Revival and the Holiness of God — Sammy Tippit

The Need for Revival Through Holy Living

I come this morning with a great burden for revival among God's people, traveling to various continents, preaching the gospel. But in my own country, God has given me no liberty to preach evangelistically.

I believe the great need of America is for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by which men and women will bow before Jesus Christ and know Him as Lord. I said yesterday afternoon that I believe the greatest need in this generation is for a prayer movement.

Prayer Must Be Joined to a Consecrated Life

And I believe that with all my heart. But I am also convinced that a prayer movement alone will not bring revival. There is a particular kind of prayer movement that is needed. There is the life that prays.

And we can pray, and we can pray. But we must have lives that are wholly yielded to God. I agree with McShane who said, A holy life is an awesome weapon in the hands of a mighty God. The scripture that comes to my heart this morning is from 2 Corinthians 16 and verse 9, that says, The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself mighty on behalf of those who are completely His, or whose hearts are perfectly set on Him.

And this morning, I want to say that there is a call of God. That God is going to and fro throughout the whole earth, looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His. I was in South Africa this past summer, in August and September, and I was ministering there.

The Revival at Kwasi Zabantu

And I was in the city of Durban. And in that city, it's right near Zululand. And I had heard and read about the great revival that was taking place in Zululand. I had read Kurt Koch's book, the German scholar who had written on the revival in Zululand.

And I wanted to see it. And so I asked the pastor if we could go out there. And we went to a place called Kwasi Zabantu, which in the Zulu language means the place that people find help. And so we went out there.

And it was very interesting. I met the leader of the revival movement. He was a German man. And he told me of how the revival had begun. He said for about 15 years, he had been praying for revival. He had been praying for God to pour out His Spirit among the Zulu people.

He was a missionary to those people. And he had been wanting to see God move among them in a tremendous way. So for 15 years, he sought the face of God. And yet there was no results. And after 15 years of praying, he just gave up.

He said, I've been encouraged. I've been exhorted to pray. And I've prayed and I've tried and I've sought the face of God. And there have been no results. They were calling for riots, they were holding tent campaigns.

And the Zulu people would come, and many of them would come at the altar call, but immediately they would go back to their animism, they would go back to their witchcraft, and they would go back to their false worship.

And he said I tried and I tried and I prayed and I prayed. And there was no effect on the Zulu people or the ministry which I had. He said finally I just quit. I gave up he said in 1969 some friends of mine called me and they said would you come and pray with us for revival and he said he said I've prayed for 15 years and there is no hope I've called on God I've sought the face of God and God has not responded we are just using the wrong method prayer just won't work and so I've given up the man encouraged him to come and try it again and so he came and he began to meet with a small group of German people in that community and they begin to call on the name of the Lord and they begin to seek God for revival and as they sought the Lord one day they were praying in the business community in an office and the in the windows were open and people were walking by and so they became a little bit intimidated because they were afraid that people might hear them and and they didn't want to sound too fanatical and so they decided to start praying quietly and as they begin to pray quietly the Lord spoke to their hearts and said the reason that you're afraid for someone to hear you crying out unto me is because of pride and they begin to confess their pride unto the Lord and God in those moments moved in on them and the Holy Spirit begin to open their hearts to see themselves as God saw them.

And as they begin to get a glimpse of God and see God in his absolute purity in his absolute holiness they saw themselves in the light of God and they were broken before God. And as they were broken God began to manifest and reveal himself to the community as those who are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ were broken under the sense of the presence of the holiness of God.

He told me he said the next day I was at my home and a Zulu woman came to me and she knocked at the door of my home and she said to me. She said sir she said can you tell me. She says I am bound in chains and I am headed for hell.

Can you help me. He was shocked. He looked at the lady he said did you hear some preacher preach. Did someone send you to me. Why did you come to me. And the lady said sir I don't have time for such foolish talk.

