O rend the Heavens and come down!

Opening OFCB

Thank you for inviting me to share in your service today. I hope you are all well and that you and I will be blessed as we spend time with God and with one another.

Pray:

Advent candle lighting

Traditionally the first Sunday of Advent’s theme is ‘Hope’. Some churches light a candle - so the candle of hope symbolises promises delivered through the prophets from God as well as the hope we have in Christ. God crafted a great rescue plan that he lays out in Scripture. This plan foretells years in advance the arrival of Christ. The Bible also gives us a glimpse of the future, and promises that God will come down to create a new heaven and Earth.

Song/Songs

Here I am to Worship. (Michael Smith)

What a beautiful name (Hillsong).

To listen to: Light of the world (Lauren Daigle)

Hymn

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

Prayer

Father, let your hope arise in our hearts! Lift our eyes up to see that you alone are where our hope comes from. Help us to shake off the anxiety, discouragements, and distractions that have filled this year.

May we pause to remember that we have hope in you.

You know the end of our stories, and we give thanks because you have promised that it will be a victorious ending. Give us the grace we need to wrap up this year joyfully.

We invite your Spirit into this beautiful Advent season. Renew our sense of holy anticipation! Let us be those who are waiting eagerly for Jesus to come again.

More than anything, we ask that you be glorified in this season of expectation. Amen.

Prayer for Joyce’ family, Beryl’s Jonathan, Gwyneth, Audrey, Helene, Jan Musselwhite, Mildred, Chris Tucker’s mum, others

OFCB Kids Talk: This week Becky put up a video which also happens to be the memory verse for this week:

John 1:5 NLT

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

This is the first Sunday of Advent and traditionally its theme is hope. And that is what this verse means, right? No matter how dark it gets, light still shines and darkness cannot put the light out.

Have you read the story of Abraham? He and his wife were childless.

Let me read a few verses from:

Romans 4:18–21 NLT

18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. 20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

So God spoke to Abraham saying he will have a child. What you should know is that he was very old already. Yet Abraham was a man of faith. He believed that God would fulfil what had been promised. Because he believed, in the end, he was able to live through the hard times, eagerly expecting a good ending. He was so sure of what had been promised. To be honest it looked ridiculous. There should have have been no hope. Abraham was old and getting older. It seemed not only like he had been hoping for a long time, but that even by all logic he and Sarah should not have been able to have children. And yet he chose to believe, he chose to hope. And in the end they had a child. Amazing!

So, let me ask you - you all seem clever - and tell me now what you think: I’ve got lots of questions -I hope you have answers...

Why, do you think, it is hard to hope hope today?

Should you rely on your own abilities and strength to get things done?

How do you handle it when you have done everything right and it still does not work out as you wanted?

What can you learn from Abraham when it comes to facing what seem to be impossible situations?

You don’t have to answer this one out loud unless you want to: Is there a situation where you struggle to have hope?

I don’t know your situation well enough. The struggles you have at home or at school or elsewhere. It may seem that there is no way out. But there is always light with God. It may be a very long way away, or at least sometimes it feels that way. You have the promise of God, the promise when He stepped out of heaven to come as the infant Jesus, in order that you may be saved. Life here on earth is hard, but we have mansions waiting for us in heaven. When all else fails here and now, we can hope in this.

I want you to memorise the verse I told you at the beginning:

John 1:5 NLT

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

When we get caught up in darkness, where there seems to be no hope, we forget the light. But the great thing about light is that it pierces the darkness. Even the tiniest spark, will light up a dark room. Jesus is the light to shine in the dark corners of your heart. He gives us hope. So, trust Him no matter what is going on.

Notices

I Surrender (Hillsong)

Intercession

In joyful expectation of his coming to our aid

we pray to Jesus. Come to your Church as Lord and judge. Help us to live in the light of your coming and give us a longing for your kingdom.

Come to your world as King of the nations. We pray for our Government and Queen…wisdom, coronavirus, etc

Before you rulers will stand in silence.

Come to the suffering as Saviour and comforter.

We pray for the persecuted who stand for your name. For those in our fellowships who are unwell or struggling with trials of every and any kind.

Break into our lives,

where we struggle with sickness and distress,

and set us free to serve you for ever.

Come to us as shepherd and guardian of our souls.

We remember those who are grieving though we do not grieve as the world grieves for the hope that we have.

Give us with all the faithful departed

a share in your victory over evil and death.

Come from heaven, Lord Jesus, with power and great glory.

Lift us up to meet you,

that with all your saints and angels

we may live and reign with you in your new creation.

Maranatha Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Reading

Isaiah 64:1–9 ESV

1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. 5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. 8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

Sermon

For OFCB: I wrote this sermon on Friday for my church after already writing a sermon for you earlier in the week but this is too important not to preach now so I jettisoned the one I was going to do for you for, perhaps, another time because right now this is too much on my heart and I wanted you to hear it especially in this transitional time for you.

