Revival in the New Testament

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Well, I can say without hesitation after Keith's kind words that you guys got a great upgrade in worship leaders it's a gift to sing the good news of the gospel before we go to the word and Open it from there.
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I have been thinking about My time here at Sovereign Grace Family Church and listening yesterday evening, too I wasn't able to be here but listened in on the live stream and Heard Keith's introduction and talking about this idea of revival being God's work over time and the changes that he brings in the life of individuals and in the lives of congregations and ultimately in communities and nations and I can say Unhesitatingly that that was my experience being here We came to Sovereign Grace Family Church before it was called that back in 2008 and what we found here was a Profound love for the Word of God a profound love for people and What we experienced in the next seven or eight years that we were here was nothing short of Revival in our lives my wife and I at the time revival among the people of God here Keith told you about that day that I came to his office and told him that I believe God was calling me to ministry and that I wanted to both have that call affirmed by he and the elders of the church and pursue a biblical training in preparation for that ministry, but he didn't tell you about a day that happened before that and Lots of conversations we had but a day where I came to him and confessed some sin because God had convicted me of something in my life And the work of revival that began there that led to all the things that followed and so it's it's precious and profound to have the opportunity to share about that today because I've lived through it and God has been so gracious to me under the ministry of this church and pastor Keith the elders I'm so grateful for this opportunity.
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I want to open with you guys this morning John chapter 16 and so if you'll begin to turn to John chapter 16, it is my task to Talk to you about revival in the New Testament.
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And I think that Like the Apostle Paul said he was the chief of sinners I am the least of preachers.
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And so I feel like I got the easy task to go to the New Testament and see the work of the Spirit begin to unfold in the life of Followers of Christ and so I want to look at John chapter 16 this morning verses 8 through 15 We'll read that text in a minute.
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I want to Think about what we're gonna see here I think words are funny words often don't mean what they sound like they should mean one of those words to me is the word Extraordinary We say extraordinary to mean something that's out of the usual that's over-the-top.
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It's unexpected It's surprising, but if you just take the kind of two words, it seems like it should be Extraordinary in other words more ordinary, right? It's the most ordinary thing we could imagine.
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It's extra ordinary and so as I've been thinking about revival and as these brothers have already sought to define revival according to the scriptures that word has Carried that meaning it's Extraordinary it is in some sense is surprising and overwhelming and it comes Seemingly out of nowhere as we've talked about the Spirit blows or goes where he will like the wind But in one sense, it's also the most ordinary thing that we could imagine the work of the Spirit of God is the work of revival in the hearts and lives of God's people and It is the ordinary thing that scripture tells us that the Spirit of God is going to do and so you hear people talk about revival and what they mean are these things we've already talked about we have Set up a place and a time and scheduled this event and what we're hoping will happen is that there'll be this intensification this giant outpouring of the Spirit in a Surprising and shocking and exciting way and it'll all happen And we'll be able to talk about it.
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We'll be so overwhelmed by it But the word itself revival that carries the idea of taking something that was dead and making it alive if you Work in a hospital and someone stops breathing their heart stops beating They come in and make all efforts to revive the person to bring life where there is death so then revival is When a sinner who comes to Christ They were dead in their sins and trespasses and God through the work of the Holy Spirit makes them alive in Christ We can call that truly and rightly revival But we also use that word revive revival to talk about someone who's been in a long season or a place where they have been in great need and they you imagine the desert right someone's been wandering across the desert and they are without water and all the things they need and they come upon an oasis and they are refreshed Revived when they find that source of water so we can also talk about Revival as being something a believer experiences who has grown cold in their faith There's been a long season of dry desperation and God by his grace and through the Spirit works to bring Life and refreshment and reviving to that soul so the Holy Spirit Working through the ordinary means of grace brings dead men to life and awakens slumbering Saints.
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That is Revival or we could say revival is God changing people over time So, how does that revival come about? I want to get into John chapter 16 verse 8 through verse 15 and unpack that with you I'm gonna read this and then we'll go to God in prayer.
