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The Holy Spirit and Revival

Titus 3:5&6 “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”

Here is a picture not of a few drops of rain but of a downpour drenching the land. Paul is describing his experience of the work of God in his generation. He is a Jew, and he is writing to a man from Greece, Titus, who is evangelizing and pasturing on the island of Crete, and Paul is saying that the experience of all of them was this, that God in Damascus, Greece and Crete, had been pouring out generously all the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Many people had been converted; cities and nations had been changed; churches had been planted everywhere; Christians had experienced firm assurance of their interest in the Saviour’s blood and the fear of God had fallen on communities. This is what I understand as revival.

The history of the church has been characterized by some very great personalities and memorable spiritual breakthroughs that have changed the history of nations. Think of Patrick and his ministry in Ireland in the fifth century, and David with his ministry in sixth century Wales. Patrick broke the power of heathenism in Ireland, and David did the same in Wales. In 8th century England Bede and his followers preached and he translated the Gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon. In the 14th century John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English and his followers, the Lollards, preached across the land. Many of them were imprisoned and some were burnt at the stake with their Bibles tied around their necks. Savonarola preached in the 15th century Italy and many people turned to God.

The greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit since the time of the apostles was the 16th century Reformation. The next century was the Puritan period with Bible translation and Bunyan and many anonymous preachers taking the gospel to the ordinary people of North America and Great Britain. The following century was the period we call the ‘Great Awakening’ in Wales, Scotland, England and America under Harris, Wesley, Whitefield and Edwards. The 19th century saw the birth of the modern missionary movement and the gospel spreading across the South Seas and into India. The 20th century witnessed an awakening in South Korea in which many turned to Christ, but there has been no similar revival in China although millions there have come to a knowledge of the living God.

I wonder whether Jonathan Edwards was right when he claimed that the work of the gospel has been most advanced by revivals? Consider America today; it is the strongest Christian nation in the world with vast numbers of gospel congregations, growing seminaries, Christian colleges, a network of Christian schools, publishing houses, radio networks and thousands of missionaries going into the world. Liberal modernistic Christianity has consequently declined in the USA, and all this has been achieved without a revival. There has simply been regular harvests rather than those years of drought which Europe has known after which we’ve been left longing for an enormous harvest. We have lived through a century of decline in Wales in which we have seen in Sandfields, Port Talbot, under the ministry of Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the 1920s and 1930s, a conspicuous work of God in one church. We have though also seen a network of gospel churches planted across the Principality. We can do much without a great awakening, and yet if we are to make any impact on our community for Jesus Christ there has to be a mighty work of God.

Why is it that the hearts of many Christians sink when they hear that the sermon or even a sermon series is going to be on the subject of revival? Why is a message on revival such a turn off for people who actually believe in great awakenings and who long for a new work of the Holy Spirit in our land? Why are we merely interested in Lloyd-Jones’s studies on the baptism of the Spirit when we’ve often been revived by his preaching on the great themes of the gospel? The truth is that those latter sermons have indeed raised us up and remotivated us in a way that no sermons on revival ever did. What are the reasons for the wariness with which godly men and women listen to messages on this theme? I suppose there are numbers of answers:

i] Revivals are illusive. For the church member sitting in the pew revivals never seem to be here and now. The men talking (apparently authoritatively about them) have never experienced them. They have read about them in books, and these revivals always appear to be events that happened a hundred years ago, or that will occur some time in the future, or, if they are occurring now, they are 10,000 miles away from where the church member lives. I have been reading a Scottish magazine this year and it has contained monthly interviews with American preachers who have been telling of the revivals they are getting in their churches in the USA. The Christian gets restless at sermons on fire from heaven everywhere except in his country. He believes that it is better to confront the reality of today rather than be overwhelmed with nostalgia for the past or with longing for a future he may never see. I feel there is some kind of betrayal of living New Testament Christianity in the revival illusion. We wouldn’t accept the work of the Holy Spirit or true prayer or gospel preaching to be illusive, in other words, to be occurring in the past or in the future or to be found on another continent and not existing here and now. There is the real danger of living vicarious Christian lives through what we imagine revival to have been, and we dare not do that.

ii] Revival sermons instead of being inspiring can be depressing. They begin with long descriptions of how horrible are the times in which we live, with bleak statistics underlining a nation’s bankruptcy, moral decline and ecclesiastical collapse. We hearers never recover from this long encounter with today’s darkness. We do not enjoy our noses being rubbed in the follies of a fallen world. We see that each day. Maybe at the end of the sermon our feelings are back to where they were before the sermon began, but often they are not. The theme, “things are terrible and we need a revival,” is not the most reviving experience. It can bury us.

