What Is Revival? — Mose Stoltzfus

Greetings to each one this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus. It's a pleasure to be here again this morning. Not sure if this is going to work. I was doing fine yesterday. Got up this morning still doing fine, and thought I'd be able to make this through to preach this morning.

But when I got here and started visiting, I started losing my voice. So we're trying to doctor things up here a little bit so that we can maybe at least try and function here. I had a blessed time this past week being sick.

I got sick on Sunday night about 2 o 'clock in the morning after the Coopers came by and inspired us with some singing on Sunday evening and went to bed and sure enough got awake at 2 o 'clock in the morning and thought I guess now it's my turn.

So I've been battling that all week and fortunately didn't have what some people had with the upset stomach and vomiting and so on. We are very grateful for that. But we did have our turn and now my wife has it this morning and had to stay home.

But for me, it was a revival of sorts that I always appreciate when you have lots of time, even though you get a bit bored sitting around the house, laying around the house, but the time to meditate and think and read and listen to messages was precious.

And I am thankful even for sickness like this, especially when it's not that bad that you can't think anything about or meditate or read. Even though I had some trouble with watering eyes and couldn't read a lot, I had the blessed privilege to hear well and so I used that instead.

But my meditations this past week, first of all I wanted to thank you so much for what we have already received and welcome all the visitors that are here. It's such a blessing to see so many of you on the men's side that are here.

And we do welcome you here this morning. But I have been meditating on the subject of revival. Brother Nathan and I had a discussion a few weeks ago, just a short one, on the subject of revival. And it is a very interesting subject to me.

Defining Revival and Considering Its Purpose

I know that today I will probably only be able to give the introduction and a little bit more of some of my studies and where they have taken me. But I am very open in my heart this morning. And I would like to invite all of you, especially my dear brethren, to help us to meditate and consider our proper attitude concerning revival.

What is revival? What type of revival are we talking about? What effect would it have upon us if we had the revival that we are thinking in our minds and hearts that we should have? I have a number of different things to present here this morning just to open the subject up widely.

And then in one of the next messages, I don't think we will get it done this morning, I would like for you to help me to make a list of some of the things that have hindered revival and are hindering revival today.

I am a bit of a pessimist concerning revival. I see things in pretty bad shape. And as well as I understand prophecy, I do not expect a major revival at this time. Although let me hasten on to say that I do expect one.

As I study Revelation, and I'll share more of that with you, but we do have in chapter 7 144 ,000 out of the 12 tribes of Israel that will become believers. And I believe will be a great revival in Israel that will fulfill Romans chapter 11 when Israel will be grafted back in again into the olive tree of which it was cut off because of unbelief and the Gentile grafted in.

But the Gentile time will be fulfilled and will be cut off and Israel, the natural olive branch, will be grafted back in again and so all Israel shall be saved. But the details of it is that many shall be purged out more than half of them will die in their unbelief and atheism that they have today which many people like to remind us of how atheistic they are and I agree with that.

But I do believe that God will plead with them and bring them through the fire and graft them back in again to the natural olive branch and become a saved people. We also have a huge number in the book of Revelation chapter 11 that these are they which come out of great tribulation and they are without number.

So personally I believe as I taught a few weeks ago in the tribulation period of 70th week of Daniel that there will be great tribulation as Matthew 24 says and that in that time many, many people will come back to the Lord.

It is a wonderful speculation and conversation piece for me to begin to think of who those people might be that will come to the Lord in that time. I don't think there's any way of knowing and I don't like to speculate too far on it but it's an interesting conversation and as long as we understand each other when we think and talk about these things.

Also we have the evidence in Revelation that an angel will fly through the midst of heaven and preach the everlasting gospel. One of the most exciting things about this one is the fact that that angel will know all languages as I would see it or will speak it.

The word of God, repentance, Christ crucified and risen again to the darkest heathen people in South America, in the jungles of the Amazon, in Africa, unreached people and they will hear the word of the Lord I believe and have an opportunity to turn their heart to the Lord.

