Revival through brokenness
The Perfection of Brokenness
Text : Matt 14:14-21
Notice the words that have been highlighted! And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; (a) send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.16 But Jesus said unto them, (b) They need not depart; give ye them to eat.17 And they say unto him, (c)We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18 (d)He said, Bring them hither to me. 19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he (e)blessed, and (f)brake, and (g)gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
Set up question – Do you have desire to be used miraculously by the Lord? If your answer is yes then all things must be done in order, and in God’s time. If your answer is no then stop reading until your answer is yes. For those of you that said “yes!” Look at the ministry progression I have identified by bold type in the text.
a. A need was identified which was bigger than the resources available to the disciples.
b. Jesus assigns the responsibility of the meeting of that need to a group that did not have resources to comply with his directive.
i. His words are an imperative order for the disciples. God’s will is for them to feed the people. God’s will is the impossible.
c. They brought what they had to Jesus
d. He took what they had.
e. He blessed what they had.
f. He broke what they had.
g. He gave it back and he used it to do what was humanly impossible.
The equation for making sure your life counts for Christ is in this wonderful loaves and fishes story. Dear Christian friend, our Heavenly Father did not save you just to take you to heaven at some later date. His ultimate intention was two fold. He came first, to save you, and then secondly, to use you. His desire is to use the rest of your life for miraculous things until the day He will call you to come into His presence. Your life can be used, and will be used, if you allow Father to do what he wants day by day.
Let’s set up the analogy in Matthew 14 by identifying the key characters.
Ø The little boy’s lunch is a picture of you and I as believers.
Jesus takes possession of us when he saves us. If he hasn’t come in as Lord then He has not become savior.The idea that Jesus saves us and then later on we make him Lord is an unbiblical teaching made popular by the desire to bring large numbers of people into church membership. Lordship salvation became unpopular because men will gladly submit to church membership and even baptism as long as they were not required to change their lifestyle. His life in you is a perfect thing. He created a perfect thing in you that would naturally and increasingly be drawn toward Him. At salvation, Jesus placed spiritual life in you which is evidenced by a naturally growing evolving desire to be totally His and His alone. The moment he saved you a perfect relationship was created by his grace. A grace relationship that is ten years old is supposed to look different than it did the day the journey began at your new birth. The point is that it will look different if it is healthy. Don’t get confused. You don’t get more of Jesus because you are growing in maturity. Maturity is learning how to use what you have had from the beginning. You don’t become more perfect because you are spiritually healthy. You become more controlled by the Perfect One because you ARE healthy. Day by day as we grow we become more available to His purposes. As you get more familiar with his voice, you learn to trust. As you learn to trust then you learn to hear. If you hear better then you will follow closer. See? The perfect must continue to grow in perfection. Romans 10:14 shows a progression like this. Sending results in proclaiming which results in hearing which results in believing.
Rom 10:14-17 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
You learn to follow stronger because of his faithfulness in the past. You give in or agree with Father (by a commitment of your will) to the working out of the perfect which has been in you since He saved you. Now, if you are healthy, all you want to do is say “Yes Lord!” Guess what? That is all our Father requires of us. Yes sir! Ready to go sir! Whatever you say sir! No need for explanation sir! I trust you sir!
Father gives every new believer time to enjoy being fed and nurtured by others. He gives us time where we aren’t expected to have a lot of ministry responsibility. He gives us time to learn who He is and more about what He has done for us. He has gives us time to mature and allows us to be fed by the others Then, there comes a time when he wants to use US to do the feeding. He wants to use us. He wants us to learn to be givers, instead of just takers. That is why we can say with authority that it is not Father’s will for you to drink milk forever. There comes a time for Him to take you off milk. Here is a problem. You still have free will. You still have a choice. Father won’t make you do anything. I will say this though that He may make you wish you had given him a different answer! If you exercise your will negatively and refuse to allow the process of brokenness to continue there is consequence. You don’t cease being saved. The perfect work that was done in you was not ever dependant on your works and it is not dependant on your works now. However, there is a huge consequence when we refuse Father’s hand of discipline and choose the easy road. Do you know what happens? The consequence of disobedience is that we become irrelevant. Why the word irrelevant? Refusing his hand of discipline makes us useless in the work of the kingdom because Father will not trust His miracles to the disobedient. Joshua would call you a wilderness dweller. Luke would call you a prodigal son. Revelation would call you lukewarm. The bottom line is that there is a point for every believer where Father will try to put you on a diet of more mature food. When it is time to do this Father must break us, just like a horse. You need to know that brokenness is different from destruction. God tears down so that he can build up. The enemy tears apart so that he can steal, kill and destroy. God won’t beat you down like the enemy does. He won’t shame you, but he will convict you. He has to break our will so that we will accept His. He has to empty our mind, break our will and heal our emotions so that he can fill us with Holy Spirit. After He breaks us and fills us, then we have the strength to do the work. We do the work after he provides the touch that fills miracle baskets with miracle bread and everyone that’s hungry gets fed. What fun!