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So John 16 beginning in verse 8 the Word of the Lord says and When he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment Concerning sin because they do not believe in me Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own authority But whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come He will glorify me For he will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the father has is mine Therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you Thanks be to God for his word.
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Let's go to him in prayer father Please help us in these moments To hear and understand and believe your word as the Word of God and not the words of men Help me father to speak with clarity and communicate the truth of your word and not my thoughts Help us father to have our hearts and minds opened To the truth of your word that we might receive it Believe it be transformed by it and walk in obedience to it to the glory of your great name We pray father in Jesus name Amen in John chapter 16 beginning in verse 8 Jesus gives this description to his disciples You know this section of John's gospel is a long extended segment of Jesus speaking to his disciples Knowing that his time to be glorified on the cross at Calvary is coming He's going to depart from them soon and he's trying to prepare them.
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He's trying to encourage and comfort them ahead of time He's trying to build them up and strengthen them and tell them what to be looking for after he is crucified He tells them that he's going to depart from them but he's going to send the Spirit of God another comforter one who will come and have a precious ministry to God's people and He begins to describe in John 16 in verse 8 what that ministry is going to look like and so I'm going to Zero in as close as I can on the work of the Spirit of God in the life of God's people He describes it in verse 8 Using this word convict when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment The work of the Spirit is described with this overarching term convict.
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We talk about conviction all the time in church I was convicted of my sin the word itself carries a legal sense convict You send someone to court because they've committed a crime the attorneys stand and make their case and the judge says Guilty and we say that person was convicted now Conviction like that is not something we're going around looking for It's not something we want It's not something we desire you think about the way we talk about preparing our hearts for revival So often we're not asking God to convict us in our sins That conviction when it comes it often strikes people in the most unwelcomed and unexpected ways God does it without asking for our permission? God does it because as brother Andy stated so clearly God is a sovereign God who works as he wills not according to our wishes and pleasures but according to his will and good pleasure and So conviction comes from God that is one of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit of God is to bring conviction But we're often confused about what conviction actually is I want to share with you a few things that I think conviction is not things that we could confuse for conviction But actually won't have the spiritual effect that real Spirit led conviction of our sins will conviction is not feeling bad about something we did the Spirit of God is not Jiminy cricket our Conscience whispering into our ears or the good angel on the one shoulder trying to outdo the bad angel on the other shoulder the devil Conviction is not feeling bad for something we did wrong There are plenty of people who feel bad about something they did who are not under the conviction of the Holy Spirit Conviction is not feeling ashamed for what you've done.
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You might do something and you might sit down and think man I know better.
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I was raised better.
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That's not who I ought to be.
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I'm ashamed of myself But you can have those exact thoughts and not be convicted by God for your sin Conviction is not feeling guilty about what you did.
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It's not just saying.
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Yep.
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I was wrong.
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You got me Conviction is not simply an awareness of the truth.
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It's not just knowing right from wrong Of course, we are all born created in God's image and even though that image is marred by the fall We still know in our hearts.
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There is a right and a wrong there is truth and error We have built within us the understanding that it is wrong to take the life of another person created in God's image Even if nobody writes it down and makes a law we know that But that's not conviction Conviction is not understanding the reality of judgment against our sin or wrongdoings Conviction is not I committed a crime now.
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I know I'm gonna have to do the time all of those things can be present in the life of an unbeliever or the life of a believer and not be the Real conviction of the Holy Spirit of God.
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So then the question that we need to answer most importantly is what is conviction? This conviction that Jesus is talking about here This conviction that the Spirit of God brings to us is a spirit induced awareness of God's holiness and our sinfulness You hear the two sides of that? It's not just fascinated with and fixated on what we have done wrong Beating ourselves up over it.
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It is a dual awareness of how holy and righteous and perfect God is while also understanding our sinfulness before him.
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It is a loathing of sin I hate my sin as brother Andy said and A longing for God's cleansing and transforming power.
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That's conviction It's not I feel guilty and anxious and I don't know what to do about it Maybe I can meditate or maybe if I just get it off my chest, I'll feel better Maybe if I try to do better next time I can do some good to outweigh the bad Conviction is the Spirit of God making us aware of God's holiness our sinfulness us growing to hate to detest our sin and Longing that God would cleanse us and Transform us not just God forgive me, but God change me free me from the bondage of this sin.