And so I also believe that that will produce a great revival when that happens. But and I will explain to you perhaps why I do not see it in our generation. Something is happening in this generation. I do not, like I say, I may seem a bit pessimistic but something is happening in this generation that is so catastrophic concerning revival.

This is my own interpretation and understanding and I believe the Bible clearly brings out that we are in a time rather of falling away. And you meet a lot of brethren, you meet a lot of preachers, you hear a lot of preachers say well if only we would just pray for revival.

If we just gather together and pray for revival. They refer quickly to the Welsh revival or to the great awakening and remind us of prayer meetings that took place or a couple old ladies that prayed for months and years for revival and finally there was a sweeping effect that broke out in a given area like Wales and multitudes of people became sensitive to the spirit of God and to their spiritual need and began to hunger and thirst after God.

However, I do have to say that one of the things that feed my skepticism in some of the revivals that are often spoke about and even some that I have observed with my own eyes and ears so to speak is how quickly they are gone, how quickly they fade.

Even Charles Finney who had one of the worst experiences in that I would say in New York confessed himself that he felt that there was something wrong and it is often referred to as the burned over district simply because there was such a sweeping revival and in a matter of a couple of years you couldn't find any remnants of it in many of those towns where they had very earth shaking revivals.

And I know I will be a bit scattered here as I have had so many thoughts on this but just bear with me I will try to pull them together as best I can. It has been interesting to me to observe the difference between even the revivals of the Methodist days which I believe had a good degree of genuineness for its time and even in the Brethren Church, Sister Ruth and Brother Dean I think you could vouch for that.

An altar call in those days in the Brethren Church often resulted I believe in people wrestling through with their sin and with their choices and decisions for God that lasted an hour, didn't they Dean?

Up front at times, it didn't happen maybe. But I remember some of those revival and hearing of them and in the Brethren in Christ circles as a young boy you know the altar was full and people plead and cried out with God and they were still there close to midnight, some of them wrestling with the choice of the world and I have seen some of those at Little Kutztown and Mount Olivet and different places I think in the past 30 years.

And I compare that with what Brother Danny and I observed 30 years ago in the Baptist Church. He took me to Philadelphia one night in those early weeks that he was here as he called Brother Howells, Jack Howells is in the area there and we went to hear him preach and he joked all night and Brother Danny was so appalled at it but in the last end of that he gave an invitation and the people flocked forward, prayed for 3 to 5 minutes, jumped up from their altar and ran back to their seats again.

And I remember as we sat and talked about it, he said, it means nothing. For the most part they are doing this all the time, he said, over and over and over again and there is no change. And so I realized that even between the Methodists or the Brethren's altar call and what I began to see there in the Baptist Church and began to happen, I saw that there is no connection.

Nobody is getting sensitive to their personal need for Christ in the depth of their soul. Nobody is engaging the will to change and be transformed completely as whatever God would want to do in order to bring about revival, true revival.

So we have in this nation especially and I believe around the world a superficial revival that means zero, zero. And that is even where Christ is preached, crucified and sin is maybe at least alluded to.

But do you realize that there are revivals going on all over the world, so called. Even in China, I viewed a little clip of a revival in China that was just, is appalling. People just laying all over the floor, carrying on like a bunch of, and this thing has spread all over the world.

In Africa, tens of thousands of people gather with these kind of men and go through the emotional whatever of this. That seems to be far more demonic than it seems to be any truth in it whatsoever. And I believe it is demonic.

I believe evil spirits are coming in the name of revival, in the name of a Christian revival and are captivating people emotionally. And there is no change, no revival, no new birth, no true confession of sin, no turning from sin.

And therefore, it is zero. There is so much of that in our day that I find it getting extremely rare to have the right kind of a revival meeting where you can sit back again and see men and women prevail before God for their sin, over their sin.

And over their unconverted condition and over the way they are going and the things they are doing. And here are some of my thoughts as I thought some of this through. We need a revival that brings again a sensitivity to the spirit of God and the word of God.

