Plead for the Showers -- 7/21/13

Sunday, July 21, 2013

PLEAD FOR THE SHOWERS

            Let's read Ps. 126...

When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." 3 The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad. 4 Bring back our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South. 5 Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

            "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.  He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."  Sowing with tears results in reaping with joy.  The writer then gives an agricultural illustration, but it's kind of messed up.  The farmer goes and sows his seed, but he doesn't usually do it weeping.  The farming illustration cannot quite picture the reality.  This farmer who earnestly sows his seed will, without doubt, end up bringing his sheaves (his crop) with rejoicing.  But where do the tears come in?  Regardless of how this may be applied at the time it was written, no one can deny its application for the follower of Jesus Christ.  The seed we sow is the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Himself told the parable of the sower, and He explained that the seed was the Word.  But we are not called to simply sow, but to go forth with weeping.  As we weep over those who are lost without hope, we sow into them the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And, without doubt, we will come rejoicing, bringing with us those who repent and put their trust in our Lord Jesus.

            But what is that seed?  What is the Word of God we sow?  What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Some of us will say, "We know that.  We understand the gospel."  If we do, may the Lord bless us with greater understanding, the kind of deep understanding that will stir us to the action of that sinful woman who came into the presence of Jesus, anointed His feet, and wiped them with her hair.  Though the Pharisee who was hosting Jesus viewed her as a terrible sinner, Jesus said that "her sins, which are many, are forgiven, because she loved much.  But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little" (Luke 7:37).  He was not saying that her love earned forgiveness, but that her love was evidence of great forgiveness.  Brothers and sisters, when we are gripped by the grace of God in the gospel of Christ, we will love much, so much that it won't matter what anyone else thinks or what it costs us to pour out our love upon our Lord. 

            I know the gospel is not having the full effect among us that God intends, because we are not broken over sin.  We who profess Christ become far too comfortable with our sin.  You who are dead in your trespasses and sins, aren't greatly troubled about that fact.  You live as though you had another hundred years to come to repentance and faith.  The truth is, you may not have another 100 hours before you stand before the Lord.  And if you continue in your sin, you will hear Him say, "I never knew you.  Depart from me."  And some of you who profess Christ are not stirred by the gospel to face the question, "Do I really know Christ?  Or am I just hoping that I will be okay?"  When you are gripped by the gospel of Jesus Christ, you won't be able to linger in such uncertainty.

            So hear the gospel again and again and again.  Hear it from the preacher.  Read it from the Word.  Rehearse it in your closet until you can think of nothing else, for I assure you that nothing else matters.  Let me plant the seed in the mind and heart of every person here this morning.

            God is holy!  Of no one else will it ever be said, "In the beginning he created the heavens and the earth."  Almighty God stands alone as the Creator and Sustainer of this universe.  "There is none holy as the Lord" (I Sam. 2:2).  Not only does He exercise absolute power over everything and everyone He created, but He is also perfectly righteous.  And because He is righteous, He hates unrighteousness.  He abhors sin and will judge it.  Listen to the stern words of Psalms 11:4-7...

The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD'S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. 5 The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.

            If you didn't get the picture, understand that while God is righteous, man is unrighteous.  From the time Adam sinned in the garden, human beings have come into this world dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).  That tiny baby who may appear sweet and innocent is already infected with the most serious disease on the planet, and that disease is sin.  That infant is spiritually dead, cut off from God.  Why?  Because sin has a wage.  Paul put it bluntly, "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).  That includes spiritual death, being cut off from God; physical death -- separation of the spirit from the body; and eternal death, separation from the loving presence of God for all eternity, everlasting punishment in hell.  Yes, the righteous God will judge every sin of the human race.  There will be no exceptions.

            How man loves to boast of his knowledge and power, but when it comes to the eternal realities, man is powerless.  No man can quit sinning.  No one can earn forgiveness.  No one can escape the burden and guilt of the sin that clings to him.  We can't be religious enough or good enough to earn God's acceptance.  But what if a person just decides to drop out and say, "I don't want to play.  Just pass me by.  I don't want to be included"?  There is no escape.  "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27).  No man or woman in this world has the power to shortcircuit the righteousness and judgment of God.  As surely as the sun rose this morning, you will give account to God.  The only reasonable response of sinful man is to cry out for mercy.

            "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son..." (Gal. 4:4).  Now we come to John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  That's a great truth, but we are not ready for that truth until we understand who Jesus is and why He came.  We cannot go from the sufficiency of man to John 3:16.  Until there is brokenness over sin, we only see a twisted version of John 3:16. 

            The only begotten Son of John 3:16 came to save sinners who have rebelled against God, sinners who have repaid the kindness of their Creator by spitting in His face and saying, "No, thank you.  I will do things my way."  If you don't believe that description fits you, then you have never known the Son of God.  Jesus not only taught the truth perfectly and performed astonishing miracles, but He came as a man so that He might bear the sins of man.  "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John 4:10).  Yes, He was the sacrifice who bore the wrath of God.  It pleased the Lord to crush His Son (Is. 53:10).  All the punishment I deserved was poured out on the holy and righteous Son of God.  He who had nothing but love for sinners.  He was punished for us who hated His Father.  "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21). 

            God is true to His Word.  He preserved His righteousness by punishing my sin in Jesus.  God never overlooks sin; He punishes it.  That is why Jesus died on the cross, to bear the punishment I deserved.  He died for my sins, but He was raised by the glory of the Father.  We look around and conclude that these people are alive, but Jesus is even more alive.  Though we do not see Him, He lives and will never die again.  He has life; He is life, even eternal life.  That same Jesus said, "Because I live, you shall life also" (John 14:19).

            That is the gospel, and Jesus told us how we are to respond:  "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15).  The gospel is indeed good news, but it calls for repentance and faith.  When a bad man is confronted by the good news, the only reasonable response is brokenness and on-our-face submission to the Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us.  We are the bad men, and women, and young people.  The most amazing truth is that Jesus, who alone is good, righteous, and holy, stands ready to receive us, pardon us, and give us His very life.  That is what it means to be justified by His grace through faith.

Pray

            This morning we sang that old hymn, "Showers of Blessing."  I put the words in the bulletin so you can sing it at home.  I believe the course of this hymn can and should be our prayer in these days...

                        Showers, showers of blessing;

                        Showers of blessing we need.

                        Mercy drops round us are falling,

                        But for the showers we plead.

            We saw the physical illustration of it this past week.  Day after day the clouds loomed overhead.  Now and then we would get a sprinkle.  One afternoon early in the week we were blessed with a tenth of an inch.  I checked the rain gauge Thursday morning to find that we had one.  One what?  Not one inch; not one tenth; but one tiny drop.  We want to say, "Thank you, Lord, for the few drops that we have received, but we are begging you for the showers.  Please bring the rain."

            Do you see it?  Mercy drops 'round us are falling.  I see a man who is going through the fire, but the Lord is teaching him that His grace is sufficient, that he can rest in the Lord.  I watch a sister quietly trust the Lord day in and day out, crying out to the Lord for the salvation of those around her, quietly trusting that He will answer.  I see another reaching out to those who are hurting.  Another is experiencing the kind of healing that only the Lord can bring.  Some of us are aware that the Lord is indeed answering prayer.  We don't want to make light of any of these things.  We should not despise the day of small things, as we read in Zechariah (4:10).  These are mercy drops, but for the showers we plead.  We are grateful for the little rain the Lord has brought, but we desire more.  In an even greater way, we are thankful for His work in our lives, but we long for more, much more.

