Keys to Revival

[0:00] Isaiah 57, verse 15.

[0:21] It's a verse where there's some reviving going on.! I'd like to think there's some keys for revival.! Keys for revival. In this verse that we can be encouraged by.

[0:34] Isaiah 57, verse 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabits earth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place.

[0:50] With him also the ears of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

[1:03] It talks about reviving. It talks about reviving the spirit of the humble, reviving the heart of the contrite ones. Revival.

[1:14] Revival. Revival. It's much talked about, isn't it? It's almost popularized. Some churches, I think it's the trend in America, they call certain special meetings revival meetings, as if you can kind of time it and put God on a clock and say, this is when the revival starts and it goes a certain amount of days and this is when it finishes.

[1:35] Revival. People use that word quite flippantly and carelessly, I think. But revival really ought to be the normal Christian life.

[1:46] It ought to be normal. That we're living in God's reviving, working power. God's reviving. And there's three keys we could see here, for example, as I could understand it.

[1:59] Three keys you could put it in this verse here. The holiness of God, the humility of spirit, and hearts of contrition.

[2:12] Firstly, the holiness of God. The holiness of God. It's not something we hear much about. We need to recognize who God is.

[2:23] The high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. Holy. You know, the angels cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, the thrice holy, whose name is holy.

[2:46] And he dwells with man. We see in this verse, The name of God is holy. The nature of God is holy.

[2:58] He's the holy one. Our Lord Jesus, one of his names, is the holy one. And the context is eternity here. In this passage, the context is eternity.

[3:10] He inhabits eternity. It's the context of where he is. He's not earthbound. He is eternal forever. From forever to forever.

[3:21] And where does he dwell? He dwells in eternity. He dwells in the high and holy place. And he dwells with him. With human beings.

[3:32] Just like the human vessels here tonight. With him. That is of a contrite and humble spirit. To think that the high and lofty one, the high and holy one, could come and reside in vessels of clay, such as we.

[3:49] Where does he dwell? In eternity, the high and holy place, in man's hearts. You know, it tells us how Christ comes to live in our hearts by faith.

[4:01] It's an expression that's sometimes used quite glibly, invite Jesus into your heart. But there is a truth, that Jesus comes and lives in human hearts. It's a wonderful, amazing thing, isn't it?

[4:14] That he would deign to step down from glory, to become a man, but even more, that he would come, the Holy One, to come and dwell within human skin, within our lives.

[4:28] And real revivals are not of man's making, but of God's doing. A working of his spirit, the Holy One, whose name is Holy.

[4:38] Revival! It's a quickening of life. Revival! It's the breath of the Holy Spirit. Revival! It's the normal Christian life. God's Holy Spirit works.

[4:50] It's the work of his hand. It's a relying upon him. Revival! Revival! Revival! And when we are weak, our Lord chooses to come, and he makes us strong.

[5:03] He can be strong in us. When you're feeling absolutely at the end of your road, when you're feeling totally inadequate, unworthy, when you're feeling weak, he can be powerful.

[5:16] He can be purifying. He can work in his grace, in hearts such as that. As we read in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, where Paul's striving with the thorn, the difficulty, whatever it was, that God said, no, you're going to have to wear that.

[5:34] He says, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my grace is made perfect in weakness. Amen. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

[5:48] Isaiah 66, we read, Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, where is the house that ye build unto me?

[6:00] And where is the place of my rest? Some people are thinking you can put God in a box, in a building, in a human structure. But he says, For all those things have mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord, But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

[6:26] To who does this holy God look? To who does this one, the holy one, who's high and lofty, high and holy, who dwells in eternity, to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at his word.

[6:42] The key for our revival, is for us to recognise, who God is, and who we are, in relation. This one whose name, is holy, and we in our mortal frames, can come to know him.

[6:56] That he can come, and dwell, and reside, in such as we. As we bend the knee, as we come in subjection, unto him. As we let go, of self authority, and come under his authority.

[7:10] As we come under the authority, of his scriptures. As we come under his grace. As we come under, his mighty hand. He can work, in your life, and mine.

[7:22] And, his working, in men and women's lives, through the pages of scripture, are not something, that's obsolete. God works now, in human hearts.

[7:35] He hasn't stopped. It's still present day. The Holy Spirit's still moving. And we need to, move with God. To this man, will I look, him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles, at my word.

[7:49] Come under the authority, of his word. Come and surrender. Come and yield, to that Holy One. He wants, you to, surrender, to him.