iii] Gospel messages are better than revival messages. What we long for week by week is the gospel being preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. We want Jesus Christ to be exalted and sin to be exposed as exceeding sinful. Nothing can satisfy our souls but this, and series of messages on revival or the second blessing or the baptism of the Spirit actually detract from that, so we have found. It is not the work of Jesus to give glory to the Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit to glorify Christ, and so that must be our work. That is why the announcement of such a sermon as this on “The Holy Spirit and Revival” may raise questions, but we are glad when the theme of the sermon brings Jesus to us in the power of the Sovereign Spirit, and our hearts again burn within us as we hear of him whom our souls love.

iv] True revivals make us afraid, though we may be reluctant to admit it, and so we would rather not be confronted with them. We 21st century disciples of the Lord Jesus are comfy in our routines; we think the godliness we have attained in life is our limit. Do we really want a confrontation with God the Holy Spirit which by the Word breaks our pride and increases tenfold our zeal for serving Jesus Christ? Do we want the next months of our lives to be filled, night after night, in counseling guilty, troubled sinners, pointing them to the Saviour, helping them gain assurance of salvation and seeking for them when they start to fall away? It would be a very demanding time; there would be many meetings each week which would have to be stewarded; we would often be out of our depth in personal encounters; it would take us away from pleasant evenings at the fireside with our families. We want church growth, but not something that makes demands on our souls, our lives and our all. Are we anxious to feel our helplessness, that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God? Are we truly committed to knowing today a mighty work of God in our home town? Do we want the rushing mighty wind? There will be a cost in time, and energy, and a bruising of our personalities.

Then why do we ever speak of the Holy Spirit and revival? Because this is a biblical theme which can be very encouraging. True God-fearing congregations are shrinking and increasingly marginalized in our own society.

THERE WERE TIMES THAT ARE RECORDED IN THE BIBLE WHEN MANY PEOPLE TURNED FROM SIN TO GOD.

Let us turn to three examples from the Old Testament of large scale turnings to God. I can encourage you to turn to these passages with me, and yet I must apologize. I like sermons to be sermons, and Bible studies to be Bible studies. The particular sermon seems to ne to be too much like a Bible study, and I know who’s to blame for that!

i] When the word of God was rediscovered. Consider the occasion when the Scripture was rediscovered in the temple of the Lord when King Josiah was 26 years of age. What a bad situation had developed for years in Israel, if not centuries, if the Scriptures had gone missing and no one, not even the priests, had seemed to notice. What a change for the whole nation when they rediscovered, read and acted upon the Word. We read, “Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.’ He gave it to Shaphan. Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him: ‘Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them. They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.’ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: ‘Go and enquire of the LORD for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book’” (2 Chrons; 34:14-21). “Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites - all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD - to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book. Then he made everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the LORD, the God of their fathers” (2 Chrons. 34:29-33). That nation rediscovered the Bible to its peace and unity. It had in fact rediscovered the living God.

ii] When Jonah preached in Nineveh, when with much reluctance the prophet finally came to the pagan city whose whole system he hated greatly. We are told, “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city - a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’ The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’ When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (Jon. 3:3-10). Jonah went with the bare word in obedience to God and the whole city was changed.

iii] In post exile Jerusalem. There was the time of spiritual decline which followed the return of the people of God from their 70 year-long exile in Babylon. It was tough trying to live for the Lord back in ruined Jerusalem inhabited by jackals and owls and there support themselves in a ruined land surrounded by enemies who thwarted and sabotaged what they did. It took all their energy to look after themselves. So spiritually things began to slip. We are told, “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.”’ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the LORD. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labour of your hands.’ Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD. So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius” (Hag. 1:2-15).

There are such occasions in the history of redemption when a nation is stirred, faith in the Lord is renewed, idols are destroyed and many people repent of their sins and turn to God. You might think that this is simply the romantic, folk-story manner in which the Old Testament is written . . . “and they all lived happily ever after.” I want to say most earnestly to you that the above three instances are not an invariable pattern of the Bible. For example, in the wilderness wanderings, though there were extraordinary blessings and miracles as in the parting of the Red Sea, the daily manna that came from heaven and the water that burst out of the rock and the preaching of Moses the people were not revived but they all perished in the wilderness. Under the mighty ministry of Jeremiah there was no national turning to God. Under the ministry of Elijah, when God answers with fire and consumes the sacrifice on the altar there is no subsequent turning to God by the people, even with the presence of Elijah in their midst. So there is no naturalistic explanation for the three occasions I have drawn your attention to when the people were greatly stirred and broken. There is nothing inevitable about the wonderful turning to God. They were a result of the quickening grace of God. Revival is a sovereign work of God.