I am bound in chains and I'm headed for hell. Can you help me. Man looked at her and he said no ma 'am I can't. But I know one who can in his name is Jesus. And he led that lady to Jesus. He said. The next day there were 50 Zulu ladies who came to him.

Not only was this lady a witch among the Zulu people but she was a trainer of witches among the Zulu people. And this lady came to him. These ladies 50 ladies came and said sir we want what our teacher has found.

She is a free woman. Can you tell us how to be free. And he told those ladies about Jesus. And he as he was discussing this with me he said Sammy for years for years I have been going to the Zulu people.

I have been trying to take the message of Christ to them and it made no effect on their lives he said. But when I got right and when God broke me when I saw God's holiness and I saw myself in the light of the absolute purity and holiness of God.

I was so stripped of self. God brought the Zulu people to me and these 50 ladies gave their hearts to Jesus he said. About a week later I woke up one morning and there were 200 Zulu men standing in front of my house and he said I went out there.

He says I was trembling. I didn't know what was going to happen. And I asked them. I said but what do you want. And those men said we have new wives. Our women are different they're changed. They are not the same women that they were two weeks ago.

And we want to know what you have shared with them. Would you share it with us. We want what they have. And those 200 Zulu men gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. He began a Bible study three times a day ministering to the Zulu people.

And as he began to teach the Word of God to the Zulu people three times a day they begin to come from all over Zululand. And since 1974 until this day there have been between 1 ,500 and 5 ,000 Zulu people who've come to Kwasi Zabantu every single day to hear the Word of God.

They are building the largest auditorium in the nation of South Africa it's almost complete right now. They are building an auditorium that will hold 10 ,000 people. And the amazing thing about that is that where I'm talking about is 40 miles from the nearest city.

I was asked to preach there. I went there and you must understand that among the Zulu people are among all of the African people they are very emotionally expressive in their worship. And personally I kind of like that.

I don't know how you feel it but I kind of like it and I enjoy it. But I want to tell you something when I got to Kwasi Zabantu there was a sense of stillness and quietness and there was a holy hush over the place.

As a matter of fact when I got up to preach I had to calm down because of the sense of the presence and the awesomeness and the majesty and the glory and the holiness of God. God was there. Those Zulu people began to sing as they begin to sing the Spirit of God begin to well up.

And do you know that people are coming from all over the world to Zulu land. When I preached that night there were people from West Germany there were people from Holland there were people from Austria there were people from France there were people from Switzerland who were coming to that place because they had heard that they could find help at that place.

The Church as a Place Where People Find Help

I believe what the church today needs to become in America is like Kwasi Zabantu a place where people know that they can find help because the absolute glory of God is dwelling upon the church. The problem today in America we've heard of all of the sin that's in the life of the church.

We've heard of all of the things. But folks what we need what we need is God's glory. And when the glory of God comes on the church the people the people will desire they will know that they can get help.

And I tell you with all of the things that are going on in our world today the church today needs to be a lighthouse a place where there is a manifestation of God's glory. But in order for that to happen I believe biblically I believe historically I believe in our contemporary society it has been consistent all the way through that where the glory of God is dwelling is where there are men and women who have tasted of the holiness of God.

Seeing the Holiness of God in Isaiah's Vision

And we don't hear much preaching today on the holiness of God. And the reason is it's threatening or we have a misconcept or a wrong concept of what the holiness of God is. Isaiah chapter 6 the Bible says in the year of King Uzziah's death Isaiah said I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and exalted and lifted up and the robe his robe began to fill the temple.

And the angels cried out in verse 3 and said holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. I find it very interesting that three times three times that the angels say holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Everything about God is holy. The Father is holy the Son is holy the Spirit is holy. How in the world can we be the people of God without being a holy people. How can we go to heaven where everything is holy if we're not holy.

What we need today is we need a fresh view of a holy God. Now I know when I talk about the holiness of God so many times we think that holiness is is the way we wear our hair the way we dress. And holiness is defined is some outward attribute.