I generally do not follow the lectionary, mainly because it misses out on a substantial part of Scripture in the 3 year cycle. But I saw in the lectionary for this first Sunday of Advent these verses from Isaiah. (And because of last week’s sermon about evangelism and another one I recently did about prayer, knocking on God’s door, and the Hebrides' revival of the 1930s (that can be found on my website ianmthomas.com) I wanted to look at this passage today.)

I’ll come in a moment to why this is an advent reading in the first place but this is not why I have started here today. What is revival? Is it not when God turns up? We need revival. Personally first. Then our churches need revival. Our nation needs revival. Revival can only happen when God Himself works and shows up. The problem for us is that we do not believe He will.

Now the last two sermons I did on this subject I spoke of prayer and last week on evangelism. When we look at today’s church with its compromise, its disunity, its lack of prayer, its lack of evangelism, the liberal tilt away from God’s Word we can point to all of these and say this is why there is no revival. But perhaps this is upside down. Maybe it is the lack of revival that leads to all these things. No revival means there will be compromise and disunity and a move away from the foundational things of Christianity. Oh how we need to be revived!

What is revival? Well, what did we read in Isaiah?

Isaiah 64:1 NKJV

1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—

That YOU would come down. Now this is revival! It is God coming down. We need to get this yearning in us. Our relationship with God is paramount. Spending time with Him every day to hear His voice is vital to our spiritual life. Come down, Lord! Oh, come down! Tear apart the heavens and come! You can hear Isaiah in a desperate state. I absolutely love this prayer. It is one of my favourites. But what will it take for us to get to this point?

And, of course, God DID come down at the first advent, didn’t He? And what a way to arrive. A baby born and put in a manger. Emmanuel. God with us. God came down. God always wants to come down. Remember the Garden of Eden and He was walking in the cool of the day. What was the purpose of Jesus coming if it were not to reconcile us back to God and put us in a right relationship with Him. God wants to be with people. I often think that this is the overarching theme of Scripture for it is with this that Scripture ends, that we are with God and He with us. Think about it…this must be it. God wants to rend the Heavens and come down. He did this again at Pentecost in sending His Holy Spirit to be with us and to empower us to live witnessing lives of the good news of Jesus. Which is God wants to be in a relationship with you and He is seeking worshippers who will with integrity give Him the honour and glory.

Why did God create us in the first place and give us such a special place in creation?

And then we find that Jesus will return and come down. Are we getting the gist now? God wants to come down.

We only need to look at Church History to find the many revivals that there has been even in the last 100 years. Some of them have been extremely local and others have been national.

What we find is that there are a group of people who set to seek God and get right with Him and beg Him to rend the heavens and come down and what we find is that this is answered. It is inevitable. I’ll read that Scripture again which says:

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 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.

God starts with individuals. Will you be a one-person revival?

There was a man who was a one-man revival.

His name was Charlie Fisher. He was known as Uncle Charlie. Charlie Fisher was a preacher who’d tell it as it is. He loved God. He was on fire for Christ.

When he was baptised he came up out of the water and lifted both hands to heaven and said,

“Glory to God! I have been buried in the likeness of His death! I have been raised in the likeness of His resurrection!”

Well, he was on fire for God. He was bold as a lion. Everywhere he went there seemed to be revival. He was a one-man revival.

On one occasion he got a film projector and went down to a night club on a Saturday night where there was drunkenness and fighting and all of this. This man, this one-man revival, walked into the bar and said to the owner, “I’ve got a film that I need to show. I don’t have a place to plug in my projector. Can I plug it in here?”

And the owner said, “Well, I guess so.”

He said, “Now, it’s a religious film.”

The owner said, “Well, okay.”

So he got up and he said, “Everybody get quiet. Listen to me. We’re going to have a film. And it is a religious film, so there can be no drinking (and no smoking) while this film is being shown. They put down their beer,( put out their cigarettes,) and he turned on the projector. It was a film on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It got very quiet in there. Then Uncle Charlie said, “All right, we’re going to pray. Everybody bow your heads.” They bowed their heads just like here at Church. Now, this is not fiction; this literally happened. He said, “Now, those of you who tonight, right now, will give your heart to Jesus Christ, lift your hand.” A number of them lifted their hand, and among those that lifted their hand was the owner of that nightclub. He went to her and said, “I saw you lifted your hand. Did you mean it?”

She said, “Yes, sir, I did.”

He said, “You know, you’ve got to get rid of this business, don’t you?”

She said, “What?”

He said, “You can’t be a Christian and run this business. You’ve got to get rid of it.”

She said, “Well, all right, I will.” And she did! This woman who was transformed there by the boldness of a man who would seek God’s face. He was a one-man revival.

You can be a one-person revival. What is revival? Revival is when God comes down.

Revival is God Himself. Let’s keep going through Isaiah 64:

When God turned up the mountains tremble and the wood burns up.