            When I encourage us to pray for revival, I am simply saying, "Let's plead for the showers of blessing."  Not so we can feel good, but that we may be a blessing to others for the glory of our Lord.  Praise God that we have the Word and the Spirit, and surely He is sufficient.  But somehow we have learned to depend upon ourselves and are largely blind to the great working of His Spirit.  May we long for more.  "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" (Ps. 63:1-2).  Mercy drops 'round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.

            Down through history there have been times when God has chosen to bring the showers, to pour out His Holy Spirit upon His church.  This morning I want to take some time to share one of those times with you.  I am going to read you the account of a great revival that took place in the Hebrides Islands, off the coast of Scotland, beginning in 1949.  It will take a while to read it, so please be patient with me.  Why read this long account?  In order to remind us that we serve a mighty God who is able to break into the normal affairs of men and women like us and do a mighty work.  May the Lord use it to whet our appetite to plead for the showers of blessing.

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In 1949, in the Outer Hebrides island of Lewis, a remarkable movement of the Spirit of God broke out in the villages of Shader and Barvas, which then spread all over the island, and extended into Great Bernera off Lewis, into Harris, into Berneray off North Uist, and, finally, into North Uist itself.  [This is a group of islands off the coast of Scotland]

It was an incredibly deep work of the Holy Spirit, in which the awareness of the presence of a holy God was so overwhelming, the fear of God and the conviction of sin were so great that in a matter of hours, or even minutes, church buildings became crowded without any advertising or any information being given out, with hundreds of men and women crying to God for mercy before they even got near a church building or a house meeting; hundreds of people’s lives radically altered, and whole communities changed. Rarely, if ever, in the history of the world, has such an outstanding work been witnessed.

In October 1949, The Free Church Presbytery of Lewis met in the town of Stornoway, to consider the terrible drift away from the ordinances of the church, especially by the young people of the island, and the dearth of conversions in their congregations. While the haunts of sin were crowded, churches were almost empty. In many places youth had almost disappeared from the House of God and it seemed only a matter of time before many churches would have to close their doors. A resolution was passed, calling upon all their faithful people to take these matters to heart, to view with deep concern the inroads made by the prevailing spirit of the day, to examine their lives in the light of their responsibility, to repent and return again to the Lord, whom they had so grieved with their iniquities and waywardness. Especially did they warn their young people, of the devil’s man traps, the cinema, and the public house. This declaration from the presbytery was read in all the congregations, and published in the local press.

Among the people who were specially concerned about the situation were two sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, one of them, 84 years of age and blind, while the other was 82 and crippled with arthritis. They were greatly burdened because of the appalling state of their own parish, for not a single young person attended public worship, so they made it a special matter of prayer.

Duncan Campbell wrote, "A verse gripped them: ‘For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground’ (Isaiah 44:3a). They were so burdened that both of them decided to spend a long time in prayer twice a week. On Tuesdays and Fridays they got on their knees at ten o’clock in the evening, and remained on their knees until three or four o’clock in the morning; two old women in a very humble cottage.

One night, Peggy had a vision, and in the vision she saw the church of her fathers crowded with young people, packed to the doors, and a strange minister standing in the pulpit. She told her sister that revival was coming to the parish, and was so impressed by the vision that she sent for the parish minister. And he, knowing the two sisters, and knowing that they were two women who knew God in a wonderful way, responded to their invitation and called at the cottage. The parish minister was a God fearing man, a man who longed to see God working. He had tried many things to get the youth of the parish interested, but without success. ‘I'm sure, Mr. McKay,’ she said, ‘that you're longing to see God working. What about calling your office bearers together, and suggest to them that you spend two nights a week; waiting upon God in prayer. You've tried mission, you've tried special evangelists, but have you really tried God? If you gather your elders together, you can meet in another cottage, and as you pray there, we will pray here.’

I tell you, she was a wonderful old woman. So, he meekly obeyed, and said, ‘Yes, I'll call the session together, and I will suggest that we meet on Tuesday night and Friday night, and we'll spend the whole night in prayer’. Here were people who meant business. The dear old lady said, ‘Well, if you do that, my sister and I will get on our knees at ten o'clock on Tuesday and on Friday, and we'll wait on our knees till four o'clock in the morning’. I tell you, this puts us to shame."

So the minister called his elders together, and seven of them met in an old cottage used as a storage barn, to pray on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the two old women got on their knees and prayed in their old cottage at the same time.

They stood upon the words of Isaiah 62: ‘For Zion’s sake, I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake, I will not rest, until her vindication goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch….Upon your walls O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest and give Him no rest, until He establishes Jerusalem, and makes it a praise in the earth.’ (Is. 62:1. 6-7); and they claimed that one promise from God, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground:" (Isaiah 44:3a) They were there to do business with God, to spend the night on the walls of Zion, to plead with God that He would come and make bare His holy arm.  

They all continued in this way for some weeks until November. Then, one night, as the men were kneeling there in the old cottage and pleading the promise, one of the men, a deacon in the Free Church, got up and read Psalm 24: 3-5 ‘Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing [not a blessing, but the blessing], from the Lord’. Then that young man closed his Bible, and looking down at the minister and the elders, he spoke these crude words (but perhaps not so crude in our Gaelic language): ‘It seems to me to be so much humbug to be praying as we are praying, to be waiting as we are waiting, if we ourselves are not rightly related to God.’ And then he lifted his two hands and prayed, ‘God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?’

But he got no further. That young man fell to his knees, and then fell into a trance and lay on the floor of the barn. In the words of the minister, at that moment he and the other intercessors were gripped by the conviction that a God-sent revival must ever be related to holiness and godliness. Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? This is the person whom God will trust with revival.

When that happened in the cottage, at 4 am, the power of God swept into the parish, and they moved out of the realm of the common and the natural into the sphere of the supernatural. In the little cottage where the two old women were praying, heaven swept down, and glory crowned the place. Peggy spoke to her younger sister and said, ‘He has kept His promise, for He is a covenant keeping God.’ An awareness of God gripped the whole community, and on the following day, the looms were silent, and little work was done on the farms as men and women gave themselves to thinking about eternal things, and were gripped by eternal realities. People were meeting in groups, young men were gathering in a field, and began to talk about this strange consciousness of God that had gripped the community. The Holy Spirit began to move among the people, and the minister, (writing about what happened the following morning) said this, ‘You met God on meadow and moorland. You met Him in the homes of the people. God seemed to be everywhere.’

One of the sisters sent for the minister. And she said to him: ‘I think you ought to invite someone to the parish. I cannot give a name, but God must have someone in His mind, for I saw a strange man in the pulpit, and that man must be somewhere. Invite someone from The Faith Mission.’ She said this because forty five years previously, the two sisters had had been led to Christ through a Faith Mission Missioner [ary]. How amazingly the Lord works.

Well, the minister that week was going to one of our great conventions in Scotland. At that convention, he met a young man who was a student in college, and knowing that this young man was a God-fearing man, a man with a message, he invited him to the island. ‘Won’t you come for ten days, a ten-day special effort, as we feel that something is happening in the parish, and we would like you to attend.’ This minister said, ‘No, I don’t feel that I am the man, but quite recently there has been a very remarkable move in Skye under the ministry of a man by the name of Campbell. I would suggest that you send for him.’