And that will bring about a change of the will that men and women, boys and girls, are willing to do whatever it takes and are willing to let go of whatever God puts his finger on. As I remember some of those altars in the Brethren Church and I remember how God put his finger on frivolity and fashion and jewelry and you know those things and I speak of that different times.

And I remember how people wrestled with worldly girlfriends and carnal boyfriends and gave them up after great travail and had a revival and started all over in a courtship later on with a totally different boy or a different girl.

Well, on and on we could go about that. And I see this thing so far gone, personally. I see it so far gone in so many ways. For the most part, I just want to give you some of the church circles that I've been through and been in.

I remember where about 20 years ago, I think it was, where a revival was held in Ohio. And they had a burn barrel and I often find that those are a little more genuine because individuals actually put an object in there and get rid of it and so there is some genuineness in it.

But they told me that they had this revival and the youth brought their rock music and had a bonfire and put it in the barrel. It was none of our churches, one or the other, what I would call a sister denomination, Anabaptist type church.

And within eight months later, they told me they all had them again. And I stopped and think about these things and I say, this is not revival. This is not what we want. This is not what our church needs, not what this nation needs, not what this world needs.

And that is not an isolated case. I think I heard once even in a Bible school of our own that we had that kind of an effect, an emotional high during that week and boys and girls were persuaded to get rid of things and stopped on the way home to buy some more.

These things are serious to me this morning. When I say or when people say pray for revival, I am not against that as I have read different writers likewise. But may I suggest that more than prayer is needed if we are going to see what we need to see.

Genuine Revival Through Repentance and Transformation

Let me also hasten to say that two weeks ago, many of you know, I was in Indiana. And a new group of people there coming out of darkness, incredible bondage and sin, some that I would not be able to tell you about publicly.

And we had a baptism there for adults. And ten adults were baptized upon their confessional faith who never had a believer's baptism. And there are more there that should follow and I expect will follow very shortly and maybe even by today.

I don't know. But that was a wonderful experience to me again. And it really reset things in my own heart of what I saw back in our early days also. That when people come out of darkness and they come out of sin and corruption and bondage to that degree, revival tends to be much more genuine.

But then you should hear their testimonies. And we had testimony meeting privately from about, oh, I'd say a quarter of three, maybe, or no, it was before that, two, yeah, two o 'clock until ten o 'clock at night with just about a half hour break for supper.

Although the last session was with a couple and where the lady found freedom and salvation. That had never yet found that before. And that was so refreshing to once again be involved in that genuineness coming out of sin and finally dealing with these things.

And so Sunday morning, we just had a short devotion, about 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes. And then we expected this, we planned for it, we opened it up for testimony. And we went, we started at nine o 'clock and about 20 after nine, the testimony started.

Well, we had some singing there, so it might have been 9 .30. And we went till quarter after 12 as they unloaded their, those 10 people unloaded their testimonies, their hearts of what God had done in their lives over the past years.

And some of them just tonight before the one. And then we baptized them and stopped and had a fellowship meal and then baptized them in the afternoon. All of them there. And it was so different, but as I view the difference, I recognize that it has to do with coming out of darkness.

Coming out of unbelief. Coming out of traditional background where there was no light. Where there was no, no, no knowledge that people were perishing because of lack of knowledge of the plan of salvation and had no clue what it was.

We had, I don't know how many testimonies we heard of that, that they did not know, even had no idea what salvation was about in the, when they were baptized in the Old Order Church years ago. So that was a, that was a revival, an inspiration to me that I began to, I enjoyed it immensely and began to meditate upon as it relates to what we need in our, in our own circles or in our own churches.

And I fear, I fear for many because they have heard so much preaching and so much good meetings. And for some reason, these things are taken for granted and they are not held precious like they are when we were born again, coming out of darkness ourselves and how we treasure them, which I have spoken of before.

