Cost Of Revival Preaching Institute

Well, friends, we are in our third and final section of our International Preaching Institute, and it is my prayer that these preaching institutes have been a blessing to you, that they've strengthened you as preachers of the Word, and that through them God has called you, changed you, and challenged you to be more fervent and faithful ministers of the Word. Today, we are in our second of five messages on the subject of revival and the man of revival, and today, friends, we'll be spending time and emphasis regarding the cost of revival. When one studies historical revivals, it cannot be easily ignored that there is a cost associated with revival.

The very nature of revival involves great sacrifice. Jonathan Edwards knew the cost of revival after seeing God move in several seasons of glorious revival in the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, and throughout New England. The last 14 years of Edwards' life was filled with trial, turmoil, trouble, opposition, termination, and great loss and grief.

He had to witness the lingering death of his young friend, David Brainerd, who died in Edwards' home at the age of 29. Four months later, Edwards suffered the great personal loss of the sudden illness and death of his 18-year-old daughter, Jerusha, who's buried alongside Brainerd in Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton. He was then thrust into a scene of great controversy and opposition in his church, which resulted in his termination and removal.

He and his large family were suddenly thrust upon the world with no financial support, and he ended up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in the wilderness with a ministry of preaching to a mere handful of Indians. And while laboring there in inclement weather, he came down with a severe fever, which greatly weakened his already strained constitution, making him a bedridden invalid for a period of seven months. From there, he had a brief promotion to the presidency of the College of New Jersey, only to die before assuming his labors at the age of 54 from a fatal reaction to a new vaccine.

He died with the weight of the world upon him as he entered a better world where pain, suffering, and struggle were no more. By the way, friends, did I mention that these last 14 years of Jonathan Edwards' life was his greatest period of productivity for God, whereby he wrote the bulk of his written legacy to the church at large? Like I said, Jonathan Edwards knew the cost of revival. It cost him dearly.

But listen, friends, as we study these revival preaching institutes, remember this. Revival is not only possible, it is probable. As long as we are expendable, God builds his human instruments that he can flow through in revival by his divine process of reducing and refining.

Gold must be submerged in a refiner's fire of affliction to remove the impurities. A branch must be pruned and decreased before it can grow more fruit. If we desire greater usiness to God, then we must submit both to the refiner's fire and the divine pruning knife.

We must be willing to be reduced to nothing so he can be everything in us. There is a cost to seeing revival, friend, and a cost for not seeking revival. I remember standing in line for my graduation ceremony to receive my PhD, and standing next to me was a pastor from Knoxville, Tennessee.

I asked him the following question, how often do you meet with other pastors in your area to pray for revival? He looked at me strangely and replied, my church doesn't need revival. We are on the grow. That's what he said, meaning as long as his church was growing numerically, he was satisfied.

As long as he was running 3,000 on Sunday, he was happy. He was getting along fine without God's interference. I think this is a good time, friends, to introduce you to some wise words on revival by Dr. Colm Peckham, now in glory, who took Duncan Campbell's place as the principal of the Faith Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dr. Peckham was deeply familiar with the subject revival, and what I'm about to read to you, friends, is from a foreword he wrote for one of my books on revival, my book entitled Called Revival, in which he talks about the cost of revival. Here now are his words. We can learn much about the cost of revival from him.

The famous World Missionary Convention, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910, came to the conclusion that the state of the church was such as to prove it utterly unfit for the work God put before it. Spurgeon, on his sermons on revival, said, it seems to me to be perfectly dreadful that there should be this constant dying, this constant ruin, this constant spread of error, and no progress in the church. Even in his day, he felt the chilly blast from a cold, cold church.

How much more we today, the psalmist said, horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law, that's Psalm 119, 53. But there is not much horror today. We are conditioned to the godlessness around us, and have ceased to feel the horror.

Burdened, broken, bold praying is the nerve center of revival. There is a price to be paid, a price of curbed freedom, of resolute concentration, of agonizing supplication, intercession costs. There is a burden, a passion, an agony, and yes, glory.

The breaking through of God into a meeting, the evidence of his felt presence, is everything, and to get that costs everything. A true intercession is sacrifice, because the high demands of taking up this burden. Many cannot pay the price, and consequently, do not gain the rewards and benefits of brokenness and soul travail in God's presence.

Their ministry becomes ordinary, good, and biblical, but ordinary. The price is too high, yet God says, I, the Lord, build the ruined places, and plant that which was desolate. I will yet, for this, be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.

That's Ezekiel 36, 36 through 37. And Jesus said, watch and pray. When last, friends, did we pray with broken hearts? When last did we feel that pain-filled fellowship of the pierced hand? Oh, how we need the refreshing breath of the Spirit, where glowing coals are fanned into white hot flame.

Revival is a many splendorous thing, but at its heart is the revelation of the holy presence of God. It is the localized presence of deity, the consciousness of the eternal, where God takes the field and stands in the midst as the mighty conqueror, and where the glory of the Lord returns to the church. May this stirring challenge of this book speak to us all, and may it cause the church to acknowledge the heights from which it has fallen, and appreciate the holiness and greatness of God.