He won’t break our spirit, but He will break our will. He must show us who serves who. He has to show each of us that it is all about Him, not all about me. He has to break us so he can use us. What ever He is not allowed to break, Father refuses to use. This is a process of purification. It is during this time we learn to take orders without question. If we don’t we can never be used in that miraculous way Father intended to use us the moment he called to exist.
A perfect thing must have the ability to improve is that it is perfect in every changed stage of development. The green apple is perfect at that stage of growth. However, it must change and improve in order to reach full maturity, the place of perfection. Outside of created matter, there is the perfect perfection, God. However, when He entered into humanity and became flesh (as the Lord Jesus Christ), He developed from a baby to an adult. He did not stay in the form of a perfect baby. This was change for Him. The scripture says of Him that He increased in wisdom and stature [Luke 2:52]. That is continual improvement. The Lord moved from humiliation to exaltation. That was certainly improvement, even though He was perfect at every stage of life. Perfection is the end result or full maturity in the growth of any living thing. "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" [1 Corinthians 13:10-12]. Brokenness is a natural step, a natural progression toward becoming that which God saved us to become. An unbroken man cannot be used. A man that can not be used becomes part of the problem, instead of part of the answer. A man that refuses to be broken becomes irrelevant in the kingdom. He is irrelevant because he is unusable. An unbroken man will be concerned with rights and fairness, rather than justice and mercy. An unbroken man will be hard on the sins of others while ignoring his own. An unbroken man will work to build kingdoms which will pass to others, rather than building the kingdom which can never be lost. An unbroken man will approach money as a possession to have, rather than a ministry tool to use. An unbroken man will honor those that can advance him while ignoring those that need him. An unbroken man is a user because he views other people as resource reservoirs. An unbroken man
The prerequisite steps for becoming usable by God
Ø An undeniable need was pointed out to Jesus - the people were hungry.
Verse 15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
Ø An impossible solution was pointed out by Jesus in the imperative voice – you feed them!
Verse 16 But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Ø A truthful declaration of weakness became the disciple’s source of strength.
Verse 17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
These things happened because
1. The disciples brought what all they had to Jesus.
2. He took it and blessed it.
3. He broke it.
4. He used it.
A minus becomes a plus
A small amount becomes large
A bite size portion becomes a huge feast
A little lunch becomes a God sized miracle.
Something less than expected becomes more than enough.
The call of God
1. Father never calls us to anything that we can do without his miraculous intervention.
2. Father’s call always intentionally demands more resources than we have.
3. Father’s call always sets us up for great victory or great defeat.
4. Father’s call in our lives is designed to bring glory to Him and benefit to his people.
a. Father never at any time intends on sharing his glory with us.
b. A sobering fact is that Father opposes the building of any kingdom except his own. If we are building any other kingdom except his then we actually invoke a fight with one that we can never defeat.
c. If it brings glory to Him, the baskets will fill.
d. If it brings glory to us then the baskets stay empty.
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7evidences of brokenness
1 God's Word will be exalted and authoritative over man's experience. To elevate (or even equate) man's experience with the authority of God's Word is to become vulnerable to confusion and grave spiritual error. This is not to say that revival through brokenness will bypass human experience and emotion, but that our experience must always be subordinate and subject to the absolute truth of God’s Word.