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Make me new in Christ and Conviction is not driven by emotion But it is attended with emotion You see part of the issue with what is called revival today by so many people in so many places is it is driven by? emotion We're aiming at this emotional experience that makes me feel like something really happened Emotion is going to come if you have a genuine encounter with the God of the universe If you are struck by the Spirit of God with an awareness of his holiness and an awareness of your sin That is going to be attended with all kinds of emotions But it's not driven by emotion.
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Let me give you a biblical example Isaiah chapter 6 I know many of you if not, all of you know this passage Well, Isaiah comes into the presence of God in the temple, right and and he's standing before God and what does he say? He's overwhelmed With spirit fuel conviction.
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He says woe is me for I am lost I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts that's conviction That's Seeing God's awesomeness and realizing if God is not merciful in this moment.
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I'm gonna be dust When he comes the Spirit of God he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment the first way this conviction comes is that the Spirit comes to convict us and turn us away from sin it is Turning away from sin that is necessary for revival to happen.
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It's not just a necessary ingredient It's a part of what revival is.
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It's God's people saying we're no longer content Because of what God has done to go on in our sin to make excuses for our sin to justify ourselves But I want you to see from the text that he's talking about a very specific conviction of sin You see Jesus gives us these three things and then he goes on to explain each one of them And so we don't have to guess or wonder what he's talking about.
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We just look at his word follow along with me verse 9 Concerning sin because they do not believe in me the banner conviction of sin that Jesus says the Spirit of God is going to pour out on his people is that they would be convicted over their unbelief Jesus came to his own people John tells us in his own people did not receive him.
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They were guilty of unbelief They failed to believe in him as the Messiah the anointed one who came to save them from their sins they because of their unbelief were left dead in their trespasses and sins and Because of that if they were to have any hope at all God was going to have to do something to act on their dead hearts You see dead men don't decide one day to raise their hand and ask God to do something for them because they're dead So these people God's own people who he'd cared for and loved and as Brother Mike shared brought as they were exiled brought them back in his own people They didn't receive Jesus.
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They were entrenched in unbelief And he says the Spirit is going to come And act on their dead unbelieving hearts and convict them of their unbelief We read about this in Ephesians chapter 2 in this great passage verse 4, right? But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace You've been saved you you see the pattern death to life revival Every single time a sinner dead in their trespasses and sins comes to life in Christ We can rightly and biblically call that revival By the work of the Holy Spirit through faith in the Son Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father God be praised true revival, but you see unbelief wasn't just a problem in the time of the New Testament It wasn't just that those Original Jewish people who the Messiah came to rejected him unbelief plagues God's people today I'm not talking about those people out there The very people who sit in the pews and the chairs we've gotten rid of pews these days the people who sit inside the sanctuary and Consistently hear the preaching of the Word of God still battle with unbelief We here's some specific ways.
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We deal with it.
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We fail to believe that God is actually sufficient that the Word of God is actually Sufficient for our needs to instruct us in godliness and righteousness to reprove and rebuke our sin We've got to have the Word of God plus some other really important stuff that will help us So we believe God is not sufficient or here's another way unbelief shows its ugly head today among the people of God Is God really good? Is he really good because you know, there's been some good times in my life where I saw the merciful gracious hand of God But I've been through some hard things and I see bad things all around me and disasters happen And I don't know how to explain those to my friends.
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I'm not sure that God is good.
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We deal with the sin of unbelief God you're great as long as the blessings are pouring out on us But hey, if you withhold your hand of blessing in that hand of God's hard providence comes our way I I just don't know if I believe in you the same way I did before God and So often we would never verbalize that with our mouths and say we were struggling to believe that God is good But it's there in our hearts, isn't it? God doesn't need you to speak to know what's in your heart.
