Discussion on Revival — Manley Beasley

Well, greetings friends and praise the Lord. It's a wonderful blessing to be able to come to you again this month Here at this time. I usually spend a great deal of time reminiscing over the past year and and looking forward to the new year because I Have a particular way That I like to approach a new year and in these last few years.

I have somewhat slipped from my Way, but I like to share it with people. I like to talk about You know what the Lord has done and see if he really has come through on things that we really felt like we wanted to do and Then what I like to do is write down all my desires.

And I'd like to ask the Lord to sanctify my desires. Really sanctify my desires and And then take these desires and See if they just really stand true To the Lord after you know, I've given God the opportunity to work on my heart is to see and where these desires are of him or not of him and Then I write these desires down As what I am really going to trust Jesus to do in the coming year and so I just lay them out before the Lord and at the end of the year like this time we Come and see well, did he really do these things or did he not do these things or why did he not do these things?

Or why Did he do these things and also If he did not do these things, why is it that he didn't do them, you know, we really discussed this but this year Things have been so jumbled up because there have been so many new unexpected addition additions to the ministry and and Well, there's just no way for me to be able to get into These many different facets one of the things that I was looking forward to At this time last year was the fact of a building I really had anticipated getting a building built and That building has not come through At this point I'm not real sure that I could give any explanations as to why it hasn't.

But when you're trusting the Lord you're trusting him to do it now. And it's a subtle fact with you now that it is done. As to when God materially puts things together there's no real issue to the man the faith unless God has put a Restricted time on it, you know.

And if God has put a restricted time on it, then you expect that thing to come through on that particular timetable and of course at this time We're believing that God is accomplishing his will about the building.

I'm still in the position of faith on that, but I am NOT seeing it come to pass materially. I hope that doesn't confuse you and one of the things that God has really done this year is He sent me a couple of people that are working with me that are being very Helpful to me and We praise the Lord for them and of course out of these two people one of these Individuals is in charge of a radio ministry that is somewhat of his vision as well as my vision but It's more of his than it is of mine.

I I see a great need for getting out the Bible getting out literature across the world and This brother sees the need for a radio ministry. And so what he's doing is taking my material and putting it in Radio material and getting it on radio and Things are going real beautifully.

In fact, I'm very shocked this week we've had so much response to the radio ministry enough that's just blown our minds and Yet I am very deeply aware that you cannot allow Response to be the dictator the indicator.

You have to allow the Lord to be that and but let me just list you the stations We're on at this time if you're interested in this and let me just say if you're in the Little Rock area You might want to write this down The Olivet Baptist Church Lamar Lyford and his church are sponsoring this program.

It's a program that's heard over K SO H K SO H 1050 a .m. That's not time now. That's 1050 on your dial and that's an a .m. Station. It's heard each day from 1230 to 1245 p .m Each day Monday through Friday.

Then if you're in the Memphis, Tennessee area They're just friends of ours. That's sponsoring that program. It's over WMQM. That's 1480. That's also an a .m. Station and the time for that program is 930 to 945 each morning and Then if you're around the Lufkin area Nacogdoches area rust, Texas area Imagine Jasper, Texas area along in that area in East, Texas Eastside Baptist Church and rust, Texas Jim Boone his church sponsoring this program and it's over K R BA K R BA and it's 1340 a .m.

That's an a .m. Station also and we're heard each morning from 930 To 945. Well, these are the places where we are on today. I mean that's programming now when you receive this tape that program those programs will be on but by the time You get a tape next month not this one tape, but the next tape we'll probably be on Shreveport, Louisiana Amarillo, Texas and Meridian, Mississippi there It's definitely Interesting group there that All right a group that's interested and they're going heavily with us and by the time you get this tape Plans will be finalized I trust for the trip to Switzerland and if they aren't finalized you may be that you'd like to get in with us and come and go and See what the Lord will say to you in this trip.

It's it's not too expensive. It does take money. But it and be a very beautiful trip and be a very pleasurable trip and restful trip as well as a trip where we will See the end of God, I believe do some things of eternal value to us.

