The Welsh Revival

I'm looking for my boots, I am. I'm looking for my boots, I am. And welcome you all, again today, to Moriah. It's a joy, I have... Oh, sorry, I'm on air, so you don't know my face. Oh, there we are. Sorry, I did take my jacket off, though. Did I comb my hair? Moriah, welcome to Moriah. It's a real joy. The blessings I found in this place, tremendous. The lovely people I've been able to meet. I thank the Lord for this precious life. And for this opportunity of being able to speak to you. Now, Colin was telling you, I can tell you a bit about the history of the revival back in 1904. What God did. Do you know, if I hadn't read and do things like that, I wouldn't have realized what God had done. I tell you, God is mighty, as has been said. It's the same God we have today. What he did back then, he is doing today. He's able to do even more today. And in the future. And my friends, as we meet here, let's look at the state of our land today. As far as I'm concerned, the only answer to the present situation in our land is another visitation. From God himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus be lifted up and glorified. The Holy Spirit come again. We can try different things. Spiritually today, the tide is way out in our land. It's a very, very sad situation. Here I am, here we are in the Royal Opera. We can look back to what God did over a hundred years ago. Oh Lord, have mercy on us again, we pray. God has been gracious to Wales, this little country. Very, very gracious. Back in the 1700s, 1730s. Howard Harris, Daniel Rowland. The founders of this denomination. They were taken out of the Anglican Church. And this denomination was brought back in the 1700s to effect their oppression. 1859. David Morgan. Up in mid-Wales, Aberystwyth. 1904-05, here in Lecher. And they call it the Welsh Revival. Well, I've got to tell you. It's called the Welsh Revival, actually. As far as I'm concerned. Because it started in Welsh. Because it wasn't a revival that was confined to Wales alone. Yes. It's in that building there, the schoolroom. That's where the Holy Spirit came first of all. And by the way. When I talk about the Holy Spirit. I'm not talking about something in it. I'm not talking about something mystical or magical. I'm talking about God. God the Father. God the Son. God the Holy Spirit. Our God is alive today. Alive and well. Hallelujah. And the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ. Is growing daily. Okay, I do get a bit depressed, I suppose. Looking at the state of our land here. Mind you, I do get blessed by the number of people I'm able to meet here. Coming from different parts of the world. And they tell me what God is doing. Oh, thank you, Lord. The Welsh Revival went worldwide. You name it. Four corners of the earth. God did a mighty work. It's out of that Revival. Was born the Pentecostal Churches. The Apostolic Church. Out of the 04 Revival. 04, 05. They were the main years. They were the thrust years. But the Revival did go on for many years afterwards. I suppose I want. Hang on. Let's turn to the scriptures. And you know the very, very famous verse in Chronicles. To Chronicles 7, 14. If my people. Which are called by my name. Shall humble themselves. And pray. And seek my face. And turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven. And will forgive their sin. And will heal their land. Our God. Colin said earlier on today. God is good. Isn't he good? He is good. He's good to me. He's been merciful to me. I think of the times I've let him down. He's never let me down. And he never will let us down. Just tell you one thing. Back in those days. These people. God used young people. 26 Evan Roberts was at the time. He was the most well known God man. It was many young people. But they had one thing in common. They had a burden. Evan Roberts. He wasn't in there to make money for himself. He wasn't in there to make a name for himself. No. For the Lord. Do you know what he asked the Lord for? 100,000 souls in Wales. Not money. 100. They had a burden for souls. Once. I was brought up to go to chapel. Not this particular one. Since the recent years. In the last 10, 12 years or so I've been coming here. I brought up in a chapel situation. Third Bible story. Third God is love. You've got to love one another. I had to go to morning service on Sunday school. Welsh chapel. Welsh we were at home. Born and bred just from the corner. Then my early teens. I stopped going. I went to Sunday school. Not long afterwards. My father turned round and told me. David. I don't care where you go. But you've got to go to Sunday school. So I went to school the following morning. I said it to the chap sitting next to me. He said come with me. Now. That was a challenge. I went back and told my father. I'm going to Sunday school next Sunday. I'm going with Wynford sitting next to me. Wynford went to an English church. We were Welsh. He also went to an evangelical church. I went there. And there I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. My eyes were opened. I'd heard. Yeah Jesus God is love. Now I hear. God loves me. He does. And he loves me today. And he never will stop loving me. Thank the Lord. God is love. I've heard before with all sinned. Now I hear. I'm a sinner. And the sinner. Who needs to turn to the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ. Who bore my sins. Our Lord. Our Lord. Was born of a virgin. He was perfect. Spotless. Born of a virgin. No inherited sin. A DNA was perfect. And he lived a clean spotless life. Perfect. He need not have died. This book tells me the wages of sin is