Clean Hands, Pure Heart — Gerhard Du Toit

I just would like to say it's a real joy and a privilege for me to share in this session this afternoon, and I'm relatively new to the work of the Canadian Revival Fellowship, and yet it's wonderful to know that God has got His people in different places of the world who's got the same burden to see God working in revival.

And I'm sure that we are here today because that's the kind of burden that we carry as we seek God and as we trust God to pour out His Spirit upon us, not only maybe these days but also in the days to come.

I was born in South Africa, and I spent the first 27 years of my life in South Africa, and I came to Christ in a theological school in Cape Town. I was brought up in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in very God-fearing circumstances, and yet I didn't know the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior.

And at the end of my first year at Bible school, I was challenged by a fellow student to ask me one night, where would I spend eternity? And that night I realized that I was never born of the Spirit of God.

And the Lord saved me, and I went back to my mom and dad's place. They were on a farm in South Africa, and I couldn't preach to them because they were God-fearing Dutch Reformed people. They would say to me, well, there's nothing that we can stop doing to become Christians.

We were born Christians. So I just had to live amongst my family for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I was saved for about, oh, I guess about three weeks or so. And we were in a large cattle ranch in Africa, close to the border of Mozambique, when one day I came back from the town, and my mother said to me, there was an African minister who wanted to see me in my little cottage about 50 yards from our farmhouse.

And when I stepped into that little cottage, this man was sitting there, and I shook hands with him, and I said to him, now, we're going to discuss theology. And he looked me straight in the face, and he said, no.

He said, we're going to be involved in theology. And that changed my whole attitude within seconds. He was, I'm sure, for about an hour and a half, lying in his face before God, on the floor of my study, seeking the face of God in prayer.

And that was my introduction to what it means to seek God in the place of prayer. I would never forget, I was the first white person that was invited to pray with him. There was a mountain on our farm, and these African men spent days and nights of prayer and fasting and waiting upon God.

And I was the first white person that was invited to pray with him. They never told me when they were coming. It was a dark Friday night, a dark African night. You know, sometimes the nights are so dark in Africa, you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.

And I was sitting in my study about 9 o 'clock that night, and there was a knock at my window. And I went to the window, opened the curtains, and don't misunderstand me, but, you know, I couldn't see his face because he was as black as Africa.

But I heard the voice, and he said to me in the African dialect, and he said to me, we are going to the mountain to pray. And we walked, there were about five of them that night, and we walked. And as we walked, I turned to him and I said, Peter Osmanipa, I said, how will we spend a night in the presence of God?

And he turned to me in that dark African night and he said to me, you're going to learn tonight that you're not going to rush into the presence of God. And those words, I'm sure, has meant more to me than every possible book that I've read on the subject of prayer.

We are in British Columbia, my wife and myself. We are involved in about nine different denominations. And I'm ashamed to say to you today that I can't find, I can't find a minister. In my heart, most of my time is spent with ministers.

Last year we ministered in 95 churches in B .C. and about 78 this year. But you know, my brother and sister, I can't find a minister in the lower mainland of British Columbia who is willing to spend a day with me in the place of prayer, seeking the face of God.

Pentecost, Purified Hearts, and the Holy Spirit

So it's wonderful for us, myself, to be here these days. I've been asked to speak on the subject of purity, a clean heart, a pure heart and clean hands. And I've been pondering upon that in both the Old Testament and both the New Testament.

And I felt that what we should do this afternoon in this session is to turn to that marvelous chapter in the New Testament, which deals with the great evidence of what happened at the day of Pentecost.

You will see that the real evidence of Pentecost, as we will see this afternoon, is what was said in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. When the Apostle Peter stood up and he said, God which know the hearts, bear them witness, giving unto them the Holy Spirit, the same as he did unto us.

And he made no difference between us and them, because he purified their hearts by faith. So turn with me, if you will, to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And let's read from the first verse of that wonderful chapter in the New Testament.