[Duncan Campbell:]  In a matter of days I received a letter inviting me to the island. I was at that time in the midst of a very gracious movement on the island of Skye. It wasn't revival, but men and women were coming to Christ, and God was being glorified in the number of prominent men who found the Saviour at that time. So I received this invitation to go to Lewis for ten days, and I wrote back to say that it wasn't possible for me to do that, because I was involved in a holiday convention on the island, and the speakers were arranged, and accommodation in the different hotels for the people that were coming from all over Britain. The minister received the letter, went to the old lady, and read the letter to her, and this is what she said, ‘Mr. McKay, that is what man is saying, but God has said something else, and he will be here within a fortnight’. I tell you, the convention wasn't cancelled then, but she knew. Oh, my dear people listen: ‘The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him:’ (Psalm 25:14a), and she knew Gods' secret.

I shall never forget the night that I arrived at the pier in the mail steamer. It was the 7^th of December. I was met at the pier by the minister, and two of his office bearers. Just as I stepped off the boat, an old elder came over to me, and faced me. ‘Mr. Campbell, can I ask you this question? Are you walking with God?’ Oh, here were men who meant business, men who were afraid that a strange hand would touch the ark. I was glad to be able to say, ‘Well I can say this, that I fear God.’ The dear man looked at me and said, "Well, if you fear God, that will do."

I went to the church, and preached to a congregation of about three hundred, and I would say it was a good meeting. A wonderful sense of God, something that I hadn't known since the 1921 movement, but nothing really happened." It was the same for the next three nights." Then, according to James Murray McKay, "on Sunday the 11^th, the awakening broke out in the church at Shader. It was a real privilege to worship the Lord on that night, listening to the large congregation singing heartily and tunefully the metred Psalms 50 and 132." How the elders who had prayed through in the barn cottage must have rejoiced to hear those psalms sung. But still no breakthrough had been made.

"I pronounced the benediction," said Duncan Campbell, "and I was walking down the aisle, when a young man, a deacon from the church, (according to one record, the man who had prayed the prayer of confession from Psalm 24 in the barn cottage), came to me, and said, ‘Don’t be discouraged. God is hovering over us, and He'll break through any moment. I can already hear the rumbling of heaven’s chariot wheels.’ Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel anything, but here was a man much nearer to God than I was. Oh, he knew the secrets, and could talk in heaven’s language. We moved down the aisle, and the congregation moved out, except this man and myself. He lifted his two hands, and started to pray, "God you made a promise to pour water on the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, and you're not doing it". He prayed, prayed, and prayed again, until he fell again onto the floor in a trance. He lay there with me standing beside him for about five minutes, and then the doors of the church opened, and the local blacksmith came back into the church and said, ‘Mr. Campbell, something wonderful has happened. We were praying that God would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and listen, He’s done it! He’s done it!" Will you come to the door, and see the crowd that's here?’

I went to the door, and, even though it was eleven o'clock at night, there must have been a crowd of between six, and seven hundred people gathered around the church. Now, where did the people come from? How did they know that a meeting was to be held in the church? Well, I cannot tell you, but I know this, that from village and hamlet the people came. Were you to ask some of them today, ‘What was it that moved you?’ they wouldn't be able to tell you. Only that they were moved by a power that they could not explain, and the power was such as to make them realize that they were hell deserving sinners! Of course the only place they could think of, where they might find help, was at the church building. So here they were, between six, and seven hundred of them. I believe that very night God swept down in Pentecostal power, and what happened in the early days of the apostles was now happening in the parish of Barvas.

There was a dance in progress that night in the parish, and while this young man was praying in the aisle; the power of God moved into that dance, and the young people, over a hundred of them, fled from the dance, as though fleeing from a plague, and they made for the church. They hadn’t been thinking of God or eternity. God was not in any of their thoughts. They were there to have a good time, when suddenly the power of God fell upon the dance. The music ceased, and in a matter of minutes, the hall was empty. They stood outside, saw lights in the church, knew that it was a house of God, so they went over to it.

Other people who had gone to bed, got up, got dressed, and made for the church. There had been no publicity, except an announcement from the pulpit on the Sabbath that a certain man was going to be conducting a series of meetings in the parish for ten days. But God took the situation in hand. He became His own publicity agent. A hunger and a thirst gripped the people. At least six hundred of them were now at the church standing outside.

This dear man stood at the door, and suggested that we might sing a song. They gave out Psalm 126 ‘When Zion's bondage God turned back, as men that dreamed were we, then filled with laughter was our mouth, our tongue with melody.’ They sang, and they sang, and in the midst of it, I could hear the cry of the penitent, I could hear men crying to God for mercy, and I turned to the elder and said, ‘I think we had better open the doors again, and let them in.’ Within a matter of minutes, the church was crowded, even though it was now a quarter to twelve. A church to seat over eight hundred was now packed to capacity. I managed to make my way through the crowd along the aisle toward the pulpit. There I found a young woman, a teacher in the grammar school, lying prostrate on the floor of the pulpit praying, "Oh, God, is there mercy for me? Oh, God, is there mercy for me?" She was one of those at the dance. But she was now lying on the floor of the pulpit crying to God for mercy. God was at work, and the old lady's vision of a church crowded with young people, as well as old, had now become a reality.

That meeting continued until four o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t tell you how many were saved that night, but of this I am sure, that at least five young men who were saved that night are ministers today in the Church of Scotland.

At four o’clock we decided to make for the manse.  So we left them there, and just as I was leaving the church, a young man came to me and said, ‘Mr. Campbell, I would like you to go to the police station, for there must be at least four hundred people gathered around there just now.’ A crowd of men and women, from a neighbouring village, five or six miles away, had been so convicted by God, that they found them-selves moving to the police station, because the constable there was a God fearing, and well saved man, and next to the police station was the cottage in which the two old women lived. People knew that this was a home that feared God. I believe that that had something to do with the magnet, the power that drew men. Now, if anyone would ask them today, ‘Why? How did it happen? Who arranged it?’ they couldn’t tell you. This is the moving of God’s Spirit, I believe, in answer to the prevailing prayer of men and women who believed... God...


I went along to the police station. As I was walking along that country road, (we had to walk about a mile), I heard someone praying by the roadside. I could hear a man crying to God for mercy. I went over, and there were four young men on their knees. Yes, they had been at the dance, but now they were there, crying to God for mercy. One of them was under the influence of drink, a young man who wasn’t twenty years of age. But that night God saved him, and today he is the parish minister and a man of God. He was converted in the revival with eleven other men who were to serve in his presbytery, a wonderful congregation.

When I got to the police station, I saw something that will live with me as long as I live. I didn’t preach; there was no need of preaching. We didn’t even sing. The people were in great spiritual distress. Under the still, starlit sky, with a bright moon shining down on us, and angels, I believe, looking over the battlements of glory, were men and women on the road, others by the side of a cottage, and some behind a peat stack, all crying to God for mercy. Oh, the confessions that were made! There was one old man crying out, ‘Oh, God, hell is too good for me, hell is too good for me!’ That is Holy Ghost conviction! Yet from the group of young men who sought the Lord that night; there are nine in the ministry today.

Now that was on the very first night of a mighty demonstration that shook the island. Let me restate, that was not the beginning of revival; revival began in a prayer meeting. Revival began in an awareness of God. Revival began when the Holy Ghost was poured out through the consecration of two groups of people, and in particular, one man. The awakening had now begun.

The events of the second night at Barvas will never be forgotten by those who were privileged to attend. Buses came from the four corners of the island, crowding the church. Seven men were being driven to the meeting in a butcher's van, when suddenly the Spirit of God fell upon them in great conviction, and all were converted before they reached the church! As the preacher delivered his message, tremendous conviction of sin swept down upon the people! Tears rolled down the faces of the people, and from every part of the building came cries of men and women crying for mercy. So deep was the distress of some that their voices could be heard outside in the road.