And so I trust that If you're interested you would come and go with us. I do appreciate you being a part of this tape ministry I Realize it some months. I'm able to be stronger than others when it comes to preaching and I Trust you that you stick with us and stay with us whether I am Meeting your need or not.

I I want to be faithful to the Lord in studying and preaching and You pray for me that I might be it is a blessing to have you as a friend. And I thank God that you have stood with us and you are standing with us and you will stand with us and Pray for me that That we might drop everything from our schedule.

That is not of him, but they will take on everything that is of him. Well, it's been a blessing to talk with you. And this time this month. I'm going to deal with Revival and this is not an interview, but it's I trust that it's somewhat Preaching it's just talking about revival.

Defining Revival and Distinguishing It from Evangelism

It's talking about what's going on in my spirit right now. Because in a few weeks, we're going to be discussing revival in Switzerland. And I've got to come up with a definition that that I believe really is the key definition for revival as far as I'm concerned and and I want us to Have our feet on the ground and and I want us to come back from Switzerland knowing The direction God has for this ministry.

So you pray for us and I appreciate it. We do love you in the Lord. I want us to bow our heads for a word of prayer and ask God to give us real Direction as we go into the message today dear Lord Jesus.

We look to you with Thanksgiving for your faithfulness to us Lord you promised us that low you'd be with us always. And we realize that we can violate the laws of God the principles of God grieve the person of God and you not be with us as We go our own way and so Lord we confess that we're capable of doing all that and father We want to confess to you that we want to go your way.

We have no way of our own. We want to go strictly your way and Move with you and talk with you and fellowship with you and relate to you in Every way that we know how to relate to you. Now father, I praise you for your goodness your glory and your honor today in Jesus name.

Amen. Well, it's such a joy and privilege to be with you and I trust that you will Excuse the noise a little noise in the background here and there because I am At my desk in my office and we are making the tape this time on a reel to reel tape trusting that we will be able to Come up with a little better quality because we've been a little disappointed in the Quality of the tapes in time past.

Revival as Spiritual Renewal

This month I want to talk to you about revival. Now When I talk about revival, you know, it's possible that I mean one thing and you mean another. I Have been asked to do a message at a big conference in our area.

And this message Is to be done on revival. So I've been doing a great deal of research work on revival on the term revival and I am finding that there's so much confusion about the term and I find that the word revival is used to so many different different different types of expressions of God's Activity are even man's activity so One of the first things that I want to do today in this particular message is to talk to you somewhat about a Definition of revival and Then we will talk to you about some of the result of revival after the definition of revival and what I've Done is this.

I've gone back and Researched the definitions of revival and it's very difficult to deal in at all about revival without going back to Men like Charles G Finney and William C Burns and J Edwin Orr and such men like that now I'm going to be making reference to a number of authors today and Of course you may be interested in making this particular study yourself.

But some of them are old and some of them are new but these authors will definitely give us a broad Definition of the word and I think we can come down to a very specific You know meaning of the word of revival for instance.

When we talk about revival, we'll ask this question. What is revival? Revival means to come back to life to return to consciousness to return to vigor from a state of Langer and neglect. There's a difference between evangelism and revival.

A sinner needs evangelism To bring him to the Lord, but you cannot revive a dead person. He needs a new birth so we find here that There's already a division in thought see for a lot of people refer to evangelism as revival and A lot of people refer to just dealing with the Saints as revival.

Let's go on with the definition, but the twice-born Christian that backslides our sins needs to be revived. A revival is the return of the Christian from backsliding. It invariably includes a deep conviction of sin.

Revival is a new beginning of an obedience to Almighty God. Now that particular statement will hold through throughout all of Charles D Finney's thinking about a definition of revival, although this is not Charles D Finney's material here.

It produces a great effect on all that have the revival. The revived ones have their needs met that's a tremendous Definition. Let's go back and redo it produces a great effect on all that revived ones meets and They have all their needs met.

Wow. I mean that is really reaching out. It brings a deep sense of this presence glory and wonder of God. And those are great Definitions. Amen. I just really love those definitions. We go on a little bit further about what is revival?

Revival is a Renewal of first love among Christians and the awakening and conversion of sinners. I Really like that. I really like that a revival in a community is the rousing the quickening and reclaiming of the more or less backslidden Church and the consequence more or less general Awakening of all classes ensuring attention to the things of God and then beautiful a revival in the world is Always conditioned upon a revival in the church.

