We are in the Evangelism Awakening Revival Institutes,
and if you'll turn in your handouts to
session 10, the Lewis Revival, the revival that
occurred in the Scottish Hebrides in 1949 to
1952 was a revival that affected many of
the young people of the island, and teenagers
who were converted in this revival went to
the ministry.
The human instrument of the revival was Duncan
Campbell.
It was said of Duncan Campbell, he was
an ordinary man who had had an extraordinary
experience of God.
Duncan Campbell made the following statement, how many
today are really prepared to face the stark
reality that we have been outmaneuvered by the
strategy of hell because we've tried to meet
the enemy on human levels by human strategy.
In this, we have succeeded in making people
church conscious and mission conscious without making them
God conscious.
Well, Duncan Campbell was a man who believed
God and a man who feared God.
The Lewis Revival, as it later became known,
was a powerful revival that gripped the entire
communities.
It was said of the revival, the awful
presence of God brought a wave of conviction
of sin that caused even mature Christians to
feel their sinfulness, bringing groans of distress and
prayers of repentance from the unconverted.
Strong men were bowed under the weight of
sin and cries for mercy were mingled with
shouts of joy from others who had passed
into life.
The Lewis Revival was birthed by prayer.
Many godly parents were concerned about the teenagers
on the island who were forsaking church functions
for the local dance and drinking, and reverie
seemed to be their main objective.
The moral downgrade of the island was described
by a local resident.
The town of Stornoway had one of the
highest drinking rates in Scotland, and illegal drinking
houses flourished throughout the island.
In 1949, there was a growing carelessness toward
spiritual matters among the younger generation.
In the high school, some pupils were actually
speaking of conversion as the plague, something from
which to keep away at all costs.
So because of these concerns, the people began
to pray for the youth of the community.
But the thrust of revival came primarily from
two elderly sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith.
They were 84 and 82 years old, respectively,
and spoke only Gaelic.
Peggy was blind, and her sister almost bent
over with arthritis.
Unable to attend public worship, their humble cottage
became a sanctuary where they met God.
To them came the promise, I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods
upon the dry ground, which they pleaded day
and night in prayer.
One night, in a vision the Lord had
revealed to Peggy, not only that revival was
coming, but also the identity of the instrument
he had chosen to use, Duncan Campbell.
They called for their minister to contact Duncan
Campbell to visit the island.
They told their minister that revival was coming
to the island.
They said, we struggled through the hours of
the night, refusing to take a denial.
Had he not promised, and would he not
fulfill?
Our God is a covenant keeping God, and
he must be true to his covenant engagements.
Did he fail us?
Never.
Before the morning light broke, we saw the
enemy retreating, and our wonderful lamb taking the
field.
Well, I love that story of the Smith
sisters, friends, because it demonstrates what burdened, unfortunate
prayer can accomplish in praying for revival.
They were both invalids physically, but they were
spiritual giants who battled the forces of darkness
in their community until God sent revival in
answer to their prayers.
At times, it seemed the entire island was
bathed in prayer.
Some deacons gathered regularly in a barn to
pray for God to send revival, and these
men made a covenant with God that they
would give him no rest until he sent
a blessing.
They gathered in the barn faithfully to pray,
and as the months passed, and nothing happened,
until one evening a young man there took
up his Bible and read from Psalm 24.
Who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands and a pure
heart, he shall receive the blessing from the
Lord.
The young man stood and closed his Bible,
and looking at his companions on their knees
before God, he cried, Brethren, it is just
so much humbug to be waiting thus night
after night, month after month, if we ourselves
are not right with God.
I must ask myself, is my heart pure,
or are my hands clean?
Well, it wasn't long after this incident in
the barn that God sent revival to the
island.
The story reminds me of an elderly pastor
who once telephoned me to ask me to
lunch to discuss revival, because he had read
my book on revival.
At lunch he told me how badly he
wanted revival to come to his church, and
he asked me if I would help him.
I looked him in the eye and replied,
if you want to have revival come to
your church, then revival must first begin with
you.
You need to get right with God.
You need to repent before God.
Well, I thought my words offended him, for
he got up from the table and left
the restaurant suddenly.
But the next week he called me again
to ask me if I would meet with
him and two other pastors for lunch to
discuss revival.
Well, I met with these men, and they
asked me if I would consider meeting with
them once a week to pray for revival.
I agreed, and for the next several months
we met for prayer.
We would arrange our chairs in a circle
to pray, and well, I'll never forget it,
but the elderly pastor, whom I told that
if he wanted revival, he needed to repent.
Well, this man, while we were sitting in
that circle, he suddenly jumped up from his
chair like a bolt of lightning struck him.
Then he fell to the ground on his
face and cried out in despair, Oh great
God, forgive me for all my dirty rotten
sins.
Send revival to my church and let it
start with me.
Well, that man was getting serious with God,
and God gets serious with those who get
serious with him, and that's what was going
on on the island of Lewis.
The people were getting serious with God.
The revival saw that kind of desperation and
prayer before the revival came to the island,
and God heard those prayers.
He sent Duncan Campbell to the island, and
under Campbell's searching sermons, many were awakened to
their lost condition and brought to Christ.
Listen to this account of how the Lewis
revival commenced.
A solemn hush came over the church when
Duncan turned his time to the foolish virgins.
The service closed in a tense silence, and
the building emptied.
As Duncan Campbell came down from the pulpit,
a young deacon raised his hand and, moving
it in a circle above his head, whispered,
Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over.
He is going to break through.
I can hear already the rumbling of heaven's
chariot wheels.
Just then the door opened, and an elder
beckoned, Come and see what's happening.
The entire congregation was lingering outside, reluctant to
disperse.
Others had joined them, drawn from their homes
by an irresistible power they'd not experienced before.
There were looks of deep distress on many
faces.
Well, the main message of the revival, emphasized
by Campbell, was the wrath of God and
coming judgment.
God seemed to grip the island in the
fields or at the weaving looms.
Men were overcome and prostrated on the ground
before God.
One said, The grass beneath my feet and
the rocks around me seemed to cry, Flee
to Christ for refuge.
The agony of conviction was terrible to behold,
and the confirmation of the revival occurred one
night as Duncan Campbell leaned over the pulpit
and stopped preaching when he noticed a young
lad visibly moved under a deep burden for
souls.
Duncan Campbell asked him to pray.
The lad rose to his feet and, in
his prayer, made reference to the fourth chapter
of Revelation.
Oh God, I seem to be gazing through
the open door.
I see the Lamb in the midst of
the throne, with the keys of death and
hell at his girdle.
He began to sob, then, lifting his eyes
toward heaven, cried, Oh God, there is power
there, let it loose.
With the force of a hurricane, the Spirit
of God swept into the building, and the
floodgates of heaven opened.
The church resembled a battlefield.
On one side, many were prostrated over their
seats, weeping and sighing.
On the other side, some were affected by
throwing their arms in the air, in a
rigid posture.
God had come.
There is a video about the Lewis revival
which I highly recommend to you friends to
obtain and view it.
It's called Wind of the Spirit, and on
the video are some of the converts from
the revival.
As they are interviewed, they are now old
people talking about how God saved them as
teenagers in the revival.
You can learn a lot about revival by
watching that video of the actual people who
lived through those glorious days.
I also recommend the biography of Duncan Campbell
written by Andrew Wolseley.
It's a remarkable account of the Lewis revival.
It's important to our study revival that we
take the time and make the investment to
learn as much as we can about revival.
It's important for us to support revival ministries
to help get the word out.
This concludes our session.
Let us prepare for session 11.