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He sees your thoughts he knows every word before it even crosses your lips and so unbelief Plagues God's people it plagued God's people in that day it plagues us today and the first and primary and beginning work of the Holy Spirit of God to bring revival to God's people is That he turns us away from our sins and specifically the sin of unbelief So that revival occurs when the Holy Spirit convicts men and women of their sin and especially their unbelief He confronts them in their rejection of Jesus Christ He confronts the people sitting in the pew who are trying to wrestle through what they're seeing around them And they're going well, I trust in God, but this and but that but this but that He says no you depend on me for all things You either believe in me as God over all or you don't believe in me at all when he comes he'll convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment concerning sin because they do not believe in me and then next verse 10 He goes to the second convicting work of the Spirit of God concerning righteousness Because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer Let's talk about righteousness for a minute We throw around church words sometimes with no real grasp or understanding of what they mean I want to be careful to make sure we all understand what we're talking about before we move forward righteousness To make it simple means doing what is right? It's being moral it is To be morally right and justifiable in all that you do and when it's used to describe God it points out something Similar but also more important this reality that God himself is righteous the the real standard of righteousness.
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What is right is God himself all that he does is right.
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It's not a moving target.
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It's not bound by societal norms or time or cultural expectations righteousness comes from who God is and Jesus says when the Spirit comes He's going to convict people concerning righteousness Because I go to the Father and you'll see me no longer so by that standard of righteousness the Perfection of God all that he does is right.
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Everything he says is true.
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We then are bound to live lives of perfect righteousness That's why God created us But by that standard every single one of us are entirely and completely unrighteous, aren't we? If the standard is perfection and you miss it by a quarter of a percent No matter It's just as bad as if you've missed it by a mile So we are unrighteous.
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We've missed the mark of God's perfect standard We have no righteousness of our own and so then again we find ourselves in the same kind of desperate situation those who are dealing with unbelief were in If God doesn't do something We're destitute and hopeless So then Jesus says I'm The Spirit's going to convict you concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you'll see me long no longer What is he saying? Jesus had imaged for the disciples who'd walked alongside of him What true righteousness in human flesh looked like he had portrayed to them They had seen the righteousness of God in human flesh when they walked alongside of Jesus Christ, but now He's going to leave them Jesus did something in his our incarnation that we have all failed to do.
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He lived a life of perfect obedience to God He's perfectly righteous in every respect and that is the righteousness that the Spirit of God comes to convict us of because Remember the context of the New Testament era as Jesus is walking Not everybody agrees with this scripture or you and I in saying that Jesus was perfectly righteous.
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Do they? Many of the Pharisees around him are going this guy is a drunk and a sin.
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Look at him.
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He's having dinner with the sinners He's hanging out with the tax, but nobody likes the tax collectors Or this guy's blaspheming against God every time he claimed to be God in the flesh this guy's blaspheming God But we understand in the light of the New Testament.
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Jesus was perfectly right in every one of those claims He was perfectly righteous and everything even as he walked among sinners and was sinned against he never Responded by sinning against them He was always perfectly righteous But there's another aspect to his righteousness That's important that the Spirit of God is coming to convict us of yes that Jesus walked in perfection.
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But think about Why he's telling them this now The Spirit will come to convict concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you will see me no longer What is bound up in that is an understanding of Jesus's ascension to heaven to the right hand of the Father The reason he gives for that conviction is his departure not just his departure, but the reality he's going to the Father How in the world can anyone be in the presence of God the Father? only if they're righteous an Unrighteous man in the presence of a righteous and holy God will be consumed by the righteous wrath of God That's why Isaiah was immediately struck with that reality in the temple but Jesus is going to ascend to the Father and The only reason he can do that is because he is perfectly righteous the full proof of the righteousness of Jesus Christ is that he ascends to the Father and is seated at his right hand and Why is that so important for us? Because having no righteousness of our own if we have any hope of being in God's presence We need a righteousness from somewhere else Or more properly from someone else if we don't have an alien righteousness Imputed to us from Jesus Christ Then you and I have no hope of ever being in the presence of the Father Nor should we have any hope of genuine revival coming to us.