death. Our Lord never died for his own sin. He had no sin. He was spotless Lamb of God. Died bearing my my sin all my iniquities on him were laid. Praise God. Jesus died but he rose again. He conquered sin. He conquered death. He conquered hell. He's conquered Satan, that devil himself. He's chained. Our Jesus is alive. Do you know it? Now I've got to ask you. Do you know Jesus Christ? Our Lord as your own personal Savior. You can go to church chapel. You can go to a meeting like this. I believe that no preacher has the authority to take for granted that everyone in the congregation is saved, is born again, converted. I want to ask you now. Have you turned to Jesus and asked him for mercy? God is merciful. You know your sin. There is not one perfect here this afternoon. Not one of us has kept the law of God. We have all failed. But praise God for his plan of salvation. For God so loved the world that he gave his one, his only begotten Son. Whoever believes in him will not perish. I wanted to once since coming here to Moriah, I have tried to ensure that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been preached on this pulpit. I thank the Lord for this opportunity this afternoon. I'm looking around. I don't know you. God knows you. He knows where you stand. And you know where you stand eternally. What I was telling you was that these people back in 1904 in those days, they had a burden for souls. And they realized that if we die without knowing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we die, we go to hell. So all right, yet today we believe there is a heaven, and doesn't matter how, everybody goes there. Not according to God's holy word. There is a heaven, but there is a hell. The duty of the preacher to warn people and to plead with people. Where are you going? See, one person told me, chapel person told me, you've got no right to say you're going to heaven. I said, I have got the right. The Lord has told me here in his holy word. God commands his love towards us. And that's why he reacts in us. Christ died for us. And I'm going to heaven not on what I've done, but on what the Lord has done for me. I tell this person, you are the one who's saying that you were hoping to go to heaven. Hoping to go to heaven, hoping to be good enough because of our religion, the way that our, what you call it, the way that we've been coming to church every Sunday. Only go to heaven. There is one way, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no woman, no child. Through Jesus. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. Nobody, do you know the sins I've committed? Nobody can point a finger at me. I can't. And you, saved in the blood and the precious blood of the Lord. Nobody can point a finger at you. Covered. Never to be remembered anymore. See, God doesn't forget our sins. God chooses not to remember our sins. Totally different thing. God is wonderful. Look, as we are meeting here now, before I go on anymore, I just want to ask, is there any person here this afternoon, at this moment in time, doesn't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior? If so, just bow your head. Just ask him to forgive our sins. Accept his grace. It's all of grace. We don't deserve it at all. Accept him. Repent of your sins. Accept him as your Savior. If there is a person here tonight, this afternoon, come and have, don't leave this place today without knowing Jesus as your Savior. We have no guarantee that we'll reach home. And I can't, what I can't do, is to explain to you what eternity is. I have not got the mental capacity. Eternal, eternity, on and on and on. I cannot, I have not got the mind to tell you. But that is what we're talking about. God has prepared a place for those who love him. Hallelujah. There's a wonderful prepared place for us. Don't deserve it. But, these people back in 1904, they did have a compassion. They had a burden for these souls who did not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Do you know people, people outside there? People in here as well. People have, hey, members of our families. All our families, they know Jesus. Families? Relatives? Friends? Neighbors? Do they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior? They've not. And this is the burden that those people had back there. They prayed and they prayed and they prayed. Another thing I just want to say is that God does answer prayer. Undoubted. He is faithful. Never let me down, never let you down. God is faithful. Keep on praying. Evan Roberts prayed for 13 years for revival. Difficulty from my point of view is that we live in an instant society. We expect something like that. Something goes wrong with this particular thing or change it or put a new water in there. Evan Roberts prayed. Well actually, I've done more than that. I say he didn't pray. He interceded. He couldn't get to sleep at night. He had these people, lost souls on his mind, on his heart. Now in our churches today how much do we care? We can come to our meetings. We can have a nice time of fellowship. We can have a bit of a get-together afterwards, have food and what have you, and a drink or whatever. And we can come here and we can have our sermons. At the end of the day, they had a compassion. They pleaded for souls that that devil had claimed for his own. Souls that Jesus Christ had come into this world to die for. They pleaded. Praise God. The answer is prayer. Prayer changes things. Evan Roberts, like I told you, what he asked the Lord for was 100,000 souls in Wales. Evan asked his friend, who became his brother, Evan asked Sidney Evans one day, is it too