Why Revival Tarries, Part 2 Series

Why Revival Tarries Series, Part 2

Series based on Leonard Ravenhill’s work Why Revival Tarries

May 18, 2011

Introduction

A There are two things that are indispensable to successful Christian living: vision & passion.

1 When we become serious about planting the cross of Christ in our lives, we’re going to feel it, know it.

a You can’t go to the Dollar General or Dollar Tree to get a Coach purse or diamonds (neither of them would be real). A real Coach/diamond would cost you!

b Real spiritual victory, successful Christian living will be expensive, & come at a high cost.

c If you’re not prepared to pay the price to go beyond the cross; are content to be saved, sanctified, & satisifed, then the Lord’s Battle doesn’t need you.

aa You may have to lose some friends or a career.

bb No cheap nickel & diming for revolution of the soul.

2 The price to be paid is doled out in vision & passion.

a A vision without a task makes a visionary; a task without vision is drudgery; a vision with a task makes a missionary.

b Isaiah had a vision in 3D. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Isaiah 6:1-9 (KJV)

aa Woe (v. 5): confession

bb Lo (v. 7): cleansing

cc Go (v. 9): commission

c Isaiah’s vision was...

aa Upward: he saw the Lord (sitting on His throne)

bb Inward: he saw himself (unclean lips)

cc Outward: he saw the world (people with unclean lips)

dd Height: Lord was high & lifted up

ee Depth: recesses of his own heart

ff Breadth: he saw the world

d We need a vision of holiness not unlike Isaiah’s.

aa See the helplessness/hopelessness & certainty of the hellishness of eternity of death without Jesus.

bb Modern churches know more about publicity than prayer, forgotten consecration by fostering competition.

B Vision is missing, & “...where there is no vision the people perish.”

1 Where there is no passion/unction the church perishes (even if the building is full).

2 Hell is real, & without Jesus real people with real souls die to spend a real eternity in a real hell.

a (IL) Stephen Hawkings article May 17, 2011 on Yahoo.

b Every week, nearly a million people enter hell’s flames.

c The seriousness of the situation calls for a fresh vision & renewed passion.

3 I’m not telling you to pray for lost people to get a vision of hell (yes, Calvary), but the church needs a fresh vision of hell.

a We are too consumed with religion, denomination, an experience.

b The Holy Spirit convicted us, brought us to a crossroads, the reality of hell & the promise of eternity with God through Christ.

aa When we were saved, we couldn’t shut up about it.

bb Youth minister came to my house to bring me in.

c Because we’ve lost the fire of the Holy Ghost, men go to hell fires.

4 We need a fresh vision of God’s holiness.

a The cherubim weren’t crying omnipotent (3x’s), omnipresent (3x’s), omniscient (3x’s)

b HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!

aa We don’t escape His holiness. If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol , behold, You are there. Psalms 139:8 (NASB)

bb Size, distance doesn’t matter to God. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8 (NASB)