[8:00] He wants you, to surrender, to him. You know, I was encouraged today, when I heard someone, had a response, this morning's service, there was a surrender, there was a response.

[8:12] God wants us to respond. We ought to respond. We ought to respond, day by day by day. Every time we gather, we should respond, to the word. We should respond, how? By trembling at it, taking it seriously.

[8:24] This is real. It's relevant. It's now. It's for you. It's for me. It's his message. And we must come under, the authority of it, and surrender as he, works and reigns in lives.

[8:39] His name is holy. He dwells in the high, and holy place. And he wants to make you, his holy habitation. Get a load of that today. Get a load of that.

[8:50] That the Holy Spirit, wants to come, and make you, a temple, of the living God. That the Holy One, One, can come, and reside in your heart, by faith.

[9:03] Young people, older people, whatever colour, of your skin, whatever background, whatever status, you may have. He wants you. He's calling you.

[9:15] He wants you to yield, to him. To come under his authority. He dwells with the one, with a humble spirit. And what is his will? His will is our holiness.

[9:26] His name is holy. Holy. His name is holy. We should not treat that lightly. His will, is our holiness.

[9:37] That we should be, vessels. That he can, work through us. We, read that, that one in, Romans 12. Where it says, that we present our bodies, a living sacrifice.

[9:50] Holy, acceptable, unto God. Which is, our reasonable service. His will, is that we delight. in his will. And that we, draw near, unto him.

[10:03] As we read, Psalm 37, verse 4, it says, delight thyself, also in the Lord, and he shall give thee, the desires, of, thine heart. Delight, in him.

[10:14] Delight, in God. His name is holy. His name is holy. Draw near to him. James 4, 6. It says, but he giveth grace, more grace.

[10:27] He saith, God resisteth the proud. He resists the proud, but, the good news is, he gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble. And it goes on, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

[10:42] That's you. That's me. You're in that verse. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you, to you, to you. Holiness.

[10:53] The Holy One. We need his grace. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. It's recognising who he is. Recognising our relationship.

[11:03] He is high and holy. He's beyond our imagination. He's beyond any concept of man. Beyond any description a human writer can pen.

[11:14] Beyond any language, any speaker can describe him. He's indescribable. And he is holy. Holiness is one of the keys to revival.

[11:26] And secondly, one of the keys to revival is humility of spirit. Humility of spirit. He will revive the spirit of the humble.

[11:38] The humble. Now we had our pride knocked out this morning. Everything went wrong with the technology. You know, we can get reliant on man's methodologies and all the razzmatazz.

[11:51] And you know, we're guilty of that. Just like the church down the road. Alright? We can get proud. We can get proud. Because we've got lots of people here tonight. We can get proud. Because we think we've got it all together.

[12:03] We don't want that. We've got to watch our pride. I've got to watch pride all the time. We can get proud about our ministries. It's true. We can get proud about our achievements.

[12:17] But it's all really unto him, isn't it? If it's unto him, we've got no credit to claim. If it's unto him. And friends, revival, one of the keys of revival, is humility of spirit.

[12:29] He will revive the spirit of the humble. We've lost that, people. We've lost that. Many churches, you know, it's doctor this or prophet that or apostle whatnot, you know.

[12:40] But friends, we've got to get real. It's the spirit of the humble that he will move in. That he will revive. That's what he wants. Revival does not come to the proud. Revival begins with humility.

[12:53] As we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God as brothers and sisters together. Humility is the opposite of pride. And revival begins with humility. As God's people, we must humble ourselves and pray.

[13:07] That's how it starts, isn't it? Just for God to even hear us, we must humble ourselves. When the two folk went to the temple to pray, the Pharisee, he had it all together.

[13:19] He had letters behind his name and all the right clothes on and all the right language and he was doing all the right things. But he was very far, far from God. Why? Because of his pride.

[13:29] And yet the sinner, the tax collector, he had nothing to claim but his unworthiness and God's grace. Woe to me.

[13:41] God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The sinner that I am. God, have mercy. God, be pleased through the sacrifice, the propitiation, the giving of Christ on my behalf was the sense of it.

[13:56] God, have mercy upon me. I come to the mercy seat. Have mercy upon me. That is how we should pray. That we will have that humility as God's people.

[14:07] Pride. It will rob you of ultimate power with God. When we get proud, God will bypass us. When we get proud, God will go us another way. The cloud will move away from us.

[14:18] Pride will rob us of the ultimate power that can only come as we surrender, as we come to our knees. The first ever sin was pride. It was pride.