What are we talking about here? Yes, these things could literally happen but it is more likely talking about those things that get in the way of God in our lives. All those things that are obstacles to God melt away. Whether it is pride or apathy or a critical spirit, gossip or whatever in our lives that is sinful - anything that would seem to get in the way of God melts away. He takes away the dross. When God comes down God glorifies Himself among those who do not know Him. They tremble like the mountain trembles in an earthquake. Sinners begin to quake because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Continuing in Isaiah:

Isaiah 64:4–5 ESV

4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. 5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

We will be those who rejoicing. God wants to meet with us. God wants to come down. And when He does, you will rejoice. I want God to meet with His people and know this incredible joy. The opposite of how some of us are feeling right now.

To get to such joy there needs to be preparation. Note Isaiah says it is those who wait, (expectancy, hopefulness)

who works righteousness and remember God in what we do.

What gets in the way of a revival? We are told in the next verse:

Isaiah 64:6 NRSV

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

We are either unrepentant of our sin or we think that somehow we are good enough. We do not realise that instead we are clothed in filthy, disease ridden rags. (And we are like the leaves that Autumn takes away.) We have relied upon ourselves too much (and now we are on the ground blown by the wind.)

And verse 7 caps it by saying:

Isaiah 64:7 ESV

7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

Are we going to rouse ourselves up to seek after God and take hold of Him and not let Him go just as Jacob of old did not let go until he was blessed. Get serious with God and He will get serious with you and will rend the heavens and come down. Is that not the meaning of draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

RA Torrey, who died in 1928, wrote this:

The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth Chapter XVI: The Place of Prayer in Evangelism (Rev. R. A. Torrey)

Pray definitely for a spiritual awakening, pray that the members of the church be brought onto a higher plane of Christian living, that the church be purged from its present compromise with the world, that the members of the church be clothed upon with power from on high and filled with a passion for the salvation of the lost. We should pray that through the church and its membership, many may be converted and that there be a genuine awakening in the church and community. Any church or community that is willing to pay the price can have a true revival. That price is not building a tabernacle and calling some widely-known evangelist and putting large sums of money into advertising and following other modern methods. These things may all be right in their place, but they are not the price of a revival. The price of a revival is honest, earnest prayer in the Holy Spirit, prayer that will not take no for an answer. Let a few people in any church or community get thoroughly right with God themselves, then let them band themselves together and cry to God for a revival until the revival comes, with a determination to pray through no matter how long it takes; then let them put themselves at God’s disposal for Him to use them in any way He will, in personal work or testimony or anything else, then let them go out as God leads them, dealing in love and wisdom and persistence with the unsaved, and a genuine revival of God’s work in the power of the Holy Ghost is bound to result. The writer has said substantially this around the world; time and again, the advice has been followed, and the result has always been the same, a real, effective, thorough-going work of God.

So, why does this not happen? Why are we not seeing revivals here? No one rouses themselves up, there is no stirring. No Seeking God. Do we have no desire for revival in our own lives, our family, our school, our workplace, our church, our nation?

And if we do then we have to submit to God as it says in the next verse

Isaiah 64:8 ESV

8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

What is God saying to you? Are you willing to go be a missionary in Iran or Syria? Are you willing to sell what you have for the sake of the Gospel? Are you willing to set yourself to pray earnestly for God to send labourers into His harvest field (and say ‘I’ will be one of them? Are you will willing to suffer? Is God truly God and Lord and King of your life?

This prayer in Isaiah 64 relies upon the very mercy of God. And we can be thankful that God does not want the wicked to perish therefore He wants to forgive more than punish. Will you forsake your sin? If truly so then you are on the road to personal revival. Can we say: I will forsake my sin. I will seek God. I will submit to God and do whatever He requires of me. I will be thankful for His love and mercy wrought when God came down at Christmas and went to the cross. Pray: Oh God! Rend the heavens and come down. Save us! Save me! Save my family! Save my community! Save my nation!

We could continue in Isaiah 64:10-12 where it is earnestly asking God for His glory again. God, do it again! God, show your face, show your glory! Turn the tide that results when there is no revival.

Are we going to be revivalists? Then let us start praying like Isaiah. Let’s take hold of God and not let go.

What is revival? It is when God arrives. It is when He gets hold of us and does not let go. Now that is worth hoping for.

Prayer

Song Above all powers (Lenny LeBlanc)

Hymn - I Surrender (Hillsong) MCB

Here I am Down on my knees again Surrendering all Surrendering all

And find me here Lord as You draw me near Desperate for You Desperate for You

Drench my soul As mercy and grace unfold I hunger and thirst I hunger and thirst

With arms stretched wide I know You hear my cry Speak to me now Speak to me now

I surrender I surrender I wanna know You more I wanna know You more

Like a rushing wind Jesus breathe within Lord have Your way Lord have Your way in me

Like a mighty storm Stir within my soul Lord have Your way Lord have Your way in me

I surrender I surrender I wanna know You more I wanna know You more

Benediction

(May) Christ dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:17-21)

Bibliography

Jacober, A. (2005–). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Rogers, A. (2017). Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive. Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.

Torrey, R. A., Feinberg, C. L., & Wiersbe, W. W. (2005). The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.