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Why? Would we expect anything different? Christ's righteousness is the only way we can come to the Father Through faith in Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and his righteousness is imputed to us and The Spirit of God convicts men and women of that need and of the true righteousness of Christ that can be ours See apart from the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God People are going to go on number one thinking maybe Jesus was a good teacher interesting guy Cool historical figure to think about did some neat things but they're not going to recognize that he was truly God in the flesh and lived a life of perfect obedience and apart from the conviction of the Holy Spirit of God they're not going to understand and believe that he truly and Genuinely bore the sins of all his people for all time on the cross of Calvary so that we could be cleansed and forgiven So the Spirit comes to convict Not just concerning the sin of unbelief, but also concerning the righteousness of Christ and our need for that righteousness Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14.
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He's Unpacking this reality of the Old Covenant and the system of laws that God had given so that the people could worship But the New Covenant and how much greater and better it was and he says in Hebrews 9 verse 14 How much more with the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God? Purify our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God you see it again death to life Revival And you notice what we're purified from Dead works trying to figure out a way that we can make our way to God on our terms and by our merit and again, this is so much of what passes for aiming at revival is people trying to do the work a Spiritual work that only God can accomplish by human means brother Andy pointed this out to us You can manipulate and manufacture some exciting event that gathers a crowd of people it's not that hard after all You can have a terrible losing football team in town for 15 20 years and people will pay big money to go sit down there And scream and yell about it But there's nothing about that that smacks of the holiness of God there's nothing about that that shows us where sinners are turned away from their sin of unbelief and turned towards Christ and real revival is always attended by those things If that's not present, whatever it is, it's not revival People might be excited They might feel something they've never felt before But if sinners aren't being turned from the sin of unbelief and not being turned towards the righteousness of Christ, whatever it is.
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It ain't revival Revival occurs when the Holy Spirit convicts people of Christ's perfect righteousness and their unrighteousness The third thing he unpacks in the next verse here verse 11 He's going to convict concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged This reality of judgment is Pervasive and yet if we have any desire to persist in our sin What we've got to do or some mental gymnastics to put aside this thought of judgment this is why in America the the most prosperous nation in time in the history of humanity people are so wrapped up in so many other things because the last thing they want to do is stop and Sit down for a moment and think about the reality of judgment They don't want to have a conversation about what comes at the end of life because they've got all these comforts They're enjoying now.
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They don't want to think about death They don't want to think about life after death They don't want to think about God and his holiness sitting upon the throne and judging them for their works so they numb themselves with money with alcohol with drugs with pursuit of power with Relationships with anything and everything that will stop them from having to address this reality And you know what the church has begun to imitate and model them.
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We don't want to deal with the real deep things of God.
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So We try to make it a fun exciting show With fun exciting things that will distract our attention from these life and death all eternity realities like judgments To persist in our sin we have to ignore the reality that there is an authority over us all to whom will give an account and the spirit of God Comes to free us from that dangerous and deadly delusion He comes to awaken us Because we're sleeping We're ignoring life and death and just trying to get by and enjoy the moment and he says look the Spirit's going to come to convict concerning judgment why because the ruler of this world is Judged Jesus focuses his words about judgment on the judgment of Satan.
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He's the one who's described as the ruler of this world he's the one who is Described as ruling over the hearts and minds of people who have been made captive to his lies But in the coming of Christ and especially in his what John always calls his glorification his ascending the cross Satan's judgment is accomplished at the cross of Calvary all of Satan's schemes are judged to be lacking It's the moment of history that turns everything upside down because by every human appearance It looks like this Jesus guy has just fumbled the ball in the most heinous way.
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I Mean he was going to come be the Savior of the world, right? He was gonna save the Jews and the Jews are going You don't mean anything to us they put him on a cross to kill him and Satan must Snicker and go I've finally done it Because he knew who he was right, the demons know who Jesus is and They think well, we've won our victory now, but we know the reality of what's happening Jesus is actually by his death conquering death By his death he is conquering Satan and all of his schemes and all of these things are now judged by Christ All the lies all the ways that Satan has sought to deceive men and women and lead them in rebellion against Christ are now Judged to be lacking and his attempt to overthrow God's righteous rule is found doomed to failure But I want you to understand when he talks about this He he includes concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged He he wants us to envision as well the the whole world that belongs to Satan What is this world that he rules over? The whole system he has instituted of rebellion against God and trying To live life in disobedience to the God who created us is exposed as foolishness What do these include well living for yourself, right Satan was not satisfied to live under God's Eternal rule.