Acts chapter 2, and we will begin to read at verse number 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them clothed in tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all full to the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, a multitude came together, and they were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilean? And how were we every man in our own tongue when we were born? Partners in the Medes, and the Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontius in Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, the Ossirian, and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes, Greeks, and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? But others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. Then Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and he said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words, for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my servants, and on my handmaidens, I will pour out on those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vaporous smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of our Lord shall come. Let's just bow for a moment of prayer, shall we? Our Father, it's been a tremendous privilege for us today to be so aware of the presence of God just as we have entered into this building.

And we want to confess this afternoon that we do not want to take the promise of God's presence for granted with us today. But Father, we are here to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. We are here these days, Lord, not because we are spiritually fat, but because we are spiritually poor, and because of the deep sense of hunger in our hearts after God.

And Father, we thank Thee today that the God whom we are serving is the unchangeable God. He's the One who has promised to us, to visit us with His Spirit. He's the One who is almighty. He's the One who have reigneth.

And He's the One today who is sitting on the throne looking down upon us as Thy people. And Lord, we have come together these days not to have a good time, but Father, we have come together to meet with God.

And we have come together to be broken in the very presence of God. We want to pray this afternoon that as we gather around Thy Word again, that You will search our hearts as You have been searching our hearts today.

And we ask, Lord, that if there is any unconfessed sin in our lives, that You will bring it to the surface today, and that You will break into our midst on this very first day, so that in these coming days and sessions, our hearts will be melted in the presence of God.

We ask for the covering of Thy precious blood. We thank You, Lord, that You have come to destroy the works of the evil one. And Father, we pray that You will come to us in such a way these days that You will set us free, that You will give us a vision of God in a way that we have never had before.

We thank You for that in Jesus' precious name. Amen. I'm sure that you are aware of the fact that the Acts of the Apostles is also called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles is almost a follow-up of that wonderful Gospel that Luke wrote.

And although we do not know a lot about the man to whom this wonderful book was written, is there a sense in which we do know something about his name? The name Theophilus is a combination of two words.

The word for God in the original text is the word theos. And one of the words for love is the Greek word phileo. And Theophilus is a combination of those two words. And it means a lover of God or someone who was dear to God.

Traditionally, it's saying to us that here was a man who had a slave with the name of Luke. He sent him possibly to Tarsus or Alexandria to study medicine. He found the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior.

And as a result of that, he came to share with his Master that which Christ has done for him. One thing which we do know about this man. We know this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, that here was a man who was very much concerned about that which happened after the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us on the cross.

A man who was tremendously concerned about the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, even within the Gospel of Luke. You know, there are seven great themes in the Acts of the Apostles. And one of those great themes is the theme of the work and the ministry of the Spirit of God.

Revival and the Example of Africa

Of those 260 references to the Holy Spirit and the New Testament, it's significant for us to discover that no less than 59 of them were found in this wonderful book, the Acts of the Apostles. I've twice had the privilege to be at the place where God poured out His Spirit in the Revival.

And you know, in every one of those places was it a tremendous encouragement for me to discover the great evidences of the studying of the Acts of the Apostles. The first place which I visited in the Revival was a mission station in the south coast of Africa where God poured out His Spirit upon the Sulu people about 15 years ago.

The interesting thing about that movement of God's Spirit is the fact that God is still working on that mission station. They reckon the longest lasting revival in recent days has been the movement of God's Spirit in Uganda, when God has been wonderfully working there in the most amazing way.

But on that mission station in Kwasi Sabantu where God poured out His Spirit about 15 years ago, there were a number of German missionaries who began to pray for revival. They had special ten crusades.

These people came together to listen to the Word of God. And sometimes a number of those Sulu people came to Christ. And when they came to Christ, those missionaries were tremendously disappointed with the level of growth that took place amongst these Sulu believers.

