. You may be like a man I read about who said that he had read through the Bible several times and it had never done anything for him. He said, “I have gone through the Bible several times now and have never received any inspiration from it.” The man to whom he was speaking said, “Let it go through you once and you will tell a different story.”
You Will Have a Hatred of Sin
In Psalm 97:10, the psalmist said, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil…” Not only is that an admonition to you, it is a simply Bible fact. When you and I are in right relation to God we’re going to hate evil; we’re going to hate sin.
Now I’m confident that if I were to ask you how you felt about murder and rape and pedophilia you’d all tell me how much you hate those things. You probably don’t have any problem hating the sins of homosexuality and stealing and beating up on women. But what about other sins that nobody likes to talk about? Do you have a hatred of…
• Immorality? You know, the immorality that we allow into our living rooms every night on television: people shacking up, cursing and blaspheming. Do we hate that? Do we hate it enough to turn it off?
• Unforgiveness? We carry around hurts for years over what some family member did or said and we’re unwilling to forgive them and move on. Do we hate that?
• Unrighteous anger?
Listen, revival means that you’re going to hate those things in your life that don’t line up with God’s Word or with the likeness of Jesus Christ. You’re going to loathe those things and long for the cleansing that can only come through Christ. The apostle Paul said in Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death…” You go back and read that chapter and you’ll find out Paul wasn’t talking to lost people – he was talking to saved people and was giving them a principle that applies to every human being: your sin separates you from God, and anything that separates you from God is a thing you ought to despise. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.”
God does a wonderful thing in your life when you’re walking with Him: when you’re in fellowship with Him. Oh, we don’t like it, but it is a wonderful thing. He has this wonderful habit of dragging you out into the light. There are some sins we don’t mind giving up. In fact, Christianity in America today allows you to hang out in the dark so long as you look okay, but brother, when revival comes to town you’re not going to wait for Jesus to drag you out there, you’re going to start packing up sin and kicking it out like an unwelcome guest. Then you’re going back in the house to look for anything else that doesn’t belong!
You don’t have any trouble noticing the sin in other people, but when revival comes you’re going to be so busy weeding your own garden you won’t have time to worry about anyone else’s. Jesus didn’t come to help you manage your sin – He came to eradicate it from your life! I want you to notice something Paul said in Colossians 3:5. He said, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…” then he started naming sin. He said to put those things to death in your life. But I want you to notice that your putting those things to death is the result of another thing you need to do found in verses 1-3.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
That’s revival – getting your affections in the right place – and when you do, you’re going to hate the sin in your life.
You Will Have a Hurting for People
When was the last time you heard people consistently and fervently praying for the souls of the lost? How long has it been since we wept over the condition of God’s people who have grown cold and indifferent? Our prayer lists are filled with the physical needs of everyone we know: we pray for their hearts and lungs and surgeries and sick kids, but when was the last time we saw churches pouring down to the altar over the soul of a husband or wife or a momma or daddy bound for hell?
I don’t see it much in the church I pastor, and I suspect that you haven’t seen much of it either. No amount of new laws are going to change the hearts of men and women. Social security reform can’t do it; television make-over crews can’t do it either – it will only come when the Holy Spirit of God so moves on an individual that they are broken over their sin condition and repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God!
Jesus stood over the city of Jerusalem and wept over it. He wept because they could not see the truth. Every one of you has been called to minister to others, whether they are lost or saved, but before you can or will minister to them you have to see them through the eyes of Christ as people who stand in need of a Savior. Jesus sat before the woman at the well and saw a lost soul. The disciples saw the same woman and saw someone unworthy of their time. How do you see the people in your family? How do you see the men and women in your community? Mary Warburton Booth wrote,
Oh! For a heart that is burdened!
Infused with a passion to pray;
Oh! For a stirring within me;
Oh! For His power every day.
Oh! For a heart like my Savior,
Who, being in agony prayed.
Such caring for others, Lord, give me;
On my heart let burdens be laid.
My Father, I long for this passion,
To pour myself out for the lost –
To lay down my life to save others –
To pray, whatever the cost.
Lord, teach me, Oh teach me this secret,
I’m hungry this lesson to learn,
This passionate passion for others,
For this blessed Jesus, I yearn.
Father, this lesson I long for from Thee;
Oh, let Thy Spirit reveal this to me.
In the words of the apostle Paul, our prayer to God, moved by a heart that is consumed with the glory of God out of fellowship with God, ought to be:
“I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
Do you hurt for people so much that you might pray a prayer like that? Do you hurt for them enough to pray for their salvation? Do you hurt enough for them to tell them about Christ? How long have you been waiting? When we walk with the Lord and learn of Him, when He lights that fire within us, we cannot help but tell others. You can say you’ve been revived, or that you don’t need revival, you can study your Bibles and you can even pray, but if you never share what you have then what good has all of it done? I want each of you to think of someone you know who is lost. They have never trusted Christ as their Savior. As you think about their future, you remember that that used to be your future.
Conclusion
There are many other marks of revival: love for God, return of joy, healing and restoration and more. I do not know whether you bear in your life the marks I have mentioned: whether your life is such that people know that you have been with Christ, that you have been branded with the marks of revival. I do not know whether you enjoy great intimacy with the Lord or not, but I suspect that you know. You know whether you really enjoy a love relationship with Jesus or whether you have grown satisfied to go through the motions. You know whether your life keeps those around you convinced of your faith, but does it convince Christ?
I don’t know a single person who couldn’t be closer to Christ than he already is – and some could be a lot closer. Tonight I want to invite you to plead with God to revive your heart this week. Beg Him to light a fire within you that will spread: a fire that will run out and give others a place to find hope and safety, a fire that will keep the fires of sin and indifference from consuming you.
Tonight you may be that man or woman or boy or girl who has never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You can make the decision tonight to quit trusting yourself and accept what He has done on your behalf.
Works Cited:
The Mann Gulch story has been adapted from the following sources: http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/smokejumpers/missoula/History/mann_gulch/gulch.htm, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3951/is_200410/ai_n9464907/pg_2,
Rainey, Dennis. One Home at a Time (Focus on the Family Publishing: Colorado Springs, CO 1997)
Adapted from John Piper’s book, Desiring God