After that, we were at it night and day, with God drawing crowds of people. I remember one night it was after three o’clock in the morning, and a messenger came to say that the churches were crowded in another parish fifteen miles away; crowded at that hour in the morning! I went to join this parish minister along with several other ministers. Oh, how I thank God for the ministers of Lewis, how they responded to the call of God, how they threw themselves into the effort. And God blessed them for it. We went, and I found myself preaching in a large church, a church that would seat a thousand, and the Spirit of God was moving in a mighty way! I could see people falling on their knees. I could hear them crying to God for mercy. I could hear those outside praying. And that continued for at least two hours, I’m sure.

Then, as we were leaving the church, someone came to me to tell me that a very large number of people, because they could not get into any church building, had gathered in a field. So, along with other ministers, I went to the field, and there saw an enormous crowd, standing as though gripped by a power that they could not explain. The headmaster of a secondary school in the parish was lying with his face to the ground, crying to God for mercy, deeply convicted of his desperate need. On either side of him were four young girls, about sixteen years of age, two on each side, who kept saying to the headmaster, ‘Master, Jesus that saved us last night in Barvas can save you tonight.’ It is true that when a person comes into a vital relationship with Jesus Christ, his or her supreme desire is to win others. Those young girls were there that night to win their school headmaster, and they did. God swept into his life, I believe in answer to the prayer of the four young girls who had a burden for him.

Now that was how the revival and the awakening began, and that is how it continued. The churches were crowded, people were seeking after God, and prayer meetings were being held all over the parishes. It was still the custom there that those who found the Saviour at night would be at the prayer meeting the next day at noon. A prayer meeting met every day at noon. At that time, all work stopped for two hours; looms were silent, work stopped in the fields, and men gathered for prayer. It was then that you got to know those who had found the Saviour on the previous night. You didn’t need to make an appeal. They made their way to the prayer meeting to praise God for His salvation.

That continued for over three years, until the whole of the island was swept by the mighty power of God. I couldn’t tell you how many came to the Lord; I have never checked the number. I left the records with God. But this I know, that at least three quarters of those who were born again during the revival, were born again before they came near a church building, before they had any word from me or any of the other ministers. God had worked, and I make bold to say, ‘That is the crying need of the Christian Church today, not this effort, or that effort on the basis of human endeavour, but a manifestation of God that moves sinners to cry for mercy before they go near a place of worship. Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if God moved in that way in your community? He could do it."

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Isaiah 63:15-64:8...

Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained? 16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. 17 O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants' sake, The tribes of Your inheritance. 18 Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. 19 We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were never called by Your name.   4:1  Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence- 2 As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil-To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence. 4 For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. 5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. 6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.

Do We Need Revival? -- 7/14/2013

Sunday, July 14, 2013

DO WE NEED REVIVAL?

            We sang that old hymn, "Revive Us Again."  At the top of the page you may have noticed that the scripture associated with it is Ps. 85:6, "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?"  When we sing that song and say to God, "Revive us again," what do we mean?  You know, that is a very important question.  If that is really our prayer, we need to know what it is for which we are praying.

I.  What Is Revival?

            How many of you have ever been to a revival?  How you answer that question depends upon how you understand the term "revival"?  I dare say there is no one here under 40 who has not heard the word used quite a bit.  Someone from my home church might well say, "We had at least one revival every year."  Even our day a person might see a church sign that reads:  "Revival -- One Week Only."  Or, "Revival every night except Saturday."  Some of us have prayed for revival in this church.  We are often encouraged to pray for revival in this nation.  But what is revival?

            The answer to that question depends upon whom you ask.  So to give us a place to start, I am going to tell you what I mean when I talk about revival.  The important thing isn't so much whether you judge my definition to be right or wrong.  It is more important that you understand what I mean by the term.  That will allow us to talk intelligently concerning what we believe the Bible tells us about our need.

            First of all, I want to be very clear about what I do not mean.  First of all, when I use the term "revival," I am not talking about a series of meetings held in a particular church or a city.  At their best, such are meetings where people are seeking revival, but to call such meetings "revival" leads to great confusion.  Anyone can organize meetings, but that doesn't mean there is revival.  I asked if you had ever been to a revival.  If you answered, "Yes," it is because you were thinking of these kinds of meetings.  Call those meetings whatever you want to, but that is not what I mean when I use the word "revival."

            By "revival" I am not talking about the rejuvenation of religious fervor.  In other words, if we have more meetings, more activities, more programs, I do not equate that with revival.  Even tripling our attendance doesn't necessarily have anything to do with revival.  In my estimation, true revival isn't about human activity. 

            So let me come to the point.  When I talk about revival, I am talking about a supernatural work of God.  Many definitions of "revival" could be given.  Here's one -- "an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results" (Richard Owen Roberts, Revival, p. 17).  We may see a church experience growth; we may see quite a number of people genuinely converted; we may observe great enthusiasm among the saints... but that isn't necessarily the revival I am talking about.  I am using the term in a historical sense.  Down through history there have been times when the Spirit of God moved in an extraordinary way producing extraordinary results.  

            Let me clear at this point.  That is not to say that there is no such thing as "personal revival."  I quoted last week from a book titled Personal Revival (by Stanley Voke).  Call it "renewal," "revival," or whatever you choose, but we you or I can personally experience great refreshing from God, regardless of what happens with people around us.  Praise God for that truth.  We see this in the scriptures.  Consider Isaiah.  All we have to do is read chapter 6, where it is recorded that the Lord worked in Isaiah in a powerful way, revealing His own glory, Isaiah's brokenness over sin, and then Isaiah's willingness to speak on behalf of God.  However, when we read the rest of that chapter, we find out that what happened to Isaiah was not contagious in the nation.  As a matter of fact, the Lord specifically told Isaiah that the people wouldn't listen, that Isaiah's message would serve to blind their eyes, dull their hearing, and harden their hearts.

            For months we have been talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  In much of that surely God has been calling us to personal renewal, personal revival, a fresh working of His Spirit within our individual lives.  We can disagree over the terminology we use -- whether it is a filling of the Spirit, a baptism of the Spirit, an outpouring of the Spirit that we need -- but most of us recognize the need to be broken before God and to have His Spirit work in and through us in a greater way.  May we long for that and pray for it. 

            Nevertheless, such a dynamic spiritual work is not confined to the individual.  There have been times in history when not only churches, but nations have experienced what I am calling revival.  There is a sense in which we could refer to the Reformation as a great revival.  Does that mean that everything associated with the Reformation was good?  No.  But throughout Europe and over a long span of time there was a mighty work of God.  Lives were changed, and as a result, society was changed.  Since that time there have been a number of these revivals.  In this country we refer to Great Awakenings, where police forces became idle, because there was nothing to do.  Prayer meetings began and continued for decades.  People saw an extraordinary move of the Holy Spirit producing extraordi-nary results.

            You see, we are not just talking about a great emotional stirring.  We are talking about an occasion when God's people are shaken, convicted, broken, and changed.  And along with that comes the genuine conversion of multitudes of people who before had little or no interest in the Lord whatsoever.  And as a consequence of the change in so many people, society is impacted.  Crime is noticeably cut; people suddenly notice the church and its influence; the general atmosphere is altered for the good.  Furthermore, the change is lasting.  I can't remember the details, but I recently heard of a prayer meeting that was begun at the time of one of the great revivals, and it continued to meet regularly for 100 years. 