2 There will be an intense conviction of sin, leading to repentance. Confronted by the holiness of God, conviction of sin intensifies and breeds in us an urgency for repentance (Isa. 6:1-5; II Cor. 7:10,11). Revival brings an intensity of God's grace which both demands and enables the forsaking of sin. We depart the well-worn pathways of personal failure and sin and embark on the "Highway of Holiness" (Isa. 35:8).
3 Humility and brokenness will be evident. In seasons of genuine revival, the passion for purity, a clear conscience, and, above all, God's glory becomes so intense that no price is too great to pay. Although not necessarily enjoyable, embracing humility and experiencing brokenness is the only way to encounter God's holiness. Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb. 12:2), so we must endure brokenness before God's joy can be restored to us.
4 There will be deliberate acts of reconciliation and restitution. No longer content to "let bygones be bygones," there will be a God-given zeal to obtain and maintain a clear conscience (Matt. 5:23,24; Acts 24:16). No longer will we bring our gifts of worship and service to the altar, while harboring hurt, anger, or bitterness.
5 There will be a growing interest in prayer. Just as prayer precedes revival, so prayer also sustains revival. When God is present, He cannot be ignored. Hunger for intimacy with Him is heightened and finds expression through prayer. Being in His presence will become the delight of our life.
6 Joy will be untainted and pure. In seasons of revival, the desire to be entertained and to feel good is revealed for what it truly is--a cheap imitation of godly joy. Biblical prayers for revival speak of joy as a thing to be desired and as the by-product of a genuine move of God (Psa. 85:6). Joy, rather than entertainment, will become a hallmark of our worship. God Himself will take "center-stage," and the Lord Jesus will reign as the sole object of our adoration.
7 Evangelism will flourish. History bears witness that more souls are ushered into the Kingdom during seasons of revival than at any other time. As God’s Spirit rests upon His church which is filled with broken contrite men filled with renewed power, her witness to the world becomes credible. Once bound in fear of rejection, self-love, and indifference, God’s people will find a new freedom, desire, and faith to share the gospel because brokenness turns their concerns from inward to outward and their faith upward, and their personal reliance from temporary to eternal.
- "WHENEVER A PERSON WHO IS HONESTLY MISTAKEN COMES ACROSS THE TRUTH OF HIS ERROR, FROM THAT POINT ON HE WILL EITHER STOP BEING HONEST OR CEASE BEING MISTAKEN."
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!".
Do we really want revival?
There is an ever increasing sense among Christians that the Church of today is not where it is supposed to be. They read in the book of Acts that "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." They read that on one occasion three thousand were saved, and with the continual preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified the number grew to five thousand men. They also see haw Paul preached so effectively that "a great number...believed." They read of how Paul had daily discussions for two years, causing all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia to hear the word of the Lord. And then they look at the Church today, where in some places churches are closing and being sold for secular uses or even to anti-Christian religions and those churches that have not closed have a very small membership. Then Christians hear of what went on in the past. They read of times when people so wanted to get to church that they would close up their businesses early lest they be locked out of the church building; they read of when judges were given white gloves because they had no cases to try. They hear how evil people fall to their knees confessing their most heinous sins lest the floor open up and swallow them down to hell. They hear how people fall down as though dead under the conviction of sin, until after weeks or months an entire town is enveloped in the presence of God and love. Then they turn to their own churches, even to their own lives, and see the sin that is so prevalent within them, with no fear of God and no power of holy living seen in the community. They are told that in 1905 over 8,000 people were saved in one section of India in a few months time. In Wales in 1904, within a two month period, 70,000 turned to the Lord. In Korea in 1907, 50,000 were brought to Christ. They hear that during one period of time in the United States there were 50,000 souls being saved each week. And then they wonder why their church hasn't seen one soul saved in the past year. So what happens? The Church begins talking about revival: How great it would be for God to send one; how excellent it would be to see souls saved, a hundred or thousand per week; how the moral atmosphere of the community would improve; how well behaved the youth would become. But that is all they do. Talk. Nothing else. In some cases they want to do something, only they don't know what to do. But, more times that not, they believe that there is nothing for them to do, except hope that God will in His sovereignty see fit to pour out a blessing upon them in His own time. They do not see that when the Holy Spirit