Hindrances to Revival — E.A. Johnston

The Great Commission and the Mission of a Healthy Church

Whenever the church fails to carry out the mandate of the Great Commission and proactively storm the gates of hell, then a vacuum is created. A healthy church advances the gospel to the ends of the earth and makes disciples.

Its members exude vital Christianity through lives of surrender and holiness and an act of witness for Christ, and passionate, burdened, and fortunate prayer is the engine of a healthy church where it magnifies the name of Christ and brings glory to the Father.

However, when the church becomes like the world and begins to build upon its own foundations to further its own agenda, it becomes an island unto itself, interested mainly in self-preservation, self-improvement, and self-gratification.

A healthy church, on the other hand, will have members whose lives exude New Testament Christianity through their self-sacrifice, cross-bearing, and sacrificial lives whose focus is living for eternity and reaching lost centers with the gospel of the Son of God.

Unfortunately, in many of our cities in our country today, our churches are visible in name only, for there is little influence upon the society in which they live. Listen, friends, if a church fails to bring the light of the gospel into their community, then a vacuum is created which is quickly filled with darkness and evil will grow rampant and take over a community through several wicked strongholds.

The Church as a House of Prayer Rather Than Entertainment

Many churches today experience division and strife because they've lost the focus of what a church really is meant to be, and that is a house of prayer, a birthing station for souls, and a satellite outpost of heaven, but most churches today are in such a mad rush to grow their already bulging campus with more buildings as if they're in competition with one another.

Listen, friends, when a church ceases to be a house of prayer and it becomes a house of entertainment, there may be laughs, but there'll be few conversions. Comfortable Christianity is not in my Bible, rather a radical Christianity which goes against mainstream society and there's a clash between them, and when the church fails to warn sinners of their great danger of dying in their sins, when the church does not inform men of their duty of repentance and the necessity of regeneration to get to heaven, then the church may look good on the outside but is a complete and utter failure on the inside, and when the church mirrors the world more than Christ Jesus, then she lies in a backslidden state of indifference and apathy toward those perishing around her.

Only a heaven-sent revival can reignite her, reinvigorate her, and realign her back to the God of the Bible, but there are hindrances to seeing revival in your day and mind, and if revival actually came to the church in our day, there are also hindrances to it when it arrives as well, and that's what I wish to speak on this evening.

The Sermon's Text: Hosea's Warning About Backsliding

The title of my message is Hindrances to Revival. My text is Hosea 4 .16, which states, For Israel slideth back as a backslidden heifer, when the church has backed away from God, friends, that's when we need a heaven-sent revival, and today the church, by and by, has backed away from God through sin.

Let's look at several of these aspects of hindrances to revival. The first one is prayerlessness is a hindrance to revival. Prayer is the seed of revivals. Prayer is the heartbeat for revival. Prayer is the burden carrier for revival.

Prayerlessness as a Hindrance to Revival

Without prayer, there is no revival, and for the most part today, friends, we have a prayerless church. The church of our day is more focused on entertainment than laying hold of God in desperate prayer.

We need to get back to being a praying church. This whole aspect of the importance of prayer is greatly overlooked today. But listen, friends. There is an oil painting which hangs in a Spanish gallery.

It depicts the following. In the foreground is a farmer who is kneeling in the attitude of prayer. He has just removed his hat and put his farm implements down. Behind him is his team of mules and plow.

In the background of this painting is a town village and a steeple with a bell tower. It is apparent that the bell has rung calling the village to a time of prayer. And if you look closely at that painting, in the background is the form of an angel who's just picked up the plow.

It's moving the team of mules as if to make a fresh furrow in the field while the man kneels in prayer. And there are three words in a brass frame at the bottom of the oil painting. And those three words read, no time lost.

Listen, friend. When we pray, there's no time lost. It's as if all of heaven's resources are enlisted on our behalf. We get more done in prayer than out of prayer. And without vital corporate prayer, a church is weak and unfluential in the world.