much for us to ask God to give us 100,000 souls in Wales? Sidney told him, it's not too much for us to ask God to give us the whole of Wales. How big is our God? Our God is the one who created all that is created, the world. God is still on the throne. Remember, dear friends, as we go forward in life, our God is in command, he's in charge. I'll tell you another thing. Do you know who he used? Pathetic little people. Evan Roberts, he was a nobody. But he uses the weak things in this world to confound the wise. You look back in church history, things that happened in here history after the Bible. God is wonderful. All I'm here to do is to praise his name, to give him glory for what he's done in the past. Some people tell me I live in the past. I don't. I look, I thank God for what I can read in the past there and go forward, knowing that he's able to even write your works in the future. Alright? Back, I don't define revival to anybody. People have got different ideas about revival. People have got different ideas about the word Christian. People have got different ideas about the word revival. All I say is, I tell people about what God did back then. Because, you see, when God is working, when the Holy Spirit is working, there are going to be visible fruits. This isn't just something I refer you. There are going to be tangible fruits for all to see. And you know, more than that, it's going to be reported in our press, just like it was back in those days. Our newspapers, our television channels, they are going to be reporting what God is going to do. I don't know when. I'll tell you one thing. People are praying for revival. God, I do believe, is going to answer that prayer. Now I don't know whether I will see revival or not. From my end to mine, the coming revival will be the greatest revival the world has ever known. We need it. We need it badly. I'm not in for psychology or anything like that. I do think that I like to be practical and just I don't try to whip anything up, alright? I firmly believe the world, our lands, she gave that from America, we need a powerful visitation again. Revival is a work of God. You can't work revival up. Keep on praying. Keep on praying. But look, my time is gone, it's quarter past four. Right, hang on then. Visible fruits. God answers prayer, right? Revival is a work of God. Right. I just want to tell you two things, two features of that revival. I wish that I had spoken to more people about what happened in those years. It is now too late. There's nobody alive today who was alive in those days. Let me share with you a testimony of Kate. Katie Rees was a member of this church. She was 96 when I saw her. And she's dead now. She was in an old people's home when I saw her. 96. Katie told me I can't remember much about the revival. I was only that age, she said. But she said the revival didn't go on for many years afterwards. She told me my father was converted in the revival. Her father was a tough nut. Hard guy. Working iron and steel industry. He used to walk home from work across the common straight into a pub. He used to drink, get up to here. She said it was a Saturday. Her father was going to the football in Swansea. Swansea, six miles down the road. Her mother was coming to a meeting here. But she told me my father went to that football match in Swansea. He couldn't enjoy the game at all. He was very uneasy. Very restless. Now, there was no preacher, no evangelist in that place. That was a football match. But what she told me was he couldn't stay there anymore. He had to come back here and wham. The phrase Katie Rees used to me was there was this compelling thought work of the Holy Spirit. No man, no preacher around. Do you know what she told me after that? After that, she said our family life changed. We had meetings in the front room of our home. We had open air meetings on the crossroads down in Kingsbridge. What we're talking about is this compelling thought. God breaking into time, breaking into our land and saving souls. Precious souls. And do you know the Lord he saved souls that I have said it's impossible to touch. That man, that woman God saved them. And he's able to save to the uttermost today. God is still in the business of saving souls. Thank you Lord. His blood will never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Hallelujah. What a gospel we've got. And this is what they used to do in those days. Evan Roberts used to encourage the people to yes, preach the gospel in here, but go out there and tell the people out there what God is able to do for you. We had an audio recording in there a few years ago a minute clip or different to our speakers an old gentleman there saying when he was a little boy and as children they used to go out on the road and sing. And on this particular occasion they were singing outside a pub. And they were singing in Welsh something like come to Jesus. And they were singing, these children and the landlord comes out and tells them my children I've got nobody here. They've gone to Jesus. The pubs emptied. The courts emptied. Wales became known as the land of the white gloves. When the magistrate, when there were no cases to try the magistrate, the judge was handed a pair of white gloves. There's an illustration on the board in there there's the police sergeant handing the magistrate a pair of white gloves. And the magistrate says to the police sergeant what's the meaning? Not another pair of white gloves. What's the meaning? The police sergeant says, The crime rate dropped. Imagine in the secular newspapers were reporting what God was doing. A judge's tribute