They might notice the These last three or four definitions I've given of about revival. Definitely include a Work on the same but also a work in the lost. Now, you may not have noticed that but that's a that's so important.

That's just going a little bit further renewal. The renewal of the image of Christ in Christians is God's natural and so we know. So we know God's Exclusive means for the conviction and conversion of sinners.

The first powerful action upon the lost man is the is the looks the earnestness and the daily deportment among Christians. In other words if Christians have deep feelings on religion, they will produce deep feelings wherever they go and in their conversations and so on.

Conviction, Repentance, and Obedience in Revival

Well, it's amazing when we talk about the definition of revival what we come up with. Let's look a Little bit further on to a definition of revival. A revival always includes convictions of sin on the part of the church and backslidden professors cannot wake up and be Began right away with the service of God without deep searching of heart.

The foundation of sin need to be broken up in the backslide or in the Christian. That's amazing. What is revival? Backslidden Christians will be brought to repentance. A revival is nothing less than a new beginning of obedience to God.

Now you may recognize that as Charles G. Finney. That's that's one of his classic definitions revival. Just as in the case of the converted sinner the first step in a deep Repentance and breaking down of heart and getting down into the dust before God with deep humility and forsaking of sin.

So he's saying the backslidden Christian has to do that Christians will have their faith renewed. That's another definition for revival while they are in their backslidden state. They are blind to the state of sinners their hearts are hardened.

Our heart is marvel. The truths of the Bible only appear like a dream. They admit it to be all true their conscience and their judgment as sent to it. But their faith does not see it standing out in bold relief and all the burning realities of eternity.

But when they're when they enter into a revival, they no longer see men as trees walking. But they see things in that strong light which were in you the love of God in their hearts that will lead them to labor Zealously to bring others to him praise God in that one beautiful.

That's beautiful definition of revival. And revival breaks the power of the world and of sin over Christians. It brings them to such vintage ground that they get a fresh impulse towards heaven praise God they have a new foretaste of heaven and new desires after union with God and The charm of the world is broken and the power of sin overcome.

Isn't that wonderful? Amen when the church are thus awakened and Reformed the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow. Going through the same stage of conviction repentance and reformation their hearts will be broken down and change.

Well, we can go on and on with definitions of revival. But all of these definitions are definitions that are very very very Significant when it comes to the matter of revival. We'll go a little further about the definition of revival and I want to turn to Arthur Wallace and His classic book in the day of our power and I mentioned that particular book.

Because it's such a classic book about the matter of revival. In fact, I think it's one of the greater books On revival that's been written. The meaning of any word is determined by its usage for our definition of revival.

We must therefore appeal to the people of God of bygone years who've used the word with consistency of meaning down the centuries and until it began to be used in a Lesser and more limited sense in modern times and you may not realize what he's saying.

But let's see the term for many many many years had one meaning and then in the last 50 years Especially in America. We have tagged another. We have started using the word revival meaning something else.

Numerous writings on the subject that have been preserved to us will confirm that revival now, here's the definition revival is Divine intervention into the normal course of spiritual things. It is God revealing himself to man and awful holiness and Irresistible power.

Amen, that's wonderful. That's another mighty definition of revival. Let me give you another definition of revival that I have a I believe is valid very valid. True spirituality is not a superhuman religious ossity.

It is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin renewed Renewed by the Holy Ghost. That's that's a beautiful definition. I'm not a clear and complete definition of revival. Now, let me Read you a few verses about revival.

Psalm 85 and Revival in the Psalms

Lord thou has been favorable unto thy land now has brought back the captivity of Jacob that's revival now has forgiven the iniquity of thy people. There's revival now has covered all Their sins that's a revival now has taken away all by wrath.

That's revival thou has turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. There's revival turn. Oh God Of our salvation and caused by anger Toward us to cease now beloved. There is revival Psalms 85 1 through 4 and then he goes on into this psalm and Says will thou be angry with us forever without draw outside anger to all generations.