Let me give you three similar examples from the book of Acts;

i] In Jerusalem, where the criminal Barabbas had been voted to be released and the Messiah, the Son of God to be put to death by crucifixion, on the day of Pentecost fifty days after that Passover, Peter preached to Jerusalem sinners, concluding “‘Let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:36-41). A substantial number of people in that wicked city turned to Jesus Christ and became true Christians and the impact on the land was great. A tide of persecution opened up again the people of God. They could no longer be ignored.

ii] In Samaria. Again we meet the same phenomenon of a whole city stirred when Philip goes to Samaria; “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:4-8). “When they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women.” (Acts 8:12). Here is superstitious irreligious Samaria, with all its deep-dyed hostility to the Jews, and yet it heard a Jewish Christian evangelist so keenly that multitudes in the country believed that the crucified Jewish Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and they were publicly baptized in his name. That is the grace of God leading to a great awakening.

iii] In Pisidian Antioch and Iconium. Again, we meet the same phenomenon in a number of snapshots that Luke gives us of the ministry of the apostle Paul. Let us look at his ministry in Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13: “As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:42-44). “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honoured the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region” (Acts 13:48&49). Then at Iconium we are told, “At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed” (Acts 14:1).

So the word of God spread as God’s blessing came upon the gospel as it was preached. That was not invariable; it did not happen in Athens, although a significant little group of individuals professed faith. The Holy Spirit was poured out generously through Jesus Christ. That is the explanation.

Now let me give you an insider’s view of this great change as we read of it in three letters of the New Testament. How was this amazing work of God experienced within the congregations?

i] The church at Corinth tolerated in its membership at least one notorious sinner. It was boasting in its gifts and growth and preachers and so was sinfully indulgent about ungodly behaviour in its midst. It looked away and did nothing about that defiant bad man. The salt was losing its savour in Corinth; the light of the gospel was flickering; the life was seeping out of the church. Paul wrote to them and they were revived by his words and they displayed that whole range of religious affections which are displayed when God awakens a congregation. Paul describes the initial grief and congregational repentance his words caused them when his letter was read out to the congregation; “your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done” (2 Cors. 7:9-11).

ii] The church at Thessalonica is reminded by Paul of how the gospel came to that whole congregation; “our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction” (I Thess. 1:5). What stirring words! You read them and think, “That is how the gospel should be received by a whole congregation.” How many evangelical sermons these days are not like that, but rather like hearing a commentary being read? The preaching with too many of us is in word only, but in Thessalonica it was not like that; there was power; there was the Holy Spirit at work and deep conviction as the word was preached. I believe that that could happen any Sunday in this congregation.

iii] The church at Ephesus. Consider what Paul longs for in this church. He tells them that when he prays for them – a revived church, for this is his petition to God: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephs 3:16-21). They had the truth; they had the Spirit; they had Christ, but Paul longs for them to have more, for spiritual growth and not in the slight ways we think of – more people coming to our evening service, or a new face in the Sunday School – but in this way, that they would be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the inner man, and that they would be rooted and established in love, and that they understood more of the love of Christ that passes knowledge.

Men and women, it is a religious awakening of that dimension that I am speaking about and that we are to pray for in our own congregations. That is the work of the Holy Spirit – as we repent of our cold hearts and as we cry to him for help and as I preach to you the same apostolic word with the power of the Spirit. Doesn’t our Lord tell us of one congregation that had left its first love? Doesn’t Christ describe one church as being neither cold nor hot but luke warm? If the Lord Jesus appeared in our pulpit now and lovingly and sweetly and righteously spoke and told us that we are guilty of these base attitudes would we not respond as the Corinthian congregation – what earnestness, what eagerness to clear ourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern. But surely that is exactly what he is saying to many of us today. Are we touched? Are we examining ourselves? Are we alarmed? Are we changing?

WHAT WOULD BE THE IMPACT OF THE SPIRIT UPON A CONGREGATION IN TRUE REVIVAL?