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He wanted to do things his own way And that might be the biggest and best lie that people buy today.
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I can do it my way I'm gonna live for myself and make sure I'm happy because you know Not just living for yourself, but living by lies lying to yourself and lying to others around you seeking to cast off God's rule walking in the darkness seeking to find true satisfaction and happiness in sin and rebellion against God All of these things are judged by Christ and that judgment is made clear through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God Men and women walk around blind deaf and dumb until God by his grace and mercy Opens their eyes and lets them see the truth about Satan and his schemes against God And he goes on to express this truth maybe more further applied it's not just Turning away from sin and turning towards Christ.
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It's turning towards the truth and seeing the truth as it is verse 12 I still have many things to say to you But you cannot bear them now when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth This is another way of expressing what brother Andy just expressed to us doctrinal purity when true revival comes by a Work of the Holy Spirit of God people are led to the truth not away from the truth They don't ignore or put aside the truth.
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They don't have this ecumenical spirit that says kumbaya Can't we all get along they say no the Word of God is the bedrock and foundation of our lives and all that we do Individually and together and from here we will not move That's revival Being turned towards the truth loving the truth having an appetite for the Word of God when God pours his spirit out People want the word in a way they can't explain Instead of Satan's kingdoms of lies God's people are promised the spirit of truth The one who turns our hearts and minds away from lies and to the truth We're studying at Redeemer Community Church right now in the book of first John You can't read John without reading first John.
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You shouldn't read first John without reading John There's so many incredible connections.
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He makes he's he's writing from the same Experience and of course by the same Spirit of God, but over in first John He keeps making this point over and over again about the difference between truth and lies You don't have to turn there I'm turning there in my Bible because I want to just point a few of these out to you So you see the the context of what he's saying here John has seen God do this thing He's writing about that He's heard Jesus prophesy in real life over in first John chapter 1 verse 6 One of the first times he does this he says this if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness We lie and do not practice the truth.
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He says Jesus Sent the Spirit to convict people concerning the truth.
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He's the Spirit of truth Therefore if you have the Spirit of truth You walk in the truth and you walk in the light if you walk in the darkness You don't have the Spirit of truth and you don't walk in the light Or he says it again in verse 8 if we say we have no sin We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us If we lie to ourselves and others about this reality of the ongoing battle against sin in the lives of believers We are lying to ourselves and we don't have the truth or just a chapter later in chapter 2 verse 4 and 5 he says Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected you see what he's saying when the Spirit of God comes to the life of an unbeliever and makes them a believer or Comes to the heart and mind of a believer in a new and fresh way He revives them and he gives them a love for the truth of God.
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They walk in the light They're not going to tell you.
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Hey, i've got it all figured out all that sin's behind me now And i'm never going to struggle with that again They're going to tell the truth about where they're at and what God's calling them to And part of the reason that the church has not enjoyed That reviving presence of the Spirit of God is because we've lied to God to ourselves and to one another about the reality of our sin We think that at those double doors out there that's the place To paste it on and pretend like we don't have any more struggles with sin And so we can't come in here and be honest with each other And say brother i'm struggling with this And God says if you walk in the light The blood of Christ will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
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You're forgiven and transformed But we continue to walk in the darkness the spirit comes To turn our hearts and minds towards the truth of God's word revival occurs When the holy spirit convicts men and women of the lies they believe And frees them from those lies by turning them to the truth now This church is blessed to have a pastor who is Strong on the truth and elders as men who I know are strong on the truth They preach the truth of God's word week in and week out.
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They emphasize the the important doctrinal truths that we all need to hear But you know just like everything at the end of the day.
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God has to do the work of enlightening the minds of unbelievers Opening the hearts of believers to see the truths of the word in a deeper and more clear way To be turned away from the lies.
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They believe from the traditions.
