Longing for Personal Revival — E.A. Johnston

Personal Revival Before Corporate Awakening

I believe we need to see revival in our day, friends, but I also believe before the church can experience corporate revival, there must be a hunger in the people of God for personal revival. It is this longing for personal revival that can give us a fresh encounter with God.

Psalm 24 as the Pattern for Personal Revival

And that's the title of my message today, friends, longing for personal revival. And my text can be found in the book of Psalms. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in Psalm 24, which I believe speaks of personal revival.

God's Sovereignty in Revival

God is sovereign when it comes to revival. We cannot produce revival by ourselves, but I believe we can prepare our hearts aright to see revival on a personal basis. In verses 1 and 2, we see the sovereignty of God.

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. The God of creation is also the God of revival.

How bad do we want to have revival in our lives? Are we desperate enough to get a fresh touch from Almighty God? I believe God wants to bless us with his presence, and I believe our passage today, friends, has the preliminary requirements to seeing a personal revival in our lives.

The Ascent to God's Holy Place

Let's examine these one by one. The psalmist asks a question, and then he answers his own question. In verse 3, he asks, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place?

First, let us examine how the habitation of God is described here. It is called a hill. It is an elevated place that one must climb to reach it. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, the psalmist asks.

Next, he describes God's place as a holy place. Who shall stand in his holy place? God is holy. He is high and lifted up. God is not man. His ways are not our ways, neither his thoughts our thoughts. God is on the hill of heaven, which is a holy place.

Well, how on earth can a sinner climb up there? First, by the blood of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, through forgiveness of sins. Then we see the psalmist answer this perplexing question in verse 4.

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Let me pause here, friends, to say this speaks of two directionals in the life of the believer. We have two beams here, one horizontal and one vertical. Clean hands speaks of the horizontal beam, which is our dealings with man.

Clean Hands and Honest Relationships

Are our hands clean in this regard? Have we dealt fairly and honestly with our fellow man? We must examine ourselves and be honest with ourselves. This is our daily interaction with others, our family members, our friends, our neighbors, our work associates, our patients or our customers.

Have we dealt honestly in all categories here in all regards? Do we harbor an unforgiving heart towards others? I'll never forget preaching in a church years ago where God was pleased to send a touch revival, but there was a main hindrance existing in that church, which prevented God from a deeper movement of his blessings.

The church was filled with bitterness and an unforgiving heart toward one another. The two pastors were fighting among themselves, and instead of God visiting that church with a deeper movement of his presence, rather God withdrew himself, and that church was split right down the middle.

Half the congregation left to go form a new church with one pastor, and the other half remained where they were. To this day, I believe it was this bitterness among the members that hindered a deeper work of God.

I have studied historical revival for decades now, and I have discovered that there is a golden thread that weaves its way through revivals, and if this purified thread is broken, it has been a bar to revival throughout history.

To which I refer is the golden thread of a forgiving heart toward others. When one researches the history of revival, it is plainly shown that many revivals began accompanied by a sudden manifestation of God's presence, when Christians began to confess their sins of an unforgiving heart to one another.

A Pure Heart and Wholehearted Devotion

So clean hands here speaks of our relationship with our fellow men. This is the horizontal beam of Psalm 24. Next we see the vertical beam, which is our walk with God. This is described as a pure heart, and this speaks of single-mindedness toward God.

Is he first and foremost in our daily living? Does he have first place, first call, and first priority? Are we harboring any unconfessed sin in our lives, which would hinder our walk with God? I believe Amos 3 .3 says it all.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Are we in agreement with God in our lives? Are we obstructing him in any way? Our text in Psalm 24 goes a little deeper with more clarity with the words, Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully?

Are we worldly more than we are godly? Have we told a lie to someone and left that undone? I remember when I was a Sunday school teacher at a big Baptist church years ago, and I played racquetball with one of the members of my class.

And while we were playing racquetball one day, we learned we went to the same college, and he asked me when I graduated. Well, at the time I was a college dropout, and I was embarrassed about it, so I lied to him and gave him a year of my graduation.

That night I tossed and turned on my bed, realizing that as his Sunday school teacher I had lied to him. What a horrible example I was as a Christian. As soon as I could, later that week I cornered this man in a hallway at church and confessed to him how I lied to him, and I asked him to forgive me.

Well, he was hurt and shocked, but he said he forgave me. Our horizontal beam on the hill of Psalm 24 is critically important to our ascent up that hill into God's holy place. He will allow no liars up there.

He will allow no unconfessed sin to dwell with him. I'm reminded of the story told by Duncan Campbell of the Lewis revival of the Scottish Hebrides. Some deacons met in a barn monthly to pray for revival to come to the island.

Confession and Conviction in the Lewis Revival

Finally, in the midst of their prayer meeting, a young deacon stood to his feet and exclaimed, Brethren, all our time here in prayer is getting no results and is nothing more than humbug. Let me ask us this question.

Are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? Suddenly, a wave of conviction went through the barn among those men, and God's presence fell among them in power. We must ask ourselves the same question, and how badly do we want to have a personal revival?

The Blessing and Coming of the King of Glory

Those rare individuals who make this ascent according to these requirements will receive something for their efforts. Verse 5 speaks of this. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and his righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This, friends, speaks of personal revival. I believe the object of revival is seen in verses 8 through 10. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory. So to draw the net on our lesson today, friends, we find that in Psalm 24, we have two beams, so to speak, a horizontal and a vertical, and when they meet in harmony, they form a cross.

That's the pathway up that hill to revival with Christ Jesus. Let us pray.