Will thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee now. Here's something you may not realize. I did not realize this to a man in preaching mention it and then it's there He said many of the Psalms began With the answer to their prayers in other words as the psalmist puts down the psalm they start out praising God because the request to their prayers have been answered and so they start out praising God and then once they're through praising God and revealing the answer to their prayer then they go ahead and Relate how they were in distress and how they sought the Lord and then how the Lord came and blessed and that's exactly What has happened right here in Psalms 85 and of course if you read?

You read Those first four verses you see that God has done a work again again, which means Revival and it's wonderful to see how God has mightily mightily poured out his spirit upon the church and revival now in my own way of thinking how revival Is discovering you have a need and allowing the Lord Jesus Christ to meet it?

Discovering the Lord as the Way in Adversity

Now all through the Bible this is Exemplified. Now I realize that That there may be some argument in some people's minds about this matter of this being revival. Because they feel like that revival is God bringing you back again to work someplace you've already been and And I realize if that that is the case.

Then I may be wrong in my thinking that this is a definition. But I believe that revival is as constantly seeing yourself in need of Jesus and Discovering Jesus To meet that need in your own personal life, and I think that's just phase one.

And I think the children of Israel Constantly experienced this particular Element of glory and power as they as they moved out of the land of Of Egypt to the land of Canaan. I couldn't I was almost getting out of the land of Canaan in Egypt there, but we find that The children of Israel constantly were led with a cloud by day and a fire by night to points of adversity and these points of adversity Constantly led them to See themselves and mind you they saw themselves they were very immature people.

And I mean there's a lot to be Said for him or against me the one. But they they saw themselves, and then they discovered. Then they discovered the Lord. For instance they were led to the Red Sea and And They did not know the way they were hemmed in.

Will a cloud by day they were? And a fire by night because he'd led them there and then on the back side they had the Egyptians and on the other side they had the Red Sea and and it was something and And Abra brother Moses stood up.

Brother Moses stood up and preached his great sermon in the 13th the 14th and the 15th verses of That 14 chapter of the book of Exodus and when he preached these verses To them The Lord would deliver him that day.

Boy you talking about a message of faith it's obvious that he did not know the way and So the he turned and cried unto the Lord and the Lord said to Moses Why Christ thou unto me? Thy rod Stretch out thy hand over the sea Divideth it and the children of Israel shall go on dry Ground through the midst of the sea they discovered the Lord to be the way.

You say how do you know they discovered the Lord to be the way? Well in the 19th verse of Psalm 77. Psalm 77 19 It says thy way is in the sea and thy path in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known.

You know, he's talking about the children of Israel the children of Israel at the Red Sea and Thy way is in the sea and I believe that Moses discovered That even though he knew God would deliver him that day he had to actually be in the presence of the Father and exercise the very faith of the Father and to see that Red Sea open and I believe that he discovered the way to deliverance.

Was Jesus? Jesus being the way for a people in defeat they needed to see that Jesus was the way to overcome and So I believe they discovered Jesus as the way to overcome. Now somewhat somehow I call that revival.

Now I I may be using this in the strictly In the New Testament sense, but to me people of God seeing their need seeing the supply and Experiencing the supply which is the Living Lord to me. That is Revival.

Israel at Marah and Christ as the Sweetening Tree

Well this happened to the children of Israel throughout throughout the Old Testament. That's right, that's certainly I'll guarantee God constantly brought them to the places like And when they came to Mara They could not drink of the waters because of Mara or they were bitter Before the name it was called Mara before the name of it was called Mara.

They Literally Had this experience where they saw the wickedness of their hearts how they would act in the circumstances like this and their experience of this water are we experiencing with this water was bitter and see they had a great need and and what happened here is they discovered a tree and They took that tree and cut that tree down and Put that tree into that bitter water and that bitter water became sweet water.

Now, you know as Well as I know that they that tree was a type of Christ and cutting that tree down and Salging that tree into that water Was a type of Christ Being crucified on Calvary and Submitting himself to death and out of That bitter water came sweet water Living life and I believe they discovered there that the Lord was the Lord to take their bitter experiences and Turn their bitter experiences into sweet Experiences they just had one experience right after another now, I call that revival.

