The True Nature of Revival in the Local Church — Ralph Sutera

Personal and Corporate Revival

Tonight is the true nature of personal and corporate revival. And I personally think that everything we've said leads up to what we talk about tonight. So I want us just to keep our hearts open for a genuine response to entering into personal reviving.

What is involved in personal reviving? And tomorrow night I'm discussing the results of revival, and nobody missed tomorrow night even though it's my last evening here for now. I just want you to know that the way we end tomorrow night is going to be most fascinating.

Make sure you don't miss it. Get on the telephone, get on the people. It looks like our number is just a little bit lower than it was last night. Maybe last night people got their batteries overcharged.

Maybe stayed in church a little bit too long and now recovering tonight. But everybody back for tomorrow night. Now, there are only two kinds of people in the world, and everybody who is here is in one of these two classes.

See, those who have said to God, Your will be done. Or those to whom God has said, Your will be done. As if God's saying, You want to have your own way? Go ahead, have it. Your will be done. And everybody who's here is in one of those two classes.

There's no third class about that. It's one way or the other. Satan doesn't mind if we have unmolested areas of blessing in our Christian life. Even if we have a little dose of Christian experience and just enough to keep us from really entering into the whole thing that God has for us.

He doesn't mind. And it's so easy for us to think that because God has blessed us in a number of ways that we must be in good standing with God. But does not your Bible say to us that the goodness of God leads us to what?

Repentance. And all the more, we are to recognize the importance of living at the foot of the cross. If you were to say to me, What verse sums up what personal reviving is all about? I would dare say, I'd have to say it's Matthew 22, 36 to 40, that portion of Scripture.

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And the Bible talks about these are the greatest commandments.

Love God supremely in the second like unto it. Love your neighbor as yourself. It's true. And here's the tremendous text of reviving in the Old Testament. Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may continue to have long faces as they come to church on Sunday morning?

No, that thy people may rejoice in thee. Well, you see, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said a genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers or day dawn without light. Joy in the Lord.

Will thou not revive us again that people may rejoice in thee? It's in thee, you see. Where is it? A tremendous statement that was made a number of years ago in an article. The need today is not for a transitory revival, but for the Eternal One to dwell with us forever.

Revival Begins in the Character of God

A revival that begins where? In the character of God. We'll be as a river ever increasing and widening until lost in the great sea of eternity. You know, sometimes when we have a crusade, Lou will make a statement like this.

Well, tomorrow night, I'm going to speak on the subject. Where does revival begin? He said, of course, you know where revival begins. And everybody said, yes, I know where revival begins in my heart. He said, no, it doesn't.

Where is it? In the character of God. A revival that begins. In other words, God himself is the focal point. And when that happens, and then Luke says, will thou not revive us again? And for the Canadians who are here, again.

Revival must always be revived. Revive us again. Do it again. Do you know what it's saying? It's a reminder to us that there's no such thing as a once and for all cure-all. It's not just an experience that's a fix for good.

No, no. It's a process of again and again. And it relates to the New Testament where the apostle Peter talks about times of refreshing. Acts chapter 3. Times of refreshing coming from the presence of God.

Meaning time after time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Now, some practical definitions before I get into the meat of it. What is some practical definitions of revival? It's a call to honesty and godliness.

It's putting God first, not putting him off. Look at this one. It's when my neology catches up to my theology. You like that word, neology? I made it up. That's why I put it in quotes. It's not in the dictionary.

See, when my neology catches up to my theology, it's the impact of divine truth both revealed and applied. See, we've had a lot of truth that's been revealed. But what about the application of it? Okay, truth will not live in our intellect unless it is relived in our experience.

That's it. See, not only revealed but applied. You see, this must have been a German, Henry Krauss. I don't know who he is. Somewhere I picked up this quote and I don't know where it was. And I've not found anybody who knows where it comes from and knows the man.

But it's one of the most profound statements on the subject. Truth divorced from experience will always dwell in the realm of doubt. What a statement. See? You can talk about the truth in the head. But if it is divorced from genuine experience, there will always be doubtful as to whether it's real in your life.