[14:29] Satan said, I will exalt my throne above God. I will. I will. I will. The first ever sin.

[14:40] The focus of pride is, I will. My way. My will. My plan. But grace and pride can never dwell together. Humility brings grace.

[14:55] That's what we need. Humility brings grace. Humility brings grace to us. Humility brings grace to our church. Let us not get proud. As James says, God resists the proud.

[15:08] He resists them. But he gives grace to the humble. A preacher, Mayer, said this, I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves, one above the other, and that the taller we grew as a Christian, the taller that we grew in Christian character, the more easily we could reach them, as we grow taller and taller.

[15:30] Now this is nothing against tall people here tonight, but I used to think you had to grow taller and taller to reach the gifts, he said. And now he says, I now find that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other, and there is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping lower.

[15:48] Of stooping lower. Do you want revival? Do you want it? Starting to sound like one of those TV preachers.

[16:00] Do you want revival? He will revive the spirit of the humble. Of the humble. And we ask ourselves, do we want revival? There's an essential item of clothing that we should put on every day, that we should clothe ourselves with.

[16:15] In 1 Peter 5, it says, Likewise, you younger, submit to the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility.

[16:26] Be clothed with it. As if you would clothe yourself with a garment. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

[16:39] Humility is the opposite of self-centeredness and pride. In Philippians 2, verse 3, we read, Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves.

[16:55] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Don't be selfish. Look out for the things of others. Have lowliness of mind.

[17:07] Esteem others better than yourself. We all like to claim the credit, don't we? We like to claim the glory. We like to think. We big note ourselves.

[17:19] I can be guilty of that. But let us esteem one another. Prefer one another. And not have that kind of attitude.

[17:31] Condescend to men of low estate, it says. That's a big one, isn't it? You know, sometimes we can be guilty, like the people in James, and we just talk to the ones that might just, we might feel comfortable talking to.

[17:48] But we ought to go to those who are men of low estate. Those that might, might be neglected. You know, I was at the meeting at the other church, there was a man standing on his own.

[18:01] He seemed like no one wanted to talk to him. And it's good to take the effort to go to such a one, and try to show love to that one. The one that others might disregard or discount.

[18:13] Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. In lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Humility will want to serve God and others. Pride can hinder our walk with God.

[18:27] Pride will be an obstacle for you. Pride is something that you need to address, that I need to address, day by day by day. Deal with pride. God bypasses the proud, but he dwells with the humble ones.

[18:41] Those who bow their spirits to his word. Those who humble. Those who repent. Those who tremble at his word. Those who have that God dependency.

[18:52] You know, I've said this before. We're really not an independent Baptist church. We're a God dependent Baptist church. That's what we need to be. We need to be God dependent. Not independent.

[19:05] Now of course we mean it in the sense of not coming under some religious hierarchy, or some system of men. But we need to be God dependent. That's the ultimate. And that's what we always must have.

[19:16] That attitude of being dependent upon him. Submitting to his will. Jonathan Edwards was an old time preacher who saw revival. He said, Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.

[19:32] That's an interesting quote, isn't it? And Jonathan Edwards calls pride, the chief source of all the mischief that the devil introduces to clog and hinder the work of God.

[19:45] When pride comes, there's infighting, isn't there? There's, you know, pecking orders and people getting toes trodden on and upsets and gnarkiness.

[19:58] Because of self, isn't it? It's flesh, isn't it? That's what it is. It's pride. And it will clog and hinder the work of God. So friends, let's be encouraged to depend on the Lord.

[20:11] To put ourselves at the disposal of God. For him to see fit to use us, as he will. As it says in Acts 20 verse 19, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.

[20:25] That's how you serve him. With all humility of mind. So you don't think you've got anything to claim for it. It's despite you, isn't it? It's despite you. It's his having his way with you.

[20:38] That's what we give glory to. Honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. But a man's pride shall bring him low.

[20:49] That's Proverbs 29, 23. Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty or proud. And before honour is humility. That's Proverbs 18 verse 12.

[21:00] So what's pride? Pride promotes self rather than God. But God wants us to be humble. So he can bear fruit through us. As we honour him, he can work through us.

[21:13] As we give him glory. As we please him. So we've seen three keys for revival. The holiness of God. It's missing people. It's missing tonight.

[21:24] It's missing in the church. The holiness of God. His name is holy. The holiness of God. We need a fresh sense of it. We need to see the sense of the humility of spirit.

[21:39] The humility of spirit. To have that kind of spirit. And thirdly, we need a heart of contrition. A heart of contrition. Do you want revival?

