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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/john-slabaugh/revival-restoration-renewal/
Turn, please, to Psalm 85. Psalm 85, thinking in verse 1. Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. I suppose you and I could say that. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people.
We can certainly say that. Thou hast covered all their sin, Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Psalm 53, 51, excuse me. Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness.
We should read the title. To the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me against thee. Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Down to chapter verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Finally, in Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary.
There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. There are some things that I remember of ministry that I heard when I was just a teenager.
It always thrills my soul to see the young among us. And thank God, brethren and sisters, our God is still saving souls. But I was going to remark about one thing that I heard, and it still sticks with me.
An older servant of the Lord said on one occasion, he likes to go to a conference when the Word of God is searching to his soul, and it leads to crying out to God for revival and restoration. My subject, I should mention that this morning we heard some very searching ministry.
And I trust that we weren't doing like Andrew Douglas said years ago. When we hear ministry, well that was for so and so, and we throw it behind our back. And the next party does the same thing. Before you know it, Mr. Douglas said, you can see the thing going out the door.
Brethren, may the Lord search my heart. May the Lord search the hearts of each one of us. Now, my subject this afternoon is revival and restoration and renewal. There are two categories of folks who need this subject or subjects.
The one is those who are in denial. They're unaware or unwilling to face the need for these three things. And then the other is those who are discouraged and wondering what's the use? What's the use? I dare say that in measure, every one of us here needs revival, restoration, and renewal.
We're living in the Laodicean age of the church. That church that thought of themselves as being rich and increased with goods and they had need of nothing. Surely that's not true of assemblies and assembly believers.
I'm afraid, brethren, it's more true than we want to acknowledge. After all, God has imparted the truth of God to us. We understand what God expects of His people collectively. We appreciate the assembly and the privilege of being part of that assembly.
And we're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. But brethren, our walk does not come up to the truth that we understand. When I was much younger and began reading in the Old Testament about Israel's departure from God and the truth of God, I smugly said to myself, well, I'm glad that Christians aren't like the Israelites were.
I've lived long enough to see that there's too much of a resemblance to the failures of God's earthly people among God's heavenly people today. I'm not going to dwell on that. I want to point out that these are three spiritual needs.
When it comes to revival, God turns again to His people and His power is manifested anew. When it comes to seeing God working amongst His people, when was the last time that God was unmistakably working and the power of God was manifested?
I was in Garnevillo last Lord's Day and I reminded the believers there of that great move of God in 1938. The news of that series of gospel meetings that Brother McBain had, over 30 people professed to be saved and in the course of time, nearly all of them came into God's assembly and most of them lived their lives until God took them home to heaven.
Some are still surviving. In Ohio where I lived, Iowa seemed like a distant land and we heard of what went on in Garnevillo. Some of my fellow believers from the assembly in Akron went to the Garnevillo conference.
You know what they told me when they came back? They said wherever we went in Garnevillo, the first subject of conversation that came up, would you like to hear how God saved me and my wife? You know brethren, there was that appreciation for God's salvation.
There was that first love, warm heartedness. When was the last time that you were sitting in a home and your host and hostess brought that up? Or when you volunteered to tell how God saved you? That was a time when the power of God was manifested and the effects of that went down through generations.
Brethren, sisters, when have we seen the power of God manifested like that in recent years? Should we not be praying for revival? When God turns again to His people and His power is manifested anew. When it comes to restoration, that's when God's people turn again to Him.
And when there's restoration, there is joy. You know our conversation should be joyful, but our condition must be right before we're going to manifest that joy. We need restoration. And then renewal. That's when God's people go forward.
God grants to them the strength that they need. May God stir our hearts about these triple needs that I have. And I think at least in measure every one of us has to acknowledge we have a need for these three things.
First of all, revival. Laodicea needed this. I mentioned that already. Revival is a collective need, though it always begins with the individual. Let me stress that. I had a little conversation with Brother Christofferson this week, and we were talking about the need for revival, just conversing together.
And I said to him, Al, do you know where revival begins? Well, he didn't have a suggestion. I said, I suggest that revival begins in the bathroom when you look in the mirror. That's where revival begins.
It begins with the individual. It begins when you look at your life honestly. You acknowledge there were former days when I enjoyed the things of God more than what I enjoy them now. And you have a longing to get back to those days when the truth of God was precious and the joy of God was in your soul and the power of God was with you.
You know, we didn't know much then. But at the same time, God is not limited, brethren and sisters, by any shortcomings of mine or yours. If God takes you up, if God takes me up to do anything for him, the glory will all be his because the power comes from him.
So what we have then in revival is the individual. It starts with individuals. You know, God's power should be normal. We are the ones who are abnormal. I've seen other occasions. I recall going to a place for gospel meetings.