But, so it just, it takes that, it takes that cycle, if I could make it on the board, you know, many times where it seems like as soon as the people have life and they have vitality and even though I know it's biblically and spiritually possible that that can be maintained, I know that's in the Word of God.

There are so many who become complacent and lethargic and they go down over the hill and they lose it and become kind of carefree and pleasure seeking and just enjoying life. And I see that is the problem today.

There is so much pleasure seeking, so much eating out, so much frivolous lifestyles and money and cars and pleasure and doing whatever we want, going wherever we want and those kind of things that I do not expect a major revival unless that gets changed, unless that gets broken.

I just, I fear, if God teaches me otherwise and shows me otherwise, I'll accept it immediately. But there is so much of that in youth today and I'm speaking of a broad section of youth, not just out there in the evangelical church, they also.

I had a thought this, Brother James, that it would be so interesting and I may join you when warmer weather comes myself to do some of this. I just wish you could go into a number of these youth and just ask them questions and in a very honest and hope to get an honest answer.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God? Do you believe that the Lord Jesus wants a life of holiness for all Christians? You know, and just ask those kind of questions. Do you believe fornication is sin against God and nobody living in it will get to heaven?

You know, and begin to help people see how far that they have drifted away from biblical truth. So, that's a little where I'm going. Now, I just wanted to mention a few scriptures here at the beginning.

In 2 Timothy 1 .6 the Bible says, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Now, I just wanted to mention this that Paul wrote this to Timothy knowing who he was and he had put his hands on him and he was absolutely, surely a born again Christian, a preacher, a baptizer and an elder in the church.

But he asked to put him in remembrance and that thou stir up the gift that is in thee. Very interesting that he didn't say, Timothy, I think you're slipping in it, I believe we better pray for revival.

I don't want to be too hard on that thing that we hear over and over again just to pray for revival. But he said that thou stir up the gift that is in thee. He knew it was there and Timothy knew it was there.

And it's like us, even as myself, we know some of the things that God has given us. But there are times we run empty, it seems, and it's our own fault. And thou is pointed this way this morning too, that thou stir up the gift that is in thee.

And I think every one of us as born again Christians, it is imperative that we understand that there are things that need to happen in order to keep us more current in our fervency. In the matter of spiritual things.

Like I say, I'll probably, when I open this up in a few weeks or whenever, that there will probably be more ideas or as many ideas as there are people in some of the things that we could do. Although we can always say prayer and Bible reading and spending time in the things of God is of course very, very, very necessary and relevant.

But I just wanted to see that here Paul just simply tells Timothy, now I know it's in you, I know the faith was there from your grandmother and your mother and it started in you at a young age and I put my hands on you and ordained you and I don't know if he baptized him too or whatever.

But now he's simply saying that you need to stir that gift up. In view of frequent modern use of revive and revival, it is worthy to notice that it is to Timothy himself the exhortation is addressed. And we forget that it is for us to stir into flame the gift of the Spirit which we have already received of God.

It is ours from him but we let it lie dormant as a slumbering ember merrily. At home we have a wood stove in the basement and that is, I enjoy firing that but it teaches me many lessons. You know you put some wood on and you have a good fire going but you don't feed that fire and those things die down and die down and if you don't do something at a given time the fire goes out.

And I remember William Booth, I preached the message many years ago on that subject. There is a tendency for the fire to go out in your life, in my life. There is a tendency, sisters, for a fire to go out.

And that's something we have to reckon with unless we know how to take a poker, open up the draft in the bottom which is what I do, stir around in the ashes, put some fresh wood on, shut the door and I have a down drafter and I put that lever out and make an updraft and in a matter of a half a minute I have fire again if I have good red hot coals.

But if I let it go too long, I put the wood on, I open the draft in the bottom, I put my lever to not have the down draft, just have the straight out the chimney, to really draw up through there and if it's too late it won't come.

And I have to get a fire starter and go back in there again and bring my flame to it and start it all over again to try to get it going. But so many times that doesn't happen in people's life. When they go down over the hill on this matter and they become cold and indifferent and bitter or complacent or rich and love pleasures more than the lovers of God and all the different things that are warnings given us in the scripture and the fire goes out.