            So this is the kind of thing I am talking about when I refer to "revival."  How often do these kind of revivals occur?  Let's put it this way -- it has been a long time since anything such as this happened in this country, well over one hundred years.  That doesn't mean that revival hasn't taken place in other parts of the world.  Nor does it mean that there haven't been revival on a smaller scale in some local contexts.  And, of course, there are reports of revival, where there is question concerning whether it is really revival.  Back in the 1990's there was this thing that came to be known as the "Toronto Blessing."  Some very unusual things happened there in the name of the Lord and revival, but there is great deal of skepticism concerning whether it was truly a God-sent revival.  Those questions come because of the some of the bizarre behavior that was attributed to the Holy Spirit and because there didn't seem to be any real and significant impact on society.  Some have said it did more harm than good.  That is not what has been said about the great revivals of the past.

II.  Who Needs Revival?

            So that is the definition I am using for revival.  But now comes the question:  "Does the church need revival?"  Do the people of God in this country need revival?  Do we need an extraordinary moving of the Holy Spirit to produce extraordinary results?  That is a fair question.  Perhaps what we are really doing is asking for an evaluation of the church.  When I say "the church," I realize that is a term that is a bit difficult to grasp.  I am simply talking about the churches in this country.  Put all of them together and view them as a whole.  How is the religious climate in our country?  Is there a need for a great revival?

            I don't want to beat around the bush.  Surely there is a great need in the churches of America.  I believe that is true of this church.  Of course, that is a very touchy subject even with us.  I find we have a hesitancy to affirm that we are a church in great need.  If we say that, are we denying that God is at work here?  Is it possible to rejoice in the Lord and proclaim His goodness, while acknowledging that we are a people in great need? 

            So how do we evaluate where we are?  The way I see it, we can choose one of three things to gauge our spiritual health.  First of all, we can use the measurement of comparison.  That is the first thing we are tempted to do.  How are we doing in comparison with other churches?  Before you begin to think on that, let me say that this is not a godly measuring tool.  Nowhere are we encouraged to compare ourselves with others as individuals or as a church.  If anything, the scripture discourages us from doing such a thing.  Let me just read I Cor. 4:1-7...

Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God. 6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. 7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

            Pay particular attention to that seventh verse.  Don't compare yourself with someone else.  Whatever makes you differ from another is simply due to what you have received from the Lord.  Surely we can apply that to a church as well as we can apply it to the individual.  If we ever take any satisfaction in the perception that this church is doing better than other churches, may the Lord rebuke us severely, because that is sin.  It is pride, and there is no excusing it. 

            The second measuring stick we can use is simply the way we feel.  "Well, we feel that as a church we are doing pretty well.  We aren't all we should be, but we aren't doing too badly."  When we do that, we are in a sense doing exactly what Paul refused to do when he said, "I do not even judge myself" (I Cor. 4:3).  If we try to judge ourselves as a church, what good does that do?  Where do we get our authority for such evaluation?  Ultimately, it comes only from our subjective feelings.

            So is there a standard by which we can evaluate ourselves as a church?  Is there a rule by which we can judge American churches as a whole?  There is, and that standard is what God has given us -- His holy Word.  The only place we can find a true and accurate picture of the church is in the scriptures.  I realize that such a statement brings up all kinds of questions.  Is it right to measure a church in American society on the basis of the churches that existed almost 2,000 years ago?  Times have changed.  Society has changed.  We live in totally different conditions.  While all that is true, God has not changed; mankind has not changed; the nature of the church has not changed.             

            When we consider the individual, we would not hesitate to say that we cannot evaluate our own lives by comparing ourselves to others or trusting our own feelings.  Rather, we must look at the standard set forth in the Bible.  Why would it be any different for the church? 

            The problem comes when we look at churches in 21st century America, even this church, and set forth that picture against what we find in the scripture.  We may take comfort when we come to the church in Corinth, because the two letters from Paul indicate that this church had some real problems.  However, when we look at the churches as a whole, that is not what stands out.  No local church in the New Testament was perfect, but those churches had a great sense of purpose.  The gospel was advancing in a pagan world.  Though the church was strongly opposed and even persecuted, that did not shut down its service and witness in the world.  It had its Ananias's and Sapphiras, but after the death of this couple, we immediately read...  (Acts 5:11-15)

So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. 12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

We can disagree over the place of such outward miracles in the church today, but surely we all agree that this deep respect for the Lord's church and the increasing of believers is what He desires for His church in every century. 

            Can anyone genuinely disagree with the assessment that the churches in America, when taken as a whole, are in state of decline?  It's not just statistics that would lead us to make that claim.  Far more serious is the general atmos-phere.  It isn't that the church is opposed in our day; it is ignored.  The church has very little impact on our society.  Even worse, is what we find on the inside of churches in this country.  There is a general apathy toward spiritual things, and we are not free from that either.  Even among we who call ourselves Christians, there is a tendency to generate far more enthusiasm for worldly things than for the things of God.  We don't like that fact, but we often find ourselves powerless to change it.  Bluntly, we are a people in great need, and we see the same thing in churches all around us.

III.  Is Revival What We Really Need?

            Earlier, I asked this basic question:  Do God's people need revival?  I answered the first part by saying without apology that we are people in great need.  But what about the second part?  Do we need revival?  In other words, if we are a people in great need, is revival what we need.  Do we need an extraordinary moving of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results?  That is a fair question.  

            There are people who make the point that revival is an old covenant rather than a new covenant concept.  Of course, I can take you to John 7, where God's people were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  Being the last of the mandatory-attendance feasts of the year, it was supposed to be the most joyous of all.  And the climax of the feast was on the last day, when the priest would lead the people down to the Pool of Siloam to draw out water and take it up to the altar.  What shouting and singing and reciting of the Psalms, as the people shook their palm leaves and praised the Lord.  Then at the moment when the water, symbolizing spiritual life itself, was poured out at the altar, there was dead silence.  It was the most awe-inspiring moment imaginable, absolute reverence to the Lord... at least that is what it was supposed to be.  Then we read in John 7:37, "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.'" 

            We have read that verse many times and will continue to do so, but notice the context.  It is not by accident that John tells us Jesus spoke these words on the climactic day, likely at the very moment I described.  Why?  Because that which symbolized life was surrounded by death.  The symbol had lost its meaning and power.  The joy that should have been communicated by all the outward celebration was empty.  To put it concisely, it was a time of spiritual decline.  Yes, they needed revival.  They needed an extraordinary moving of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results.  And they would find that revival through heeding Jesus' words.  "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.  He who believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39).  Praise God that Jesus was glorified.  He did go to the cross, dying in our place, and God raised Him from the dead.  That same Jesus, together with the Father, on the Day of Pentecost sent the Holy Spirit into the lives of all those who believed.  That was revival at its best.

            While that account is found in the New Testament, it is in the context of the old covenant.  The need for revival was before Pentecost.  After the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, things did change.  Now believers actually had the Holy Spirit living within them.  That was not true of the Old Testament saints.  The basic question is this:  Do New Testament believers, those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, need revival?  If we have the Spirit, do we not have all we need?

            Please turn to Ephesians 1.  Three weeks ago we read this prayer Paul prayed for the people of the Ephesian church, but I want us to read it again this morning.  Let's read Eph. 1:15-19...

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power...

            The basic prayer Paul prayed for them was that God might give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  The word translated "knowledge" has a preposition added to it, making it intense.  Some trans-lations render it "full knowledge" or "complete knowledge."  While the King James and New King James do not capitalize "Spirit," other translations do.  In the original languages, there was no capitalization (unless all the letters were capitalized).  So was Paul referring to a human attitude, or did he have in mind the Holy Spirit?  There are some very good reasons to conclude that he was referring to the Holy Spirit.  Certainly, it is the Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.