We need to get our churches back to praying, back to laying hold of God in nights of desperation, in heaven storming prayer. But without prayer, you will not see revival. So prayerlessness is a great hindrance to revival.

A Compromised Gospel Weakens the Church

Secondly, a compromised gospel is a hindrance to revival. Preachers fear man more than God these days. There is a story that Sam Jones used to relate. He said, I once knew a pastor who, upon taking charge of his church, was met by a delegation of the deacons previous to delivering his inaugural sermon.

They said, now, brother, you mustn't preach about fashion because our fashionable members will be out to hear you. You mustn't preach about dram drinking or liquor selling because several of our members who are liquor sellers will be out to hear you.

You mustn't preach about covetousness because several of our millionaire members will be out to hear you. Well, what can I preach about? He asked in great perplexity. About Mormons, replied the good deacons.

Give them blazes. There won't be a Mormon out to hear you. And that pretty much sums up many pulpits today. Where the pastor is afraid of offending his congregation, so he just preaches nice little sermons so not to upset anybody.

But the trouble is, the gospel is not preached, for the real gospel speaks of a scandalous cross and offense to sinful man. The real gospel proclaims man's duty of repentance and it warns man about the fires of hell because of sin.

We've gotten out our mop buckets today and cleaned up Calvary of all its blood and gore so not to offend people. And when the gospel is compromised, it is a great hindrance to revival. When you study historic revivals of several hundred years ago, you will find they mostly began when ministers preached the great doctrines of the Bible, which are ruin, redemption, repentance and regeneration.

Inconsistent Christian Lives Hinder Revival

We need to restore our pulpits back to preaching the full counsel of God again, friends. The third hindrance to revival is men and women who are church members who live inconsistent lives. When we get out of touch with God because of sin, we experience a closed heaven and a closed heaven means a closed Bible.

It means a stagnant prayer life and we won't see revival on holy lives would be a great hindrance to seeing revival in your church. There must be an earnest seeking of God through prayer by men and women who are living holy lives unto God.

There's a story about the Lewis revival, which occurred on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. There were a group of deacons who met in the barn each week to pray for revival to visit the island. These men were dedicated in prayer, dedicated to lives of consistency before God.

One night in prayer, while they were meeting in the barn around 10 o 'clock at night, one deacon stood and said, Brethren, Psalm 24 tells us who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place.

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Men, I say our meeting here is all humbug. If we are not in compliance with this text, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? Just then the deacons in the barn were melted down by the awful presence of God and soon revival swept the island.

How bad do we want revival friends? Are we willing to lay it all on the altar of sacrifice? Are we willing to get up on the altar of sacrifice? God will get serious with those who get serious with him.

God declares in Malachi, return to me and I will return to you. But we must first be willing to return to him on his terms. Listen, God's eyes are continually searching the earth for those rare individuals of whom the world was not worthy.

A man like Moses and John the Baptist, Luther and Calvin, Whitfield and Wesley, Finney and Moody, men who live in a different atmosphere than other mortals, men who have annihilated self with the cross and whose lives are broken alabaster boxes from which fragrances arise to the heavens, from the broken pieces of selflessness, self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion.

Hindrances That Can Stop Revival After It Begins

God is always on the lookout for such men. Any hindrances to revival must be met with and eliminated for us to see God move in his glory once again in this land, friends. And when God comes in revival, it's imperative to be alert to the things which would be a hindrance to revival once it appears.

Some movements of God in revival have ceased early because a man entered in and grieved the spirit which was so wondrously working. When revival comes, we must walk softly before the Lord so not to grieve him away.

Pride in Human Involvement

Here's a brief list of things which grieve the spirit of God away in times of revival. Number one, pride that the work of God is somehow relying upon us. If we begin to think we are especially favored people who deserve a movement of God, we grieve the Holy Spirit and shorten the length of revival season.