And I can tell you what happened to a man when God touched him in the revival meetings. He said, before I knew the Bible was true, but now I know it's real. I love that. See, we can know it's true. But when God touches us deeply, then we'll know it's real.

Well, a practical definition, when God is my goal, not merely seeking the solution to my problems, when God himself becomes my goal, and when that happens, watch how he begins to solve the problems. Now, if you were to ask me, can you tell us from your experiences, if you say, can you give us an idea of some of the situations and the people that you believe are some of the most dramatic things that have happened in your ministry to people?

What would they be? Well, I really wish that Max Cheney were here. I went down to Black Duck yesterday and sat with him, and he has a memory that never forgets anything. He said, Ralph, do you remember this, Ralph?

Do you remember this, Ralph? Do you remember this, Ralph? And I'm just sitting there, and he remembers it all, and he's older than I am. I mean, over and over again, all kinds of things have happened to people.

Reconciliation Through Revival

But if you were to ask me what I remember as a very dramatic situation, listen to this. We were asked to go to a church where there were two couples that were fighting with each other. Why? Because one woman was pregnant, and it was not sure whether or not the child to be born would be from her husband or from another man in the same church.

Now, how's that for one in an evangelical church? It was so bad between those two couples that the husband of the wife who was pregnant was already negotiating with people in the underworld in the Detroit area to have this other man knocked off.

He was ready to pay $500 at that time years ago to have him killed, already in the process. How's that for walking into a situation? Well, without all the details, merely to say to you that we saw God break through that whole situation and bring about a reconciliation between both of those couples to the place that the husband would say that even if the child would not be my child, I will accept the child as my own.

And then to think that two weeks later, both of those men were at such peace with each other that they could drive 10 hours one way in a car to a bowling tournament, and the one saying, just think, a few weeks ago I was ready to have you knocked off, and now we're rejoicing together for 10 hours in the same car.

Marvelous story, how God saved two marriages in that whole process. Well, Lou and I were in another ministry a short distance from there, a couple months later, and this couple that had this happen to them came to visit us one night, the meeting.

And I asked them to come and share a word of testimony as to what God has done in their lives. Now, when that happens, we teach people in a revival-oriented ministry what to say and what not to say. Some things are said in public, and some things are not said in public.

And so there was no fear as to that in that process. So I asked them to share a word with the people here. And I'll never forget, the wife stands up, and she says to the congregation, she said, I want you to know that in revival, God saved our marriage, put our marriage together as it's never been before.

God did a marvelous thing for our marriage. And she was just thanking God for what He did for their marriage, without details, but just rejoicing in that. And then she said something that kind of shocked me.

Listen to this. She said, but what God did for our marriage was nothing compared to—and I'm listening— what God did for our marriage was nothing compared to what God did for us. And I wondered what was coming next.

And I knew, I'm standing next to them, knowing the story that I just told you, and the people didn't know it. And they said what God did for our marriage was nothing compared to what God did for us. And the next statement, God Himself has become our goal in living.

That's it. You see, some of us just want God to straighten out a few of our problems, things that we can't handle ourselves. But that's not reviving. It's when God Himself becomes our goal for living.

And I can tell you that it's now 35 years later with that couple. I can tell you now that he is an associate pastor of a church staff. She's the church secretary. They've been on mission trips for years.

Say, how long does it last? I'm telling you. So you see, we need to get our eyes off of our problems and begin to think of how we relate to God Himself. Well, practical definition of revival is when the viewpoints and value systems of believers are transformed into the value systems of eternity.

It's amazing how our value systems change, our priorities change. And I would probably say, oh, there's other definitions there. Getting back to the cross with a sob in your heart, conformity of my heart, so on.

Okay, giving up my rights. But the bottom one is probably the most important thing as a practical definition of revival. You know what it is? It's judgment coming early. It's my being willing to deal with my sins now so that I do not have to face them at the judgment seat of Christ.

Doesn't your Bible say that we'll stand before God and give an account of the deeds done in our body, whether they be good or bad, as believers? So what is revival? It's judgment coming early. Instead of waiting to be judged then, we deal with our sin now so that that judgment takes place right now and we get those things settled between us and God.