            Just think about that for a minute.  Paul desired them, and God desires us, to have wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.  This knowledge, of course, goes much deeper than just facts.  He is talking about personal experience in our acquaintance with the Lord.  This fits very well with what we read recently in I Corinthians 2.  Let's read again I Cor. 2:9-12...

But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

            The Spirit of God blesses us with wisdom and reveals to us the things that God has freely given to us.  So we see that in Paul's thinking believers have received much, even everything we need, but it is the ministry of the Spirit to open our eyes to see and our minds to understand. 

            It would not be wrong to say, "Paul didn't pray for revival among those Ephesian Christians; he prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God."  That is certainly true, and it is based on the ministry of the indwelling Spirit in our lives.  However, the state of churches in our day is such that many of us are blind to our great need.  The cry for revival is a prayer that God would open our eyes to see our need and appreciate this ministry of the Spirit.  It isn't a denial that we have the Word and the Spirit.  It isn't saying that God's supply isn't sufficient.  Rather, it is a prayer that the Spirit will move in an extraordinary way to stir the people of God to seek Him and long for everything He has for us.  As someone has said of the church in our day:  "Never have so many been content with so little."

            If we want to find an example of revival in the New Testament, I suppose the closest we can come is to the need for revival, and you know where we find it.  We find it in the third chapter of Revelation, where Jesus speaks to the church at Laodicea.  Many of you are familiar with this passage, but let's read it again in Rev. 3:14-22...

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, "These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' --and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-- 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

            The church of Laodicea was blind.  Those people thought they were rich, but they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.  They needed revival in the sense that they needed the Lord to stir up their minds and hearts.  Jesus said to them, "Be zealous and repent."  Repentance and revival go hand in hand.  There can never be revival apart from repentance.  Whenever the church becomes comfortable with sin, there is great need of repentance.  Revival is the move of the Spirit that opens our eyes to see that need.

Conclusion

            So that is what I mean by revival.  That is why revival is so desperately needed in our day.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word "revive" like this:  "to return to consciousness or life; become active or flourishing again."  The root idea is "life again."  If we truly know God through Jesus Christ, we have life, but the church as a whole needs to flourish again in the spiritual realm.  Revival begins with the church, but out of that has always come the conversion of multitudes. 

            Yesterday at Men's Meeting we were talking about how the Holy Spirit dwells in believers, and surely He is speaking, but are we listening?  Are we responding to His guidance?  Oh that we might see a great movement of the Holy Spirit, producing in us a renewed longing to be in the presence of our Father.

            It is somewhat ironic that the date today is July 14, "7/14" if you write it numerically.  Some of you are familiar with the text that is often used in association with revival -- II Chron. 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."  By the way, I didn't plan it that way.  Let me be absolutely clear.  When I speak of revival, I am not talking about a national revival of America.  I am not speaking about the healing of America.  I don't believe the United States of America has ever been the chosen people of God.  If there is any direct application of this verse to our situation, it has to be applied to the church, not to the nation.  The revival we need is not about healing the ailments of our country; it is about a breaking of the pride and blindness that exists in the professing church.  But praise God that He is still the One who hears from heaven and forgives our sin.  And He can and will do far more than just forgive us.  If we are in Christ, we are indeed the righteousness of God in Him.  As D. L. Moody once said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”  If you knew nothing about him, you might conclude that he was arrogant, but that was not the case.  He longed to walk in the Spirit for the glory of God. 

            Brothers and sisters, I encourage us to pray for revival, but with some understanding of what that means and what it doesn't mean.  If you prefer another term, that's fine.  Let's not quibble over terminology; but let's long for a true work of the Spirit of God in our lives and in the lives of all of God's people.  Let's not be content because we think we are doing as well as everyone else.  Let's come to the Word and ask the Spirit to plant within us a longing for all God has for us. 

            This week I commend to you the scriptures you find in the bulletin.  Let's meditate together on the Word of God, expecting the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the things that have been freely given to us by God.

Lord, Break Me -- 7/7/2013

Sunday, July 7, 2013

LORD,  BREAK ME

            "I think it's broke.  Yes, it's definitely broken."  Those are not words which we enjoy hearing.  Why not?  Because if it's broken, that means it has to be fixed.  If it isn't fixed, then of what value is it?  I can't use it.  If I try to sell it, its brokenness greatly reduces its value, if it doesn't declare it worthless altogether.

            Against that background, what do we do with a declaration like that of William MacDonald?  "God wants us all to be broken" (chapter title in True Discipleship, p. 147).  We might say instead, "There is only one thing more tragic than broken things, and that is broken people."  Nevertheless, we are confronted with that bold statement, "God wants us all to be broken."

            The truth is that all of us have much experience in laboring long and hard to make sure we aren't broken.  And if we ever have to admit to ourselves that we are broken, then we double our efforts to try to fix what is broken.  Add to that all the labor and diligence required to make it appear we aren't broken, and life can become a heavy burden.  Yet that is the typical life of the man or woman who lives in this world.

            While you hang on to that burden, remember that the God who created us is a holy God.  "The Lord is high above all nations and His above the heavens" (Ps. 113:4).  "There is none holy as the Lord" (I Sam. 2:2).  He is in a class by Himself.  Sin is such an affront to God that a man who reached out to steady the ark, where God's presence dwelt, was immediately killed.  Man cannot stand in the presence of a holy God.  God demands perfection.  With that in mind, it doesn't make sense for a human being to be comfortable with the thought of being broken.  How can a God who demands perfection desire that His creatures be broken?

            So what does William MacDonald mean, when he says, "God wants us all to be broken?"  Wouldn't it be correct to say that we are all broken?  Isn't that what Paul meant when he said, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God"?  When we compare all our efforts at being righteous with a perfect, holy, and righteous Creator, wouldn't it be accurate to say that we are indeed broken?    

            The answer is a resounding, "No, that is not the meaning of brokenness from God's point of view."  How do we know?  We read statements like this:  "The Lord is near to them who are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit" (Ps. 34:18).  This verse clearly implies that not everyone is of a broken heart.  So being a sinner does not constitute being broken.  Nor does the presence of great affliction and sorrow equal brokenness.  There is a sense in which a parent who loses a young child is brokenhearted, but that does not mean she is broken in a biblical sense.  Some of us have known people who instead of being broken before God as a result of such an experience, have actually become angry and bitter toward Him.

            Biblical brokenness is an attitude toward God.  That is what we want to explore this morning.  How long has it been since you prayed, "Lord, break me"?  Have you ever prayed that prayer?  Does the thought of such a prayer scare you?  Have you ever seen the beauty of being broken?

I.  The Way of Brokenness

            Please turn to the 14th chapter of Luke.  We will go ahead and read the first six verses of the chapter in order to get the flow.  This also reminds us that the words Jesus spoke in verses 7-11 were in the home of a Pharisee.  Let's read Luke 14:1-11...

