One Man Truly Revived Can Bring a Nation to It's Knees — E.A. Johnston

Jonah's Call and the Need for Obedience

I want us to peer into the life of Jonah today, friends, for it speaks volumes to us today, if we will only let it. I don't believe there is a prophet of God in Scripture more hard-headed than was Jonah.

He was a bigot. He was disobedient to his call from God to go and preach repentance to the wicked Ninevites. It took God almost drowning him to get his attention. Now, are we never hard-headed like that?

Some of us out-Jonah Jonah, but God did something with Jonah that was truly remarkable. I'm not referring to God preparing a whale to swallow Jonah and preserve him as remarkable as that was. No, what God did with Jonah was to make a proof text that one man, truly revived, can bring a nation to its knees.

And that's the tale of my message today, friends. In the beginning of the book of Jonah we read, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for the wickedness is come up before me.

Jonah's Flight and the Consequences of Sin

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. I will stop there. We scratch our heads in disbelief, but that's what happened. Jonah, a God-called prophet, gets a call from God, and he runs as far away from that call as he can.

But is this really so strange? How many of us have fought against God for years, and the call he has had on our life? Because of his disobedience and sin, Jonah's now out of step with God, and when you get out of step with God, friend, because of sin, that's a sorry place to be.

Nothing tastes good. No enjoyments of life can really satisfy. It's a terrible place to be as a Christian. Out of step with God. In that situation, God can do one of three things. He can save you, like he said of the disobedient Jews in Hosea's day.

Ephraim is joined to his idols. Let him alone. That's the worst thing that God can do to a backslidden believer. Leave him or her alone. That's a place where leanness comes into the soul. Oh, friends, that's a terrible place to be.

The second thing God can do is to just remove you out of this world by sudden death. If you are no good to him in your present state, then why leave you here to breathe and to make a further stink? I've known several church members who were suddenly removed for their unrepentant hearts.

You don't play games with God, friend. Can a man take a fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? The answer is no. So God can choose to leave you alone. Or God can remove you. Or God can do the third thing.

Jonah's Restoration Through Repentance

And that is seen in our text here in Jonah. God can restore you to a right relationship to him. He can give you the grace of repentance. How he does it and by what means he does it may not be to your liking.

I don't believe Jonah enjoyed being in the stinking belly of that whale. I don't believe he enjoyed the pain of having his skin bleached by the acids in that mammal's digestive tract. I don't believe Jonah enjoyed being in pitch black darkness and being soaked to his bones and cold as a clam in a dark ocean.

But it got Jonah's attention. In verse 4 we read,. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. While Jonah was suffering in that belly of the great fish, he exercised repentance toward God and something else happened to him as well.

He experienced revival. When he was finally spit out onto dry land, he looked aside, but he was kicking his heels up in the air. He was back in a right relationship to his God and God could now use him for his purpose and as a means of blessings to others.

Revival Through Personal Consecration

I used to spend long hours speaking about revival and praying for revival with my mentor and friend, Dr. Stephen Oldford, oh how we cried out to God to send revival to America again. I remember one day Dr. Oldford called me to come meet him for lunch and prayer to get on our faces before God and his study.

The problem was I had just had cancer surgery on my face and my face was scarred and my wound was swollen and red and I was embarrassed to go out in public, but I went anyhow and when he saw me he gasped, but we were determined to seek God's face in prayer for revival even if my face was a mess.

God doesn't look at the outside of a man as much as he looks on the inside of one. We unburdened ourselves before God that afternoon. And I want to tell you what Stephen Oldford said about revival in our passage today, friends.

It always stirs me when I think on his words. Dr. Oldford said, I long for men like Jonah who will emerge from the deep waters of purging and preparation to stride across our cities until it can be said that the people believe God proclaimed to fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

And then Dr. Oldford dropped this bomb on me. He said, one man truly revived, crying out in God's name for repentance can bring Nineveh to its knees. We have the same God as Jonah did and I believe our nation needs God as much as the ancient wicked Nineveh did.

National Repentance and the Call to Revival

God sent a revival under the preaching of Jonah and we see the result. And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between the right hand and their left hand and also much cattle?

Listen to me, friends, and listen to me closely. America must have repentance if we are going to avert the sword of divine judgment. There is a terrible time in the land because things are so bad morally and so bad spiritually in the church.

I believe God is looking for men. I believe this nation needs to repent and turn back to the living God of the Bible. But God needs a man who will emerge from the deep waters of purging and preparation to stride across our cities preaching repentance.

One man truly revived, crying out in God's name for repentance can bring this nation to its knees. God is looking for a man who will take him at his word and be wholly sold out to him for his glory. Let me ask you, friend, will you be that man?