We Need the Revival 3

We Need the Revival 3
June 24th, 2014, Kichijouji Bible Study
Gotthold Beck

Psalms
26:2 Examine me, Lord, and inspect me! Test my heart and mind.
[International Standard Version]

139:23 Examine me, God, and know my mind, test me, and know my thoughts.
139:24 See if there is any offensive tendency in me, and lead me in the eternal way.

These verses we just read are the confession and prayer of David. When I see people who are distressed, I suggest to them to recite these prayers.. They will never become obsolete. The Psalms are so precious. If you pray reading the Psalms and read the Psalms with prayers, your vision will be changed. You will be given hope. You do not have to give it up. The Lord is alive.


Last week, we discussed together the necessity and possibility of the revival. I would like to continue the discussion today. We use this word 'revival', which is taken from English, in our Japanese conversation. It refers to the spiritual awakening, the reconstruction of faith or the resurrection of our faith.

Dormant believers need the revival, the resurrection of their faith. That is to say, they need to be renewed and newly reborn through active fellowship with Jesus. Have we ever sensed the need for the revival? Have we realized the serious defects that lie within us?

The attitude of many believers toward the revival is not right. That is to say, nothing will occur until the time of the Lord comes—this is the way they see it. They believe that there is nothing they can do but wait until the time comes. As a result, they do not look to the Lord with a serious attitude.

Will Jesus be happy to see believers so thirsty and miserable in their spirit? If we satisfy the condition set by the Lord for the revival, it will occur at that very moment and begin to spread instantly. As I just mentioned, the revival leads people to newly awakened life.

What should be noted here is that it is only the saved people who have new life and can arouse people from sleep. There can be no revival for non-believers. Non-believers have to be reborn first. It is for the dormant believers that the revival is necessary and there are a number of these today. Moreover, it is time for them to wake up from sleep.

However, to wake up, they first need to confess that they are deep asleep. We will be truly blessed if the Lord comes to help us understand the need for the revival.

So how does the revival, which is so eagerly awaited, occur? As I mentioned previously, it occurs when we are tested by the Lord. We need to be examined by the Lord. If the Lord tests us, it is a good sign. No matter how much we examine ourselves and look within, it is absolutely meaningless. What is important for us is to be examined within by the Lord Jesus.

David became the one who pleased the Lord. We definitely need an attitude like his. The attitude of his heart can be seen from the verses we read at the beginning.

Psalms
26:2 Examine me, Lord, and inspect me! Test my heart and mind.

139:23 Examine me, God, and know my mind, test me, and know my thoughts.
139:24 See if there is any offensive tendency in me, and lead me in the eternal way.

What do we need to do to see the revival occur and to be given a new life? Instead of testing ourselves, we need our hearts be tested by him. So, shouldn't we all pray, “Lord, please give us the revival. For your glory, for so many lost souls, for the new recreation and spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters, please give us the revival. I don't care about myself at all. Please let the revival happen.” This should be the ever-lasting and true desire of our hearts. If we obey the Lord sincerely, he will work on us. The Lord will grant us so-called spiritual awakening.

How could the ten lepers be healed by Jesus? It was because they obeyed his words even in hopeless circumstances. The Bible says that “while they were going, they were made clean.” They were healed because they sincerely obeyed the words of the Lord.

Had they been disobedient to his words, they would never have been healed and they would have had to continue their miserable lives. Are we sincerely following each word of the Lord so that he gets a chance to give us the revival? The Bible says, “Look! I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me.”

After all, this verse tells us to "put me to the test.” Do we have ears to hear? “Put me to the test in this right now and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure,” says the Lord of the Heavenly Armies. What this verse tells us to do is to not look away from Jesus, instead to “fix our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith.”

Paul kept his eyes fixed on the Lord and as a result, he could say these remarkable words;

Philippians
3:7 But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.
3:8 What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah.

It is a wonderful confession, isn't it? Last week, we discussed briefly the attitude of Pharisees within our hearts. Today, I would like to discuss how to be released from the heart like Pharisees.

It is actually so sad that, being already the temple of the Holy Spirit, some believers need to be released. Some brothers and sisters are still sleeping even after they are reborn. They need to be woken up and renewed over.

It is absolutely necessary. This is a clearly present and immovable fact. The healthy way of a Christian’s life should be like; “I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me.” If believers have faith like this, Jesus always lives and works inside their hearts and thus, they do not need the revival or to be renewed. Brothers and sisters are truly blessed if they are kept spiritually awakened every day.

How will the revival occur on us? What is required for it? We have to begin by realizing that we are so poor and lack so many essential things. Do we desire to have the true and profound fellowship with Jesus from the depth of our souls?

Do we realize that many important things are missing from us? Either way, do we have the true fellowship with the Lord? Are we spiritually healthy? Even if some sins are hidden inside us of which we are not aware, they are no different from sins we are conscious of, in that they separate us from the Lord.

Are we feeling unsatisfied? If you feel spiritually unsatisfied, I would say that you are prepared to expose your sins. This is the second point of today. Do we desire just like David, “Examine me, Lord, and inspect me?”

I must say that those who are not prepared to do so are miserable because they will neither see the revival nor receive new blessings. When you get ill, you will go to see doctors and ask them to diagnose you. It is a sin to carry a sense of emptiness in your heart and still to refuse to come to see the Lord and ask him, “examine me and inspect me.”

