Why Satan Hates Revival — E.A. Johnston

Revival Awakens the Church to Spiritual Battle

Our message today, friends, is on the subject of revival. We live in a day of lawlessness in society and deadness in the church. As the church sleeps the sleep of death on pillows of conformity, her influence is dormant in the land.

But when God comes in revival, new life is breathed into the church and she becomes the church militant. She then will proactively battle the forces of darkness and be a light and an influence for good in the society in which she exists.

The Church’s Authority Lost Through Compromise

But when the church trades her authority for compromise, then a vacuum is created, which is soon filled by darkness. The church then sits in feeble impotence as an observer of the decaying society all around her with no power to do anything about it because she has relinquished her authority through conformity to the very society she was meant to change.

And that is what's taking place in the world today, friends. Oh, how desperately we need a heaven-sent revival. Let me give you a good description of the church that needs revival as related by the great British evangelist, George Whitefield, as given by an eyewitness who heard Whitefield preach in New England in 1740.

The Church That Has Lost Its Savor

An immense crowd is hurrying at five or six o 'clock in the morning to the corner of high and federal streets. And some of them, men and women too, young and old, have come riding or afoot, even from Raleigh.

For what strange thing? For all other strange things, to hear a sermon. But the preacher is George Whitefield. He gives out his text. Ye are the salt of the earth. Then his voice rolls over the assembly as he begins.

And whom does the apostle mean when he says ye are? Why you, ye saints of Newberry? But I fear ye have lost your savor. And that, friends, is an apt description of when the church needs revival. The church needs revival when she has lost her savor.

She's no longer salt. She needs fresh wind and new life to be brought back to apostolic vitality and fervor. But there is an enemy to revival. And this enemy hates any kind of revival of religion. He will fight against it at any opportunity.

Why Satan Opposes Revival

As Haman burned with hatred towards the Jews in Esther's day, so Satan burns with hatred towards revival in our day. And Satan hates any kind of revival ministry, friend. Listen, brother preacher, if you want to be a revival preacher, you better be prepared for his onslaught against you and your ministry.

Satan does not want to see a revived church. The title of my message today, friends, is Why Satan Hates Revival. Our text can be found in the book of 2 Samuel. We'll be in chapter five. You can turn in your Bibles there now.

We'll be in verses 22 through 25. Let me read this passage to us at this time. And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephiam. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself. For then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.

That's a good picture of revival, friends, when God begins to blow his revival winds and man's hearts are bent like strong trees and God goes out before thee and brings conviction to sinner's hard hearts.

Historical Revivals and the Power of Conversion

Even some of the most wicked sinners in a community are saved during seasons of revival. There's more conversions in times of revival than in years of steady evangelism. I have dedicated much of my life to the study of historical revivals, traveling to the various locations here and abroad where God seemed pleased to send spiritual awakening.

I have been to where George Whitefield preached his first sermon and to where he preached his last. I've walked the ground in Enfield, Connecticut, where the old meeting house stood, where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God.

I've stood at the graves of the mighty dead, men like D .O. Moody, Azahel Nettleton, and David Brainerd, and I've prayed at their graves that God would raise up men like that for our day to bless a nation.

I carry a burden for revival with me every day and I pray every day for a God-sent revival that'll come in my lifetime if I live long enough to see God shake this nation with another spiritual awakening like he did in the 19th and 18th centuries.

We haven't had a national revival in this country in over 150 years, friends. There's been church revivals here and there, scattered about like dew drops from heaven, but when a real spiritual awakening occurs, it's when you hear the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees and God shows up in his manifest presence and pours out his divine effusions of grace and blessings upon mankind.

But today, the church slumbers in a state of deadness, having little influence upon the society in which she exists, whereas when revival comes, she becomes the church militant and the world feels her influence.

But the forces of hell stand in opposition to revivals from occurring or hinder their progress when they come. And as the nations of the world fall into gross immorality and the churches into spiritual decay, they line up like dominoes, ready to fall at any moment in a sudden judgment from Almighty God.