God worked. And there were over 20 professed to be saved. Walter Gustafson was with me there. The first Lord's Day, we sat at the front of the hall looking down to the entry doors at the back. And there were three rows at the back that were filled with teenagers.
I said to our host, are those young people sitting in the back, are they saved? I'll never forget the answer. They say they are. I want to tell you something. God began to work in those meetings. And six of those teenagers sitting at the back became so stirred up that they invited some of their friends to come.
And among those who professed to be saved in that series, and there were over 20, six of those young people in the back who came and went like a door on its hinges, are they saved or are they not, had the joy of seeing chums that they brought to the gospel meeting saved.
I tell you, that made a huge difference in them. And it wasn't long when we went back again to have some ministry meetings there. And those young people, nearly all of them that we had seen that first Sunday morning, were then in the assembly and have gone on ever since.
So, when God's power is seen, now that should be normal among us. You know, when I was a boy, maybe that's a sign of old age, I'm always talking about when I was young, when I was a boy. In the village in which I lived in Ohio, this church advertised revival meetings.
That church advertised revival meetings. I don't know the last time I've seen revival meetings being advertised in Christendom today. But you know what they were doing? They were trying to bring friends and neighbors along and get them to join that particular church.
That's not a revival meeting. This meeting this afternoon, these two days of meetings under the sound of the ministry of the Word of God, should be revival meetings. Every one of us should go home a different way than what we came.
Will thou not revive us again? God is able. Have we been on our faces asking God for revival? Sometimes I listen at conference prayer meetings and I listen for how many brethren pray for revival. It's not very frequent.
We've heard it today and we should be praying for revival after some of the searching ministry that we heard this morning. Brethren, we need revival among us. Revival cannot be worked up. Revival comes down.
It is God who revives. Will thou not revive us again? Oh God of our salvation, you know, it cannot be feigned either. I'm thinking of the time of Hezekiah. There was a real revival then. And I can only mention this in passing.
In the time of Josiah, there was another period that really wasn't revival. It was feigned. It wasn't the real thing. So revival, you know, I started to say a moment ago and I'll finish now. Those revival meetings in the denominational places were not revival meetings.
You know what revival meetings are? They are meetings where first of all there has to be life and that life is stirred up and encouraged. That's why the conference should be a revival meeting. Revival has a price though.
Mr. R .A. Torrey, someone I heard mention this years ago, Mr. R .A. Torrey made the comment that if we understood what revival costs, we might be praying God don't send a revival. Turn with me to Revelation in chapter 2.
Seven letters to the seven churches. This is the first one to Ephesus. No, nothing said about any false teaching among them, but their works and their labor and their patience lacked something. And after commending them in the first three verses, look at verse 4.
The Lord, the risen Lord, moving in the midst of the lampstands, the testimonies, says to Ephesus, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Did we hear that this morning?
Left. An act of the will. Not that you lost your first love. Do you remember those days right after God saved you? That first love so warm. Mr. Ken Moore said years ago that as I grow older, I grow colder.
And when he said it, I said, ouch. All right. Thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come on to thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent.
The price of revival. Remember. Remember. The recognition of our true condition. Repent. Five of the seven churches in Revelation were enjoined to repent. And there needs to be repentance. What's repentance?
A repentance is a change of mind with a resultant change in attitude. It's one thing to admit, brethren and sisters, that we need revival. It's another thing to get on our knees and cry out to God to revive us in the midst of the years.
So repentance is there. Do again the first works. Repeat. Go back and do again those things that characterize those early days. Mind you, we didn't know the truth of God as we know it today. But increased knowledge of truth does not necessarily translate into more of seeking to serve God.
Then repeat. Do again the first works. Or else the result will be removal. What about restoration? I'm looking at the clock and I better get going. Restoration. You know, this is a more personal need.
The need for restoration may be traced back to, for one thing, deliberate departure. Thou hast left thy first love. It may be traced back to covered sin. You know, David, the writer of Psalm 51, needed restoration.
I've been thinking recently about David. David was the man after God's own heart. Would you like that to be said about you? When your days are finished, others would say you were a man after God's own heart.
But David, his best years were his early years. And one almost hesitates to point out that that man, in touch with God, used of God, more has been written about David than any other individual except the Lord Jesus.
But David's last days were not his best days. Again, remembering former days, I remember a man that would pray, God save me from dying a wicked old man. Would we be able to say of you or of me his last days were his best?
Can't say that about David. David's great sin is well known. I'm not going to rehearse the details of it. You all know it. But the thing I want to remind you of is David spent one year covering up that sin, and really it was a series of sins.