heading in the newspaper judge's tribute commentating on the drop in the crime rate. Attributing it to Evan Roberts. This has happened in the secular press. I could tell you a lot. I could tell you a load. I haven't got the time. But this has happened. Another illustration in that newspaper was of the coal miners. These miners, these hard, tough men. Their wives had to meet them at payday on payday at the pick tab to get the pay off them before they went into the pubs and spent it. God save these hard tough guys. There's an illustration in there of a prayer meeting being held down in those dark tunnels underground. Tough guys. The phrase used is that these miners, when they were saved, they put in a better day's work. But the pit corneas, the mills down the mine, refused to work. They didn't. These were the pit corneas. They couldn't understand the new language. These men had been born again. Their whole demeanour was totally different. Something big must have happened when an animal sees a difference in a person's life. It is tremendous just to go back to see what God did then. There are more and more testimonies. I don't know if you remember, John Shepherd was telling me about his grandfather. Grandfather walking down Frampton Road there, just a quarter mile down the road there, meets Evan Roberts on the road. Evan says to this man, how is it between you and God? Don't you think it's time you got right with God? The man gets down on his knees there and then. We are talking about the power of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, this compelling force. Three men in the pub walking home across the field, coming to the gate at the bottom of the field and they just look at each other, not a word spoken, turned around, back and not talking about psychology or anything like that. I'm talking about the power of God. I haven't seen it in my day and age, but I'm praying, Lord, I do hope I will see again another mighty outpouring in our land. God breaking into time, saving a generation, claiming souls back to himself that devil is claiming. You see the love song of the Revival God, he has many young people, many young ladies, singers, Alan Ebenezer there, his uncle Sam, he was Sam Jenkins, was known as the Sankey of Wales. He used to sing, Am achib hen rebel fel fi, for saving a sinner like me. Alright? What I'm saying is this, there are people in our churches today, we're not talking about numbers, it's always been a remnant, alright? We're not talking, it's not by might, not by history. Alright? Just remind you, up in the Hebrides, two old women, two old women, you know, what can they do? They prayed, they got them the divine fires of revival. And Hebrides, middle of the last century, go on, in the knowledge of God, is still on the throne. But I do remind us of that verse, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves. Evan Roberts, I believe, he came back to that point where he humbled himself, that night down in Blaenannach, 29th of September, a month before he came back here. Seth Joshua was holding special meetings down there, he was an evangelist. And this particular day he was in Blaenannach. And actually at that particular time Seth was praying, and Seth was praying, that's the moment, Evan Roberts prayed, groaned out aloud, bend me. He prayed, not bend you, bend you, he prayed bend me. My people, called by my name. He's not talking to people who are unconverted, he's talking my people who are called by my name will humble themselves. And pray, told you Evan Roberts he prayed for 13 years for revival. Some people say that night down in Blaenannach, that was when he was born again to him. He'd been saved years before. He was brought up in a godly home. He'd been praying for 13 years for revival. And God answered his prayer. See, whatever people say about Evan Roberts and his other friends, alright? And people, the devil is going to, when God is working in revival, we must expect opposition. That devil is going to be working over time. But he has changed, don't forget that. Now, Evan Roberts, whatever people say about him, what I say, God gave him revival. He hasn't given me revival. Has he given you revival? Are we in a position that he is able to give us revival? Humble ourselves, pray, Evan more than prayed, he indeed did. See my face, he couldn't get to sleep at night. So the early hours of the morning, he wrestled with God. And he wrestled for soul. God is mighty today, alright? We are in a bad state. I told you the tide is way out, spiritually. But I must tell you, down there at Loughborough Bridge, that is the point where there is the second highest tide in the world. I learned that in Swansea University. Highest tide in the world, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Gaelthundie. But I get great encouragement in going down to that river. Because if the tide down there is out now, all you see is sand, sand vans, all. But if the tide is out now down there, I can guarantee you, that tide will be in today. Guaranteed. And when that tide comes in, the river flows normally like this, down to the sea like that. When that tide comes in, that river is flowing this way. And nothing gets in its way. I firmly believe that the 0405 revival was only the second highest tide in the world, spiritually. I believe it. The highest tide in the world, spiritually, is a coming revival. That's not psychology. People have been praying God answers prayer. Now do we believe it? Is our God still on the throne? Of course he is. If my people seek my face, their wonder of pleasure and turn from their wicked ways. He's not talking