And holiness is not an outward attribute. It is an inward quality whereby our hearts are set apart. You see holy means set apart sanctified in another category altogether. And God is holy because he's not creation he's the Creator.

God is holy because there's no impurity in him. He is absolute purity. He is absolute goodness. He is perfect in his goodness. There's no evil in God. What we need to see is God. And you see revival comes as we see God in his holiness.

Then we will be broken. The holiest shall be the humblest. I hear this saying all the time I don't like those holier-than-thou brothers. Well I want to tell you something. It's impossible to be holier than thou because true holiness of heart understands this.

That holiness does not compare itself to someone else. Holiness only looks to the holiness the one who is absolute holiness God himself. And as we see God we're gonna be broken. You see the first step towards revival.

And this is what happened to Isaiah when he saw God in his holiness he cried out woe is me. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And he saw himself in the light of a holy God.

Humility, Pride, and the True Source of Revival

Now humility is the first step towards revival. And humility where does it come from. We quote that verse all the time if my people which are called by my name shall do what humble themselves. And before we begin to pray there must be that spirit of brokenness.

There must be that spirit of humility. But where does humility come from. I was asking Titus and another friend of ours by the name of Radu Geer Geetze. He's a young physicist in Romania and we were discussing this one day.

And I said how do you get humility. The Bible says God's opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humility to the humble. How do you get humility. If it's so important how do you get it. And Radu made this statement.

He said Sammy humility is a strange thing. The moment I think that I have it it seems to escape me. You see you can't you can't you can't wear your humility. I don't know if you heard of the man who received the award for being the most humble man in his church.

They gave him a button but they had to take it away because he wore it all the time. You see you can't show your humility to everyone else. I mean you can't go around and look humble. Humility is an attitude of the heart.

And where does it come from. And then Titus made a statement he said humility comes as I get to know God as I see God and as I see him in his holiness in his absolute purity. I see myself in the light of God.

And you see the problem today that we have listen the reason for the scandals across our denomination across evangelical Christianity in America today the reason there's so many scandals I believe at the root of it is pride.

Augustine said humility is the mother of all virtue and I believe just the reverse is true. Also that pride is the mother of all evil. And what happens is we get caught up in the ministry doing our thing for God and we become spiritually arrogant and we lose the sense of the absolute purity of God himself.

What we need instead of comparing our churches to one another we need to look in our churches at God and see him. When we see him we're going to see ourselves in the light of God and something's going to happen.

Seeking God's Kingdom Over Personal Ministry

The greatest thing that's ever happened in my ministry happened when the Lord told me to get out of evangelism when I first got saved my wife and I were in evangelism for about nine years ministry all over the world and God showed me something God spoke to my heart.

He said son your ministry has grown bigger than your character. And he said get out. And I knew I needed to quit building a great ministry. And I'll tell you what the great need today in America is. We have a lot of Empire builders and few kingdom seekers.

And we need people who are not building empires today. We need people who are seeking the kingdom of God. And God said son you get about seeking my kingdom and let me tell you where his kingdom is. His kingdoms built in your heart and it's his will that you be conformed to the image of Jesus and God's more interested in conforming you into the image of Jesus that he is in building some Empire for you and building some great big ministry.

And God just dealt with me. He dealt with me. I listen. I begin to read some of the testimonies of the men of old and I as I read the life and diary of David Brainerd I was amazed. I couldn't believe it.

Why we would say that he had a bad self image today. And man he'd fall on his face and say oh I'm so pitiful I'm so pitiful. And I'd say why David you shouldn't be talking like that. You know in your diary I mean don't don't you understand who you are in Christ.

And all of this good positive thinking and positive speaking we have. But I want to tell you something Brainerd saw himself in the light of a holy God. And the problem today is we have men and women who've not seen God.

