Sermon Tone Analysis

I will praise thee with my whole heart:

before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

I will worship toward thy holy temple,

and praise thy name

for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth:

for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

In the day when I cried thou answeredst me,

and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord,

when they hear the words of thy mouth.

Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord:

for great is the glory of the Lord.

Though the Lord be high,

yet hath he respect unto the lowly:

but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand

against the wrath of mine enemies,

and thy right hand shall save me.

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me:

thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever:

forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Psalm 138 (KJV)

 

The

Who

of Revival

 

In a certain town there had been no revival for many years.

The church was nearly run out.

The people were unconverted.

Spiritual desolation reigned.

In the town lived an old blacksmith, who stammered so badly that it was painful to hear him speak.

At work in his shop he became greatly burdened about the church; his agony became so great that one day he locked the door and spent the afternoon in prayer.

After prevailing with God, he obtained the reluctant consent of his pastor to call a church meeting, though with no hope on the preacher's part of any attendance.

But the room was more than filled.

All present were silent for a time until one sinner broke out in tears and begged, if anyone would pray, to pray for him.

Others followed, and it was found that people from every quarter of the town had been under deep conviction from the time the old man was praying in his shop.

A powerful revival followed.

The stammering man prevailed and, as a prince, had power with God.

The Bible records an occasion when a fainting David prayed like that stammering blacksmith.

He sensed his weakness and failure and cried to the Lord and was revived.

Later he could testify:

 

In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul….

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands (Psalm 138:3, 7, 8).

In these words David personalized his longing for revival.

He realized that before he could know the renewing power of God in his life he had to admit his desperate need.

Thus the sweet singer of Israel confronts us with "the who of revival."

He tells us that:

 

God Revives Those who Confess Spiritual Failure in their Lives

"In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul….

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."

Revival presupposes failure.

It is only those who admit failure and fainting whom God truly revives.

In the physical realm, when a man faints and is weak, he needs reviving.

In the New Testament we find certain words which are the spiritual expression of a fainting man.

The first one is prayerlessness.

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).

If a man is not praying, he is fainting.

The word "to faint" here is "to cave in" or "to break down."

Does that describe your prayer life?

Is that why you need revival?

It is my profound conviction that prayerlessness is the outstanding sin in the Church of Jesus Christ today.

The least popular and the worst attended gathering so often is the prayer meeting.

Since the church is made up of individuals, the question comes back to you and me: What about prayerlessness in your life, in my life?

How we need to cry with David, "Thou wilt revive me."

Dr.

F. William Chapman recalls how he heard an evangelist preach at the First Baptist Church of Chickasaw, Alabama.

His name was Jess "Hell Fire" Henley, from Atlanta, Georgia.

He announced that he was going to preach in the Sunday evening service on the subject, "The Greatest Sin in America."

That Sunday night the church was packed.

Everyone had come to hear of this "great sin" in our beloved nation.

Was it to be murder, adultery, rape, alcohol, or some other "big sin" we usually place at the top of the list of wrongdoings?

No, a thousand times no!

Rather, Jess Henley preached that night on the subject: Prayerlessness ... The Greatest Sin in America!

Jess Henley was right.

What was true in that yesteryear is much more so today.

Seemingly the people of God are doing everything in America today except praying!

We can plan programs, promote rallies, raise money, exalt personalities, play softball, swallow goldfish, and many other "good things" with the best of them but we can't get the people of God to attend real prayer meetings.

We have substituted for prayer everything from "soup to nuts" on Wednesday nights in the churches in an attempt to get God's people to be faithful.

Beloved, I do not care what the "soup to nuts" program you have on Wednesday night is, it is no substitute for prayer.

For you see…there is no substitute for prayer … not with our Lord!

But, you say, "preacher, the emphasis on bigness in our day demands that we do the above things in our churches."

Beloved, when will we ever learn how small bigness is in God's sight unless it is spiritual bigness?

To build a by-pass around the city of prayer is the greatest mistake (sin), that our Lord's churches and people commit today.

Yes, it takes valuable time to go through the city of prayer as we travel in this life…but believe me…it is well worth it!

(Please read James 5: 16b).

In the April 6, 1979 issue of Christianity Today (p.

52), there is a report of leaders of renewal (revival) ministries from across America.

A major concern of the group as they met was the matter (sin) of prayerlessness.

They cited recent studies showing that "the average pastor surveyed prays only three minutes each day!" Beloved, the curse of prayerless preachers is powerless pulpits which produces problem pews…Little wonder that our churches are so spiritually sick in our day.

One thing is sure and certain…we shall never see real revival in America until God's people get serious about their prayer life!

E.

M. Bounds, the great prophet of prayer, said: "Every revival of which we have any record has been bathed in prayer."

Beloved, it is bath time.

If prayerlessness is the greatest sin, there is an aspect of this prayerlessness that is of particular concern in heaven.

Isaiah records that God "wondered that there was no intercessor [on earth]" (Isaiah 59:16).

Indeed, it was because there was no qualified human mediator that God brought salvation at the first advent of Jesus Christ.

And while here upon earth He exemplified, as no one else in history, what it means to be an intercessor.

A careful study of the high priestly prayer in John 17 makes this abundantly clear.

Now in resurrection glory and power our Savior ever lives to make intercession for us.