puts a desire within the Church for revival, He expects the Church to pray that revival into being, and to prepare for it in any other practical way that He leads. In times past, when Christians said that revival was a sovereign act of Almighty God and there was nothing they could do to promote it, Charles Finney replied: "No doctrine endangers the church more than this, and nothing is more absurd. Suppose someone preaches that doctrine to farmers. He kindly explains to them that God is sovereign, and will give them a crop only when it pleases Him. Plowing and planting and laboring as if they expected to raise a crop is very wrong. It takes the work out of the hands of God, interferes with His sovereignty . . .Now suppose the farmers believed such a doctrine. We would starve!" Finney continues:” But I think there are fewer cases of failure in the moral than in the natural world. I have seldom seen anyone fail when he used in a right manner the means for fostering revival pointed out in the Word of God. I believe we can labor to promote revival with as reasonable a prospect for success as we could find in any other line of work. We can enter the endeavor with the same anticipation as the farmer who rightly expects a crop when he sows his grain. I have seen success under the most forbidding circumstances conceivable." Though many may point out flaws in Finney's thinking, they cannot disprove that the principles which Finney laid out in his book, Lectures on Revival, have done much good to the advancement of the Kingdom of God on earth. Within a short time of its first publication, it had been translated into French and Welsh, which resulted in revivals in Wales. Seventy years after its first printing, a Canadian Presbyterian missionary in China was given a pamphlet that contained some extracts from Finney's books, and Jonathan Goforth vowed, "If Finney is right, then I'm going to find out what those laws are and obey them, no matter what it costs." As the Holy Spirit taught Goforth, the missionary began to see remarkable scenes of revival in China, with much confessing of sin from both saint and sinner. Later in life he was able to write,” Our reading of the Word of God makes it inconceivable to us that the Holy Spirit should be willing, even for a day, to delay His work. We may be sure that, where there is a lack of the fullness of God, it is ever due to man's lack of faith and obedience. If God the Holy Spirit is not glorifying Jesus Christ in the world today, as at Pentecost, it is we who are to blame. After all, what is revival but simply the Spirit of God fully controlling in the surrendered life? It must always be possible, then, when man yields. The sin of unyieldedness, alone, can keep us from revival." So what happened when Finney put his beliefs into practice? Revival broke out. Notice the pattern. Brokenness or yielding to the Spirit of God and then revival comes.
Testimony - The following extracts from his Memoirs of the revival in Rochester, New York, in 1830, will show how these laws, put into practice, will promote a revival: "Among others a pressing invitation was received from the Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester to go there and supply them for a season. I inquired into the circumstances, and found on several accounts it was a very unpromising field of labor at that time. There were but three Presbyterian churches in Rochester. . . and religion was in a low state. . .I had many praying friends. . . [who] were unanimous in the opinion that Rochester was too uninviting a field of labor. . . "But after I retired to my lodging the question was presented to my mind under a different aspect. Something seemed to question me -- "What are the reasons that deter you from going to Rochester?" I could easily enumerate them; but then the question returned--"Ah! but are these good reasons? Certainly you are needed at Rochester all the more because of these difficulties. So you shun the field because there are so many things which need to be corrected, because there is so much that is wrong? But if all was right, you would not be needed." I soon came to the conclusion that we were all wrong; and that the reasons that had determined us against my going to Rochester, were the most cogent reasons for my going. I concluded that I was more needed at that time in Rochester than in any of the fields that were open to me. . . "On my arrival I met my cousin [who in the next few days] exerted himself to bring about a good understanding between the Pastors and Churches and a great change soon manifested itself in the attitude and spiritual state of the Churches. "There were very soon some very marked conversions. . . ". . . and it was soon seen that the Lord was aiming at the conversion of the highest classes of society. My meetings soon became thronged with that class. The lawyers, physicians, merchants, and indeed all the most intelligent class of society, became more and more interested, and more and more easily influenced to give their hearts to God. . . "The work continued to increase. . .The Spirit of the Lord had taken hold of the work in earnest, and nothing seemed to stay it. ". . .Christians of every denomination generally seemed to make common