In fact, I heard Earl O'Stegan saying that many times after they saw these people came to Christ, that sometimes six months after their commitment to Christ, they would go back to their place. And sometimes their ten crusades had lasted between four and six months.

But he said sometimes they would go back and they'd come across so many of those Sulu people who made some commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet when they followed them up was there very little that they discovered as far as spirituality was concerned.

And they began to study the Acts of the Apostles. And those times of Bible study became times of sobbing and weeping in the presence of God. I asked Earl O'Stegan how long that took place. And he said, we found ourselves for three months sobbing in God's presence day and night.

And I asked him in my ignorance, why did they do that? And he said, well, as we were studying the Acts of the Apostles, and we saw the tremendous standard of God and His Word, and we compared it with our own lives, he said we find ourselves absolutely broken up in the presence of God.

The Spirit of God broke through on a Saturday afternoon on that mission station. The first person that came to Christ was a black witch doctor. She came to the mission station and she said to Earl O'Stegan, she said, can your Jesus set me free?

He looked at her and he asked her, who told you to come to this mission station? Because if you know something about missionary work, you would realize that that's the last place where these witch doctors would come to.

And she turned to him and she said, that's not what I asked you. She said, I've asked you if your Jesus can set me free. When the Spirit of God broke into the mission station, the Saturday night the villages was alight as these African people ran from the one place to the other to make restitution with their torches.

About five days after the initial break, there was a police station about five miles away. And they found the mission station and this is what the police constable said to them. He said to them, do you think it's possible that you will stop preaching that message to the Zulu people?

And O'Stegan asked him and said, why is it that you want us to do so? Do you know what he said my friends? He said, for the simple reason we do not have enough place in our premises to put all the things that these people have stolen.

You see, it's not wrong for the Zulu people to steal. But my friends, it's wrong if you catch them. And when the Spirit of God began to work, it was one of the most amazing things. But they began to study the acts of the apostles.

Witnessing from Jerusalem to the Nations

Now, if you study the acts of the apostles, you would realize that the first eight chapters of this wonderful book is dealing with what we would call witnessing within the regions or within Jerusalem.

The word witness is a wonderful word, you know. In fact, I think we've lost the concept of this word witness because the Greek word for witness simply means that they had to become martyrs for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I think there are some wonderful examples of Stephen and James, the brother of John, and others who had to pay the ultimate price of becoming a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. But you will discover that in that first eight chapters that those early disciples became witnesses within and around Jerusalem.

You know, sometimes I find it interesting when it comes to our concept of revival. You see, sometimes my brother and sister, we expect when God is going to send the revival, we expect the Spirit of God to work maybe hundreds of miles away from the place where God initially began to work.

I'm not saying that it's not possible. I think the 1857 and the 1859 revival that took place across here in this continent and in Britain and to a measure also in South Africa a number of years even before that, there seems to me that at simultaneous times the Spirit of God began to work in a number of different places.

But you know what's significant for me? That it seems to me that for seven years did God keep those early disciples right there within Jerusalem before He allowed them to go out into Samaria and Judea and eventually unto the uttermost parts of the earth to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you study the first and the second chapter you would realize that we are dealing with what we would call the founding of the early church. Chapter 2, verse number 14 onward is speaking to us about the testimony of the early church.

Their simple creed in other words what they preach and their sanctified conduct the way that they live amongst people. And chapter 3 is dealing with the opposition that came upon the early church. And also to a measure in chapter 4 and chapter 5 we're dealing with the discipline of a church and the organization of a church.

And you know there are seven places in the Acts of the Apostle where you will discover that the Bible speaks of principles of growth within the early church. And my brother and sister I think it's quite amazing if you study those evidences of growth that you will discover that sometimes through a tremendous amount of judgment that came that the Bible says that God added unto the church such as should be said.

You know we are living in interesting times there out in British Columbia. It's quite interesting for me sometimes to speak in different churches and to listen to their philosophy of church growth. But for me there are some wonderful principles that God has laid down to us in His Word when it comes to the adding of God's Spirit and this wonderful movement of the Spirit of God.

