Revival Lectures Three — E.A. Johnston

God as the Divine Husbandman

Our study today, friends, in regard to revival is the topic of usefulness to God. In the book of Isaiah, in chapter 5, we find a startling narrative of a picture of God as a husbandman, as He speaks about the people of God as grapes in His vineyard, the house of Israel as the vineyard of the Lord.

Isaiah’s Vineyard and God’s Expectations

Let us take a look at this striking passage of Scripture at this time. Here now is the Word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His Holy Word. Now, I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard, my well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein, and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Let me pause here, friends, to say here we see God as the divine husbandman. Over in John's Gospel, in chapter 15, Jesus declares about Himself and the Father, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

The translation of the Greek for this verse says, I, in contradistinction to anyone else, am the genuine vine, and my Father is the tiller of the soil. Here we have in Isaiah this same imagery of God the Father as a vinedresser, where He displays His great love over the vineyard.

He exercises great care over it. He has a great investment in it. He has great expectations for it. But alas, it turns out to be a great disappointment to Him. We see in verses 3 and 4 of Isaiah chapter 5,.

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard, what could have done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes.

Spiritual Fruitfulness and the Danger of Self-Absorption

O friends, if we're truly a born-again believer, God has exercised great care over each of our lives. He's planted here and watered there. He's pruned us and purged us of the things in our lives that hinder Him and His work.

And if we become self-absorbed and we take our eyes off of eternity, we lose sight of His purpose in our life, then we too can become like wild grapes. This vital truth to me came to me years ago. I was working hard for the Lord, working ten to fourteen hours a day, and I was dog-tired and plum-worn out.

Personal Testimony of God’s Investment

And during this time, I woke up one night around 2 a .m., and I was having trouble breathing. It was alarming to me. I felt like I was dying. Well, I rose from my bed, I walked unsteadily down the hall to my study, where I plopped down in my chair at my desk before my open Bible, and I began to pray to God.

I told Him I was plum-worn out from all my work, and I was tired of going on, and I just was ready to go home to be with Him, and if it was within His plan just to come and get me. Well, do you relect, friend, that in the Gospels, often when Jesus was asked a question, He answered the person addressing Him with another question?

Isn't that so? Well, out of the stillness of the night, when I said, Is it okay, Lord, if I come home to you now? God spoke to me in a very clear voice. It was not an audible voice, but a voice spoken in my heart, and some of you may know of which I speak, and He asked me a question.

Well, at the time I supported myself by a secular occupation. The question He asked me was this, What do you do for a living? I replied, Investments. He said, I have an investment in you, and I will receive the dividends from my investment.

Well, I got up and went back to bed. The case was closed, and here I am today as an old man in this world still, and God's made an incredible investment in me and in each of us, and that price was His blood.

Revival, Evangelism, and Usefulness to God

When the church is out of fellowship with the Father, then that church needs revival. A self-absorbed church, a self-absorbed Christian fails to produce grapes of evangelism and the spread of the gospel.

A church that has experienced revival is on fire for God and evangelism. Remember this, friends, revival is not only possible, it's probable as long as we are expendable. God builds His servants in His refiner's fire through the divine process of reducing and decreasing.

Refining Fire and Divine Pruning

Gold must be reduced in its purity in the furnace of affliction. A branch must be pruned back and decreased before it can bear more fruit. If we desire further usefulness to God, then we must submit both to the refiner's fire and the divine pruning knife.

We must be willing to be reduced to nothing so Christ can be magnified in our lives. I will end this lesson in prayer. Great God, You've made an investment in each of us, and that investment was Your precious blood.

Prayer for Fruitfulness and Revival

Grant us grace, Lord, to be more fruitful for Thee. Grant us, Lord, enough of Thy Spirit so we can live above sin in the world. Let us have a glimpse of eternity. Let us have a glimpse into hell. Let us get on fire for You, Lord, so we can burn out for You in Your glory.

Oh, precious Jesus, You are not only worthy, You are worth it. Let us experience a deeper knowledge of Thee. Let us have a revival, Lord. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.