cause, and entirely united in their efforts, and went to work with a will to pull sinners out of the fire. . . "The revival made a great change in the moral state and subsequent history of Rochester. The great majority of the leading men and women in the city were converted. . . " I have not said much as yet of the spirit of prayer that prevailed in this revival. . . The Spirit of prayer was poured out powerfully, so much so that some persons stayed away from public services to pray, being unable to restrain their feelings under preaching. . . "There were good many cases in Rochester in which people were exercised with this spirit of agonizing travail of soul. I have said that the moral aspect of things was greatly changed by this revival. It was a young city, full of thrift and enterprise, and full of sin. The inhabitants were intelligent and enterprising in the highest degree; but as the revival swept through the town and converted the great mass of the most influential people both male and female, the change in the order, sobriety, and morality of the city was wonderful. "[A lawyer who was made thoroughly acquainted with the history of crime in that city, later told me], 'I have been examining the records of the criminal courts, and I find this striking fact, that whereas our city has increased since that revival three-fold, there is not one third as many prosecutions for crime as there had been up to that time.' “'Thus crime,' he says, 'has decreased two thirds, and the population has increased two thirds. This is,' he said, 'the wonderful influence that that revival had had upon the community. . .” The means used for the promotion of this revival were precisely the same that had been used in all revivals that I had witnessed before." In Lectures on Revival, Finney gives the principles that he believed would bring a revival to any place where the people would put them into practice. Remember that Finney felt that these were the principles that people were to put into practice after the Holy Spirit had put within them a desire to see revival.
Reading assignment! Do you desire to not just see revival but to be a part of it? Do you want to walk as a broken vessel that can be used by the Lord and filled with His power? Go online to www.allabouthim.org Click on the link “Revival!” Try reading Lectures on Revival, and see what the Holy Spirit does. Finish Lectures on Revival and then come back to our discussion of brokenness.
Enemies of brokenness
1. Losing our spiritual appetite is an enemy. A broken man has a voracious appetite for the next taste of God’s hand in his life. What God did yesterday is not sufficient for today. A broken man always wants more of everything that is evidence of the majesty of Father God in his life. A broken man wants more power, more tears, and more compassion. These are the things that Father delves out to the broken and contrite man each day of his life. Just like the 40 years of manna each morning as miraculous provision for his people, the broken man knows that each day brings more of God’s presence in his life. The broken man knows that what God did yesterday was for yesterday. He seeks a new portion, fresh fire, fresh bread because Father has declared it available. The unbroken heart will be satisfied with just remembering the taste of the bread when it was fresh without a desire for a new taste. The unbroken heart recalls the memory of meeting the Lord in the past and harbors the hope of seeing the Lord in his eternal future. Something is missed however. Nothing much in the middle. Just paying bills, raising kids, taking vacations, back yard barbecues, movies, Sunday morning at church and Sunday afternoon watching the ballgame. Nothing wrong. Nothing right. Certainly nothing of eternal significance that would declare a passion for spiritual things. There was a man and his wife that were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. His pastor sat down next the man at the guest reception and asked this question. “What has is been like to have been married to the same woman for 50 years?” The man gave an interesting answer. “The day I was married was the happiest day of my life until today!” He talked and talked about their wedding and then skipped right past the 50 years they had been together to talk about the anniversary! It was a big deal at the beginning and the end, but the activities during the living part of it were a little non-descript! What a picture of the unbroken man! He can talk about when he met Jesus, and he can talk about going to see Jesus, but he has no real history of walking with Jesus. The unbroken man will not find much in the way of a real Holy Ghost encounter since the day he was saved. Brokenness produces an appetite for a passionate daily walk with our Master. The unbroken man lives as if the Lord Jesus is simply his fire insurance policy in eternity, rather than a passionate reason to get up in the morning with an expectation of seeing a new day of miracles that glorify the Lord God of Heaven.
Three characteristics of brokenness that can lead to personal and corporate revival
I. Broken-ness is one of the ingredients that God uses to produce extraordinary Revival
Do you know how long has it been since the world has experienced a general spiritual awakening. The majority of persons living in the Western world have to admit if they are honest that they have never seen revival. Western Christians have seen meetings that have produced converts but not broken-ness and not real life changing revival. Here are some things to consider.
