The Revival Hymn (Video) — Duncan Campbell

The Humanistic Philosophy of Mission

Now I ask you, what is the philosophy of mission? What is the philosophy of evangelism? What is the philosophy of a Christian? If you'll ask me why I went to Africa, I'll tell you I went primarily to improve on the justice of God.

I didn't think it was right for anybody to go to hell without a chance to be saved. And so I went to give poor sinners a chance to go to heaven. Now, I hadn't put it in so many words, but if you'll analyze what I've just told you, do you know what it is?

Discovering Human Sin and Defiance

It's humanism. That I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery. And when I got to Africa, I discovered that they weren't poor ignorant little heathen running around in the woods looking for someone to tell them how to go to heaven.

That they were monsters of iniquity. They were living in honor and total defiance of far more knowledge of God than I ever dreamed they had. They deserved hell. Because they utterly refused to walk in the light of their conscience.

And the light of the law written upon their heart. And the testimony of nature. And the truth they knew. And when I found that out, I assure you, I was so angry with God that one occasion in prayer I told him that it was a mighty little thing he'd done.

Sending me out there to reach these people that were waiting to be told how to go to heaven. When I got there, I found out they knew about heaven and didn't want to go there. And that they loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.

I went out there motivated by humanism. I'd seen pictures of lepers. I'd seen pictures of ulcers. I'd seen pictures of native funerals. And I didn't want my fellow human beings to suffer in hell eternally after such a miserable existence on earth.

God’s Purpose in Sending Him to Africa

But it was there in Africa that God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism. And it was that day in my bedroom with the door locked that I wrestled with God. For here was I was coming to grips with the fact that the people that I thought were ignorant and wanted to know how to go to heaven and were saying, someone come and teach us, actually didn't want to take time to talk with me or anybody else.

They had no interest in the Bible and no interest in Christ. And they loved their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to the place at that time where I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery and I'd been told a bill of goods.

And I wanted to come home. And there alone in my bedroom, as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, yes, will not the judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost.

And they're going to go to hell, not because they haven't heard the gospel. They're going to go to hell because they are sinners who love their sin and because they deserve hell. I didn't send you out there for them.

I didn't send you out there for their sake. And I heard as clearly as I've ever heard, though it wasn't with physical voice, but it was the echo of truth of the ages finding its way into an open heart.

I heard God say to my heart that day something like this. I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen. I sent you to Africa for my sake. They deserve hell, but I love them. And I endured the agonies of hell for them.

I didn't send you out there for them. I sent you out there for me. Do I not deserve the reward of my suffering? Don't I deserve those for whom I died?

And it reversed it all and changed it all and righted it all.

And I wasn't any longer working for my cup and ten kegels and a jar, but I was serving the living God.

Repentance on Biblical Terms

The longer I live, the more I find. I don't know. A few years ago, God gave me a word for the new year. I don't go scattering through the book to find one. The Lord gave me a word, rejection. Pray.

Why did you repent? I'd like to see some people repent on biblical terms again. Do you see the difference? Do you see the difference? The difference is here is somebody trembling because he's going to be hurt in hell.

And he has no sense of the enormity of his guilt. And no sense of the enormity of his crime. And no sense of his insult against deity. He's only trembling because his skin is about to be singed. This is the difference between 20th century preaching and the preaching of John Wesley.

John Wesley’s Preaching of God’s Holiness

Wesley was a preacher of righteousness and he called it the holiness of God. And when he would stand there with a two to three hour sermon that he was accustomed to deliver in the open air. And he would exalt the holiness of God and the law of God and the righteousness of God and the justice of God and the wisdom of his requirements.

And the justice of his wrath and his anger. And then he would turn to sinners and tell them of the enormity of their crimes and their open rebellion and their treason and their anarchy. The power of God would so depend upon the company that on one occasion it is reliably reported that when the people dispersed there were 1800 people lying on the ground utterly unconscious.

Because they had a revelation of the holiness of God and in the light of that they'd seen the enormity of their sin. And God had so penetrated their minds and hearts that they had fallen to the crime.

It wasn't trying to convince good man that he was in trouble with a bad God. But it was to convince bad men that they deserved the wrath and anger of a good God.

Idolatry and the Church’s Spiritual Poverty

Anything that you love more than you love Jesus Christ is an idol. Don't care what it is. I'm embarrassed to be part of the church of Jesus Christ and I who is so totally radically different from the New Testament.

So impoverished, so blind, so powerless.

The Bride and the Present Move of God

I've come to this conclusion. There is a move of God in America today. But not amongst the unsaved. It's amongst the redeemed who are determined by the grace of God to be part of the bride. And to be part of the bride you have to be divorced from everything in the world.

Spiritual Warfare and the Danger of Pride

I'm a witness of somebody who has gone to an eternal hell according to our theology. Where we talked about some tribute to them. Whisper in my ear that Satan has moved you up. He says you're getting to be dangerous to his kingdom.

He says you're spoiling his plans.

You're thwarting his purposes. You're pulling down his strongholds.

We're not pulling things out. We're building pretty little churches and little rooms for people to sit around. If Jesus came back he wouldn't cleanse the temple, he'd cleanse the pulpit. We're in grave danger when we let our accomplishments become the ground of our confidence.

Oh boy, how we want to be esteemed. How we want to be respected. How people should realize what precious gifts of the Spirit I've given them. You know why they don't? Because you stink with pride, that's why.

John Wesley’s Legacy and Stewardship

John died in 1791. Converted at 35. Turn that round, it makes 53. Add them together, it makes 88. Because he was saved at 35. Preached for 53 years. And you know what he left when he died? He left a handful of books.

A faded Seneida down that he preached in all over England. Six silver spoons somebody gave him. Six pound notes. Did one read to the poor men that carried me to my grave. And that's all he left. Six pound notes.

Six silver spoons. A handful of books. A Geneva gown. And something else. What was it the other thing? Oh, I know something else he left. The Methodist church. He could have died as rich as your famous TV preacher Sunday.

Sure he made money. And he built orphanages. Sure he made money. He printed Bibles. Sure he made money. He compiled with Charles the Methodist hymn book. And looked at his orphanages. And he died worth about $30.

Treasures in Heaven and the Call to Revival

He printed Bibles. He printed hymn books. He financed missionaries to go across the earth. That's the way to use your money. You think of the reward. Why in God's name do you think he said don't lay a treasure in us?

Lay a treasure in heaven. I'm tired of writing about revival. I'm tired of reading about revival. There are more lost people in the world tonight than ever in the history of the world. And God wants some men who are living drunk, intoxicated with the spirit of God.

Who have a love life with the Lord Jesus.

Obedience Without Bargaining with God

And he can ask anything of you and it will do it.

I have talked with people that have no assurance of sin forgiven. They want to feel saved before they're willing to commit themselves to Christ. But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by his spirit are born again.

Are the people whether they say it or not. That come to Jesus Christ and say something like this. Lord Jesus I'm going to obey you. And love you. And serve you. And do what you want me to do. As long as I live.

Even if I go to hell at the end of the road. It's simply because you are worthy to be loved and obeyed and served. And I'm not trying to make a deal with you.