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Video Sermon 10 Minute Highlights |
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FULL WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT REVIVAL #1: JOHN THE BAPTIST INTRODUCTION John 14 6. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
When it comes to making it to heaven; Jesus says He is THE way. When it comes to navigating our way through the confusion and illusions of this world; Jesus says He is the truth. When it comes to actually living a life with purpose instead of just reacting and surviving; Jesus says He is the life.
Jesus is the way. Revival keeps us on the way.
To NOT have revival is to take a deep breath of life, and then never breathe again. No matter how good that breath, one alone is not going to keep you alive. In the spiritual sense, this is just as true for the individual or for the local church, or for the entire church.
Even if we are doing right things like meeting for worship, or works of service; and especially if we drift away a little here and there- the enthusiasm we once had for God begins to cool. We slowly fall into a pattern of going through the motions. Churches move from being living families to ossified institutions. Just like Ezekiel’s vision we studied last week; we become stale, dry bones. A mere skeleton, spiritually, of what we once were.
We also learned from Ezekiel that revival is an impossible process that God works in breathing a fresh breath of life into us. Even if we have been walking with God most of our lives; and I dare say, especially if we have been; God makes what has become old and routine, fresh and exciting, and deeper than ever.
It is something we could never generate or manipulate or formulate, it is impossible for us, but it is simple for God. All He has to do is make His presence felt to the hearts that are honestly open.
It is crucial. But it like anything that is totally God, it is a hard concept to grasp. I know from some feedback from last week, we really don’t have a handle on this yet. But that’s ok, the more I look into it, the more I find that I don’t either! This is an exciting time, because I think God is opening up a whole new journey for us; and we can take it together.
What is revival; 100% purely Biblical revival? Well, the way to find out is the same way to learn any spiritual truth; scour the Bible for examples.
Ezekiel was a foundational start, but let’s move on to another example. Let’s move on to the revival under John the Baptist. Now, the world in which John lived was entirely different than Ezekiel. Let’s do a quick catching up…
John is far into Ezekiel’s future. It had now been nearly 500 years since Israel was rebuilt. The thing is: it has been 400 years now, since God’s voice was heard from any prophet. As a matter of fact, the Jews considered the Sacred writings a closed book by this time. The Old Testament was a done deal. God was so absent that these 4 centuries had become known as “the silent years.”
Now, it’s not that religious routine had stopped. If anything, the religious machinery was in full gear! Religious Law was well established. There is the Torah, the written Law from Moses. Then, there is the Aggadah, the explanation of the Torah by the religious professionals. There is the Mishnah and the Talmud; the code of the Law, or in other words, laws to keep you from violating the main laws. And then there is the Halakha or “way to go.” That is the overall system of the Law that encompasses every aspect of life; kind of- the laws for the laws of the Law.
There are lots of laws, lots of ceremony, lots of religious routine, there are lots of religious roles with temple priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. There are all kinds of professionals to teach you how to think, act, and look holy. You can feel very comfortable in knowing “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” There was a lot of religion; there just wasn’t any voice of God. It had been a long time since God had breathed any life into anything.
And as the song goes…. Along came John… but…
John shook up a spiritual culture that was ready for some shaking. But some odd elements stick out, such as….
· It comes in a very unlikely place Matthew 3 1. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, In the wilderness of Judea! Have you ever seen what this area is like? Well let me show you a quick satellite image of the area in modern times, then imagine how stark it must have been two thousand years ago. Scholars describe this wilderness that is East to North east of Jerusalem as a God forsaken stretch of rock and sand, infested by robbers. It was thinly populated at best, and had virtually no pasture land.
If we were to consider a place for revival, wouldn’t we think of the logical place would be the Temple? Wouldn’t it be the “holy city” of Jerusalem with its 100,000 plus, people to reach? But no; the revival is born in the wilderness.
Travel was hard and dangerous enough in that day. It would have been a logistics nightmare. Yet that is the unlikely place where God started revival.
· It came at a very unlikely time. Four centuries is a long time. If we went back four centuries from our time, we’d find: England hadn’t yet discovered most of North America. Shakespeare hadn’t yet written much of his work. The first harnessing of electricity is still 200 years away. And men were still wearing those strange tights.
Imagine if that was the last time anyone had heard from God. There’s a promise that there will come a day when God will make His voice known, but it’s been four centuries of silence. Why should we expect it today? It’s just like any other day. It would seem very unlikely.
· The person was so unlikely. John didn’t wear the flowing attire of the religious professionals. In fact, what he wore was about 1000 years out of date. He ate locust and honey which were the food of the poor and outsiders- the “Hebrew hillbillies” if you will. I imagine he was the type of individual you would cross the street if you saw him coming. And yet, this man is the catalyst for Scriptural revival. What an unlikely person!
· However unlikely, it was not a break with the past. The hunger for something new from God is there in our culture at large. But unfortunately, we have a trend of tossing out the old to bring in the new. That may work when we are remodeling the living room, but it does not work when it comes to following God’s eternal plan. What is genuinely new and fresh and genuinely of God always has deep roots into the past. When Jesus came Himself, it was not to abolish the old Law, but to fulfill it.
