Revive Our Hearts. In effect, the Reformation was all about the Bible or as the Reformers said, Sola Scriptura.

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1 Revive Our Hearts O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2 The Protestant Reformation began 500 years ago on October 31st of next year and served as a revival of the Church. Luther s 95 Thesis commenced a reformation which may be the greatest extra-biblical demonstration of scriptural revival in the history of Christendom. In effect, the Reformation was all about the Bible or as the Reformers said, Sola Scriptura. First: Revival as a Concept The Psalmist prayed for God s reviving grace in Psalm 119:107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word. (NASB) Re vival basically means to re animate, to give life again. In this sense, revival and reformation are only for Christians. Unbelievers need to be vived before they can be revived just as Lazarus needed to be alive and dead before he could be re surrected. But can revival affect unbelievers? Absolutely. Psalm 51: Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. If the Exodus can be considered a reviving of Israel, then Rahab s conversion is a result. What exactly is Revival? 1.restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength, etc. 2.restoration to use, acceptance, or currency: the revival of old customs. 3.a new production of an old play. 4.a showing of an old motion picture. 5.an awakening, in a church or community, of interest in and care formatters relating to personal religion. 6.an evangelistic service or a series of services for the purpose of effecting a religious awakening: to hold a revival 1

2 The sovereign intervention of God whereby He graciously so restores His own backslidden people to a new empowered life of joyful obedience to Himself that the Holy Spirit also convicts the ungodly and unbelieving of their sin and converts them to Christ. Geoffrey King J. I. Packer notes five marks of revival: (1) Awareness of God's Presence (2) Responsiveness to God's Word (3) Sensitiveness to sin (4) Liveliness in Community - A revived church is full of life, joy, and power of the Holy Spirit (5) Faithfulness in testimony - an evangelistic and ethical overspill into the world. Our text implies the first part of that definition, Quicken me, O LORD. Certainly revival has to do with God, His sovereignty, omnipotence and grace exercised toward His own people. Revival is a church word And what is Reformation? a new empowerd life of joyful obedience to Himself The only true reformation is that which emanates from the Word of God.. - Merle d Aubigne The Hebrew verb, translated in the Psalms almost invariably as quicken, revive or give me life appears only in five psalms; once in each of four (Psalms 71, 80, 85, and 143) It occurs eleven times over in the 119th Psalm alone. Read Charles Spurgeon s sermon What is Revival? here: Second: Revival in the Scripture Leviticus 26:23 - And if by this discipline you are not turned to me (definition of revival) but walk contrary to me The Book of Judges sadly depicts Israel s repeated disobedience before God, God s judgement on the nation, the people s repentance, God s gracious reviving and the people s disobedience. 2 Chronicles 7: Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people [d]who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. This passage is not only a prescription for revival but a description of revival. 2

3 Whether enjoying divine revival or enduring divine retribution God s people were constantly being reminded by the prophets during these centuries, and subsequently, of this same divine principle. Isaiah 1:2 - Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me... V 10 - Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom (i.e. Jerusalem!); give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah... V 18 - Come now, and let us reason together, Says the LORD, Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 64:1 - Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, Ezra 7:10 - Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. Nehemiah 8:1-4 - And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from [c]early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. Vs Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen! while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Vs Then Nehemiah, who was the [e]governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved. 12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to[f]celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them. This revival preceded the great awakening of Acts Acts 4:31 - And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. 3

4 Acts 8:1-4 And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. 4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word V Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. V 17 - Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit And the revival flowed over into viving of Gentiles in Acts 10:1 - Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian ]cohort, Third: Revival in Church History Pentecost gave the church the life it needed to live obediently and joyfully. In The History of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards traces the many stratagems employed by Satan in the succeeding centuries to undo the revival flowing from Calvary, the empty tomb, and Pentecost. First he stirred up the Jews, who had crucified the Christ, to persecute the infant church, until the judgment of God fell upon them for their apostasy and persistent rejection of Christ and His people their sacred city suffering terrible destruction. Thereafter, for the next two and a half centuries Satanic opposition was manifested in ten successive general persecutions, backed by the whole might of Rome, whereby it was hoped to destroy the Christian Church. But not for the only time the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church, the Church thriving and expanding instead of dying under persecution. So Satanic tactics changed again when in the fourth century A.D. Constantine became the Roman Emperor and officially embraced Christianity. For what Satan had failed to accomplish by state persecution he largely succeeded in doing by state patronage! - Roland Lamb The dark night of the church s soul began then and for a millennium century after century - there was no major outbreak of revival amongst God s people. And then God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Post tenebras lux is a Latin phrase translated as Light After Darkness. It appears as Post tenebras spero lucem ("After darkness, I hope for light") in the Vulgate (Latin) version of Job 17:12. Post Tenebras Lux in the Seal of the Canton of Geneva. 4