He's holy he's holy and no as we see him in his holiness and God begin to show me. Oh I said God I don't know anything. I don't understand what Brainerd's talking about as I read Isaiah 6 I said I don't understand father.

I really don't understand what Isaiah is talking about. I said God put me somewhere where nobody knows me where nobody's heard of me where I'm a nobody and let me meet with you. I received a call to be the pastor of the Han Baptist Church in Han West Germany an English language church.

The word Han is a short for the German word Hainchen which means chicken. I became the pastor of the chicken Baptist Church in chicken West Germany. Out in the boondocks. But I want to tell you what my wife and I have talked and I'm so thankful that God made me the pastor of the chicken Baptist Church.

I got out there and I met with God at the chicken Baptist Church in chicken Germany. Our church began to grow. We begin to break the records in it in evangelism and baptisms. No the Lord was moving in our church.

We had to go to multiple services. We had to move into another auditorium another building. The Lord was working mightily. But in the midst of that time something else happened. You know I asked a pastor.

I said pastor. I've never pastor before. I asked an older pastor. I said what do I do. I've been in evangelism all this time and all how I thank God for pastors. I mean if nothing else God showed me the needs and the hurts the pastor during that time and I said oh thank you father.

I mean at the first month I resigned three times. I mean it was so good traveling from one place to another. You didn't have to put up with the problems of the people and all this kind of stuff. And then boy I tell you what.

The first Sunday morning I got there the church almost split right after my sermon and I said oh God what have I gotten into. And I saw I begin to preach through Genesis. The pastor told me he said just start preaching the Bible stay with the Bible stick with the Bible and preach expository through the Bible.

So for three years I preached through the book of Genesis and all how I love Genesis and many I fell in love with the Word of God. We had people get saved when I'd preach on the baguettes. Oh God just moved and God worked all the Word of God all of its true all of its true and all of its spirit and all of its life.

But I want to tell you something I got to that place where I was preaching on Abraham offering Isaac up as a sacrifice. I was scheduled to preach on Sunday morning and on Friday evening before that Sunday morning we had all gone to bed and I heard something in my son's room.

I went running in there. His eyes had rolled back into his head his arms and his little legs were just convulsing. I yelled for my wife. She came in there we prayed for him. We rushed him to the hospital.

There was a medical doctor that I was discipling at the hospital. He was paralyzed on one side of his body for the next year and a half I have to say to you that we went through a literal hell. The doctors gave him medication and he would react to that medication.

The people of our church prayed for him. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming with these tremendous headaches. For a year and a half we suffered. On one hand we saw the glory of God moving in our church but on the other hand all our son was hurting.

Our son was hurting and I didn't understand it. And one day at the dinner table my wife said to me she said Sammy she said today she began to weep and she said today I was having my time alone with God.

And as I was studying the scripture I was studying the attribute of his holiness. And as I was studying his holiness and she began to cry and she said God spoke to my heart and I need to talk to you. And so after dinner that evening we sat down in the living room and we discussed it and she said Sammy I was studying the holiness of God and God showed me how unholy I am.

And she says I've been seeking God for days our son's healing and and there's been no healing. And God showed me how just impure I am in my life. She said you know there have been some attitudes I've held towards you for little things you've said and little things you've done.

And she said I need to ask you to forgive me. Something happened when she did that you see we had a good marriage. Don't misunderstand me our home life was good we had compared to other people. I mean we had a good marriage compared to everyone else.

But God opened my eyes to see his holiness in those moments and I it's so devastated me. I have to be honest with you I didn't think I'd be able to preach again. I went to the chairman of our deacons and said I don't know you may need to for me to resign.

I am so unholy. I need some time off. I need to get with my wife and we need to meet with God. And we left and we took a few days off and we went and rented a hotel in Luxembourg and in Luxembourg that first night I didn't sleep a wink.

We sat up and we talked and we prayed and we talked and we prayed and God opened my heart to see myself in the light of his holiness. And when I saw myself in the light of his holiness I was so devastated.