When you get ill and ask your doctor to examine you, you have to take your clothes off. Otherwise, your doctor can't help you. Likewise, to make the revival happen, we need to expose everything in front of the Lord and get naked.

Surgeons not only take your clothes off, but they slice your skin and flesh to remove the diseased parts. I guess the Lord is the one to do the same treatment on our souls. If the Lord examines us now, will he say that you are already prepared?

Or will he say that you do not realize enough how miserable, pitiful, poor and empty you are? When we are prepared to expose our sins into the light to be examined by the Lord, it will begin to make us realize how sinful we are.

Once there was a very wealthy man. He had a son who was leading a life of debauchery. His mother worried about him and died young of too much anxiety. One day this son abandoned his father, who had never stopped loving him, and left his home. Years later, he was notified that his father had passed away.

The son came back for his father's funeral  expecting to get some share of the bequest. Many relatives attended the ceremony and they did not seem to be welcoming this son. After a while, they started to read out the will of his father, which began by describing the prodigal son and all of his past conduct was listed. It also explained that his mother died in too much anxiety of him.

As the reading went on, the son could not stand listening to what he had done in the past and sneaked out of the ceremony. People in the house kept reading the will. At the very end of the will, it was written that if his son stayed and listened until the end of this will with repentance, “my entire fortune will be inherited to my beloved son.”

Because this son left the house without listening till the end of the will, his father's properties were divided up among the relatives. If we refuse to admit that we are exactly what Jesus described in Mark, chapter 7, we too would lose the opportunity to receive this wonderful fortune, which is the revival.

So far, we have learned that it is necessary for us, first, to admit that we are so poor and lack many things and second, that we need to get naked and expose ourselves in front of the Lord. Thirdly, I would like to conclude this sermon by discussing what is required for the revival to happen. That is to say, we absolutely need to admit our sins inside our hearts.

Pharisees believed that, if their sins were covered up and could not be seen outwardly, the Lord God would be pleased. However, as is written in Samuel, “While men see the outward appearances of others, the Lord sees to the depth of our hearts.”

If you have lust in your heart, being aware of the presence of the Lord, you are committing adultery. Likewise, when you hate someone, you are committing a murder according to the Bible. Have we already admitted that we have the hearts of Pharisees?

Each one of us has the heart of a peacock, goat, pig, toad, snake and tiger. In the eyes of the Lord, we have arrogance, passion, impurity, lust, wrath, vengefulness, negligence, selfishness, envy, impatience, and fear hidden in our hearts.

If we admit that we have all of these sins listed in Mark, chapter 7 in front of the Lord, he will begin to lead us to this confession; “Lord, I am so miserable and worthless.” This is the fourth point of today. This was the confession of the tax collector.

Have you ever been exposed to the light and confessed in front of the Lord that you are greedy, dishonest and adulterous? If you have, you were granted the broken soul.

If someone starts to believe that there must be something good in the depth of their soul, it will be seen from outside as the work of the devil. When people are broken down, they will come to understand that ego in the believers' hearts is a sin that is no better than the evilest thoughts people may have in front of the Lord. There is absolutely nothing good within our flesh. It is filled with evil. Until we admit it to ourselves and declare our sins without hiding anything, we won't receive true blessing.

When we reach this stage, as the fifth point of today, we are prepared to throw our sins away. I hear many believers confessing, “I am a sinner. I am impure. I am of a weak faith.” But, most of them remain in that same state afterward. Although believers admit and confess their sins, they do not cut them off thoroughly.

I suppose this is the obstacle that hinders the revival. When we think of this, we are compelled to realize how huge our debts are. The tax collector prayed, “O God, please forgive me, the sinner that I am.” While he was praying, the priest of the temple may have been in the middle of offering sacrifices alongside.

The tax collector prayed that way looking at the blood of the slaughtered sacrifice in front of him. Only blood can accomplish the redemption and by nothing but his blood will the revival begin. Let us accept and be thankful for the blood Jesus shed from the bottom of our hearts.

Ephesians
5:13 But everything that is exposed to the light becomes visible,
14 for the light is making everything visible.

If we continue to be exposed to the light of the Lord and realize how impure we are, if we accept the blood Jesus shed by which we begin to be purified, darkness will disappear from our lives and we will be filled with light. This exactly is the revival. By whom have our lives been controlled until today? By the Spirit of the Lord, or the evil spirit?

The devil can control only the dark areas. So, why don't we expose everything to the light? Then, true joy will be brought to you. Is our mind the workplace of the devil from which all the evil thoughts come out as described in Mark, chapter 7? Or, is our heart shining as the temple of the Holy Spirit?

1 Corinthians
6:19 You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves,
6:20 because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.

Here and now, we have to choose one from two. Do you refuse to expose yourself to the light of the Lord Jesus and continue to live a life without blessing? Or, will you bring out everything in front of the Lord, admit how miserable you are and confess your worthlessness, then receive the amazing blessings of the revival? You have to choose between these two.

Psalms
85:6 Will you restore our lives again so that your people may rejoice in you?

So, David prayed.

Hosea
10:12 Sow in righteousness in your own interest, reap in gracious love, break up your own unprepared ground; It is now time to inquire of the Lord, until he comes to pour out righteousness for you.

Jeremiah
3:22 Turn back, unfaithful people, and I’ll heal your unfaithfulness.

Lamentation
3:40 Let us examine our lifestyles, putting them to the test, and turn back to the Lord.
3:41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven.
3:42 As for us, we have sinned and rebelled; but you have not pardoned us.