Revival

Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible. Please feel free to use this message as God’s Holy Spirit directs your heart it belongs to Him.

REVIVAL

PSALM 119:153-160

Throughout Psalm 119 David calls on God for revival. David uses the Hebrew word châyâh which means to live, to revive: - keep (leave, make) alive, give (promise) life, quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), and be whole. As we look at this Psalm and the verses that use this term we will discover the promise, the path, the pattern, the provision, and the parameters of revival

I. The Promise of Revival

A. Psalms 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.

B. Revive me - make me to live; give me vigor and strength to break away from this which binds me fast.

C. According to thy word - either in accordance with Your promises made to Your people to come to and aid them when they are in distress.

D. God wants to bring revival to His people. Oswald J. Smith in his book "The Enduement of Power" encourages us that revival is a definite promise of God, just waiting to be laid hold of. Oswald J. Smith writes, "’And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.’ Now, we are still living in the ’last days’. Pentecost was the birthday of the Church. But if Peter could speak of Pentecost as the ’last days’, then we are living in the ’last hours’ of the ’last days’. This is Saturday night in the history of the Church. God has declared that in the ’last days’ He would pour out of His Spirit. That promise was partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. But it remains for us to see the final and complete fulfillment. Let me again remind you that this is still the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Have we, then, Scripture to warrant the hope of another great outpouring of the Spirit of God as we enter the ’last hours’ of this age? I believe we have. It is my deep, deep conviction that God is waiting to pour out His Spirit once again, and that wherever He can find a people who will meet His conditions, He will give flood-tides of revival. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the greatest need of the hour. Any one may have it and expect it. This is the solution of all problems. Not money, but the outpoured Spirit. Not how to get the attention of the people, but how to secure the operation of the Holy Ghost. Not better preaching, but Holy Ghost preaching. ’I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.’ This, my brethren, is the greatest need of the hour." - copied

E. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

F. John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

G. He therefore promises revival to those who earnestly seek it.

H. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

II. The Path of Revival

A. Psalms 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.

B. Revive me from the death of spiritual helplessness and the wayward path that I have followed. Make me with living energy to pursue Your ways.

C. The need for revival is because we have either become discouraged along the way, cooled-off (grown lukewarm) along the way, stumbled along the way, stopped along the way, or just plain outright got out of the way.

D. Jerome Engel, the SBC preacher, was strolling along the sea walk at a church convention in Charleston, SC, one day. He spied a fisherman fishing, and set down to watch him. Presently the man made a catch and pulled in a repulsive looking fish; it looked like a cross between a toad and a bullhead. Not knowing about fishing, Engel asked the man, "What kind of fish is that?" "They call that a Baptist fish, suh." the man replied. "A Baptist fish?" questioned the preacher. "Yes, suh," replied the fisherman, throwing his catch back, "They call them that because they spoils so quick after you take ’em out of the water." - copied