May it cause us to repent in turn from our superficiality, to seek God wholeheartedly, fervently, and constantly, until he reigns righteousness upon us, and we watch as he extends his kingdom in the demonstration of the Spirit's power and unction. That's the end of his words, friends. That's Dr. Colin Peckham's wise writing on the subject of revival.

This whole aspect of the cost of revival reminds me of an incident that occurred to me many years ago. My very first book on revival had been published, entitled Reality's Revival, and Dr. Stephen F. Olford had written the foreword, and shortly after the book came out, I received a phone call from a pastor who had just read the book, and he wanted to meet with me for lunch to talk about revival. He was the pastor of a church in Mississippi, and he said he'd buy my lunch if I met him halfway, if I met him at this restaurant.

Well, it was hard to turn down a free lunch, so we set a time, and we met at a little Chinese restaurant, which was a favorite of his, in a strip mall near this man's church, and once we sat down, I noticed this pastor was an elderly man, about the age of 80. He told me he'd been a Baptist pastor for over 50 years, but lately he'd had a great burden, and he'd been praying for revival to come to his church, and he had read my book, and now he was ready to do something about it. He wanted to know if I could help him get Henry Blackaby to come to his church to preach on revival.

I told this pastor that Henry Blackaby had been a great help to me personally. He'd given me advice on discipling men in my home, and I knew that Henry Blackaby had seen revival. He'd been in it in Canada, and he'd be a great blessing to any church, but I paused and looked this elderly pastor in the eye, and I said to him, but if you want to see revival at your church, then you need to repent of your sins, because revival begins with you.

Well, this man looked offended, and I could imagine he was thinking to himself, why, you young whippersnapper, what do you know? And he stood and called for the check. Then he left the table, and I thought to myself, there, I've gone and done it again and offended somebody. I probably won't hear from him again.

Well, I finished my meal and left the restaurant as well. The next week, I got another phone call from this elderly pastor, and he said he wanted to know if I could meet for lunch again, and he'd buy my lunch to talk about revival, but this time, was it all right if he brought along two of his pastor buddies with him? Well, I agreed to meet these men another free lunch, and after introductions, these pastors had a request for me. They wanted to know if I would be kind enough to meet with them on a weekly basis to pray for revival to come to their churches.

Well, of course I would, and we agreed on a place and time. We'd meet for an hour to pray for revival on a weekly basis, and after several weeks, the little group of pastors grew from three to ten as word got out, and we'd sit in a circle on metal folding chairs where we were facing one another, and we'd go around the circle, giving each man ample time to pray for revival to come to his church, and I'll never forget it, friends. One night, as we were praying, the elderly pastor, who first invited me to lunch, it was his turn to pray, and when it came to him, he bolted up from his chair like he was struck by lightning, and he stood there frozen like a for a couple of minutes.

Then he crumpled to the ground. He collapsed to his knees, and he began praying with all his heart on all fours, and while he was praying, he looked up to heaven, and he cried out, Oh, great God in heaven, forgive me for my dirty, rotten sins. I want revival at my church, and I want it to start with me.

Well, that man was getting serious with God, friends, but the main point of my sharing this story with you, friends, is this. After three months, three or four months, 90% of those pastors quit coming to pray for revival because revival hadn't come yet to them, and they dropped out because of their impatience and lack of faith. They dropped out of that prayer group one by one.

They each had some good excuses. They were unwilling to pay the cost for revival. They wanted revival the easy way, without much sacrifice, but God doesn't work that way, friends.

For almighty God sacrificed his only begotten son for sinful man. God delights in sacrifice. Like I said, anything in life worthwhile is worth sacrificing for, whether it's a higher education, learning a craft or trade, or becoming a top athlete.

What cost counts, and what counts cost. If you want to see revival, then it's the same principle applied to that, be prepared for sacrifice. If you don't believe me, friends, then perhaps you will believe God's word, which records the correlation between a move of grace and suffering.

In Acts chapter four, concerning the incident of the healing of the lame man under Peter and John's public ministry, where Peter and John were arrested and thrown into jail for preaching Jesus, we read, beginning in verse one and following, and as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them and put them in hold until the next day. Well, I will pause here, friends, to say, let us not leave our text in Acts chapter four without reading verse five, which speaks of the result of their preaching Christ to the people, albeit many of them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about 5,000. 5,000! I believe the cost of spending the night in jail was well worth the sacrifice for the gospel of Christ in addition to the church and eternity, don't you, friend? Brother pastor, if you long to see a move of grace at your church in revival, do not shrink back from the probability that you may face suffering for it.

Well, I hope, I hope, friends, these international preaching institutes have been a blessing to you and a help to you. I will finish this second institute on the man of revival with the following scripture from God's word in 1 Peter chapter five in verses 10 and 11, which declare, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.