What Revival Is—and Is Not

You know the secret of revival and I think it's possible for us in this continent to have quite a misunderstanding when it comes to the promise of revival. My brother and sister revival is not a series of special services.

Revival is not some set of camp meetings. I'm not saying that it's not possible for God to send revival when it comes to camp meetings. In fact I was listening to Dr. Edwin Orr yesterday and he mentioned in 1857 when that marvelous Saint of God Sylvie Palmer and her husband came to Hamilton, Ontario and she came to speak at camp meetings and it was during that time when the Spirit of God began to work in the most amazing way.

In fact they had to go back to the States and they couldn't go because they had a problem with their luggage and some other ministers came to her and asked why don't you have some special meetings and it was during that time when God began to work.

I'm not saying God is not able to do that. You see we can't limit God in the ways that He's working. And yet my brother and sister revival is not a series of special meetings. Revival is what Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks of an organized divine disorder.

When suddenly God and His Spirit come upon His people in the most amazing way. I will never forget if I think of the highlands and the islands of Scotland I had the privilege of being spending 8 years in Britain and I had the privilege of spending 3 years on the highlands and the islands of Scotland.

I had the privilege of speaking for one solid week in one of the largest churches in Stornoway. And you know when I was there I took time to really get some researching about the movement of God's Spirit when Duncan Campbell was there in 1948 to 1952.

In fact one of the Sunday mornings I had the marvelous privilege of preaching in the very church in Barthas where the Spirit of God broke through. And you know what a challenge it was to see some of those men who sat there that Sunday morning and those were the men that was converted during the Lewis revival.

You know what Duncan Campbell said it stirred my heart when I heard this. You know what he said when God sent revival? My brother and sister he said in the one place he could have count in his one hand the people that he counseled personally when God poured out His Spirit on the island of Lewis.

In fact a dear friend of mine in the States in the name of Dr. Stephen Alford asked Duncan Campbell a number of years ago and he said to him how did you do follow up work and the Lewis revival? And Duncan Campbell turned to him and he said follow up work?

He said what do you mean? He said when God sent His Spirit in revival he said you don't follow up people those people are following you. And you see my brother and sister there is a clear distinction between a series of special services and when God sent His Spirit in revival.

You see my brother and sister I'm sure this afternoon we wouldn't have been at this conference if this is not the passion of our heart. You know what Jonathan Edwards made a marvelous statement he said something like twenty minutes and the presence of God in revival is going to do far more than that which we have tried to do for the last twenty or thirty years in our ministries before God.

You know it's so difficult to speak about these things I don't know where you stand with God today but my friends my heart is fixed upon God. We want to see something of this amazing outpouring of the Spirit of God and I think it's tremendous for us to have these great Biblical evidences of God coming to us in revival.

Personal Preparation and Waiting for Pentecost

So the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles is dealing with what I would call the days of personal preparation. And we discover how Jesus manifest Himself to them. We discover how Jesus instructed them from verse number 4 to verse number 8 and then we discover how the Lord Jesus ascended to His Father and the Bible says from verse number 13 those early disciples went up into the upper room and they spent a period of ten days waiting upon this promise of the Father.

This promise of the coming of the Spirit of God you know it's a wonderful verse or rather a wonderful word in those in those verses it is the word earnestly or the word fervently and that word in the classical Greek it's got a very beautiful meaning.

It speaks of a ship which is anchored in a harbor and it speaks of the fact that this ship has set its sails in such a way that when the wind would come that this ship would be able to launch out into the depths of the ocean.

It also speaks of a hunter who's got his bow and his arrow and he has seen the target or the thing that he wants to shoot and he has stretched that bow in such a way just before he would let that arrow go.