Taking Credit for God's Glory

Pride in man is grievous to the heart of God, especially in connection to his workings in revival. Number two, sharing in God's glory. To share in God's glory during revival times is to err and grieve the spirit away.

When we foolishly begin to advertise revival, brag about it in emails to other pastors, or take credit for the sovereign work of grace, we shorten the time frame of blessings amidst the people of God.

God is a jealous God who will not share his glory with another. How many times have I received emails from churches that were boasting about God coming in revival and how people were flooding the aisles every night, and as soon as those emails went out all over the place, God began to withdraw his presence.

Sin in the Midst of Revival

Number three, sin among the people of God. When God comes in glory, the most natural response of the people of God is to confess and repent of sin. A revival itself revives the people of God to live lives of holiness and consecration unto God.

But if there is a rebellious aching in the camp, it isn't long before the glory departs. Therefore, we must not aggravate God through sin in seasons of his blessings. This is a most aggravated sin indeed, and it will kill many revivals.

Therefore, in times refreshing, we must be on guard in lives of surrender and be sure our temples are clean and pure. You cannot be in a revival at church and return home and watch some filthy thing on television and expect God to remain in your midst long.

Enthusiasm and Foolish Behavior

Number four, enthusiasm and foolish behavior. At times, what begins as a genuine work of grace ends up as a sideshow in a circus. Outlandish behavior from believers will often discredit a work of God when immature people begin to bark like dogs, twitch their heads, and fall into the aisles with uproarious laughter.

You may conclude that God has left the building and lunacy has taken over. Tragically, in the Great Awakening, this happened to a much-used man of God by the name of James Davenport. Davenport was used mightily of God during the early part of the Great Awakening, but he soon became a clownish spectacle, parading through towns as a madman, and it was his odd behavior which ultimately hurt the work of God.

Years later, Davenport publicly apologized for his ruinous emotionalism, but it was too late. The damage had been done, the work of God harmed, churches had been divided, pastors thrown out of their pulpits because of all the chaos.

Satan's Opposition to a Genuine Work of Grace

We must be extremely cautious not to fall into error by allowing weird individuals to take prominent roles in the work, for their peculiar behavior will surely grieve the Spirit of God away. Lastly, number five is Satan's opposing work.

Whenever God moves, Satan is not far behind performing his evil counterpart, bringing chaos and confusion to a real work of grace. I'll share with you this story, friends, that involved Evan Roberts of the Welsh Revival of 1904, where reportedly over 100 ,000 people were converted during that heavenly harvest.

During this time, Evan Roberts began to notice a supernatural occurrence, attending his times of prayer in the churches. Upon entering a church, he would observe a heavenly glow hovering over the congregation before he was to speak.

He began to view this occurrence as a sign of God's smile upon the work, and if the heavenly glow was not in a meeting, he would grow very disillusioned and downcast, and it would hurt the meeting. But when he saw the heavenly glow, everything was right, and he felt invigorated by it, but he soon realized that this was a work of Satan to compromise him and the revival.

Therefore, we must be wary of odd appearances during revival seasons, attest them by the Holy Spirit. But when I study revival in history, I must admit there have been supernatural events in some revivals that cannot be explained.

One can think of the famous White Cross in the sky in China during John Son's revival preaching, and during the Lewis revival in 1949 to 1952 in Scotland under the preaching of Duncan Campbell, they were said to be heard, and this was by many witnesses, friends, who collaborated this, an angelic choir singing in the nighttime sky with no explanation to it.

Also, a house shook when the people of God were inside in desperate prayer and there were no earth tremors or earthquakes in any of the vicinity. The house alone shook. When God comes in his manifest presence in seasons of revival, we must be sensitive not to do anything that would grieve away the Spirit of God and the work of grace.

A Final Call to Pray for Holy Ghost Revival

Let us remember to go to our knees and continue to pray for revival, friends. These are sad days. We're in a sad spiritual declension and society is spinning out of control. The only hope for our nation is a Holy Ghost revival.

Let us pray and believe that God in his mercy will send it to us.