[21:50] Yes. Yes. Yes. He will revive the heart of the contrite ones. He wants your heart. He wants your heart. The one who searches. He tries.

[22:01] He examines. He gets his x-ray vision into the very core of your being. Into the very centre of your heart. And he tugs at your heart strings.

[22:13] And the Lord wants our hearts. He wants our hearts to be contrite. To be broken up over our sin. He wants to deal with the hardness of our hearts.

[22:25] Which is natural for all of us. That we can instead become a people of tender hearts. He wants you to be tender hearted towards him. Tender hearted to others.

[22:36] Tender hearted in that you identify sin. That you identify him. That you ask the Lord for a teachable spirit. And you want to honour the Lord.

[22:49] The prophet said to the king of Judah. In 2 Kings 22 verse 19. The context is of judgment. And 2 Kings 22 verse 19. The prophet says to the king of Judah.

[23:01] Because thine heart was tender. And thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord. When thou heardest what I spake against this place. You rent your clothes and wept before me.

[23:14] I have heard you. Because your heart was tender. Because you humbled yourself. Because you rent your clothes. I have heard you.

[23:31] Is that your heart tonight? That you want to tear your clothes in agony. At the state of your soul today.

[23:44] That you want Christ to penetrate. That you want the Holy Spirit to have all of you. Search me oh God. And know my heart.

[23:56] Try me. And know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139. Friends he is our life.

[24:08] Jesus. In all his fullness. He is life. He is revival. Jesus is revival. It's not going to some place.

[24:19] Or hearing some special speaker. Or some super duper meeting. It's Jesus. It's Christ. It's Christ. It's Christ. It's Christ in you.

[24:30] He is revival. And as we are broken up over our sin. As our hearts are contrite. Broken up over our sin. That he can work within.

[24:43] He can penetrate. As we break our hearts. As he changes our hearts. As we put aside our own agendas. Our own way of doing things. As we submit to him.

[24:54] There's too much pride. There's too much pride. There's pride. And it's a battle we all battle with. Friends there's pride.

[25:06] There's pride in you. There's pride in me. We need to crucify the flesh. The self. Do we want revival? He will revive the hearts of the contrite ones.

[25:19] What does contrite mean? It means a repenting. It means a letting go of self. Of flesh. Of sinfulness. Of the ego.

[25:32] Of dying to self. Of surrender. Of humbling ourselves. Under the mighty hand of God. Forsaking sin. Break up your fallow ground it says.

[25:47] Break up your fallow ground. As some old time preachers have used that to describe revival. Of a ground that is hard. Rock hard. Dry. Dead.

[25:58] Sterile. Barren. Break it up. Get the pickaxe out. Break up that fallow ground. Break it up. Break it up. Break it up. Those rocks. Those stones. That hardness.

[26:09] That stoniness. The hardness of our hearts. Break it up. Break up your fallow ground. And instead cultivate this kind of heart.

[26:21] The kind of heart. The heart of the contrite. Instead of being prideful. Let's be God fearing. God dependent. The Lord looks for soft hearts.

[26:32] Soft hearts. Hearts that are seeking. Hearts submitted. How is your heart today? Is your heart like the king of Judah? God softened his heart.

[26:43] God saw that man's heart breaking up over the sin. Facing the judgment. God broke up the heart of the king of Judah.

[26:56] Or will it be hard? Hard like the king of Egypt. In Exodus 10. When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh. Said unto him. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews.

[27:08] How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go.

[27:19] That they may serve me. But did he yield? No. His heart stayed hard. His heart was hard and hardened. Will you surrender? Will you submit to God?

[27:30] Will you have a heart softened like the king of Judah? His heart was made tender. Or will your heart be like the king of Egypt's? Hard and getting harder. Will you submit?

[27:42] God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

[27:53] Do we want revival? I think deep down every genuine Christian wants revival. How do we get it? Is it something we've got to advertise or put on the program?

[28:08] We'll write it in the newsletter next time we do one. It's revival. We put it between 7 o'clock and whatnot on such and such a day. Well, will revival start now?

[28:20] In every human heart that's here. As the Spirit of God softens every heart. As the Spirit of God draws us to the Holy One.

[28:31] As our hearts are contrite and yielded. He will revive the hearts of the contrite.

[28:41] It says in Proverbs 28.13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. But the one who confesses and forsakes his sins shall have mercy.

[28:54] You can cover your sin, but you're not going to get anywhere. But you can confess your sins and forsake them and you can find mercy. That's a wonderful blessing, isn't it?