1. America has not known a large-scale revival for more than 100 years.
2. Even sinners of the 18th and 19th centuries knew when God was at work. Today most of the church has lived their lives without seeing the kind of power that brought on the changing of entire races and cities in the past. Revival has become so scarce that much of the church is hardly aware of its absence and worse than that is that we actually believe we are fine without it.
3. We must be ready to receive when God begins to bring brokenness to men and starts moving in revival.
4. Revival is a rare extraordinary gift and must be treasured like a precious jewel. When an entire generation of Christians can live and die without having come close to genuine revival such a movement of God is extraordinary indeed and not to be missed or ignored.
Revival is extraordinary because of how it makes its appearance. Real revival is a sovereign event controlled by God not by men. Men can seek God, but he does not always come. He does not come when we are ready. He comes when he is ready. There is no formula to bring revival. There is a clear formula for what hinders and prevents revival. Revival will not come to men, whose hearts are filled with things that dishonor the Lord. Transparent confession, cleansing, restitution, rebuilding must take place before God will show up. He may not show up then but he certainly won’t show up without a proper cleansing of the places we intend on Him to inhabit. When Father does show up, look out! He breaks before he remakes. Many men have looked at the cost of walking with the Lord and not found Him lacking. They have simply found the cost to be too high a price. Why? How could this be? Brokenness produces huge changes in priority, from inward to outward and upward. A revival of brokenness is like a prairie fire ignited by a bolt of lightning from the heavens. It burns everything in its path. With brokenness and repentance as a catalyst the Holy Ghost revivals of past history have altered the hearts of men, the social attitudes of millions, and the destinies of nations without organization, advertising, and sometimes even without human leadership.
When real revival comes, God himself steps into the stream of human history and does such a mighty and wonderful work that later on the mere retelling of those acts of God is sufficient to bring another wave of conviction and expectation, along with a longing in the hearts of the faithful for another taste of honeyed manna, and another whiff of that Holy fire from the altar of God. If God is not present there will no brokenness, no revival, regardless of what promotions we use. The good news is that true revival can occur where ever God is. The Word tells us something else. Father God wants to send revival to us more than we want him to give revival to us. He is really on our side. When He comes nothing will stop the moving of His Spirit. So . . . let me ask you again. Do you really want to be broken before the Lord? Do you want personal revival? Remember the principle from Matthew. Whatever he cannot break, he will not use. Revival is where he uses us. No brokenness, no revival. My friend our churches, seminaries, pastors, and laypeople need revival more than they need the next breath of air. When it comes . . .
1. True revival cannot be confined by
a. state lines,
b. national boundaries,
c. economic boundaries,
d. class systems,
e. facial characteristics,
f. skin color,
g. educational distinctions,
h. social status or
i. Denominational preferences.
2. When God speaks, the whole earth can hear. Revival can do as much for the suburbs as for the ghetto.
3. The dilapidated inner city church can be as transformed by revival as the little church in the country in the vale.
4. Revival will penetrate every curtain, even those made of communist iron and bamboo.
5. The Spirit of God cannot be prevented from working where he wills.
6. Revival is able to alter a nation as quickly as it is able to alter a local church.
7. Revival can take and consume an entire university, and break it, then remake it according to the plan of God.
8. No human effort or organized spiritual activity has the capacity of revival.
9. Revival can do what nothing else can do. Therefore revival and brokenness be it personal or corporate must be considered precious and extraordinary!
Psalms 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
1. The concern for years has been what we could do for God.
2. We should have been pleading with Him to show us what he could do for us.
II. Revival is the Work of God
1. No amount of human effort can produce true revival.
2. What men can do. . .
a. But we should do all we can with all our might
b. We can and must evangelize, the great commission demands it.
c. We can train Christian workers.
d. We can teach the way of Christ to new converts.
e. We can baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
f. We can pray.
g. We can compassionately meet social needs of the destitute.
h. We can do everything but produce revival.
i. For revival we must wait.
j. The sovereign lord of the universe must revive that us again or we will never know what true revival is.
k. To whatever extent we fail to see God as the reviver of his people, then to that extent we will fail to cry to him day and night for this needed blessing.
l. Revival will come when Christians are fully persuaded that the God of all mercies is at the God of revival.
m. Revival will come when Christians refuse to let God go until he blesses.
i. Only when believers get a hold on God’s heart may they take hope that the heavens will soon be opened and God himself of pour out such blessing that the whole world will scarcely be able to contain them.
