The Great Revival in Wales — Ian Paisley

The Empowering Promise of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1

You'll find an authorized version of this Bible in front of you in the pew. Turn with me to the New Testament, a part of the Bible, at the page 134. It's the first chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1. We read together in the Lord's Day Morning Bible reading, taking your time from me. The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up.

After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Ending our lesson at verse 11, and God will stamp with his own divine authority this reading from his very own infallible book.

The Spiritual Deadness Preceding the Welsh Revival

Turn in your New Testaments to the first chapter of the book of the Acts. Acts chapter 1. This week is the exact date a hundred years ago when something peculiar and special and historic happened in the Principality of Wales.

What was known as the great revival broke out in Wales a hundred years ago on this week of November. The country was a country of churches. But these churches were largely lifeless. Their ritual, their religion had deteriorated into dead ritualism.

And their faith without works had spread deadness in the whole land. There was religious dirt. There was religious death. And there was religious deception. And it abounded. Having a name to live, they were dead.

But the Almighty God of providence and grace and all power was at work. At work in a young man's heart, in a young man's life. The heart and life of Evan Roberts. The spirit of God took a dealing with this young coal miner.

And he dealt with Evan Roberts in three spheres. The sphere of purity. The sphere of prayer. The sphere of power. And the sphere of praise. That young man was so convicted of his sin that he cried out, O Lord, show me my sin.

And when God showed him the blackness and the darkness of his depraved heart, he cried out in anguish, Lord, brother, show me thyself. And by the power of the spirit of God, he was given a vision of the sin-bearing Christ upon the cross.

And he came to learn not prayer but praying. But real praying in the Holy Ghost and with power. And that power was manifested in the mighty change that took part in Plius in his life. And it went into the place of praise.

Evan Roberts became a happy and praiseful Christian. He radiated the wonder of Christ's redemption. And the fact that the gospel was the good news to sinners. That pardon and peace and life everlasting were the benefits of the gospel.

Total Zeal for the Kingdom of God

He tells himself that God taught him nine totalities. First totality, total zeal. Jesus Christ said, the zeal of my house, O Lord, hath eaten me up. The Lord's ministry was a one that was devoured by zeal.

And Evan Roberts became devoured by zeal. He became an extra zealous Christian. He did everything with joyful zeal. He didn't need any probing or exhortation or pushing. Within him there was a power, the power of Christ.

Which gave him total zeal in the kingdom of God. And in seeking the kingdom of God and God's righteousness. If ever the church, if ever God's people, if ever we all needed something. We need that zeal today.

The world is zealous for itself and for the millions who worship at its shrine. But alas, the Christian church lacks the zeal of the Savior. We hang our heads in shame. When we look at the zeal of the world for the things that only bring darkness and disaster and final damnation.

We are not zealous after the things of God. We need like the publican to strike our heart and say, God. God, God be merciful to me, the sinner. The second totality that Evan Roberts said he learned was total desperation for revival.

Desperation and Prayer for Revival

He became totally desperate to see the mighty working of the eternal spirit of God. His own country of wheels had various outpourings of the spirit of God. And in fact the Calvinistic Methodist church, the Presbyterian church of wheels was born in these great revivals.

And from time to time had visited the principality. Evan Roberts cried out only, revival and keep me alive. Give me revival or die. We may not stand today condemned. But the very movement that could save this country.

We very seldom pray for it. And we very seldom put the proper emphasis upon it. If the spirit of God does not come to our land, our land will perish. And it is perishing. Life or death, desperation. And Evan Roberts learned that.

Thirdly, the totality of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. God is not pleased by unbelief. Cometh by hearing, says the Bible. Hearing by the word of God. Ignorance of God's word causes unbelief.

A knowledge of God's word causes fear. Fear cometh by hearing. The neglected Bibles are a witness to the deadness and the coldness and the unbelief of God's people. Room for business. Room for other books and other things.

But no room for the book of God. And as a result of that, there is no totality of faith. Evan Roberts kept repeating to himself, I must take God at His word. Until I come to the totality of faith, will I see God's word being wrought the way it ought to be wrought.

Total Patience and Persistent Prayer

Then, fourthly, Evan Roberts said I had to learn totality of patience. To be patient. How impatient God's people are. The woman in the New Testament, she kept coming to the unjust judge to get her petition answered.

And she came and came and came and came and came until the judge was furious. And then he said, I'll give her what she wants and I'll shut her mouth and I'll chase her from my door. She'll never come back.

And the Lord said of an unjust judge, because of the importunity of a person's asking yields, How much more shall your heavenly Father yield? But you've got to prove that you mean it. And you mean to have what you want and are requesting by total patience.

Fourteen years Evan Roberts prayed that God would send revival. And in a little prayer room, every week for fourteen years he meditated. And when he was sick, his mother said, you're not able to go Evan tonight.

He said, Mother, should I creep there? I'm going. And he said to his mother, what if the Spirit of God came tonight? And I missed him. I was absent. Patience. And one night, fourteen or fifteen young people meeting in the church hall for that prayer meeting that had run for fourteen years met with the power of God.

A power that changed that whole generation in wheels. Total patience. The fifth totality is total willingness to do what God orders. I must not kick against the pricks. I must not argue. I must not care what people think or say about me.

