Are You Ready for Revival — E.A. Johnston

America's Need for Revival

Let me ask you, friend, are you one of those rare individuals who believes that the only hope for America is revival? If you are, then this message is for you. Vance Havner once said, Everybody's holding revivals.

It's about time somebody let loose of one. We will look at a revival today, friends, which occurred during the Second Great Awakening. I've been a student of revival for several decades, and I've had the privilege to visit many scenes across this land where God once moved in a powerful way in revival.

Learning from Historic Revivals

Just visiting those locations where George Whitefield preached or Edwards preached is stirring to the soul. I think it's time well spent to study accounts of revival because we can learn how God has moved in former times and seasons of revival.

We haven't had revival in America in over 162 years, and that's a crying shame. We've had dewdrops from heaven here and there scattered around in churches at times, but nothing can compare to the Great Awakening or the Second Great Awakening.

Revival Under Charles Finney in Rochester

I remember Rolf Barnard saying that when he was a young preacher in 1928, he met an old man in Rochester, New York, who had been converted as a teenager in the revival under Charles Finney in Rochester.

And this old man walked Rolf Barnard through downtown Rochester, and he would point to a certain street corner and say, Right there in broad daylight, I saw businessmen kneeling on the sidewalk in their suits with their faces in their hands as they wept over their sins and cried out to God to save them.

And then this old man would walk Rolf Barnard a few streets over by a park and point to a grove of trees and comment, Right over there by that grove of trees, I'd see grown men run in there at night to pray, and you could hear them crying out to God in prayer and conviction of sin.

And then this old man took Rolf Barnard over to the town of New York Mills, and he led him into the mill room where a historical revival broke out under Finney. And that's where I'm going to pick up our story this evening, friends, as I read a section from the memoirs of Finney as he relates in his own words what occurred in that remarkable day.

And as I read the story to us, friends, it's my prayer that your own heart will be stirred within you, that you will cry out to God in prayer for him to send revival to this sin sick nation of ours that has rejected him.

Repentance, Judgment, and America's Spiritual Crisis

Revival is our only hope if this nation wants to survive. We've had 11 straight days of deadly tornadoes that ripped through the heartland of this country. But I doubt you'll hear any pastor say it's God's judgment on America and it's time to repent.

But I'll say it, friend. God is judging this country through natural disasters, and the church is sound asleep. We all need to be on our faces, crying out to God in repentance and prayer. We desperately need revival today, friends, for the sake of this young generation of godless youth who are hooked on booze and drugs and sex.

Heaven sent revival could save thousands of them from hell's torments. We need revival today because the churches have lost a God consciousness. All we do is play church on Sunday while God is a million miles away.

Revival would change that. Revival would make Christ preeminent in our churches once again and prominent in our lives. Well, sit back and listen, friends, to this remarkable account from the memoirs of Charles Finney.

Finney's Account of Conviction in the Factory

My brother-in-law, Mr. George Andrews, was at the time superintendent of the factory. I was invited to go and preach at that place and went up one evening and preached in the village schoolhouse, which was of large size and was crowded in its utmost capacity.

The word I could see took powerful effect upon the people, especially the young people, who were at work in the factory. The next morning, after breakfast, I went to the factory to look through it. As I went through the factory, I observed there was a good deal of agitation among those that were busy at their looms and their mules and other implements of work.

On passing through one of the compartments where a great number of young women were attending to their spinning or weaving, I observed a couple of them eyeing me and speaking very earnestly to each other.

And I could see that they were a good deal agitated, although they both laughed. I went slowly toward them. They saw me coming and were evidently much excited. The thread of one of them broke and I observed that her hands trembled so that she could not mend it.

I approached slowly, looking on each side of the machinery as I passed, but observed that this girl grew more and more agitated and could not proceed with her work. When I came within eight or ten feet of her, I looked solemnly at her.

She observed it and was quite overcome and sunk down and burst into tears. That impression caught almost like powder, and in a few moments nearly all in the room were in tears. This feeling spread throughout the factory.

Mr. Wolcott, the owner of the establishment, was present, and seeing the state of things, he said to the superintendent, Stop the mill and let the people attend to religion, for it is more important that our souls should be saved than this factory run.

The gate was immediately shut down and the factory stopped. But where should we assemble? The superintendent suggested that the mule room was large and the mules being run up so we could assemble there.

We did so. In a more powerful meeting I scarcely ever saw. It went on with great power. The building was large and, like a great many people, came to it from the garret to the cellar. The revival went through the mill with astonishing power, and in the course of a few days nearly all in the mill were hopefully converted.

A Final Call for Mercy and Revival

Well, that's that story, friends, told by Charles Finney during the Second Great Awakening. It is my prayer that God will get a hold of some of us to such degree that our hearts will be broken over the sins of this land, that our hearts will be broken over the state of the sad, deplorable church, and that we'll cry out to God for mercy, for mercy, to send revival to this God-forsaken country once again.