III. Extraordinary revival produces extraordinary results.
Ø Revival always includes a tremendous breaking, why?
Millions of professing Christians are suffering from mighty delusions that personal holiness is no real concern of the Lord. Their lifestyle does not differ much from those that profane the name of Jesus. Side by side lost men and saved men in the 21st century live in about the same manner. Listen to an excerpt from “The Saving Life of Christ” by Major W. Ian Thomas. “Suppose that God were to die tonight? Would it really make a difference to the way you live your Christian life tomorrow? For all you really count upon Him as you go about your daily business, or even do your Christian work, would you notice any difference? Would it make the slightest difference next Sunday in the services in your place of worship, if God were to die tonight? Or would it be business as usual? Would anybody know if nobody told them? Or would the whole machine grind on, with the people in the pew, the preacher in the pulpit, and the special offering for the building fund! Nobody ever told them that God was dead!”
Ø Revival has not come as evidenced that there are so many professing Christians who have lived in known sin for years with little desire to even admit they are soiled much less with inclination ask the Lord to change them. The stench of sin in the church is not just little incidental things either, as if there are some sins which are less offensive to God than others. When brokenness comes, the first things to go are the things that put Jesus on the cross. Brokenness is the enemy of Galatians 5 things like controlling spirits, rage, anger, bitterness, lies, stealing, lust, greed, and witchcraft. Father wants us to have the same attitude about sin that he does. He is not interested in shaming us. He is interested in freeing us and cleansing us.
Ø We can see a need for brokenness in the attitudes of pastors, evangelist’s, deacons, elders, missionaries, and general religious workers whose greatest concern in recent times has been their own comfort and security, rather than their service to the Lord.
Ø A lack of brokenness can be seen in our Sabbath habits on any given Sunday morning in virtually any given church regardless of denomination. Most worship services are tainted before they even start. Many members can tell you the color of dress the pastor’s wife wear, but they haven’t a clue as to the sermon text or any spiritual application for what they heard in their lives. Regular church members consistently focus their minds on sports, business affairs or matters of personal interest as soon as the sermon begins. The Lord Jesus always seems to draw the short straw in the pecking order of daily importance. Many only come to church if there is nothing better to do. Broken men believe the presence of the Lord is the best place to be.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes, an intense spirit of conviction will be felt immediately, with no place to hide from it’s illumination.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes conduct that seemed acceptable before the Spirit fell, will appear unbelievably wicked and dangerous.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes, the cultural prejudice and racism which has dwelt in people’s lives for decades will be revealed for the grievous sin that it is to the Lord that loves all men.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes, private indulgences will no longer be acceptable. These private little cesspools will suddenly seem to merit the wrath of a holy God, and broken men will celebrate the receiving of Father’s grace instead of His judgment and wrath, which they all know they deserve.
Ø Before brokenness and revival come the body of Christ is characterized by prayerlessness. But after a revival of brokenness comes everything attitude changes. Ignorance of scripture, sins of omission, failures in good works or ignoring the plight of widows and orphans are no longer be defended with I am too busy. Brokenness will cause men to be laid open before God. Everything is put under the blood. Pride and selfishness is no longer excused as necessary defense in a wicked world. Oh the blood of Jesus! Oh the blood of Jesus! Any area of practice whether in business or at home that is inconsistent with the Word of God is viewed as the very essence of wickedness. Under the blood, under the blood! Any words spoken thoughtlessly and carelessly long ago will rise from their forgotten graves to haunt and torment until such a wave of conviction is felt that it will seem impossible to stand upright in the presence of the fire of the Spirit. Under the blood, under the blood, everything under the blood of Jesus! Lying prostrate on the floor will seem an acceptable place to worship. Carpet time is where Father will break each heart which has been dead for so long. The floors are where He will remake each heart as long forgotten sins against the members of the body of Christ will be remembered with great grief and then cleansed with great grace.
