Route To Great Awakening

Opening illustration: God awakened me when I went to work in the Middle East. Till then I was just a lukewarm and laidback Christian. I saw the great need for the Gospel of Christ to be proclaimed to the so many lost souls there. They had no idea that they were perishing and there was only one way out – Jesus. Someone had to give them the word. In complete reluctance, I said I am here, I will go. Are you awakened?

Introduction: Now, what do we mean by a “spiritual awakening”? Well, the word “awakening” refers to being woken up. What is it like to be asleep? You are oblivious to what is going on around you. You are in your own little dream world. World War III may be taking place, but when you are asleep, you know nothing about it. It doesn’t affect you. A spiritual awakening is what happens when people are suddenly woken up to see and hear and feel spiritual realities, and then they begin to live as though they are real. They realize there is a God, and that we are His creatures and must give an account to Him. They realize that there is a day of judgment, at which time this great God will either cast us into eternal hell or receive us into His eternal glory. We realize there is only one way of escape: through the perfect life, substitutionary death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. They realize there is only one way of benefiting from the finished work of Christ: repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They realize the absolute necessity of the new birth to prepare them for eternal glory. They also realize the absolute necessity of good works and holiness, not in order to get saved, but as evidences that they have been saved.

What is the Route to Great Awakening?

1. The Agent of this Awakening: 3:1,10

Who produced the awakening? God!

The word of the Lord came to Jonah: Notice how this chapter begins with God (the word of the Lord came) and ends with God (He did not do it). God is the one who is taking the initiative to bring the awakening. God speaks to Jonah. Jonah runs away. God hunted him down, brought him to repentance, and then gave the command a 2nd time. This wasn’t Jonah’s idea! Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, and in fact, is going to be angry when he does go and they all repent. This isn’t the Ninevites idea. The Ninevites didn’t even believe in Jehovah. They had a whole slew of gods, Jehovah not being one of them. The Ninevites weren’t seeking the Lord. They had no use for him. However, God was seeking the Ninevites. What is about to take place in Nineveh is so great that it could never have taken place through the power of man. Only the power of God could ever do something so incredible as to bring a giant metropolis filled with vicious, cruel, wicked pagans to their knees in genuine repentance, all at the same time! God is about to pour out His sovereign mercy. Why do I refer to it as “sovereign” mercy? Because this mercy is going to be dispensed according to God’s will alone. No one is manipulating Him or twisting His arm, or has a gun to His head. God is doing exactly as He pleases here.

God is doing this for His own glory! If this is God’s idea; if this is accomplished by God’s strength and power, then God is the One who should receive all the glory. Incidentally, this is why God does not allow the sinner to have any contribution in his salvation. We are all “saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of our works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God chooses to save the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised so that no man may boast before God, and that the one who boasts would boast only in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

In the 1800’s a man by the name of Charles Finney began to teach something new. Up until this time, God’s people believed that revivals took place according to the sovereign will of God. Finney began to teach that if God’s people would just use certain means they could have a revival any time they wanted. Finney’s thoughts have been largely followed today. That’s why you may drive by a church building and see a big banner that says, “Revival – September 28-30, 2017”. The problem with that is that no one can predict when we will have a revival, because only God can bring one, and He hasn’t told us when He’s going to do it. Sometimes when a celebrity evangelist visits a city, people call it a revival not really understanding that it is not him who brings it but God alone and in His own timing.