And I often think of that occasion. Psalm 51 was written on the occasion when David and Nathan had come to see you. Nathan, excuse me, told a little story about two neighbors. One was a wealthy man with a large number of animals in his flocks.
The other was a poor man. And he had only one little ewe lamb. Apparently they made a pet out of that little lamb. And it was very dear to him like one of his daughters. Nathan told the story, then told about a visitor that came.
And the wealthy man took the poor man's lamb and made a meal for his guest. David immediately was very angry. And David said, that man is worthy to die. Now it doesn't read that way in the King James, but that's what it means.
That man is worthy to die. Those next words were just like taking a mallet and hitting him on the head. For Nathan pointed his finger at him and he said, thou art the man. That seems right facade that he had sought to carry on for that whole year.
As though nothing wrong had been done. It was shattered in a moment. And to this day, that terrible sin that David was guilty of is brought up by those who are unbelievers. And David's last days, God forgave him, but the sword did not depart from David's history.
And his own family was a great grief to him. Sin has its consequences. And to do what David did, cover up, only makes matters worse. I'll never forget sitting in a meeting that had been called by the correspondent of assembly.
And none of us knew why we were there. Sitting directly across from me was one of the overseers. The correspondent reached into his pocket. He took out a letter, unfolded it and began to weep. Then he began to read and he named the brother sitting across from me and the letter related sinful activities between that brother and his secretary who signed that letter.
We all sat in silence when the correspondent finished reading that letter. Our hearts were heavy with grief, sorrow. And the brother across the room from me looked up and he said, Brethren, every word in that letter is true.
He rose from his seat and as he turned and walked out he said, You know what you have to do. As I watched him, I thought what that meant. He had to go home and tell his wife what he had been guilty of.
It disrupted his fellowship with his son and with his daughter. Of course he was pulled away from the fellowship with the assembly. I'm glad that God is a God of restoration and he was restored. But you know that taught me something about what a dreadful thing sin is.
The consequences of sin. He not only bore consequences, but the impact on others. Brethren, you and I should never dabble with it, should never try to cover it up. And to live with that, you can read three of Psalms that David wrote, Psalm 51 being one of them, in which he describes what a terrible thing it was to live with that guilt.
He needed to be restored. You know, the need for restoration may stem from deliberate departure. Thou hast left thy first love. It may be covered sin as with David that we've been speaking about. It may be defiled separation as Samson who wished not that the Lord was departed from him.
I hope, brethren and sisters, that we'll be willing just to look in the mirror and be honest with God and tell God just what the circumstances are. Looking at David's restoration, you'll notice that there are four steps to it.
In verse 1, we have the recognition of his sin. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. By the way, in the Old Testament, there was never any provision for deliberate sin.
So there's the recognition. Then there's the repentance. Verse 4, against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Then there is remembrance of God's provision for sin. Verse 7, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. And then there is reconciliation to full fellowship again. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Thank God ours is a God of restoration.
We might condemn those that have sinned and forget that none of us are free from that. We're not in heaven yet. When we were first saved, we might have thought, that's the end of our sinning. No, we still have that sinful nature.
And sometimes I'm literally astonished that God could love a wretch like me, yet be the God that he is. What about renewal? You know, Elijah illustrates that. He went forth with fresh strength for the task ahead.
There's a great need for renewal in this frantic, busy, fast-paced age. There are Christians among us, and they're suffering from what has been called burnout. I've met some of them. Part of it is so many responsibilities in their secular life.
Part of it, I think, is just discouragement because it's been so long since they've seen God working. When it came to Elijah, his need for renewal stemmed from what happened right after his greatest triumph.
When God used him on Mount Carmel, and 850 false prophets were put to death when they were exposed as being false. And Elijah prayed that God would send fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice on the altar he had made.
They brought barrels of water and poured it over. God did send fire from heaven. The people said, Jehovah, he is the God. And shortly after those false prophets were put to death, Jezebel's false prophets, she sent a message, and Elijah ran.
He was in good shape, folks. He ran for 320 miles. I don't know how old he was, but he was physically in excellent shape. And he laid down under a juniper tree. The Bible records seven prayers, and six of them God answered of Elijah's.
But the one he prayed under the juniper tree, that God would take away his life, God didn't do it. Instead, God restored him so gently that eventually, I could start a theological argument here, but I won't do it.
I'll just mention the argument. The man that prayed that God would take away his life went to heaven in a whirlwind of fire, chariots of fire. Ah, brethren, do you need revival? Do you need restoration?
I shouldn't be saying it that way. Do I need revival? Yes, I do. Do I need restoration? Yes, I do. Do I need renewal? Yes, I do.