Total Willingness to Obey God

I must willingly do the things that will pour the furies of my brethren around my head. But I will do it knowing it's the will of God. I asked Evan Roberts to give up his studying for the ministry. To go back home to forsake his study and take himself to prayer.

He was severely reprimanded and misrepresented by his friends. But he was willing to obey God rather than men. If he had gone on with his studies, his name would never have been heard of. But he went back to that little church which is now a free Presbyterian church which he built.

And he went back to that little church there to obey God rather than men. The totality of willingness. Totally committed. No questions. On one occasion in his writings he says this, I know that prejudice will be strong against this movement of the Spirit of God.

Therefore we must be armed with the Holy Spirit. Amongst many there will be levity. And this calls on us to be very watchful with our movements and our words. And remember to keep our eyes from wantonness.

There will be another class who will come out of curiosity and possibly to scoff. Therefore what will be necessary for us is to be strong in prayer. Oh that we could all feel we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit.

And in that feeling fall in loneliness before God with a broken heart. Beseeching Him to show His face. It is awful to be without. How can you live without? Total commitment. The totality of commitment to the task in hand.

Total Commitment to the Work of God

If it is the task of prayer, I will totally commit myself to it. If it is the task of visiting the sick, I will totally commit myself to it. If it is the task of praying for the missionaries, I will totally commit myself to it.

I will do all with a single eye of total commitment. I will see that I am chained and bound to do God's work. And from it I will not budge or give an inch. The totality of commitment. We sit so lightly to the things of God.

In many experiences of the Christian, their experiences of God goes into the wardrobe with their Sunday suit on Sunday night. That is only brought out the following Sunday. Is that you? And you look in the mirror today when you go home.

Are you looking at a person that is not totally committed to this task of revival in the church of Jesus Christ? Seventhly, the totality of fearlessness. M .N. Roberts said, should every devil in hell rise up out of the pit to oppose us, I must be absolutely fearless.

Fearlessness Before God and the Judgment

The fear of man brings a snare. The fear of people passing judgment upon us. The fear of what our brethren and sisters think of us. It does not matter. At the judgment bar you will not be judged for what people thought about you.

You will be judged by what God thought. Is yours a service of wood, hay and stubble? What gold, what silver, what precious stones did you gather for Jesus this week? That is the urgent question. Total fearlessness.

Nothing will stop. They said of Luther, the world is against you Luther. The great reformer cried, I am against the world. We can be against the world and succeed if our God is with us. For if God be for us, who can be against us?

Who can be against us? Total spirituality. To be a spiritual person. The opposite of being a carnal person. The things that are seen are temporal. Are you taken up with the temporalities of life? Your home, your business, your money, your friends, your prosperity, your amusements.

Spirituality and Eternal Priorities

Are you a person with the eye on the eternal things? I had a friend of mine who was a multi-multi-millionaire. I used to talk to him about spiritual things because he had very little care for spiritual things.

And I said to him one day, do you know sir, that one of the greatest statements the Lord Jesus Christ made when he was asked to define what life was. And the Lord Jesus Christ said, it consisteth not in the abundance of the things you possess.

Because they are all past. And you don't possess them. You handle them for a few hours, a few days, a few years, a few decades. And then they are gone. The abundance of the things that you possess. Is that what you live for?

Or is your spirituality seen in the fact that you know the things that are seen are temporal. The things that are unseen, they are eternal. And then ninthly, the totality of prayer. I'm afraid that the church of Jesus Christ has lost the real prayer.

The Totality of Prayer and the Spirit's Infilling

Therefore it is bankrupt and dead and worthless and powerless and paralyzed in the present situation. Eben Roberts asked himself the question, what is it that I need? And he was taught by the Spirit of God that what he needed was the Spirit of God.

And God worked in his heart. And he wrote these words, my heart was ever like a stone, my tongue still as a grain. But from another world there shone a light my soul to see. Now I am singing all day long the praises of his blood.

No other theme awakes my song like Calvary's crimson flood. I feel the presence of his hand bending my sinful heart. Henceforth no power can command my soul from him depart. He discovered that what he needed was that mighty infilling of the Spirit of God.

And he taught all the congregations that he ministered to, to utter a prayer. It was a very simple prayer, send the Spirit now. Send. Those words are hard to find among the prayers of God's people. Send thy Spirit now.

Second petition, send the Spirit powerfully. Send the Spirit powerfully now. Third petition, send the Spirit more powerfully. Send the Spirit more powerfully now. Fourth petition, send the Spirit still more powerfully now for Jesus.

The prayers of a child. But oh what an answer came to those prayers. Send the Spirit, blessed Jesus. He cried into every waiting heart. Lest the fear of man oppress us. Thine own strength, oh Lord, depart.

May we speak thy words forever. Grant us eloquence and grace to attract souls without number now to see thy smiling face. This is the way brethren, sisters in Christ. May God help us to walk in it. For if our United Kingdom and this island of ours, if it doesn't see an outpouring of the Spirit of God, the future is as black as the darkest night of hell.

A Call to Revival and Renewed Obedience

Let's remember that. It's now or never. I didn't intend to preach like this this morning. I had another message prepared. But last night in the quietness of the night, God spoke to my heart. And I believe God wants us here in this house to be humble instruments in the hand of God.

To be useful before God and man in a great revival of spiritual religion. It is needed. God has promised to do it. Will thy not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? May God help us to pray to that end for Jesus' sake.