[29:04] That's a promise for you tonight. Proverbs 28.13, If you confess and forsake your sins, he shall have mercy. So, to close, a challenge please for everyone here tonight.

[29:18] I'm not assuming you're all believers here. The Bible says this in Romans 10. It tells us of a word of faith. We've heard of the word of faith movement.

[29:29] This is the word of faith. That's what we need. This is the word of faith. Romans 10.19, That if thou shalt confess with thine mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

[29:44] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, For whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

[29:58] Humility. It's right through there, isn't it? Believe in your heart the Holy One. The Holy One became human skin, bearing human sin, not his own, but ours, bleeding and dying on a brutal, real cross, bearing in his own body the sins of man.

[30:20] Why? For you. For you. For you. For me. Holy is the Lord.

[30:32] He wants a humility. As we surrender to the authority of his word, he's going to revive. He's going to revive.

[30:43] As we obey the conditions. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise.

[30:55] A broken and a contrite heart. He's not going to despise that. He's going to welcome that. He's going to be glad when your heart is like that. Do you want revival? Commune with the High and Holy One.

[31:08] The High and Holy One, whose name is Holy. He will hear your cry. And he will honour you. And there's a brokenness of spirit. There's a humility of spirit. There is a contrition of heart.

[31:20] A repenting of heart. And then, what victory. What victory. It's not like we walk around under a cloud anymore.

[31:31] The cloud's gone. It's taken. The sin's gone. It's gone forever. Because of the blood. And you as a believer in Christ, you're a victorious man or woman here tonight.

[31:46] You've got ultimate and absolute, never-ending, everlasting victory. Psalm 91.

[31:58] It's a psalm really encouraging, the whole psalm. But just Psalm 91 from 14. It says, Because he has set his love on me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

[32:11] He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

[32:23] He will call upon me, I shall answer. I will be with him in trouble. With long life will I satisfy him. I will deliver him and honour him. Think of the honour that you have.

[32:36] I know I saw a little video clip in the week, and it was really a gripping clip. And it started off with a man in a prison cell, shackled, and no way of escape from the prison cell.

[32:54] And then a figure came bearing a whip. He was going to beat this prisoner. And then someone stepped in front of the prisoner and took the punishment for the prisoner.

[33:12] And the shackles fell off this man. And then the shackled man stepped out of the prison cell and went out into absolute freedom and liberty and came to the king and was robed and commissioned and given a message to take as an ambassador.

[33:37] And it was really a gripping picture for me. It was just a great illustration of what happens as the believer. Taken from the prison chains into marvellous light, into kingly robes, with a commission, a vital message to declare, to be used of him.

[33:58] And the one who took the punishment freely stepped in in the place of that prisoner. Now if you've got an email and you'd like me to send you that clip, it was really quite an encouragement to me.

[34:10] And friends, the picture is of the Holy One, his holy name. The picture is of the humble heart the humble spirit and of the contrite heart of repenting hearts.

[34:28] But then we step beyond that. We're given a place of honour. We're given a place of honour. God is working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

[34:39] There's a wonderful truth that you are set free. He's made you victorious and he's given you something to do. We're no longer under that cloud of sin.

[34:50] There's no longer an unworthiness. He's robed you with his own righteousness. He's made you his own son and daughter and he's given you the most vital and essential message for the world around you to hear and he wants you to be used of him.

[35:06] And that's when we come and we see revival. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that you are the Holy One. That we can be made humble.

[35:17] Help us, Lord, to deny pride and flesh to crucify self. Lord, to put aside our own priorities even.

[35:28] That you would be glorified. That, Lord, we would have a contriteness, a contrition of heart. That we would have a repenting of heart where we might see our sin and forsake it.

[35:43] Help us, Lord, to break up our fallow ground, the hardness of our hearts. Help us, Lord, to allow your Holy Spirit to have his every way with every heart.

[35:57] Lord, that we might be a revived people. People with life. A people who know Christ and walk in his life. Lord, to be that people that bear that message, that live in that place of honour and privilege as sons and daughters of the living God.

[36:14] Set free from the chains and make ambassadors, Lord, in this world around us. Help us to realise that and to walk in that victory ahead. If there's any yet to trust you, that they would cry out, that they would seek counsel even now, before we leave this place, that they might seek prayer.

[36:38] And if there's believers here too that would like prayer, they might seek that tonight and talk to a trusted Christian near them and say, please pray for me. I need prayer.

[36:50] And they'll receive that prayer, Lord. Use each one, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[37:02] Thank you.