I Call that revival. Yes, I may be I've got so many notes here and I'm discussing so many things with you that You just pray that the Spirit of the Lord will give us clarity of thought And able to get through the material that will help you but I call that revival.

Yes, sir I call that revival when you discover you have a need and you Discovered the Lord Jesus as a supply for that need and you literally experience him. Yeah, it was a revival in my heart the day that I discovered that my body was dead because of sin and because of sickness I was suffering and I discovered that Jesus could be my life and today he's still my life.

Amen. The second phase of the definition of revival in my conviction is The believer allowing the Lord Jesus to express himself in each of us according to the Lord's demands and let me illustrate we face the Word of God and As we first face the Word of God we face the law of God.

Do this and do that? Be this and be that. And so I believe that the revival is the Lord Living up to those demands in each of our lives. Right. The Bible says for instance for the husband to love his wife As Christ loved the church.

Revival as Christ Expressed Through Believers

Now I want you to know friend That's that's an impossibility. I realize when you When your love is unattached unhampered Unrestricted That is just completely free Towards your wife that it's an experience that cannot be explained.

I Know it's an experience that cannot be explained. But far as you loving your wife as Christ loved the church That takes a supernatural work of grace now to me That is revival. To me that's revival. I Mean that is revival.

That's right. All I'll tell you Revival is not only the Lord Jesus living up to these demands In your life in my life That's placed on us. But revival is living in such a relationship with Jesus That he is able to initiate our environments.

That he is able to instigate what's going on in our lives. So when we walk out here and face the world We can go out here and say I am here because God Initiated this work in me and I'm not out here doing my own work.

I'm out here doing his work. And I'm not only out here doing his work. But I'm out here doing his work legitimately. In other words, I'm out here running a race and I'm out here running this race legitimately.

Because he put me in this race He put me in it. And so I'm running it to legitimately. So when I end the finish line and I am not disqualified. So I believe revival is living in such a relationship that the Holy Spirit of God is Manifesting Jesus and we're living up to the demands of God.

But not only the demands of God, but we're living up to those demands in the way that God accepts that God initiates that God Has laid out before us and then I think The third phase of revival is a Relationship between you and Jesus whereby and all of us in Jesus whereby we are reproductive.

Or we are reproductive where we are being used of the father To bring sons and daughters into the kingdom of God that the the result of Christ meeting our need Christ meeting the demands of the law. And beloved there's a reproduction Where men and women and boys and girls are being saved by the grace of God Washed in the blood of the Lamb.

I believe that with all of my heart. Let me just talk to you about some of the Things that happen When revival comes and When we talk about what will happen to us when revival comes We're talking about You know What is the result of revival now?

I could easily say that the result of revival is Having your needs met result of revival is not only having your needs met but result of revival is being Free from bondage. Not only is it free from bondage, but the result of revival is Seeing other people born in to the kingdom of God.

The Results of Revival in the Church

Now as far as I'm concerned that revival is this people lost in the glory and wonder of God a Deep sense of his presence of God. Men moving about with bowed heads subdued in his presence a deep sense of sin version of sinners preaching Dealt on the severity of God firmly family worship to the here and there Social evil swept away in a night as by a flood Ever backslider is quicken By the work and power of the Holy Spirit and I just feel that This type of thing goes on when a mighty revival comes.

I remember The first time I ever went to a meeting That I considered a revival. I was in a little place down in East, Texas. The name of the place was called Junction. The pastor had invited me to come and he said manly said we're going to Start a meeting on Christmas Day.

And we're not going to stop Until the Lord tells us to stop and So you come so I went and I want you to know I Went there and started on Christmas Day and what I did believing that revival started with the Saints.

I dealt with the Saints and as I continued to preach I preached for seven days and then all at once on the seventh day God came a person jumped up right in the middle of the service and Asked us if he could be saved by the grace of God.

Well for the next seven days We had my a mighty mighty mighty outpouring of God. We had a mighty mighty mighty deep conviction among the Saints first. There was a breaking up the foul of ground. There was all kinds of sins confessed the Bible became a new book.