5 The phrase [was] subsequently adopted as the motto of the entire Protestant Reformation. It is used by John Calvin's adopted city of Geneva, Switzerland on their coins. It is also engraved on the Reformation Wall, in Geneva, and the Huguenot Monument, in Franschhoek, South Africa. The first light of dawn appeared when God raised up the gospel light amongst the Waldensians so that from the twelfth century onwards, despite fierce papal persecution, the simple message of the gospel sent light into many a dark corner throughout every country in Europe. Until, in the fourteenth century, John Wycliffe, the morning star of the Reformation translated Scriptures into English and began preaching the Word of God. Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521boldly affirmed, I do not accept the authority of Pope and Councils... my conscience is captive to the Word of God. And the Word of God was set free (much as in Nehemiah 8) to revive the church wherever it was found. Since the Reformation in the 16 th century, scholars recognize six potential waves of special revival or "Awakenings" in the church worldwide. The First Great Awakening George Whitefield and John Wesley in England. Jonathan Edwards in America. Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening (1792 on) in UK resulted in the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society, The Religious Tract Society, The Baptist Missionary Society, The London Missionary Society, The Church Missionary Society and a host of other evangelistic agencies. It also achieved considerable social reform; the abolition of the slave trade, prisons were reformed, Sunday Schools began and a number of benevolent institutions were commenced. The revival affected the whole of Europe and the US. Resurgence The third Awakening or maybe "resurgence", from 1830 The Plymouth Brethren started with John Nelson Darby at this time, a result of disillusionment with denominationalism and clerical hierarchy. Third Great Awakening The next Great Awakening began from 1857 onwards in Canada and spread throughout the world including America during the Civil War and Australia. Significant names include Dwight L. Moody, Ira D. Sankey, William and Catherine Booth (founders of the Salvation Army), Charles Spurgeon and James Caughey. Hudson Taylor began the China Inland Mission and Barnardo founded his famous orphanages. The Keswick convention movement began out of the British Holiness movement, encouraging a lifestyle of holiness, unity and prayer. 5

6 Further resurgence The next Awakening ( ) has been described as "a period of unusual evangelistic effort and success", and again sometimes more of a "resurgence" of the previous wave. Moody, Sankey and Spurgeon are again notable names. Others included Sam Jones, J. Wilber Chapman and Billy Sunday in North America, Andrew Murray in South Africa, and John McNeil in Australia. The Faith Mission began in Welsh revival 1904 The [Welsh] revival began in late 1904 under the leadership of Evan Roberts ( ), a 26- year-old former collier and minister in training. The revival lasted less than a year, but in that time 100,000 people were converted.the movement spread to Scotland and England, with estimates that a million people were converted in Britain. Missionaries subsequently carried the movement abroad - timehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1904%e2%80%931905_welsh_revival "The movement kept the churches of Wales filled for many years to come, seats being placed in the aisles in Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Swansea for twenty years or so, for example. Meanwhile, the Awakening swept the rest of Britain, Scandinavia, parts of Europe, North America, the mission fields of India and the Orient, Africa and Latin America. Fourth: Revival Today It is only appropriate, on the eve of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, for the church to seek God s revival blessings. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! Psalm 119:107 6

7 For Your Reflection: 1 What is revival? 2 If your first response did not include this answer, Who can be revived? 3 How does revival affect the unbelieving world 4 Recite some biblical examples of revival. Give one OT and one NT example. Note that what happened in Nineveh was not revival. 5 What is God s place/responsibility in revival? 6 How is the 2 Chronicles 7:12-14 passage a prescription for revival? 7 How is the 2 Chronicles 7:12-14 passage a description of revival? 8 What is our place/responsibility in revival? 9 According to that passage, what are some requirements/costs for revival? 10 In the Nehemiah 8 passage, why did the people mourn? Why did Ezra encourage them not to mourn? 11 What have you heard about revival/revivals? What has been your personal experience? Read Henry Blackaby s chapter: What is Revival? Definitions and Misconceptions in his book Fresh Encounters at this site: tions&source=bl&ots=chhca9hydw&sig=5u9itqxo_o7pse_e4xzkp2r21sw&hl=en&sa=x& ved=0ahukewijsz_2imtpahuctsykhbipate4chdoaqhamak#v=onepage&q=revival%2 0definitions&f=false 7