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They grew up with that were quasi biblical But not truly founded on the word.
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God does that work And it's work he does as we've said over time That too is true revival When God takes us from an elementary understanding of who he is of the gospel of Jesus Christ And grows us to maturity so that we both understand and come and can apply the hope of the gospel to the myriad Situations of unbelievers and believers around us.
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That is God reviving us and building us up in the truth the final thing That the spirit of God will do in revival and in any true work is described for us in verse 14 He will glorify me Now Jesus is speaking so he's the me And we're speaking about the holy spirit of God.
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That's the he the work Of the holy spirit of God is to glorify Jesus Christ the eternal son of God the savior of sinners The spirit of God comes to glorify and exalt Jesus Christ, this is so critically important for us to understand You talk to people about The work of the spirit people are so confused about this.
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What does the holy spirit do? You got people on both ends of the spectrum, right? The spirit does all these things that are chaos and we don't understand Or you got people on the other end who are so reactionary to that that the spirit may not might as well not even exist They never talk about the holy spirit of God What does he actually do the spirit when he comes he will glorify me Jesus said in any true work of the spirit of God in any real revival.
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Jesus cannot be a bystander or an afterthought if the name of some church organization group Person is exalted and Jesus is just a a neat addition to kind of wrap on a dangle on a chain a necklace Then it's not really the work of the spirit of God because the spirit comes to exalt Jesus Christ And that's why so much of what is called revival today and what people seek after in revival is doomed to failure It doesn't produce the kind of fruit brother Andy was talking about that real change in life that produces fruit because people are abiding in the vine Jesus Christ They're united to him.
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They're fruitful Revival because the primary mission of the spirit of God is to glorify Christ and the primary mission of many who say they want revival is to glorify themselves They want a bigger platform.
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They want more followers more attention more money more whatever it is that excites them I don't know their hearts.
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I just know the fruits And the fruits are rotten And if Jesus is a Bystander or an afterthought whatever's happening again, it's not revival Man-centered movements are not attended by the power of the living God Now by God's grace as brother Andy said sometimes God in his infinite grace and mercy and his good and wise counsel and pleasure He may bless something and totally transform it It may have begun in an errant way and God may sweep in by the spirit of God and bring true revival But as a general rule man-centered movements are not attended by the power of the living God we can't make this thing happen By our strength you couldn't save yourself by your strength.
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You're not going to sanctify yourself You can't revive yourself.
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All of those things are works of an infinitely good loving and sovereign God Perhaps those who are trapped in those things in God's gracious mercy.
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They might be confronted by the convicting work of the spirit But they won't be empowered by God so long as their intent on exalting humanity to the place of central importance actually here is the Foundational issue of real revival versus revivalism.
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We've been talking about revivalism has as its center mankind Making people do something feel something experience something say something And genuine revival always has its center the glorification of God who brings it Real revival centers around who God is and more specifically about the person and work of Jesus Christ now Having worked through that expositionally I want to give you an example of this In the scripture, so I want you to turn in acts chapter 2.
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I know brother.
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Mike mentioned this passing last night In acts chapter 2 we have two things going on number one This is the immediate fulfillment of Jesus's words to his disciples here about the coming of the spirit but It doesn't limit its application to us today But when people go to acts chapter 2 like so many places in the scripture, they get caught up in certain debates About what's happening and what's not happening and how that works today and they miss the point of the whole thing the same thing that often happens when people go to revelation they break out their charts and maps and try to Understand all that and they miss the glorious reality of christ's reigning rule over all creation So in acts chapter 2 if you ask somebody to write a summary they say well that's the day of pentecost and where the spirit came and That would be the focus of it But I want to pick up in verse 37 and begin reading to you You you let me just set the stage in case you're not familiar with this passage So acts chapter 2 right the disciples are all waiting together.
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The spirit of god descends they begin to preach In languages that people who aren't from there can hear and understand and then peter stands up and preaches this message That's absolutely incredible.
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Please read the sermons of scripture.
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They're so good but towards the end of that This is the part brother mike mentioned the people are cut to their hearts Let me read it verse 37 Now when they heard this the whole thing Expounding who jesus was and how they killed them and their sin and rebellion when they heard this They were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles brothers.
