Repentance and Revival — E.A. Johnston

Historical Conditions That Precede Revival

Years ago, in 1970, Moody Press published a book on revival called Fire in the Church, written by Dr. Ted Rendall. If you can find a copy, friends, it's worth its weight in gold. But in that book, Ted Rendall hit the nail on the head as he described the conditions preceding revival.

He wrote,. Conditions in the Church prior to period's revival may be summed up thus. Widespread apostasy and the increase of false doctrine throughout Christendom, along with lukewarmness and listlessness and orthodoxy and fundamental circles.

That was written 40 years ago, and it describes the times we are facing today. Apostasy is all around us. False teachers multiply by the hour. The churches are in the grip of lukewarmness and listlessness, with no power and no authority.

Revival as the Sovereign Work of God

But God is sovereign in revival, friends. We cannot manufacture revival on our own. Only God can blow and stir the tops of the mulberry trees by His manifest presence. And oh, how we desperately need Him to blow and breathe on us from the four winds today.

I have been a student of revival for decades and have made the study a life purpose. And there are two things which go hand in hand in historical revival. And that is repentance and revival go together like biscuits and gravy.

I like biscuits and gravy because I'm from the South, and you can get some of the best biscuits and gravy served up in the South. And I like revival, but you can't have revival without a repentant people.

Biblical Examples of Repentance Before Revival

Go look at Nineveh in Jonah's day, or go look at Israel in King Hezekiah's day, and you will find a king and a people in repentance before God, before God sends mercy and revival. During the revival under King Hezekiah, a remarkable thing occurred.

Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple

Let me read it to you, friends, from 2 Chronicles 29, verses 15 -16. And he gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord.

And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the wickedness they had found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it to carry it abroad into the brook Kidron.

Well, they burned those things in that brook Kidron there, friends, but God is saying to us today that unless we are willing to come clean with Him and clean house, He will not send revival amongst us.

God declares from His word in Amos 3 .3, Can two walk together except they be agreed? King Hezekiah had the temple cleaned of all the unclean things that grieve the heart of a holy God. Then the king had the people cleanse their hearts before God in repentance.

They sanctified themselves before God. I like what J. Sidlow Baxter wrote. He said, What I give to Him, He takes. What He takes, He cleanses. What He cleanses, He fills. And what He fills, He uses. I believe, friends, that God gets serious with those who get serious with Him.

Personal Confession as the Beginning of Revival

Years ago, I was having lunch with a pastor who had read my first book on revival, and he asked me out to lunch to talk about revival and how he could have revival visit his church. I was a younger man, and he was an older man, but I knew my subject, and I looked him in the eye and told him, If you want revival to come to your church, then you must confess your sins and get right with God in repentance to Him.

Well, he just looked at me, and we finished our lunch, and we parted. The next day, I got another call from him. He invited me to lunch with he and two of his pastor buddies, if I would join them. Well, I did, and in that lunch meeting, they asked me if I wouldn't mind meeting with them once a month to pray for revival, and I agreed to do so.

And after a few months of praying with about five of these dear men who wanted to see God move in their churches, we would sit in a circle with our folding chairs facing one another as we prayed and went around that circle taking turns.

And I'll never forget the scene that day, that older pastor who said I told him he must repent if he wanted God to move in his church. When it came his time to pray, he shot up out of his chair like a rocket, then came crumbling down to the ground, and he wept like a baby as he cried out to God in a loud voice that was almost uncomfortable, Great God, forgive me for my dirty rotten sins.

I want revival, and let it begin with me. Well, I believe that old boy did some business with God that day, friends, and that's how revival starts. It starts with us. But we must first clean house where we are and get right with God and be honest with ourselves.

Walking in Agreement With God

Repentance and revival go hand in hand, but we must be in step with God to walk in agreement with him. He will allow no rivals. I want to end this message, friends, with a quote from Duncan Campbell regarding the Lewis revival which occurred in the Scottish Hebrides in 1949 to 1951.

Listen to his solemn description of God's manifest presence in revival and man's response to it. Yes, and prayers of repentance from the unconverted. Strong men were bowed under the weight of sin and cries for mercy were mingled with shouts of joy from others who had passed into life.

Praying for Repentance and Revival

Well, that's the key, friends. That's revival, but it must be repentance and then revival. Let's pray for the grace of repentance and then let's pray for God to send revival. In our day.