We are in the Evangelism Awakening Revival Institutes,
and if you'll turn in your handouts, friends,
to session 16, Forgiveness in Revival.
Martin Luther said, Forgiveness is God's command.
He was referring to the words of Christ
Jesus from Matthew 6.15. But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.
The great A.
B.
Sampson once told the following story.
He said, I once knew a brother minister
who'd been unkindly treated by some members of
his flock and had fallen into a spirit
of resentment.
There fell upon him a spirit of prayer
for his bitter enemies, and he found himself
irresistibly pouring his heart out to God for
them.
Then he was promoted by a deep desire
to return to his people, whom he'd left
for a time under a sense of injury.
As he finished his morning service, the first
persons to greet him were the two brethren
that had so grievously wronged him.
To his surprise, they hastened forward with the
most cordial welcome, and the reconciliation that followed
was deep and lasting.
The moment his own heart had gotten right,
God made all the other things right.
Well, our session today is entitled Forgiveness and
Revival, because there is a golden thread that
weaves its way through revivals, and if this
purified thread is broken, it has been a
bar to revival throughout history, to which I
refer is the golden thread of a forgiving
heart toward others.
When one researches the history of revival, it
is plainly shown that many revivals began accompanied
by a sudden manifestation of God's presence when
Christians began to confess their sins of an
unforgiving heart to one another.
I remember years ago, I received an invitation
to preach at a country church down in
the state of Mississippi by a pastor who
had read my book, Reality's Revival.
His hope in having me come to preach
would result in a revival in his church,
but what he didn't tell me was that
his church was badly divided and much infighting
was going on.
When I arrived at his church that evening,
I was greeted by a member who told
me the meeting was in the basement downstairs.
I entered a room full of angry deacons
who were plotting the removal of this pastor.
During my entire sermon, I was preaching to
the walls.
It was as if my words were bouncing
back at me.
No one there wanted to have revival.
They just wanted to fight among themselves and
get rid of their pastor.
The only reason that pastor invited me to
come was to hopefully help him keep his
job.
If your church is praying for revival and
there is a spirit of division among the
people of God, this bitterness must be dealt
with openly or your revival efforts are in
vain.
But I believe that revival is not only
possible, it is probable as long as we
are expendable.
Ted Randall wrote in his wonderful book on
revival, Firing the Church, the following words.
God is looking for a man who will
throw himself entirely on God whenever self-effort,
self-glory, self-seeking, or self-promotion enters
into the work of revival, but then God
leaves us to ourselves.
Ted Randall witnessed a campus revival that swept
through Prairie Bible Institute in Canada when he
was on the staff there.
It occurred in the 1970s and it began
when faculty members and students began confessing their
sins of an unforgiving heart to one another.
Soon classes had to be dismissed as the
entire time was given to prayer and testimonies
of students who were getting saved in the
revival.
The spirit of forgiveness was the key that
ignited that campus revival.
The grass market in Edinburgh, Scotland was the
scene of many hangings of Christians.
The Scottish covenanters were hounded and persecuted for
preaching and praying in the fields.
One of these martyrs, John Dick, stood upon
the scaffold at the grass market as he
addressed the crowd assembled to watch him hang.
He said, I am come here this day
and would not change my lot with the
greatest in the world.
I lay down my life willingly and cheerfully
for Christ and his cause and I heartily
forgive all mine enemies.
I forgive all them who gave me my
sentence and them who were the chief cause
of my taking and I forgive him who
is behind me as he motioned to his
executioner.
I advise you who are the Lord's people
to be sincere in the way of godliness
and you who know little or nothing of
the power thereof to come to him.
Well those were his words before he was
hanged for the cause of Christ.
Well friends, if a man can forgive his
enemies who are taking his life, should not
we forgive those who have wounded or wronged
us for whatever reason?
How can we honestly say we want revival
if we are harboring bitterness in our hearts
toward one another?
Listen friend, if you want more of Jesus,
then be prepared to have more of his
cross.
When sin is exposed and self is crucified,
then God will come in his glory and
power.
J.
C.
Lowe Baxter used to say, what I give
to him, he takes.
What he takes, he cleanses.
What he cleanses, he fills.
And what he fills, he uses.
Let's apply those principles in all hearts as
we prepare ourselves for revival.
Remember, revival starts with you.
With this ends our session today.
Let us prepare for session 17.