Lit Lamps Lights Life
One day Pres. Lincoln was riding in a coach with a colonel in Kentucky. The colonel took a bottle of whiskey out of his pocket. He offered Mr. Lincoln a drink.
Mr Lincoln said, ANo thank you, Colonel. I never drink whiskey.
In a little while the colonel took some cigars out of his pocket and offered one to Mr. Lincoln.
Again, Mr. Lincoln said, No thank you Colonel. Then Mr. Lincoln said, Let me tell you a story.
One day, when I was nine years old, my mother called me to her bed. She was very sick. She said, AAbe, the doctor tells me that I am not going to get well. I want you to be a good boy. I want you to promise me before I go that you will never use whiskey or tobacco as long as you live. I promised my mother that I never would, and up to this hour I have kept my promise! Would you advise me to break that promise?
The colonel put his hand on Mr. Lincoln's shoulder and said, Mr. Lincoln, I would not have you break that promise for the world! It is one of the best promises you ever made. I would give a thousand dollars today if I had made my mother a promise like that and kept it like you have done. I would be much better than I am!
Lincoln made and kept a promise to his mother, but we tend to make promises to God that we don=t keep. When don't keep our promises to God our houses will soon need repaired.
Our house weakens because of . . .
I. Rot
A. God calls for sanctification
Note: Sanctify is for things destined for sacred use
1. Of the Levites
2. Of the house of God
B. God calls for removal
1. Of the physical
2. Of the spiritual
At the village church in Kalonovka, Russia, attendance at Sunday school picked up after the priest started handing out candy to the peasant children. One of the most faithful was a pug‑nosed, pugnacious lad who recited his Scriptures with proper piety, pocketed his reward, then fled into the fields to munch on it. The priest took a liking to the boy, persuaded him to attend church school. This was preferable to doing household chores from which his devout parents excused him. By offering other inducements, the priest managed to teach the boy the four Gospels. In fact, he won a special prize for learning all four by heart and reciting them nonstop in church. Now, 60 years later, he still likes to recite Scriptures, but in a context that would horrify the old priest. For the prize pupil, who memorized so much of the Bible, is Nikita Khrushchev, the former Communist czar. As this anecdote illustrates, the "why" behind memorization is fully as important as the "what". The same Nikita Khrushchev who nimbly mouthed God's Word when a child, later declared God to be nonexistent ‑‑ because his cosmonauts had not seen Him. Khrushchev memorized the Scriptures for the candy, the rewards, the bribes, rather than for the meaning it had for his life. Artificial motivation will produce artificial results.
Caused by . . .
II. Rut
A. Willingness not to follow (6-7)
B. With sin there are consequences (8-9)
Jeremiah 13:22-27; Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?
Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. "Why," he exclaimed, "when I went a‑courtin' I never carried one of them things. I always went in the dark." "Yes," the hired man said wryly," and look what you got!" Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.
Reversed by . . .
III. Revival
A. First element of revival is repentance.
B. The second element of revival is replacement.
C. The third element of revival is God, Himself
Isaiah 57:15; For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Psalm 85:6; Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
.
Note: All three work together for revival of the soul.
‚ Revival is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God. Stephen Olford
‚ Revival is that sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring and releasing them into the fulness of His blessing. Robert Coleman
‚ Revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again. G. Campbell Morgan
‚ Revival is the people of God living in the power of an ungrieved, unquenched Spirit. James A. Stewart
‚ The kingdom of God is not going to advance by our churches becoming filled with men, but by men in our churches becoming filled with God. Howard Spring
‚ A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day‑dawn without light. C.H. Spurgeon
‚ A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God's love triumph in the heart. Andrew Murray
‚ A revival means days of heaven on earth. D. Martyn Lloyd‑Jones
‚ Revival is the church falling in love with Jesus all over again. Vance Havner