to the unconverted. He's talking to us in the churches. My people turn from their wicked ways. Oil and water don't mix. The Holy Spirit and sin don't mix. Evan Roberts used to say four things. If there is known sin in our lives, it must be repented of. If there's anything dubious, anything, it's got to stop. Fourth thing he said was, if the Holy Spirit is telling you something, obey immediately. And the last thing he used to say, confess Jesus Christ. Now, the Holy Spirit, when he is come, the first work that he will do is to confess of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. There is a day coming when we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. We are going to have to give account of ourselves. Now, do you know on that day I can speak, I can draw, I can talk here today as much as I want to. On that day, I am going to be dumb, I am going to be speechless. I'll be standing before a holy and a just God, a righteous God. There we are. Thank God, I've got somebody who is going to speak for me. Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful? We've got somebody. And do you know at this very moment, do you know what he's doing? He's interceding for us. There in the glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Time is going, alright, I want to finish here, but I do want to leave with you another portion of Scriptures following on what Andrew was saying this afternoon. You see, if my people turn from their wicked ways. Do you know, it's in church context, I've been told more lies. Worked for 30 years in banking, dealing with personal and business people. But you know, I've been told more lies in a church context than I did in... Have you come across it? People tell you what you want to hear? We tell somebody something different. People give you excuses. We cannot expect God to bless when there is no sin there. One preacher said there are more thieves and robbers in our churches than there are in our prisons. Am I right? You read, I'll leave you with two verses, three verses from Malachi. Three verses. Do you know it? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. But, he goes on, verse 10, bring me all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out the blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. The word of God. We tell lies, and sin lies. Do you know that old hymn, Francis Wigley Havergill, Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated, Lord, that's a verse there. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite. Receive from that. That is scriptural. Those verses are scriptural. Tithing is a scriptural precept. Tenth of our income, tenth of whatever we receive, is due to the Lord. We don't start giving until we have tithed. Tenth. After that we start giving. And then there's another classification, sacrifices. Tithes, offerings, sacrifices. It's not a popular concept these days. You know, all I tell you is, if the Lord has touched your heart, he'll touch your pocket, your wallet. How can I hold anything back from the Lord? Right? We know where we stand here. We can have a revival conference, but unless we, the Lord's people, get right with him, we cannot expect. You know. But, let's take the word to ourselves. God forgives. Look at leisure. He forgives. But let's go on to the future. Let us please seek God's mercy again. I'm not talking about the land of Wales. Because here this afternoon we've got people from different nations, people from different parts of the world. God is in charge of the whole world. Every soul. Now, is our nation following on what other speakers have said? Let us from this church... I just want another little snippet, alright? Back in the last century, there were two places in Wales. God bless my day. Six miles down the road in Swansea, the Bible College of Wales. Where's Jenny? She was in the Bible College. Hello, Jenny! Right. Now then. But, that Bible College of Wales changed the course of the Second World War. Then prayed Reese Howard's Intercessor by Norman Grubb. That's the book that I read in. Alright? It's a tremendous thrill to know how God is able to use men and women and young people. All I say is let's pray to God, but let's pray openly. There was a time in my life when I prayed to the Lord for the Bible. And you know, I knew exactly the way it was going to be. It's got to be the Lord's way. I may not like it. People didn't like what happened in 1904. Let's pretend there's only us here now and we're not going worldwide. 31st of October. Halloween, alright? 31st of October. In there, the Holy Spirit comes. 31st of December, 2004. Two months into Revival. Do you know what happened? The pastor of this church resigns. Gone are the newspapers. He didn't agree with the meetings going on. The hours are dead. Those Revival meetings went on until the early hours of the morning. Nobody wanted to go home. We're praying for Revival and we please pray to be Lord, your way. I may not like it, but Lord, your way. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for this time together. We thank you for what you've done in the past, but oh Lord, we need you again. We need you. I need you. All we need you. Pray as you look on our respective lands. Father, I don't know exactly how many countries are represented here this afternoon. I'm not going to start mentioning any because I don't want to leave anybody out. But Lord, we pray you are a mighty God. Pray again. Come, Lord Jesus. In the power of the Holy Spirit, change nations, change individual lives, change families, change society. Glorify the name of Jesus in his precious name. Amen.