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. 2 And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. 5 Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" 6 And they could not answer Him regarding these things. 7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

            Suppose someone invites you to the table at a wedding feast.  Do not choose the best place.  Literally, "Do not be seated in the first place, the chief place, the highest place."  Jesus is speaking of the place of the highest honor.  We might liken it to being seated at the head table at a banquet.  Don't allow yourself to be seated in the place of honor, because if you do, what happens if later your host comes and has to ask you to get up and take a place of lesser importance?  That would be embarrassing to you and everyone else.  So instead of taking the most honorable place, choose to sit in the lowest place, the least honorable place.  [By the way, we have to understand this in light of the culture.  As I said, in our day, we would liken this to seating at a banquet, where there is a head table.  If we think about seating in this building, it will make little sense.  For some reason, the most honorable seats here seem to be in the back.  Either that, or most of you are so noble that you wouldn't think of taking the seats of honor located at the front!  I know better!]  After you have taken the lowest seat, if it is proper for you to be seated in a more honorable place, the host will come and escort you to that seat.  Instead of being embarrassed, you will be honored.  We could almost boil it down to this:  "Don't honor yourself; if you are to be honored, let someone else do it."  Then Jesus closes the parable with those words which He speaks on several occasions:  "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

            I want to draw a parallel between being broken and taking the lowest place.  Brokenness before God isn't necessarily measured by the number of tears a person sheds.  It isn't always associated with some sin that is especially wicked in its nature.  Brokenness is an attitude toward God that is content to take the lowest place.  Yes, there may be a crisis experience in which a man is broken before God, where he is reduced to nothing and his sin in all its ugliness is exposed for all to see.  I've been there.  But even that experience does not of itself constitute brokenness; the key is the inward attitude toward God.  Brokenness is content to take the lowest place.

            We may look at the parable Jesus tells and find little problem with its application in our lives.  "I don't mind taking the lowest seat at a banquet.  I don't like sitting at the head table anyway."  Understand that while the setting of this parable has to do with seating at a wedding feast, its application spreads far beyond that context.  Consider your reputation.  Does it mean anything to you?  Suppose you have a reputation for being cool, calm, and collected.  Then one day you learn that an acquaintance with whom you had a disagreement has been telling people that you blew up, yelled at her, and threw a temper tantrum on the spot.  How do you handle that?  What is your attitude?  Are you willing to take the lowest place, or will you rise to the occasion and insist on setting things right?  Such an experience is what Amy Carmichael would call "a chance to die."  (Elizabeth Elliot wrote a book about Amy Carmichael and used "A Chance to Die" for the title).  When rumors were spreading about John Wesley, that godly preacher of the 18th century, those who were close to him came and asked him what they were going to do.  His response went something like this:  "We will do nothing."  He let go of his reputation and left it with the Lord.  He was willing to take the lowest place.

            Look at our Lord Jesus.  If we were to define brokenness as sinfulness, we could in no sense say that Jesus was broken.  But come back again to Ps. 34:18, "The Lord is near to them who are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit."  Was there a brokenness in Jesus?  Yes, it was in His attitude toward His Father.  We are going to come back to this later, but for now just consider this idea of taking the lowest place.  Is that not what Jesus did again and again?  We see it in John 13.  Let's read John 13:1-5...

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

            Jesus had every right to require that His disciples wash His feet.  After all, He was the master.  Washing feet was slave work, certainly not the responsibility of the master.  What would people think, if they saw Jesus stooping down and washing the feet of such men?  Peter would deny Him.  Judas would betray Him.  Nevertheless, because Jesus was absolutely secure in His relationship with His Father, He was able to take the lowest place.  It didn't matter what anyone else thought.  Jesus wasn't concerned that everyone understand, because He was content with the knowledge that His Father understood.  He through whom the entire universe was created was free to take the lowest place, to stoop down and wash the feet of men who would soon forsake Him.

            This attitude is summed up in that passage that we read a week ago up in the mountains.  Let's read it again -- Phil. 2:5-11...

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

II.  The Difficulty of Brokenness

            So we have seen something of the way of brokenness.  It is the way of lowliness.  It is a willingness to take the lowest place among people.  Brokenness before God is willing to forsake status and reputation in order to draw close to the Lord Himself.

            All of that is fine, but we must acknowledge that the way of brokenness is extremely difficult for people like us.  Why is it so difficult?  Because it's upside down.  It doesn't make sense.  Who wants broken merchandise?  If given a choice between a nice guitar like this and a broken guitar, who will choose the broken one?  If you want to rise to the top, then you have to work at it.  Anyone can figure these things out.  We don't like people tarnishing our reputation.  Nor do we want anyone telling us what to do.  Taking the lowest place likely means that we will get stepped on.  That is not what dreams are made of.

            This takes us back to those Beatitudes we looked at last Saturday, doesn't it. 

        ...Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

        ...Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

        ...Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

        ...Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. 

        ...Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 

        ...Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

        ...Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. 

        ...Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            As Alex pointed out, they don't make sense to the world.  How can Jesus pronounce a blessing on those who are poor in spirit and those who mourn?  Man works so hard to get to the place where there is no mourning, and he wants to take some pride in himself.  How can Jesus possibly say that the blessing is for those who are persecuted on account of righteousness?  Surely persecution and blessing cannot go together. 

            Let's consider a particular problem that God's people faced.  They don't know the problem is coming, but the fact is they are in danger of being wiped out from drought and famine.  Of course, God, having all knowledge of past, present, and future, knew perfectly well what was going to happen.  He knew the famine was coming and exactly how severe it would be, that there would not be enough food to eat in the land of Canaan.  So what would God do in order to preserve His people?  Remember that God not only has all knowledge, but He also wields infinite power.  So God raised up a mighty ruler named Joseph.  He was a picture of the ultimate fighting machine.  He received the best education and grew up in a model family.  When the proper time came, God raised up a mighty army and put it under the command of this man Joseph.  So when the famine came and Joseph and his family ran out of food, they attacked Egypt and were victorious.  Joseph subjected the Egyptians to his own rule and brought his family down to enjoy the plentiful food supply. 

            What do you think of the story?  It makes good fiction, but that's not what happened.  Only the names of Joseph and Egypt have remain unchanged.  You know the truth of the story.  Joseph was the main human actor, but God did not put him in the model family and furnish him a mighty army.  What did God do?  He watched, while Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, while Potiphar's wife lied about him and landed him in prison.  For 13 years the Lord stood by and watched Joseph occupy the lowest place that could be imagined.  When He raised Joseph up to be second in command of Egypt, He took him straight from the prison.

            Someone may object and say, "But Joseph didn't have any choice in the matter.  He didn't take the lowest place; it was forced upon him."  There is some truth in that line of thinking, but it isn't the whole truth.  There is absolutely no evidence that Joseph despised his circumstances or fought for his rights.  We read that when Joseph was in the house of Potiphar, "The Lord was with him" (Gen. 39:3).  While he was in the prison that same statement appears again:  "The Lord was with him" (Gen. 39:21).  We also read that Joseph found favor in Potiphar's sight and served him (Gen. 39:4).  The context indicates that he did so willingly.  While he was in prison, Joseph was so unselfish and considerate of the prisoners that he immediately noticed when one morning one of the prisoners was sad (Gen. 40:6).  That is not the picture of a man who was bitter at his circumstances, who harbored a grudge against his brothers.  Joseph was content where he was, trusting the Lord.  And the Lord was faithful to him and to His people.  When God wanted to prepare a man for a mighty work, He set him in a lowly place before he elevated him to greatness in the eyes of others.  That's not the way we would have done it, but it is clearly the way the Lord worked.

            Let's look at those two great passages in Isaiah.  First, 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.'"  You would think that a great and mighty God would take notice of a man who had achieved greatness by making a name for himself, but that is not the case.  Rather, He sets His heart on the one who is humble and lowly.  That is the one the Lord will raise up.  Then Isaiah 66:1-2, "Thus says the LORD: 'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? 2 For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,' Says the LORD. 'But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.'"  Again, the Lord doesn't poor out the blessing of His presence on the one who does great things, even great religious things, but upon the one who is poor and lowly, the one who willingly takes the lowest place.  Notice that the blessing isn't for the one who masters the Word, but the one who trembles at the Word.  The same truth is echoed by that verse we know so well:  "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.  A broken and contrite heart--These, O God, You will not despise" (Ps. 51:17).