And many people, many, many people in our day have had that experience and there is no embers left to stir up into what was once there. Isaiah 43, 25 says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins.

Put me in remembrance, the next verse says, verse 26, let us plead together, declare thou that thou mayest be justified. Such a beautiful few verses there that I am he that blotteth out transgressions for my own sake and won't remember your sins, I'm willing to do my part, he's saying, but he's saying put me in remembrance, remember me.

God is saying let's plead together, I'll plead for you, you plead for me and we're going to get together on this thing again and the fire is going to burn once again. So, then in 2 Kings, I, well let me see, where do I want to go first here?

Revival, Emotionalism, and the Need for Personal Surrender

Let me just say a little bit more about revival in the past here as we have known it. I got some of this off of Wikipedia just to say what are we talking about? And it says here that in the first great awakening in the American colonies, there was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants that swept the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s.

That was before my ancestry even was here. It didn't come until the 60s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted, listen to this, from powerful preaching that deeply affected listeners, already church members, with a deep sense of personal guilt and salvation by Jesus Christ.

Personal guilt for sin, a recognition of where we're at and the things we have allowed to exist in our lives and a deep sense of that and of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the great awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by creating a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption.

Now that part of revival, you know, that is a wonderful thing. If we can allow us something to come along, and there's numerous ways. I believe here it came about, according to this report, by powerful preaching.

And then the deeply affected listeners, but that's where you and I must enter into that if anything is ever going to happen. We can sit, and I see a lot of people doing it, in some of the most powerful preaching, that wonderful preaching that we didn't know anything of in our childhood.

Never heard it practically. And it goes in one ear and out the other and has no effect on people's lives. It doesn't bring a deep sense of personal guilt anymore. Because they are numb and dull and wax cold, I would say, and aren't listening to it in that way.

And then, of course, it created pietism in Germany, Methodism in England, and brought Christianity to the slaves. It was an apocalyptic event in New England that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between the old traditionalists who insisted on ritual and doctrine, and the new revivalists.

It was a major impact in reshaping. And so what we experienced here in southern Indiana in the last years, even though that varies, some of them were born again from their youth, but others were not. By a long ways not.

And to see that now it brought a division between the old traditional ways and the new revival, that was a reality and that deep sense of personal interest in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a confession of sin and now being baptized upon that confession and wanting to walk in holiness of life is bringing about major changes.

In their lives. People became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. Oh, I just, you know, this whole thing of, here we sit, here we stand, and we have this extreme emotionalism going on on the one side, you know, that is a counterfeit.

It is, I'm convinced of the devil. I'm convinced it's of the devil. And yet, when true revival comes, it does affect the emotions. Men do cry over their sins and over their need. Men do wrestle with God until they're willing to give it up.

Give it up and surrender and yield to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, I just like that word passionately and emotionally involved in their religion rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner.

The new style of preaching were called new lights where the old were called old lights. People began to study the Bible at home. Listen to that. Listen to that. I have to say that for some of these Amish families.

People began to study the Bible at home. That German Bible that they didn't understand got put away and they got an English one which was forbidden in some of those circles. And they opened it up and began to study and read the Bible at home.

And it brought light into their soul. And it brought a recognition of their lost condition. And in that condition, they began to cry out to God and go to a gospel meeting perhaps somewhere and hear the word of God.

And some of you young men sitting here can probably well identify with it in your own lives. In your experience here in Wisconsin. Charles Finney said this in 1792 to 1875 was his life span in the revival movement in America there.

He said, for him a revival was not a miracle but a change of mindset that was ultimately a matter of an individual's free will. I really appreciated that. You know, instead of this thing of just expecting that somehow, and I'm really concerned about this.

I hear a lot of people just wishing that there would be something real, church house shaking, fall down on the people and just sweep all the sin and the corruption and the worldliness out of the church.