Warning: If something is entirely new and out of the blue, chances are it is false. But that doesn’t mean it is simply a rehash of the old either.
For all his eccentricity, it was a man just like John that was prophesied a thousand years earlier. God always builds on a continuum. It is always the same story unfolding. For all the unlikelihood; it was exactly what God promised. -It’s amazing how God does both at the same time.
Well, that gives us some insight into the circumstances in which John’s revival came about; but what were the marks of authenticity? What are the components here we can look for in real revival?
· Makes straight the paths Luke 3 4. as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 5. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth; 6. and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' ''
The end result is people finding God’s salvation. But people finding salvation begins with making a path.
The roads were notoriously bad in the Middle East. They were hardly more than dust tracks. There were a lot of obstacles to prevent you from reaching your destination. One notable exception was “the king’s highway.” Solomon had a road into Jerusalem surfaced with black basalt stone. It would be allowed to fall into disrepair until such times as the king was about to travel. Then word would go out and everybody would have to get out and perform a frenzy of repairs.
That is the mental image of the prophecy. The king is coming; but in this case, His majesty is spiritual in nature. The road to be prepared is the path of the heart and soul. It was time to remove obstacles like self-deceit and lax morality that prevented, even being aware of God.
· Repentance is key Repentance is more than being sorry. If we’ve sat through many messages here, we know it means to change direction. But the method of repentance in this revival was so startling, it was almost scandalous! It was almost unpatriotic. It hit at the very heart of what it meant to be a Jew of Israel. The national pride was based on being God’s people by bloodline.
Baptism was for pagan converts. They would never be real Jews, but they could be a kind of second class citizen of God’s Kingdom. Baptism was a way to clean the unclean. But for a Jew to be baptized! That was admitting you really weren’t worthy to be called part of the family, so you were re-entering through the back door. Repentance was a profound level of humbling.
And yet, people came in droves. They came from everywhere to be baptized by this wild man and to…. Confess their sins. The implication of the wording is that they would confess aloud.
Talk about a day of humility; first admitting you aren’t worthy to be called God’s child then to go on and explain why. It meant people getting brutally honest with themselves and coming to a self-realization of what they really were; not in comparison to other people, but to God’s standard for spiritual life. … I wonder if in the church today, there are any of us who are that hungry or willing to be that honest.
· The repentance shows lasting effects The real test of a Biblical revival isn’t so much in the event, but what happens afterwards. -By our fruit we are known. It is a wonderful thing if people are brought into a profound presence of God. It is a good and necessary thing if we realize and confess how far we fall short. …But if we’re honest, we have a way of comparing ourselves with those around us and not the standard to which we are called. It’s kind of like a slimming mirror; we can look at ourselves and think we’re not so bad.
But as long as we follow that tendency, we will never experience revival. · It is an important practice to make church worship part of our life-routine. But if we think that is answering our calling; we’ll never experience what it means to be touched by God. · We may think we are maturing when we go to that Sunday school class or small group, and they are vital things. (If you do not participate you are missing out.) However, if you never go beyond that; if you never put into practice all the things you learn; and every bit as important; if you never reach out and teach others what you have been taught; I guarantee you, there is a level of spiritual maturity you will never reach. –And that means when you stand before God, you will have to admit you weren’t willing to follow Him all the way….. Not really.
The mark of real revival is time; what happens afterwards and for how long. That makes the difference between real God-created revival and simply having a few fired up meetings.
· There will be Holy fear. Matt 3 10. "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
We talk about it every now and again, but we live in a culture that holds very little value for accountability. We are experts at “not my fault” and “not my problem.” But to be spiritually alive and aware, is to realize that God has, and will again say, “enough’s enough.” Gal 6 7. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Spiritual “cause and effect” is a very real thing.
CONCLUSION · Revival is the process by which God breathes new life in our relationship with Him. It is our part to be open and ready, but only God can make it happen… because revival is the presence of God. · Revival will only happen for us if we are honestly following God. Because it will come in an unlikely place, at an unlikely time, and probably involve an unlikely person. If we aren’t right there with Him; we will miss it. · In whatever form it takes; it will involve repentance, even to a startling measure. It will involve coming clean on where we’ve been wrong. It will involve being totally honest with ourselves as well as God. · Most likely it won’t involve a lot of whipped up emotions or odd manifestations, but it will create a new level of reverence, respect, and even fear and awe of who God is. –Far bigger than we imagined. · And if it is genuine, it will change us forever. And the change will be a very, very good thing.
Now we know a little bit more. But what would it look like in our day? Last week many had taken on the challenge of praying for the rest of this month for revival; I encourage you to press on in that vow. This morning’s challenge is in the form of an invitation. Tonight at 6:30 pm, we’ll watch a half-hour video on what has been universally accepted as real revival. A picture is worth a thousand words, so come and see.
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