New Year's Sermon: Revival, Revival, Revival

Tonight I want to talk about something that might bring to mind the imagery of a hot summer’s night with a large tent and a large crowd crammed inside straining to hear the robed preacher up front accompanied by a choir. Yes, that’s right, I’m describing what some of us would call an “Old Fashioned Tent Revival.” You know the type, we see it in movies, and recently I saw a church in St. Louis advertise their “Old Fashioned Tent Revival” complete with tent and chairs that looked to be very uncomfortable. But tonight’s focus isn’t on the tent its on the word: Revival.

Around the beginning of May of this year I was driving home from work and worshipping in the car. I was at a stop light in St. Louis, one of the really long ones which meant God and I had all the time in the world, when I went from singing to praying in tongues, something I had never done until that moment. I felt spiritually alive, renewed, revived. Praise God for this wonderful gift!

Two weeks after my baptism of the Holy Spirit, and after the announcement about the summer baptism service from Pastor Rita, I was once again driving home from work in St. Louis and worshiping while driving. I again found myself at the same really long stop light and my thoughts started to settle on the baptism service. I suddenly heard the words “Revival, Revival, Revival”. That was it, that was the message. In that moment I knew two things, that it was a message from God and that it was somehow connected to the baptism service. Anything beyond that was just speculation on my part. So I prayed, I gave my testimony to Pastor Rita and all of you and asked for us all to pray for revival.

So what is revival? And how does it come about biblically? Revival is defined as a renewed desire for spiritual things, brought about by the work of God. The word revival comes from the Latin word ‘rev-i-vee-ray’ which is a combination of two Latin words; ‘re’ meaning ‘again’ and ‘vivere’ meaning ‘to live’. So it literally means to live again. According to the Dictionary of Bible Themes, revival is defined as “the sovereign activity of God whereby He renews his people individually and corporately in vigor, affecting both sincerity of belief and quality of behavior.”-- Keep that in mind, we are going to return to the last part of this definition later, but I really like this definition because it expresses that there are two types of revival, a personal type and a corporate type. If we want a corporate revival it has to start with us first. It also expresses that revival is something that God does. We can’t do it, only God can and since revival is only brought about by God it means His will for us is to live again.

So where is that in Scripture? Well, let’s look at an example of revival found in Scripture. Turn to Jonah 3:1-10 (ESV).

Jonah 3:1-10 (ESV)

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

In this passage we see the characteristics that come before God initiates a revival. There is faithful preaching of God’s Word that leads to the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit followed by a new awareness of sin and the need for a Savior. This is then followed by an earnest repentance and longing for God. These characteristics are best summarized in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV):

“if my people who are called by my name 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.”

We see in Jonah 3:6 (ESV) “The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” Jonah preached a word of repentance and the king of Nineveh responded correctly to the word. He immediately was convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sins and the sins of his people. And he set out to turn his people toward God. The king issues a decree for everyone, including the animals, to wear sackcloth, fast, and to call out to God in repentance for their sins. So how does God respond? He forgives them and spares the destruction He had planned for them. The Ninevites experienced a revival, they had the chance to live again.

When I received the word, “Revival, Revival, Revival” it was a bit strange. It was the same word three times. Praying and reflecting on this moment something immediately jumped out to me: it follows the same pattern of emphasis found elsewhere in the Bible: Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8 (ESV). Today, if we wanted to emphasize something in writing we would use bold typesetting or use other words to add more significance to a word. God chose to have the authors of the Bible write the same word multiple times, the more times it was written or said, the more emphasis on the word. Interestingly enough, we don’t see words used more than three times for emphasis in the Bible. So the order is no emphasis, to some emphasis, to a whole lot of emphasis. If it is there three times in a row, God is making a point. In the case of the word “Revival, Revival, Revival” God is emphasizing our need for revival, our need to live again, He wants it for us, He expects it!

Turn to Revelation 3:1-6 (ESV): Give the setting:

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

This message from Jesus to the church in Sardis is more than just a warning. It is a call to revival, a call to live again. The dead church has a reputation to the outside world of being alive, which means they are outwardly doing something people can see or that is visible. But Jesus calls the church of Sardis dead. They are no longer alive like they used to be, they have fallen asleep because they have not kept what they received.

What did they receive? The gospel:

John 3:16-17 (ESV):

“16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

What do they need to keep? Jesus’ commands:

Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV):

“37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV):

“19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is calling the church of Sardis to wake up, to come back to life in Him. To experience the full definition of revival. He can revive us but only if we surrender to the commands he gave us! By first repenting. Revelation 3:3 (ESV) “Remember then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent..” He wants us to turn back to Him, He wants us to experience revival and repentance. Remember the definition of revival explained by the Dictionary of Bible Themes? It said, “revival is defined as “the sovereign activity of God whereby He renews his people individually and corporately in vigor, affecting both sincerity of belief and quality of behavior. When we are walking in revival, we are walking out 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says we must:

Humble ourselves

Acknowledge our sin and admit we need Jesus, submit to the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in our life

Seek God

Read His word, learn His qualities, have a holy fear with reverance of Him

Pray

Give praise to God, ask for forgiveness, communicate with God.

Repent of our sins

Turn away from the sins that caused us to be separated from God in the first place.

Each of these requires a sincerity of our belief in God, and changes the quality of our behavior. Remember Niniveh? Their behavior changed. They sincerely believed that God would destroy them if they did not repent but they sincerely believed that He would forgive them and spare them. They were convicted by the Holy Spirit and they responded the way God always wants us to respond. The way Jesus is calling the dead church to respond. To get our lives in the correct alignment with God by believing in His Son Jesus and working to live a holy life through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. This is the personal revival described in our definition above and this piece always comes before the more widespread revival we often think about.

If we do these things, there is no guarante a revival will start in our church or even our country, but the groundwork will be done, our foundation will be set, and our own individual relationship with Jesus will prove to be unblemished and we will walk with Jesus in white. The end of Revelations 3:4 (ESV) says the ones in the church of Sardis who remained faithful will walk with Jesus in white and be called “worthy.” And THAT is it. To be found worthy when it comes time for Jesus to confess our name before his Father and the angels. This is every Christian’s greatest desire, and this is what Jesus will do with those of us who surrendered to a life prepared for revival by being humble, praying, seeking the will and Spirit of God, and walking in repentance.

For the rest of the church, we will have laid the foundation, showing them how to be ready for when God moves. If our hearts are in proper position toward God then Jesus will confess you as worthy to the Father, clothe you in white, and never blot your name from the book of life.

Revelation 3:5 (ESV):

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.”