What a blessing that is! Judgment coming early. Turn to Psalm 51 as we come to grips with the true nature of personal reviving. There are a number of portions of Scripture that relate to the subject, but what could be more significant than the way God worked in the life of the psalmist David?

By the way, it's on page 623 in my Bible. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, O God. According to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity.

Cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. That Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, clear when Thou judgest.

I was shaped in iniquity, and sin did my mother conceive me. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. In the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop. I shall be clean. Wash me.

I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. That the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins. Blot out all my transgressions. Now that's all we're going to read right now.

But I can tell you that in the first nine verses, we see the psalmist David dealing the problem of unconfessed sin. In other words, if we're going to be right with God, we have to do what he did. Come to grips to deal with the unconfessed sin.

We've been talking enough about that. Merely to say to you, that as I look at this portion of scripture, without a detailed accounting of it, you see in this portion, the confession of the psalmist David was so real.

It was so real. You see, there was no such thing as vindicating himself in the process. You recognize, we understand that this was his confession after sinning in adultery with Bathsheba, and then virtual murder to cover his adultery.

And that whole story of went on with the sin of his life. Now remember, we are talking about the man that God called, the man after his own heart. Well, people say, well, why is a story like this in the Bible?

Why? Well, for some reason, here's one. So that those who find themselves in this kind of sin, need not despair to know that God's grace is sufficient to minister and meet that need. But it's in here only once like this, so that none of us presume on the grace of God.

Confession and the Nature of Sin

So, how do I know his confession was so real? How does I know it? You see, the point is, true confession is total agreeing with God about it. When you take a look at this psalm in the first three verses alone, you see that the psalmist David uses the three basic Old Testament words that describe what is not contrary to the will of God.

Here are the words. One is transgression. Second one is iniquity. And the third one is sin. All three words are in the first three verses. Transgressions, iniquities, and they all have a little different meaning.

See, transgression. You know what transgression is. It's another word for trespassing. Whenever you see a sign that says no trespassing, it means you can go up to a certain point, and then if you move past that sign, you have gone too far, and you're subject to the law.

Trespassing. Transgression. And the word iniquity gives the connotation that God has drawn a straight line. He's drawn a straight line. And he says to us, he said, if you want to be right with me, you've got to walk that straight line.

And the moment you, as you keep walking that line, if you get one toe off that line, either way, that straight line is no longer straight. No wonder the psalmist, in the book of James, the writer says, if a man keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of breaking the whole law.

That's a reminder of how absolutely perfect God's standard is. And so, that's the word, iniquity. And then the word sin, meaning, oh, God has a perfect, God has a perfect mark. In other words, he sets up a target.

The word sin. He said, all right, now if you want to be pleasing to me, you aim. You aim. And if you don't hit that bullseye dead on, you have missed the mark. And you know what the truth is? All of us have missed the mark.

All of us have transgressed. All of us have gone too far. All of us have made the line crooked. There is none righteous, no, not one, the Bible talks about. But I'm merely saying to you, that as a one who is walking with God, as the man after God's own heart, who found himself in that kind of sin, when it came to dealing with that sin, he's saying to God, he's saying, God, no matter how you look at sin, I'm guilty.

Every way you look at it, he used all the basic three Old Testament words. He's not condoning it, not trying to hide it in any way. And he also reminds God that it's against God alone that he sinned. And all the rest of it is the result of it.

So I'm merely saying that when we say we are wanting God to deal with us and we want our candidates to be revived, it starts with our being absolutely transparently honest about sin. I know a man of God who said, you know, before I was saved and sanctified, I had a vicious temper.

He said, now that I'm saved and sanctified, and this was a Baptist pastor talking like that, saved and sanctified, he said, now I don't have a vicious temper anymore, now it's just weak nerves. Isn't it amazing how we try to cover it up and change the name and yet the same acts are there.

As long as we're trying to excuse it and cover it up, you see, we'll never find spirits of victory. A man was filling out a job application, came to the question, have you ever been arrested? It's on the job application.