That's what that word earnestly and fervently is all about. If I would have been in the north of Ireland today I spent three years amongst the Irish what a blessing those years were and if I would have been in Northern Ireland today I would say that that word speaks to us about a boiling out Irish prayer meeting.

You see there was a great sense of expectation and that brings us to this passage today. You see my brother and sister I think there are a number of things that we should look at this afternoon when we deal with this whole concept of what it means to live for God with clean hands and a pure heart.

That's what we come across in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and first of all I want us to deal with the importance of the time of the coming of the Spirit of God. You remember in Acts chapter 2 the Bible is saying to us when the day of Pentecost was fully come.

The Time of God's Visitation

I wonder if you have ever in your reading of this marvelous subject of revival if you have ever found yourselves almost in a spiritual battle with the concept of when God is sending revival and our responsibility to trust God to send revival.

I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe my brother and sister that it's utterly impossible for us to bring the power of God spirit down. It's utterly impossible for us to bring revival down upon us as the people of God.

But I do not believe in the conception of a sovereignty of God that is going to nullify my responsibility as a child of God to seek the face of God when it comes to revival. There was the importance of the time.

You know I think there are some wonderful biblical evidences of this timing of the visitation of the spirit of God and the things that took place before God came and mighty revival blessing. I think on that beautiful passage in Ezekiel chapter 47 and I see that passage as speaking to us about the stages of revival.

I see the possibility of water to the ankles when God brought us to a place of personal involvement. When you and I would come to that place where we will go and sit in a floor and draw a circle around ourselves and say blessed Lord Jesus will you send revival and when you send revival send revival right within the circle.

You see my brethren sister it's not possible for us to stand on the banks of this river and see something of these great workings of the spirit of God if we do not come to the place where God brings us to a place of personal involvement.

Now I wonder this afternoon if you would allow me to ask you have we come to that place when we have seen the possibilities of God and revival when our hearts has been stirred and searched as we found ourselves many times broken in the presence of God that we say Lord there is the time of the visitation of the spirit of God.

You know just this last weekend my wife and myself had the privilege of being in one of the towns where Ralph and Lucita were a number of months ago and we were asked to be involved in the conference with one of the Baptist churches in that town.

In fact there are some other people here today and Sunday morning God and His spirit in the most wonderful way broke into our midst in that meeting. Do you know why where God always begin on a Sunday morning when He breaks into His service?

My friends He does not begin and the person in the congregation that we feel is in the greatest need of God. Do you know what I have experienced? The place where God breaks in Sunday morning after Sunday morning is in my own heart when I try somehow to deliver the word of God and the heart of the minister and those of God's most choicest saints within that congregation.

That's the place where God breaks in and you know every time when that happens and we find ourselves broken in the presence of God we find ourselves not only being satisfied in the realm of my intellect by the word of God not only being stirred in the realm of my emotions because of the presence of God but being strengthened in the realm of the world so that I can surrender myself to God.

And my brother and sister morning after morning when God breaks in in His own wonderful way I find myself many times at the altar with those people and do you know what I say to God morning after morning I said Lord this is very precious this is wonderful when your spirit comes to breaking this is not even a foretaste of revival but I said Lord Jesus to a conference like this to meet with God ourselves personally afresh you see there was the time of the visitation of the Spirit of God.

Let me ask you this afternoon in fact this is our first afternoon let me ask you this question my friends when last have you met with God when last my brother and sister were you absolutely broken up in the very presence of God.

I trust that there are not some of us today and you sit in this meeting this afternoon and you're going to sit through one session after the other you are going to be blessed by God's word and yet you can't say God and His spirit has come to me God and His spirit has broken my heart.

God and His spirit has searched me afresh in a new way you see there is the time of the visitation of the Spirit of God. The Bible says when the day of Pentecost was fully come you know there are some theologians who say to us that the day of Pentecost was very much related to the coming or rather the giving of a law and the Old Testament.

And if you study Exodus chapter 19 you will discover that there are a number of things that have taken place in Exodus chapter 19 and the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles who somehow correspond to one another.