The song service became a new experience the standard of holiness was Measured out by God. I remember it was such a humorous experience almost People that had habits that they felt were wrong such as smoking and dipping chewing Would hide their tobacco before they would get to the church house and Yet the conviction would be so strong on on them that They would go out to their vehicles and get their tobacco out and bring it in and Drop it at the altar and you might say well, this is just a bunch of cruncher bunkins.

No, no the Leaders of the community were in this and I Remember one incident that I like to tell about there's one lady that had been dipping for years and She Had bought her a case of snuff. And she got so in the conviction about it she Took this case of snuff The part that she had not used back to the grocery store and asked the man to give her money back.

And he said yes, I'd love to and I'd love for you to lead me to Jesus. She led him to Jesus. They got down behind the counter and prayed he got saved and This lady had been praying for her husband to be saved for years and you know that fella got saved and She testified not I not my opinion now.

She testified that his salvation The came as a result of her becoming a holy holy woman a Woman that was walking in in total separation to the Lord the best she understood. I mean God just blessed now.

The standard of holiness was so high. So lit it up the Saints of God Became extremely burdened for the lost and That burden was basically expressed in prayer. There was some Normal visitation types Ministry going on by the layman.

Not most of the most of us preachers were so busy at the church house leading people to Jesus That we did not have time to get out and go from door to door. But I wouldn't want to condemn that Most of the Experiences of visitation was by the layman.

Sometimes one would be led of God to go at midnight or in flight so to speak. And there was a point of urgency to visit a person, but God Basically moved on his Saints to pray. I Remember going over to the church house one morning, and there was ten ladies over there praying and they had not been invited by the pastor or the evangelist or the song leader or the deacon to come and pray a Spirit of God had touched ten ladies.

They had not called each other. They just were led and This was a beautiful beautiful experience. I feel of the grace of God and I Have long forgot all the figures of the amount of people that came during that time but I think the pastor baptized 150 people and the church did not run but about a hundred and 60 or 70 and a good Good Sunday, you know, but anyway, and don't hold me to those figures because this had been many years ago and I didn't make notes of that and By the you know to the degree of putting down figures, but boy, it was a mighty mighty work of God first among the Saints and It seemed to me that the Sun the Saints had their needs met.

And They were set free and no longer were they living under bondage and they were reproductive. Now that's to me. What what was happening among the Saints and of course We call that revival. I call that revival and I believe this is what's needed in the church today is Revival now, there's some questions about whether or not we can have that type of revival in The church today and you might say why and That is a real good question that yesterday afternoon.

Lost People in the Church Cannot Be Revived

I was interviewed here for one hour about revival and that may be why I'm being so slow in the delivery of this message today is that I'm I'm doing it almost as a interview rather than a preaching but You can't revive.

You can't revive lost people you cannot revive lost people and I'm so afraid that there are so many people in the church that are lost That are without Jesus Christ. That's never been saved by the grace of God.

That's never been washed in the blood. That when it comes to reviving them, there's no hope of reviving them. There must be a work of God there must be a work of God and Getting these people saved now.

Then of course, we're back wondering where is our definition of revival? So I've just about concluded as I've talked to you today and I spent yesterday an hour Discussing this matter revival and and I have got about ten books right here on my desk.

It's and in fact one was sent to me for Christmas present lectures on revivals by Sprague. Sprague it's a old Puritan book and I'll be going to Switzerland with some men here in a few weeks to I Just sit and spend a whole week discussing revival and so on.

I Believe that that revival Needs to we need to look at the word again and we need to determine what we mean and And We need to come to some understanding about the meaning of the word and We need to realize that That whether we've got the word right or not we need the experience a revival where our people are quicken By the Holy Spirit to where they see their needs and their needs are met personally.

Where they feel the demands of God upon their life and they allow the Lord to meet those demands upon their life and then where they are reproductive in their life as a Christian Meaning that they are bringing bringing people To our precious Lord and Savior.

I've enjoyed talking to you about revival. I Trust some way somehow God will deal with your heart about it and That some way somehow God will revive his people and if you're one of those that are not living on The level of personal revival.

I want you to know there is hope for you God's ready to revive you right this very moment and I trust that you allow him to do it. Would you pray with me father, I pray that you'll touch us revive us Revive us Lord in the name of Jesus.

We pray. Amen.