And then he wrote, no. And on the application, you see, the next question was intended only for those who answered yes. And the next question was, why? He wrote, no. He'd never been arrested. But if he had written yes, the next question is, why?

Have you ever been arrested? He said, no. And he just filled it in by mistake. And let go his answer. The man answered, because I never got caught. But my point is simple. Isn't it amazing how we do everything to cover it up?

Well, now there he's exposing, but basically, you see, he never got caught. And you see, the idea is this, the idea is this, see? That's the world's view, the world's view of how we deal with sin. If we didn't get caught, we didn't do it.

We act as if we didn't do it. If we didn't get caught. But you see, when it comes to God, you can't act like that. Thou God seest me, Scripture says. The psalmist David said, if I take the wings of the morning and I fly out into space, thou art there.

If I make my abode in the pit of hell, thou art there. Where whither shall I go from the presence of God? You remember when the space travel just began and the Russians sent up some Sputniks first of all?

And some of those cosmonauts got up there and said, well, we're up here in this great big universe, the world above it, and we're looking for that God. Where is that God that's supposed to be everywhere?

Where is that God that's supposed to be everywhere? Aren't you glad they couldn't find him in a box? You can't put anything in a box because it's all present everywhere at the same time. Thou God seest me, and the sin that is committed under the canopy of the darkest night, the God who made the night has eyes strong enough to see right through it.

We can't hide it from God. So if we are going to be candidates for reviving, we must deal with sin. A Ugandan Christian said it this way, he said revival is very simple. He said, no roof over our heads and no walls around us.

He said nothing between one's heart and God and between one Christian and another. He went on to say, it means abhorrence of sin and self and then appropriation of forgiveness and restoration of fervent faith.

The way in which he said it. So, that's where we start. Deal with the unconfessed sin if we are going to be candidates to meet God personally. Then, the second truth is we must agree with God about the unemptied self-life and that we see in verse 10 of the psalm.

In verse 10, he says, not only, not only purge me with hyssop and clean me from that outward sin, but now he deals at a deeper level. He says, create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.

Do you know what he's saying? He's saying, God, the real problem is I've got a filthy heart. The real problem is I've got a wrong spirit. The real problem is my heart, my inner life was so carnal and so self-centered and sensual that I demanded my lust to be gratified.

It's the inner man. It's the part where other people do not see it. It's when nobody else is around, what I think about when I'm thinking about nothing else. What way does my mind go? It's the demands of self to be vindicated and dictating the terms and having my way and not allowing anything to get in my desires and the way of my desires no matter who is affected in the process.

And in David's case whole family and others his whole kingdom was affected as a result and cloud over his life in the midst of it. Just let me have my way. God, it's a filthy heart. It's the inner man.

It's that self-life. It's that inner being that is so contaminated I need a clean heart of God. I've got to have a right spirit. That spirit is so wrong demanding my own way. That's more than the outward acts.

That's the inner man. You see that is so real and so important. Men would fain have a revival Andrew Murray said as the outgrowth of their agencies and progress. God's way is the opposite. It's out of debt acknowledged as the desert of sin confessed as utter helplessness that he revives.

He revives the heart of the contrite one. You see when I say create me a clean heart and I'm saying self is in control self is in control you know what it is? It's self defying the God of the universe for the control.

Anything with two heads is always a monstrosity. Now that's hard for me to say being I'm a twin. Have you ever seen two children trying to sit on one chair at the same time? My chair get on get off my chair my two kings trying to operate one kingdom war I know what that's like Lou and I growing up sleeping in the same bed as children as young boys if he got that much of his elbow over the center of the line of that bed we're in for an all night fight.

Get over it my side get over it my side my side two of us trying to operate in one bed my side anything with two heads is a monstrosity and if that self and that filthy heart and my my own desires are in control then I'm challenging God's right to control me always a problem so the question is who's going to be in control Jesus Christ the supreme lord and master or I'm going to bow down and serve at the shrine of self.