Satan knows his time is short and his evil arsenals pointed at the church of Jesus Christ at this hour, and the last thing Satan wants is revival. But that's the very thing we need, friends, at this desperate hour.

Conversion: Revival Depopulates Satan’s Kingdom

Let me list the reasons why Satan hates revival. And as I list them, take note of them for we must study what true revivals are so we'll recognize them when they do occur. Number one, Satan hates revival because many conversions occur where the lost pass from death to life.

Satan does not wanna give up any of his subjects. He wants to keep them in his dark kingdom of sin and death. But when revival comes, multitudes of individuals, young and old, come to Christ in a saving way.

Often, the most wicked sinner in a community will be saved and stand as a trophy of grace and a testimony to the power of the gospel. More good is done in the salvation of souls in seasons of revival than in any other epoch in history.

Just study the revival of religion in Great Britain in the mid -18th century under Wesleyan Whitfield, and you'll see of which I speak. Before that revival, all of London was a gin shop. Drunkenness and crime and perversion was rampant throughout the metropolis.

But when God showed up in revival, sin ran for the shadows, and multitudes were brought from death to life. The same occurred in New England during the Great Awakening under the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Gilbert Tennant, and a host of other firebrands whom God used in that mighty spiritual awakening.

Thousands of souls were born again during that time. Let's study the Second Great Awakening or the Welsh Revival of 1904, and you will learn that tens of thousands were swept into the kingdom of God in those mighty outpourings of grace.

Repentance, Holiness, and Reconciliation in Revival

So Satan hates revival because it depopulates his kingdom. Next, Satan hates revival because a revived people are a repentant people. Divisions are healed among Christians. I remember having lunch with Ted Randall and him sharing with me that when he saw revival in the 1970s, when it came to Prairie Bible College in Canada, the professors there, who had grudges against each other, came out publicly and asked each other for forgiveness.

Students were lined up for hours wanting to give public testimony about how friendships were healed and all bitterness was laid aside. So in seasons of revival, divisions are healed, and there's a great unity among believers.

Also, in times revival, when the church receives new vigor in life, lives are lived with a new purpose, with a new desire for holiness. Worldliness among believers is checked. Sinful habits are laid aside.

Bible study and holy living is on everyone's thoughts and hearts. Home altars are reestablished, and entire family units transformed. Satan hates revival because it makes people more Christ-like who like sin less.

Satan wants to keep believers in mud puddles through defeat, discouragement, and sin. In seasons of revival, many now hunger for holiness and righteousness and hate and loathe sin of any kind. A true revival of religion will make Satan spit.

He hates it so. So holiness, which before the revival was on the back burner in the church, now becomes a priority again in the church, and Christians begin to live pure lives under the lordship of Christ Jesus.

Evangelism and the Advance of the Gospel

Number three, Satan hates revival because it brings evangelism in the church to the forefront of activity, where before the revival, few in the church actively witnessed for Christ on a regular basis.

But during a revival of religion, all become soul winners as they go out into the highways and hedges and bring the lost in. This aspect of revival makes Satan burn with rage. He hates to see his kingdom attacked, and he will fight against a revival to try and end it or bring reproach upon it.

If he can turn a revival into a sideshow of head twitching and people barking like dogs, he is satisfied. But a true revival of religion will not be a freak show, friends, but the subjects of the revival will walk softly before the Lord in humility under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, and they will hunger to see souls saved.

Eternity is on everyone's minds during revival, and many family members are witnesses too. They're witness to and one for Christ. In times revival, the church regains its apostolic vigor and purpose and lives only for eternity and the sake of souls.

Prayer as the Power Engine of Revival

Number four, Satan hates revival because prayer becomes central to the church again. Prayer meetings begin to pop up everywhere in seasons of revival, and the church rediscovers her lost power engine, which is corporate prayer.