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What shall we do? Peter said to them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins And you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you And for your children and for all who are far off everyone whom the lord our god calls to himself And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3 000 souls now Remember the rubric we gave ourselves for a genuine work of the spirit of god People are convicted of their sin and turn away from it That's what happened when the spirit came and peter preached the word in acts chapter 2 People are convicted of the righteousness of christ and turn from their own righteousness and to the true righteousness in christ Remember this crowd that he's preaching to I mean he's in These are jewish people from all over some of the same ones the pharisees who who had just finished saying how Awful, jesus was and seeking to see him killed And now their hearts are turned towards the truth Peter keeps preaching and keeps preaching with many other words.
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He exhorts them and bears witness and they are eating it up Why because the spirit of god had taken them that day from death to life.
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He had revived them But I want you to see the rest of the story What happens next Acts 2 verse 42 and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching And the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers and all came upon every soul And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believe were together and had all things in common They were selling their possessions and belongings distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day Attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.
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They received their food with glad and generous hearts Praising god and having favor with all the people and the lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved It's the first new testament revival They didn't put it on the calendar they didn't put up a tent They were obeying jesus who said get together and pray until the spirit comes And what happens exactly what jesus said would happen happens Men are turned from their sin brought from death to life.
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They're turned towards christ They're turned towards the truth of the word god The christ is exalted and glorified in them and among them in such a profound And lasting way that it impacts the entire community that they live in.
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Does that sound like something we would enjoy? something we want to experience It comes from god's holy spirit doing his ordinary extra ordinary work spirit of god empowers and attends the proclamation of the gospel of jesus christ So that sinners are brought from death to life and the church is built up to the glory of god That's what acts chapter 2 tells us So rather than pursuing the emotional experience of what is commonly called revival What do we do? It's somewhat easy for us to define the things we don't want to do the things that aren't helpful for us What do we do brother? Andy has already been helpful to us in so many ways talking about those Things we clear away and those things we need to pursue in our lives I want to just sum that up by saying that we ought to pursue the ordinary means of grace The word of god prayer The sacraments of baptism in the lord's supper among the church.
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These are the means god has ordained To bless and encourage and strengthen and mature his people we've talked about this analogy of the wind blowing and the spirit being like the wind and It's a great analogy.
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I I don't want to step out too far past scripture here But I want to say that it's almost as if we do these things.
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We're building a sail So that when the wind blows the sail will catch the boat and push us along towards god I can't make god pour out his spirit in these extraordinary ways on my schedule nor would I want to if I could He is infinitely wise and good But I can do all he's called me to and empowered me to by his spirit To be ready for that moment to seek him to bring that to prepare my heart to confess sin to to be in the word to Pray with one another and individually to pursue the baptism of new believers and enjoy the supper with the saints We pursue the ordinary means of grace and trust god to Grant us the appropriate affections and emotions As we come to know him more dearly by his ordained means You don't chase the feeling you chase god the feelings come Revival is not getting excited about a god.
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We don't really know or understand God's true work of revival is not limited to a headline experience that draws a media frenzy and goes viral I know it's a strange time We live in now the first and second great awakenings didn't have to deal with the reality that immediately was going to be broadcast all over creation essentially It's not just revival if we hear of tons and tons of people flocking to it God's genuine and true work of revival is bringing men and women like us from death to life changing their hearts and lives over time Sanctifying them and conforming them to the image of christ.
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We need that work individually Corporately and we need it regularly This kind of revival is the regular diet of the people of god And god does that work every day in every corner of the world to the praise of his glorious grace May we never cease praying For more of god's reviving work in our hearts and lives until christ comes again.
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Let's pray father Your word is a precious gift to us to unpack it with your people Is an honor that none deserve And yet you've so graciously spoken to us, please take the word Rebuke us where we are in error Correct us Instruct us build us up in the truth of your word.
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God teach us To follow you and pursue you that we might more clearly bring glory and honor to the name of our savior.
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Jesus christ It's in his name.