This is interesting here's the scripture likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is a somewhat comical and there were people were talking about that and one says you know I haven't actually died to sin but I did feel kind of faint once and you know when I saw that I couldn't help but chuckle and say yeah that's about it.

Some of us have felt kind of faint but we'll do anything but die anything but surrender the rights of self at the cross and continue to live with a filthy heart and the wrong kind of spirit that is the very heart in essence and core of it like Jack McDonald four months old and the Lord Lou and I were in British Columbia one night I saw a man and his wife a young couple sitting off the aisle about three or four rows down and I noticed how intrigued they were listening first time in the church when the meeting was over I immediately went down from the platform.

I went to them. I said so nice to see you. Would you like to join us for a cup of coffee in someone's home tonight. Oh yes we would. So by the time I got to the back I grabbed one of the members of the church.

I said go home put the coffee pot on. We're coming. And we're coming with about twenty others as well. Isn't it amazing how you invite yourself now where I'm staying here that wouldn't be a problem with Jim and Jeanette.

You know that's no problem. But anyhow the point was so here guess what we found out. Here's a couple that moved to the west from the eastern eastern Canada and they were they're looking for friends and she one day Lou and I were on television being interviewed about meetings and she happened to see us.

When he came home from work she said honey I saw something that I was interested in. We ought to go see and find this out. Maybe we can find some friends. And they came. She was an agnostic. Her mother was with her as well.

He had a church background but it was nowhere near church. So they came. So they came to that session that night and they heard people start talking about what God was doing in their lives in the crusade.

And they were intrigued. Just listen. And by the time we got finished they said how about if we do this again tomorrow night. Would you like to come back in tomorrow. Oh yes we would. And that second night I can tell you that she and her mother were asking all kinds of questions playing the devil's advocate as it were listening to people talk about the reality of God.

Couples from the church two o 'clock in the morning we were still going on. They were ready to leave the young this man Jack McDonald taps me on the shoulder. He said would you please send someone to our house tonight tonight.

It's two o 'clock in the morning so I went two or three other people went and I saw those three people husband wife and mother just broken before God ready to kneel around their coffee table in their living room to repent of their sin and give their hearts to Christ.

And that elderly woman became one of the most outstanding prayer warriors I've ever known through the years. And this couple Jack and Ruth just a year ago they worked with us in a crusade. This is 35 years later.

It's marvelous how many people they've won to the Lord. It's a marvelous story. And I said to the mother I said mother do you remember that night in that living room when all three of you reached for one Kleenex box at the same time.

And she said Kleenex box. Nothing. I went for a towel. You talk about genuinely being born into the family of God not just had knowledge. Well I can tell you four months after this couple met the Lord.

He writes me a letter. And I just want to just share a little bit. Four month old Christian being saved in the midst of a revival of a crusade. This is what he says today. I know what the abundant life is all about.

He was a business man. All I can do is keep myself cleansed of new daily sins and to be available to God this way God can use me one hundred percent. And then he went on to say it's so wonderful to see how God can handle things once we give him a chance.

It's quite difficult for him to run things when we continue to live. Watch this a selfish self-centered life and try to run things ourselves. Four months old in the Lord. And I know people who are forty years old in the Lord who have never learned the lesson.

Some of us are slow learners. Self in control. We can make it four months old in the Lord. Well I can tell you a lot about self. What is it? Self. Will read the Bible. Will pray. Will tithe. Will go to Bible school or seminary.

Will live in a jungle as a missionary for years. Yes. Do anything but die though it looks like making a great sacrifice to go to mission field. Even that may not be the sacrifice of self whether at home or abroad.

We must come to the place of death to our self life and all of its demands. Many want to be filled with the spirit for selfish reasons. Self reasons. Like Saul said to the prophet Samuel I have sinned yet.

Honor me now. Isn't that amazing. I have sinned but I still want honor. Hmm. God won't go along with self glorification programs no matter how nicely wrapped and presented to him. Self has to die. So Christ can live and shine out in our lives through the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Self must die to be filled with the Holy Spirit. See Martin Luther said I do not fear the Pope and all his cardinals as much as I fear the king that lives in my heart. Self. There's the problem. It's not just trying to be forgiven from outward acts.