            Let's be honest.  Brokenness is not something that naturally appeals to us.  Up until the time we meet Jesus Christ, we know nothing of it.  It is foreign to us.  The world around us sees the path of lowliness as the way of stupidity, and when we forget our Lord and yield to our flesh, we say, "Amen to that."  To put it bluntly, we do not treasure brokenness.  We do not welcome lowliness.  Nevertheless, we cannot deny the truth that the Lord is near to them who are of a broken heart.

III.  The Glory of Brokenness

            Let's look again at the words of our Lord Jesus:  Matt. 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Yes, it is a heavy burden to fight the path of lowliness, to always make sure we are intact and that everyone around us sees us that way.  But Jesus has a better way, for He Himself is gentle and lowly in heart.  He who took the lowest place offers to yoke up with us, promising that His yoke is easy and His burden light.  It's as if He is saying, "Come on.  Get in here with me.  I will show you how it's done."

            It is from Jesus that we learn the glory of brokenness.  Yes, that's right, the glory of brokenness.  When I announce the reference, a few of you will get it immediately.  Let's read from John 12.  Jesus is in Jerusalem for the last time; soon He will be crucified.  Let's begin by reading John 12:12-16...

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!" 14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey's colt." 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

            Even in this Jesus took the lowly place.  Kings of the world did not make their triumphal entrance on a donkey's colt, but Jesus was content to fulfill the prophecy of His Father.  Now let's drop down and read John 12:20-28...

Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 23 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. 27 Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name."  

            The hour had come for Jesus, the Son of Man, to be glorified.  He is already in the royal city.  Surely there is nothing left but for Jesus to say the word and let the stirred-up crowd set Him on the throne.  Instead of declaring such royal intentions, Jesus began to speak about a kernel of wheat falling into the ground and dying.  To the worldling who is intent on climbing to the top, Jesus just didn't get it.  He didn't answer when opportunity knocked.  No, Jesus took the lowly place, the place of brokenness.  What clearer picture do we need than of a seed falling to the ground and dying?  Jesus was talking about Himself.  This is what Paul was talking about, when he said that Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Though all eyes expected Him to set up His throne, Jesus immediate-ly reminded them of why He came -- to die for the glory of His Father.  And that is exactly what He expressed in the prayer He actually prayed:  "Father, glorify thy name."  This is the ultimate picture of brokenness, and Jesus said that it was His glory.

            In that same context, Jesus had something to say about those who follow Him.  "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  Jesus is basically saying that those who follow Him will walk that same glorious path of brokenness.  Rather than trying to preserve our life and avoid brokenness, we welcome it, for it is the way of eternal life.

            But how can this be?  How can there truly be blessing in brokenness?  It's simple -- that's where the Lord is.  When we walk the path of brokenness, we are sharing the yoke of Jesus.  When we come to God with a broken heart before Him, He is near to us.  Brothers and sisters, that's where the blessing is.  Jesus saw it clearly.  Regardless of what anyone said or thought, He knew that the glory of His Father was all that mattered, because the Father's glory was His glory.  And so it is with every child of God.  His glory is our glory.  Yes, when the Lord is glorified in our lives, we are glorified in Him.  The more glory that comes to God, the more glory that will be ours, even forever and ever.

            A few months ago I read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon.  The title of his message was "Preparation for Revival."  In that sermon he makes the statement, "I do fear that some of us never do go low enough to be blessed."  Think about that concept -- going low enough to be blessed.  The trouble is that we are often deceived into thinking we have to move up to get blessed.  If we can just do a little better in the way we treat others, if we can just be a bit more consistent in Bible study and prayer... surely we will have the blessing of God.  But Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  As we read in Is. 66:2, "But on this one will I look:  On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word."

            In his little book Personal Revival, Stanley Voke reminds us that water always flows down to the lowest place.  That's why when a certain pastor overflows the baptistry, it always ends up in the basement.  Everyone knows that simply principle.  Voke states simply that "like water, God's love flows down to the lowest place" (p. 9).  So when you take the lowest place, you are in the perfect place to be flooded by God's love.  Over and over in his little book this same author speaks of coming to "the sinner's place."  When we come to the place of repentance and brokenness, admitting our sin rather than excusing it, we are in the place to receive God's blessing.  In Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the publican, which man went away blessed?  It as the publican, the one who was willing to come to the sinner's place.

            That doesn't mean that God wants us to spend all our time mourning over our sin, not at all.  Today many remind us on a regular basis of the danger in focusing on our sin.  However, beware lest that emphasis lead us to believe that we don't need to face our sin squarely and confess it honestly to God. That is a part of brokenness.  This is what it means to walk in the light, as He is in the light (see I John 1:5-2:2).  To live a life of continual brokenness is to walk the road of glory, for that is where we meet our Lord.

            Too often our goal is to get beyond sin and having to confess it to the Lord.  I don't want to make light of I John 2:2, where John says, "These things I have written unto you, that you sin not."  Certainly, we want to avoid sin.  However, we need to understand that even when we sin less, that does not mean there is less need for brokenness.  When we walk in the Lord's light, which exposes our sin, we will see ourselves more and more clearly.  And when we do, we find ourselves coming back "to the sinner's place" again and again.  Praise God that He meets us there and raises us up.  But if we rarely get there, we will miss the blessing of His glorious presence.

           

Conclusion

            I told you Wednesday evening that I would be preaching on revival this morning.  Some of you are wondering why I didn't.  The truth is, that is exactly what I am preaching.  Apart from brokenness there will be no revival in the church, in your life, or in my life.  As it has been observed many times, the way up is down.  "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted."

            So am I saying that we need a good dose of brokenness?  No, I am not saying it, I am shouting it.  It is not some great sin that keeps us from brokenness; it is the lack of consciousness of sin.  But most of us are quick to say, "I know that my sin is great."  If so, what is your sin?  There is a real difference between admitting to great sin and getting before God and confessing sin, no matter how small it is. 

            I have a dear brother whom I have seen broken before God.  On a few occasions I have heard him say, "I need God to break me again."  If this message has a title, that's it -- "Lord, break me."  Of course, we must understand that we have a role to play.  There is no true brokenness without a change of attitude on the inside.  But with all my lack of wisdom, I know this brokenness before God is not something I can work up.  I must cry out to God, "Lord, break me."  Because He loves me and wants to bless me more and more with His glorious presence, I believe He will do that.

            We have talked about the power of the Spirit.  Brothers and sisters, it is the Spirit who ministers to us the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and that is what we are talking about this morning.  We cannot separate the work of the Spirit from the grace of Jesus. 

            In a moment we are going to sing that song that is familiar to most of us.  I learned it like this...

                        Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

                        Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

                        Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.

                        Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.

However, in our hymnals that one line is different, reading... "melt me, mold me, fill me, use me."  I have often wondered why the difference.  I found my answer the other day.  The author of a blog told of his visit with the son of the song's author, Dan Iverson.  He related that Bill Iverson, pastor and son of the author, explained that the original words were "break me, melt me, mold me, fill me."  Concerning the change, he was quoted as saying, "If you are broken, you don't have to ask to be used.  God delights to use broken people.  That's the only way to be filled, and it's the only way to become usable."  No one seems to know why the change from "break me" to "use me," but I suspect it is because of our resistance to the idea of brokenness.  But praise God, He does indeed delight to use broken people.  May He so delight in breaking us and using us for His glory.