I don't think it's going to happen in that way. They have this idealistic way and I'm satisfied with whatever way God would bring it. If it would have that lasting result. But we are not interested in just somehow whooping up an emotionalism that brings a lot of people to the altar.

I have been very concerned. I remember one time here at a leadership seminar probably about eight years ago or so. We had a speaker here on a Wednesday night. I believe it was, who got up here and spoke.

He was a common brother from Michigan. And he got up and spoke that night and he had a very good message. And I was kind of in and out of here in the hallways dealing with various things as I normally am in big meetings like that or was, especially in those days.

And I think about 15 people responded. The next night we had a man that was well known and a considered trained revivalist maybe or educated revivalist. And he gave an invitation after his message. And I remember the altar didn't hold the men.

They were lining up down the aisleways. And men came to me and said to me that time, Brother Mose, what is wrong? What's going on here? That message last night was just as good and maybe even better as far as the real roots of men's issues or problems.

But tonight, what is this? And I have to say that that is one of my concerns. I'm not interested in filling altars for an emotional ten minutes. But where it has, where the will, as Phinney says, a matter of an individual's free will and he considers his life and he considers his pleasures and he considers his lack of yielding himself in areas of his life to God and the call of God, the word of God, the holiness requirement in the Scripture and all of those things.

And so there's many things like that. But I just want to turn to one Scripture. Just beginning to open up the seriousness of this subject is in Mark chapter 9. Let's turn to Mark chapter 9. I just want to go through this here yet and kind of as we finish our introduction to the burden of my heart here.

The Transfiguration, Persistent Prayer, and Spiritual Conflict

Now, this is when Peter, James and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus and Moses and Elijah appeared. And we know the story there. I'm not going to read all that. But when Jesus came down from the Mount there with the three, then the other disciples were gathered in a big circle, a big crowd had gathered.

And Jesus sidled up to that crowd to see, it appears they probably knew already, to see what was going on. And in verse 14, chapter 9 verse 14 in the book of Mark, and when he came to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them.

And straightway all the people when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, what question ye with them? He figured there's some kind of a dialogue going on there it seemed like and he acted innocent about it.

And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him and he foameth and gnashes with his teeth and pineth away.

And I speak to thy disciples that they should cast him out and they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me.

And they brought him unto him and when he saw him straightway the spirit tear him and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, how long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, of a child.

And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. I want you to carefully notice the next verses. Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe it.

And straightway the father of the child cried out and he said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Notice the desperation. Notice that from a baby this child had epileptic fits it appears and it seemed like when he got close to a fire or close to a river or even a pool or whatever this would come upon him and try to have him have a spell that would end up into the water or into the fire and totally destroy the child.

This man was desperate. And even was fearful that he didn't believe enough and asked that God would help his unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him.

And the spirit cried and wrenched him sore and came out of him and he was as one dead. Insomuch that many said he is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose. And when he was coming to the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

And he said unto them, This kind is stuck there for a minute. This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. And that was the end of the conversation. They departed. This kind can not come out but by prayer and fasting or come without out but by prayer and fasting.

It seems like that if Jesus would have ignored the crowd there, this would have been a helpless situation. It at least doesn't appear like anyone was around that could have helped this poor boy. And when he says this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting, we can of course immediately think, Well maybe the disciples would have had to do is enter into prayer and fasting and then come back and try again in a matter of a few days.

Maybe it would have worked and that's a possibility. But what he's trying to tell them is that there are different levels of intensity of evil, worldliness and wickedness in this world. You know he spoke about spiritual wickedness in high places.

He spoke about principalities and powers. And we knew that he confronted various demons and there's a difference. It's very evident. And he's not saying he didn't rebuke them and saying you were wrong in chasing out lesser devils and that you shouldn't have done it and that you should just forget the whole matter because you couldn't do this one.

But he's simply saying we have a kind here that is different than all the other kinds that you've encountered. Now you know the disciples, the 70, were sent out and they were empowered to cast out demons and they did that.