It's that inner being. Somebody sent me a whole bunch of old cartoons that are classics. Here's one. Look at this. You see see on the right on the left it's the right. See. I ought to go that way. See.

But look at this one. See you see that's what I ought to do. But look at this one. This is what I want to do. Look at the man and toss between it all. See. And that's what Romans 7 is talking about. To will is present with me.

But how to perform that which is good I find not. See. No wonder the apostles oh wretched man that I am who's going to deliver me from this body of sin and death. I've got a will to do right. But to perform it is not right.

I want to do right. But something pulls me the opposite way. Yeah that's right. Why be a slave. Why be a slave. When you learn to live with the bondage of self living with self in control. You know what you're doing.

You're actually consigning yourself to second rate citizenship in the kingdom of God and wondering why God's blessing cannot flow. Self challenging God's right to control. You demanding our rights. You know what Leonard Ravenhill said it right.

He said. You know what. The problem is. The absence of deaths is killing the church. You know what. We don't have enough deaths. We're too alive. We need some funerals. The absence of deaths is what's killing the church.

Well Lord take away the cobwebs. Lord take away the cobwebs. Lord take away the cobwebs. That's the camp meeting. Prayer of a man who every year would go to the camp meeting and he'd pray. Lord take away the cobwebs out of my heart.

Lord next year he's back. Lord take away the cobwebs out of my heart. Next year he's back. Same prayer every year you know he's coming for the shot in the arm once a year. Lord take away the cobwebs. And after several years of that going on like that some of the people got tired of hearing him pray like that.

And one man piped up and said Lord don't take away the cobwebs. Kill the spider get rid of the problem get to the bottom of the problem. That's what it's talking about. That's what we're talking about tonight.

Why we can't have spiritual victory so alive to ourselves. F .B. Meyer said next to seeing Jesus as my sacrifice nothing has revolutionized my life like seeing my sinful self in the sinless savior. I saw myself.

Death to Self and Life in Christ

God has nailed the likeness of my self life to the cross. Well Rome Virgin Mary. Number of years ago Lou and I had occasion to be in the city of Rome. And one of the missionaries said when you go on the tour where they take you around to the cathedrals make sure that you in one place make sure you get away from the tour guide because he will not take you go around the back side of that one cathedral and you'll see something that's unique.

You'll see a cross and you'll see Jesus Christ hanging on that cross. But what is unique about it is when you look at the back side of that cross you'll see someone else on the cross. You'll see the Virgin Mary also on the cross.

Jesus Christ one side the Virgin Mary on the other side. And those of us who understand the Bible truth of salvation through the finished work of Christ alone we look at that and we say oh look at that.

That's heresy to think that we in our background as Italians and so on we understand and I think it was 1959 it was called the Marian year where even on the hospitals the Catholic hospitals you'd see the statement save the world through Mary Mary co-redemptrix with Jesus Christ.

So it's nothing strange. And so there they were just displaying it on the cross even and we look at that and say whoa that shouldn't be because Christ alone hung on that cross. And you know that was my first reaction to seeing that.

But when I got away from that a little bit and began to reflect on what I saw I said you know what the problem was they had the wrong person up there. I should have been there not as a co-redeemer but does not the apostle Paul say I am what crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live but not I. But it's a whole new life you know what it is. It's a life of crucifixion death to my own rights living the life of a dead man. No more I but Christ. That's the story. And the truth is that the reality is that many of us know the truth.

But for many of us we've never by the act of our will agreed with God that it's going to be no more I but Christ. And I take the place of crucifixion of to all of my rights and all of my demands and all of my dictates.

And I come and say God. I'm sick and tired of self being the master demanding its own way dictating the terms in my life. By the way it's true of a church. Everybody says oh I'm going to stand up for the right.

I'm going to contend for the faith. What they mean is they're going to be contentious over the faith. They're just going to prove that they're right. And you know what coming to the cross is all about.

You know what it is. It's when I'm even willing to give up the right to even be proven right. That's death to my own rights. Well I can tell you that it's so important that we come to grips with this truth.