Let me quote some words of my friend Stephen Rees of Stockport, Manchester, as he pictures some of the consequences of the coming of the Spirit. He describes them in these ways:

i] The felt presence of God in our meetings. There are times when God’s Spirit descends upon a meeting - and everybody knows God is present. The unseen world becomes terribly, wonderfully close. At those times, the preaching is transformed. The preacher speaks with a boldness and an authority that is obviously supernatural. Hearers forget the preacher and hear only the voice of God speaking to their hearts. Familiar truths become real as they are preached. Those who listen tremble at the thought of God; they shake with fear as they are made aware of their sins, they are overwhelmed with wonder as they hear about the cross of the Lord Jesus, they are filled with a joy that can't be put into words as they are reminded of heaven to come. The singing is transformed. People sing as they’ve never sung before, realising how wonderful the words are that they’re singing - and conscious that God is listening. The praying is transformed. God’s people pray with confidence, earnestness and with the wrestling spirit which says ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’. All of us, I hope, can remember meetings when we’ve had a taste of that. But we want all our meetings to be like that. We want to know that God is among his people whenever they meet.

ii] Every member of the church filled with the Holy Spirit. I am not talking about one great crisis experience. I am saying that every one of us ought to be brim-full of the life of God every moment. If we were filled with the Spirit, we would have a great sense of the love of God towards us. We would be able to say, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:5). And we on our side would love the Saviour with a warm, steady love. We would long for the day when he comes again. We would want to serve him with all our strength. If we were filled with the Spirit, we would love one another more warmly, more affectionately and more practically than we do. We would pray for one another more consistently. We would commit ourselves to the life of the church more thoroughly. We would be eager to be with our fellow-believers, listening to God’s Word, so we would do everything in our power to be at the meetings. We would look forward all month to being at the Lord’s Supper and feeding on Christ there. If we were filled with the Spirit, we’d be very careful to avoid anything sinful or even dubious. We’d turn away from worldly entertainments and distractions. In every situation our first question would be ‘How can I honour God?’ not, ‘What do I want to do?’ We’d deal with our problems - especially our disagreements with other church-members - in a biblical way. We would be praying in the various church prayer meetings. We’d never let dislikes or grudges fester in our hearts. We’d learn to say sorry. We’d learn to be straight with people. We’d learn to talk to people who offend us, not talk about them behind their backs. The life of the church would be sweeter and happier.”

iii] Many people around us being converted. Members of our families long prayed for would change in their attitude to our Lord. Young people who had professed faith as teenagers but had fallen away, would come back from the distant country. Husbands for whom wives had prayed for years would end their rebellion and bow the knee to Christ. We do have students converted, and also the children of church members, but what of people wholly outside of Christ? Utterly indifferent men and women both teenagers and pensioners, Big Issue sellers, Muslims, policemen, professors, fishermen, jewelers, managers of betting shops, members of parliament, clergymen, sportsmen, Jehovah’s Witnesses, journalists, media people, refuse collectors, car dealers, bank managers, shop-keepers and scientists, members of the local football and rugby clubs, gardeners, solicitors, bakers, yoghurt manufacturers, electricians, artists, plumbers - we want to see all trades coming to know Christ, and all kinds of personalities, depressives, academics, illiterates, melancholics, addicts, extroverts – the doors of heaven are open to all of them. At times of spiritual awakening many kinds of people are contacted, there is boldness given to shy believers to share their faith with the people to whom Providence brings them. A favoured, prepared people grow weary of materialism and Dawkins and television and conversations down the pub and football, and they are opened up by grace to consider the greatness of God. Even if they are not converted they’ve become more subdued; a fear of God has fallen on them. They have started to grow up.

On the first Sunday in October in 1791 in the church in Bala pastored by Thomas Charles a great work of God began. “I cannot say that there was anything particular in the ministry of that day more than what I had often experienced among our dear people here, but towards the end of the evening service the Spirit of God seemed to work in a very powerful manner on the minds of great numbers present who never before appeared to seek the Lord’s face. But now there was a general and a loud crying, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ and ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ About nine or ten o’clock at night, there was nothing to be heard from one end of the town to the other, but the cries and groans of people in distress of soul, and the very same night a spirit of deep conviction and serious concern fell upon whole congregations in this neighbourhood when calling upon the name of the Lord. . . . and a spirit of conviction spread so rapidly that there was hardly a young person in the neighbourhood but began to enquire, What will become of me?” This movement changed the area and its fruit lasted for years.

When the Spirit of God is poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour he comes to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment; he comes to honour and magnify Jesus Christ as the Son of God; he changes many lives for ever. People who have served sin henceforth serve the Saviour. Let us cry to God that he would pour out on us abundantly the Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

4th October 2008 GEOFF THOMAS