Revival Questions — E.A. Johnston

I've seldom seen a time in my life, friends, where we need revival more than we need it today. I've been a student of revival for more than four decades, and I have written 18 books on the subject of revival.

My Ph .D. dissertation is on the revival of religion in England under Wesley and Whitfield. I feel I know a little something about revival, and I've been blessed with seeing localized movements of revival in the church through the years.

In this message, friends, I want to deal with various questions surrounding the topic of revival. These are pertinent questions each of us need to consider in regard to revival. We may ask, what is revival?

Revival Is God's Sovereign Work, Not Evangelism

First, we will look at what revival is not. Revival is not evangelism. It is not holding a series of meetings in a church aimed at church growth. The main distinction between evangelism and revival is church responsibility.

The church is responsible for evangelism and not for revival. Revival is the sovereign work of God, whereby God comes in his manifest presence to restore his church to a higher standard and reanimate it with spiritual vigor.

Evangelism is something man does. Revival is something God does. Now, the next question we must ask is, when is the need for revival? There is a need for revival in times of spiritual barrenness and moral decay, when there is appalling moral chaos in the land, and the church is in a deep downgrade of ongoing spiritual declension, then God must step in.

Revival in Times of Spiritual Decline

As in the days of Wesleyan, Whitefield, and London, where England in those times was in moral and spiritual decay, at the time of Wesleyan and Whitefield, every fifth house in London was a gin shop, and public drunkenness was so prevalent that even members of parliament showed up for work dead drunk.

The vices of prostitution and gambling were so prevalent, and the church of England had more unconverted ministers than converted ones, that this was the black velvet backdrop that these two young evangelists, like shining diamonds, were set out in powerful public ministries of a revival of religion.

When things look bleakest in society, and the church is at a low ebb, there is a need for revival. The cry of the prophet Isaiah is a cry for revival. O, that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thine name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence.

The Urgent Need for Revival Among the Nations and the Church

Let me ask you, friend, does England at this hour need revival? Does America at this hour need revival? Does Africa at this hour need revival? Does China at this hour need revival? Does Australia at this hour need revival?

Does Scotland at this hour need revival? Does Wales at this hour need revival? Does your land need revival at this hour, friend? Does your church at this hour need revival? Do you personally need revival at this hour?

The Cost of Revival and the Call to Broken-Hearted Prayer

These are questions that demand answers. The next question is, are we willing to pay the price for revival for what cost counts and what counts costs? The famous World Missionary Convention in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910 came to the conclusion that the state of the church was such as to prove itself utterly unfit for the work of God, that God put before it.

Today, the church sleeps on pillows of conformity and compromise and it is utterly unfit for the work which God has put before it. Only a heaven-sent revival will ignite the fire that will burn out the dross in the average congregation.

Because of the remedial judgments of God, of His withdrawn presence among us, we are powerless to fight the devil and make advances in God's kingdom with the spread of the gospel. The nerve center of revival is when the people of God fall on their faces before God with burdened prayers and broken hearts, but there is a price to be paid of agonizing supplication because true intercession costs.

Are we weeping over the sins of the land? Or are we participating in them? Are we broken hearted over the lost in our community? Or are we indifferent to them? Are we, as Christians, more materialistic and self-sufficient?

Or are we numbed, like a lobster in a pot of lukewarm temperature? Great God, save us from the icy blast of a cold church where the witness is feeble and the worship is shallow. Is our preaching mechanical and professional?

Recovering a Burning Message and the Presence of God

Or do we come before our people with a burning message from on high and from the presence of a thrice holy God? We need the refreshing breath of the Spirit of God upon our churches today. Revival is needed at this critical hour where God takes the field and man abandons his church programs for the reality of God.

May we seek God wholeheartedly and may our prayers be sincere as we cry out to Him in desperate prayer, the kind of emboldened prayer that is God-moving, devil-routing, and hell-defeating, and Christ-exalting, pungent prayer laced with the Spirit of God that moves Almighty God to action, to come in revival, to revive His church once again, to come in His awful presence, to bring a fear of God in our midst again, to come and reestablish His preeminence in our sanctuary, and Christ's preeminence in our lives.

Personal Repentance and Hunger for Revival

Let me ask you, friend, are you concerned about the state of the church and the condition of society? Are you satisfied with your brand of Christianity? Or do you long for a deeper intimacy in reality of God?

Are you ready to confess the spiritual failure in your own life as well as the life of your church? Are you a pastor who hungers to see a God-consciousness among your people? Do you carry a burden for revival in our day?

Do you admit your own need of personal revival in your life? God is a God of personal revival as seen in Psalm 138. Though the Lord be high, yet have He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Revival is the sovereign work of God, Jesus declared. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but can't tell where it comes from and where it goes.

Readiness to Receive the Revival Wind

So is everyone who is born or revived to the Spirit. Only God can command the revival wind, friend, but we must set our sails to catch that wind when God blows. We cannot produce revival, but we can ready ourselves to receive it when it comes.

How desperately we need a churchwide invasion from Heaven. Well, I hope these little questions have been helpful to you, friend. I ask you to join the Revival Remnant and make Prayer for Revival part of your daily devotional time until God is pleased to visit us again.