I didn't think I'd ever be able to preach again. God broke me. You see I've been comparing myself to the other churches are we're the fastest growing Baptist Church in Western Europe. I want to tell you something so what.

So what if in the end you end in divorce with your wife. You can lose your ministry. But if you have your character and you have your family you can rebuild it. But if you lose your character and you lose your family you've lost your ministry.

Because our ministry is an outgrowth of who we are on the inside and who we are comes from the knowledge of God and his holiness and his absolute purity. And the great need of this generation is for men and women who have been held him.

The Knowledge of a Holy God Overcomes Evil

And you see when we see him we're going to be changed. And folks there is a power of evil over our society. There is a power of evil over our churches. There is a power of evil that has pervaded this generation.

And I am ashamed to say it. But my generation adopted the philosophy of we will reject the traditional values of our forefathers. And it is my generation that brought in the new morality and I'm ashamed of it.

But folks I want to tell you something. There is only one thing that will dispel the power of evil in the land and that is the knowledge of a holy God among his people. And as we get to know him in his holiness those forces will be broken.

Revelation 12 11. Brother Rolling quoted verse 9 this morning. But verse 11 says this. And they overcame him talking about the battle that final battle with Satan it says and they overcame him by the by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and that they love not their lives even unto death.

Prayer, Persecution, and the Fire of God

I want to tell you what broke the power of the forces of the evil dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania. It was not the might of the arms and the weapons of the people for they had no arms and they had no weapons.

Do you know what broke the power of the evil forces in Romania. Small children stood in front of tanks and shed their blood and the blood of the martyrs reached all the way to heaven. I was in a country I cannot name the country because I promised the man.

I would not mention it but I was in a country and I met a dear old saint of God who was a powerful man of prayer. He had prayed his four sons into the university when he went to prison. They would not allow his sons to go to the university and he prayed them in.

I said how did you do that. He said I prayed for them every day in that prison cell. And in that prison cell my first son my oldest son was the like the valedictorian of his class and and consequently they would not allow him to go to the university.

But they put him in the factory to work because I was in prison. But he said I prayed for him and I prayed for him. And he said one day the head of the Communist Party in that factory came to him and said you would be of more benefit to our nation if you studied in the university.

And so I'm going to recommend that you go to the university. He not only studied in the university but he studied in the one of the foremost universities in the Western world today he is one of the leading scientists in that nation.

He interpreted for me when I was in that country. And and and and this old man prayed every one of those boys out of the unit out of high school into the university while he was in that prison. And I'll never forget what that old man told me.

He said young man he said a lot of people come to my country and they want to make a big fire for God. He said I don't want to make a big fire for God. I want to be consumed by God's fire until I am ashes.

And when I am ashes then I will see the glory of God. He said we were speaking in German. He said fish stands Amish. Do you understand me. And I thought he meant do you understand my German. And I said yeah yeah I understand you.

No do you really understand what I'm saying when I am so much nothing that God is everything then I will see his glory. When I am so much nothing that God is everything. Then the glory of God will be released.

And that's the need of the hour. I closed by sharing with you one story. I was in Belfast Northern Ireland preaching. And while I was preaching there I heard I'd written about a man by the name of WP Nicholson a great evangelist.

And his evangelistic meetings he preached. And there was so much restitution made in the revivals there that there was not room in the church for all the stolen goods that had been turned in and so they had to bring them down to the shipyards and put them in the shipyards.

And there WP Nicholson had preached so mightily that the churches would not hold the places. One church they pushed in the walls people trying to get in in the early 1900s. So I told the pastor. I said pastor could you bring me to the graveyard to the cemetery.

I want to see Nicholson's tomb. And we went there. And on his tomb outside of Belfast was just this verse John 3 30 I must decrease. That he might increase. And that's the key to being mighty in spirit and the glory of God so much nothing that he is everything.