Ø Brokenness will bring prayer back to a place of prominence. Some begin to see calluses on their knees because of new found joy of staying for hours in the presence of Father God.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes, so powerful will be the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that many that once declared themselves well worthy of heaven will stand in wonder and amazement that they are not already burning in the fires of hell.
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes, the agony over sin will be so great that the thought of prolonging life in the midst of such personal wickedness will be intolerable.
1. Men will pray – “Oh God save me from my sin and from myself. Either save me from my wickedness and from my depravity or just kill me, but dear Lord do not let me stay another day in this awful condition.”
Ø When a revival of brokenness comes our view of the cross will be different. The cross of Jesus Christ, which at one time appears to be something of an enigma or mystery will now appear truly precious.
Ø Those under conviction will no longer think of the cross in terms of an act of general atonement for the sin of the world.
1. The weight of every man’s personal sin will be so great that the cross will be of personal importance to him as the only hope he has to miss an eternity of judgment.
Ø Some men will view the horror of Christ’s sufferings and realize that his own personal sin put Jesus on the cross.
1. Those that were once content to wear the cross as an ornament will now seek it as a place to offer their owns lives in sacrifice to the one that died in their place.
Broken-ness changes the way a man looks at the Cross!
Ø For those that have been broken by God’s grace, the cross will become a place of personal tragedy and victory at the same time.
1. It will amaze them to see the innocent savior at Golgotha.
2. It will humble and provoke deep sorrow in their hearts that the mental anguish and shame from the insults and jeers of the crowd, along with the wounds, bruises, and stripes which Jesus, received, was suffered for such unworthy sinners.
Ø Longstanding habits of self indulgence will be broken when revival comes.
Ø Captives will be free indeed.
Ø Sin covered for decades will be brought to light. The fear of exposure dreaded for so long will be nothing in comparison with the prospect of cleansing and forgiveness.
Ø When revival comes; well laid plans will be broken.
Ø When revival comes, schedules will be thrown to the wind.
Ø When revival comes, goals and ambitions once thought to be Godly and holy will be revealed as temporary and worthless.
Ø But men who have lived in fear will be enabled to break with their past and start serving god as they’ve never served him before.
Ø Gods timing, God’s purpose, God’s plans will rule the day of revival.
Ø All that stands in resistance before him may expect to be broken and cast aside.
Ø Some churches will collapse when revival comes, and some small and insignificant churches will bust at the seams.
Ø Are revived people must have a revived minister. Pastors will be broken by revival.
1. Men in large congregations will discover their ministries have the value of rubble.
2. Sermons would seem satisfactory in days gone by will never do in revival.
3. Habits and practices in sleeping churches will either be broken when revival comes or the pastor himself may lose his ministry.
IV. Revival includes a remaking
Ø God, the master workman will not break all before him only to retire again to his Heaven.
Ø when god breaks, He can also be counted on to remake.
Ø Broken men are pliable, teachable. When a person has reached the end of himself is ready for a new beginning.
Ø a broken people have no inclination to tell god how to be god
Ø Broken people are ready for any changes god desires, and can’t even is steamed whatever god does with perpetual thanksgiving. But
Ø When god remakes people, they have a new focus, but on god himself.
V. When god remakes us . . .
Ø we are unwilling to conceal sin
Ø we are marked by consistent and earnest desire to please god
Ø We apologize for lies
Ø We pay long overdue bills and debts
Ø We make restitution were ever and whenever needed
Ø Concession of sin becomes the order of the day
Ø We have a marked interest in feeding on the word of god
Ø Prayer is no longer drudgery. Prayer becomes a delight.
Ø We will have an agony for souls to be saved.
Ø Impassionate witnessing will no longer be enough.
Ø All teaching, preaching and Evangelism will be done with passion.
Ø Holiness will become a prime object of life.
VI. A revival includes a pouring forth
Ø fervor and excitement characterize revival
Ø Revived people will become instruments of revival
Ø New converts will be made without arm twisting
Ø Elaborate follow-up plans will not be needed because the holy spirit is a work
Ø Social concerns will be met though long forgotten
Ø Best of all-god does it all!
VII. Revival makes us …
Ø reconciled to god
Ø reconciled to others
Ø Reconciled to self