When the church in America years ago replaced the weekly prayer meetings with yoga classes and divorce recovery groups, it killed off the only strength and influence it had. But in seasons of revival, it's not uncommon to walk into a sanctuary at midnight and find it full of the brokenhearted people of God crying out to God in behalf of the lost in their community.

I remember a story that Rolf Barnard told. He said that he had an opportunity to preach in Rochester, New York in the late 1920s, and he actually went to the same mill factory where Charles Finney had preached and closed down the mill for the day in a powerful revival.

Rolf Barnard said that while he was preaching in Rochester, an elderly man came up to him after the meeting and said that he'd been a boy when Charles Finney came to Rochester and he had vivid memories of it.

And if Rolf Barnard wouldn't object, he would take him around the next day to the various sites in the city where Finney preached and where God sent revival. And Rolf Barnard said this old man in his late 80s took him around the city of Rochester and they'd stop on the sidewalk and the old man would say, right here on this spot, I saw businessmen on their knees crying out to God for mercy in broad daylight.

See that tree over there? There used to be a church that stood there and Finney preached in it and heaven came down and people started prayer meetings all over the city. And Rolf Barnard said that old man talked like the entire city of Rochester was just one big prayer meeting during that revival under Finney.

Revival Pushes Back Darkness in Society

So Satan hates revival, friends, because it ignites prayer. Number five, Satan hates revival because it pushes back the darkness in a community as the church and believers become salt and light. Remember my story of George Whitefield saying to the people of New England that they had lost their savor?

Revival puts savor back into the salt. It makes light shine with more heat and intensity as believers live with a new passion and fervor for Christ and the gospel. I know of a church in the South that when God came to revival to that particular church, they pooled their financial resources and when the opportunity presented itself, they purchased a local abortion clinic and turned it into a Christian bookstore.

When God shows up in revival, friends, Christians live with a new purpose for eternity and darkness and sin runs through the shadows as the church of God moves in proactive force within that community in which he exists.

I was having lunch one time with a pastor from Glasgow, Scotland, and he related to me how he and some fellow pastors in Glasgow grew sick of the rise of evil in their city. He told me that at one time, the city banner for Glasgow was, let Glasgow flourish in the name of the Lord, but some ungodly civic leaders changed the slogan of the city to read, let Glasgow flourish, and they left out God in the name of the banner.

And when that happened, sin and evil began to rise in that city. Drug use increased, teenage pregnancies increased, thefts and larceny increased. So this band of faithful pastors got together to pray on a regular basis and God met them in personal revival.

And as they laid hold of God for their city, they began to see a marked decrease in crime and evil, teenage pregnancies lowered, police arrests were decreased. And this man told me that he and his fellow ministers saw God push back the darkness in their community.

And that's what happens in seasons of revival, friends. The darkness is pushed back. Unlike today, where perversion runs rampant throughout society and spills over this nation like a filthy sewer, evil is on the increase in our day, friends, because we are without seasons of revival.

But when God comes to town, all hell runs for the shadows as the power of God permeates the community, bringing conviction of sin. And Satan hates a church on fire for God. He hates it with a dirty passion.

Revival Restores the Church’s Savor

When revival comes, friends, the savers put back into the salt. You see, salt has three special qualities. It adds flavor. It is a preservation against decay and it makes one thirsty. So in times of revival, when the people have got to revive back to the New Testament pattern, they have savor, which draws the lost to the church and to God.

Through their holy lives, they are preservation against evil in a society. And thirdly, they make others thirsty for Christ. Do you know someone like that, friend, when you're around them? After a while, they make you thirsty for Christ.

That's what revival does. And that's why Satan hates revival. Oh, friends, how we need a heaven-sent revival in our day. How desperately the churches need power from on high. How greatly this nation needs to have it in a populace that preserves the nation against evil.

A Plea for Heaven-Sent Revival

Pray that God will be pleased to send forth his effusions of divine grace once again and bestir the tops of the mulberry trees in your day and mine so he can smite the host of the Philistines. Let us pray.