And yet my brother and sister we are here these days because we long for this time of the visitation of the Spirit of God. I was speaking in a church some time ago and the Saturday night after the service I stayed with a minister and his wife and this fellow was a German fellow and the phone rang.

We were on our knees praying for the services this Sunday. And as we were praying the phone rang and here was one of the men in his congregation and the phone to him and he said to the pastor pastor God had spoken to me today tonight in the service and the pastor said about what he said.

Well it's nothing in the service or the sermon and such he said. But as I sat there God spoke to me about certain things that I said about certain people and he said I can't sleep. And this fellow turned to this guy on the phone and he said to him now I want you to phone these people the people that you spoke to not the people that you talked about.

And he said I want you to make restitution. And you know he put the phone down and we were still on our knees praying. And it must be close to half past eleven or twelve o 'clock and the phone rang again.

And the moment when the phone rang I knew it was this man again if God the Holy Spirit said to me you see this man if it is a man this morning who is ready to meet with God it's this man. Now my friends don't ask me to explain this to you.

But somehow that Sunday morning during the course of that sermon God the Holy Spirit came upon the heart of that man. You know the one moment he sat and he listened. And the next moment when this conviction came upon this this believer it was the most incredible thing he was so absolutely broken up with God.

And you know what I began to sense. I began to sense that from where God met with him God by spirit began to touch the lives of people in this part of the congregation. And eventually I came to myself came to the place where I said to myself God is all over this place.

You say where did it begin. My brother and sister it began at the moment when God came to visit one individual. Have you read the life story of Jonathan Edwards. Have you read the life story of that marvelous very unknown individual in Scotland with the name of John Livingston.

It was not the Livingston that went to Africa. No it was 1631. Do you know where he was. He was speaking at the place between Glasgow and Edinburgh my brother and sister. It was a communion season and Livingston was a very insignificant man a little church in Scotland minister.

But you know God began to stir him. It was said that the Sunday night of those services Livingston walked into the fields of Scotland and he could not face this awesome responsibility to preach the word of God.

Then the Monday morning came and he said I came into the pulpit and he said I began to speak about 10 o 'clock and he said I found myself preaching the word of God for an hour. And Livingston said I began to apply the word of God for another hour and half and my brother and sister as he was applying the word of God.

Suddenly God the Holy Spirit came upon that service. Do you know what happened in one service in that church in shots between Glasgow and Edinburgh 500 people were swept into the kingdom of God. And I wonder this afternoon my brother and sister do you realize how absolutely vital we are for God.

Do you realize how absolutely precious we are for God. In fact many times where we live outside of White Rock I walk up and down in my study and I many times almost can't believe that that God has called me and set me aside and has given me a burden and a desire to seek the face of God and the place of prayer.

And sometimes I go to my wife you know we in the faith mission in Canada we don't get a salary. We get an allowance every three months. And sometimes I go to my wife and I say to her my darling I said you know I feel so honored the Lord has called us into this work and I feel so inadequate for this work.

And I would turn to her and I would say to her you know I I even get an allowance every three months. And if I dare to say it she would almost say to me well if you don't want it then give it to me. But you know the area the preciousness of the call of God.

Now I wonder this afternoon my brother and sister do you realize that there must be a time when God comes to visit us in His spirit. Have you seen those early disciples. Have you seen those years as they sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

Isn't it amazing. They never asked Jesus how to preach. They never asked Jesus how to win souls. They never asked Jesus how to plant in their own churches. No my brother and sister they asked the Lord Jesus how to pray.

Now I think of those years as they sat at His feet the deep searchlight of a life of the Lord Jesus. Those nights of prayer as He soaked Himself in the presence of His Father. Those days as He walked in the presence of His Father.

Three and a half years of wonderful preparation. Then it came to these ten days. People so often wonder about those ten days. But you know what I often thought about those days of waiting upon the coming of God's spirit.