The King of Glory of Revival

My message tonight is on revival. People often ask me what revival is. Revival is the manifest presence of God amidst his people whereby they are melted down under the awful solemnity of a holy God.

Revival is when God shows up and takes the field and all human enterprise crumbles in importance and things of eternity grow in importance. Revival is when God cleans house, so to speak, when God purifies his people for a specific purpose to bring him glory. During a revival of religion, more people are saved than through years of steady evangelistic labor.

Revival is harvest time. We may ask, when do we need revival? We need revival when the people of God are no longer salt to a nation in moral decline. Salt is a preservative.

The people of God, when rightly aligned to God, are preservative against sin in the land. But when the people of God are out of step with God, then they cease to be salt and light in the very nation they reside. And instead of preservation, there is putrefaction.

Sin abounds. Listen, friends. Revival is needed when the church and people have strayed from God in disobedience and disinterest in spiritual things.

Revival is needed when the church is more interested in building her own campus than building churches in third world countries. Revival is needed when the people of God are content and satisfied with weak preaching. Revival is needed when we have more teachers in the pulpits than preachers.

Revival is needed when our eyes are dry, our Bibles are closed, and our prayer life is stale. Revival is needed when our focus is ourselves and our families rather than the lost and perishing. Revival is needed if we have dry eyes when we pray.

Revival is needed when the way we worship God is tainted with strange fire by adding worldly entertainments to sacred things. When our worship time in church is centered more on entertainers rather than on God, then revival is needed. Revival is needed when there is a noticeable withdrawn presence of God.

Revival is needed when there exists a great proportion of unconverted church members who have never been truly born again. There was a time in America years ago when you could not join a church unless you demonstrated credible evidence of regeneration. We have many in our churches today who have never been truly converted and regenerated through the new birth.

In seasons of revival, many unconverted church members come savingly to Christ, all to the glory of God. Revival is needed when the people of God are not heartbroken over the things that break God's heart. Revival is needed when Jesus is no longer our first love.

However, there is a cost to seeing revival. What cost counts and what counts costs. Are we willing to pay the price of laying ourselves on the altar of sacrifice to see God move in our lives? My message tonight is entitled, The King of Glory of Revival.

For true revival is when the King of Glory steps in and takes the field. True revival is when Jesus is once again prominent and preeminent in our churches and the land. My text is found in Psalm 24.

Let us turn there now and I will read it to us. For the pathway to revival is found in this great passage of God's holy word. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face.

O Jacob, Selah, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up ye heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory, Selah. There are four aspects to this passage which stand out in striking harmony. First, there is a walking mentioned with its conditions.

Then there is a standing spoken of with its requirements. Then there is a seeking described by responsibility on our part. Lastly, there is a receiving of a twofold blessing from God.

Each of these aspects of Psalm 24 are related to one another and are in perfect harmony with each other. If one of these is out of alignment, then it throws all of them out of alignment. When you examine historical periods of revival, which I have done over the last few decades, when you study revival, you will often find great hindrances to revival and how those hindrances to revival were dealt with before revival broke out upon a church or nation.

With God, there is perfect harmony, and we must align ourselves to be in harmony with him and his purpose in our lives. If we are out of step with God as individuals, then the church body will be out of step corporately, for it is the members of a church which comprise it. And if the church is out of step with God, then there will be a great hindrance to seeing revival come in a national awakening.

Revival is a sovereign work of God. The wind blows where it will. We cannot produce revival on our own.

However, we can set ourselves to catch that wind when it does blow. This message tonight is on setting ourselves, getting them properly aligned to catch these revival winds when God sends them. If we fail to align ourselves to God, he will bypass us and send revival to others.

I cannot stress how critically important this is, friends. If we are off here, we are off everywhere. For years, we have confused revival with evangelism.

Evangelism is something we do for God. Revival is something God does for us. But we must pay attention to the four aspects mentioned in this striking passage from Psalm 24, for herein lies the pathway to revival.

Let us look at this first aspect mentioned in our text. There is a walking mentioned with its conditions. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? One walks up a hill to get to the top.

Often scripture speaks of a relationship with God by the term walking as in Enoch walked with God. How is our walk with God? Are we out of step with God because of sin? Look at the conditions that are mentioned here in our text to walking with God and ascending that hill. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.

These conditions are twofold as the blessings received are twofold. These conditions speak of two relationships, one with people and the other with God. Our relationship with others is like a horizontal beam.

Think of a wooden telephone pole lying on its side, and we must walk atop it in perfect balance or we will fall off. Think of that wooden beam. This aspect of clean hands speaks of our horizontal relationship with others.

A pure heart speaks of our relationship with God. That is the vertical beam. Picture a telephone pole standing upright in the ground.

Our walk with God must be upright. We must maintain a right relationship with him. This is the vertical relationship.

Now, take those two telephone poles, so to speak, those beams, the horizontal, which is our walk with others, and the vertical, which is our walk with God. When these two are properly aligned, they form a cross. For us to have power with God and influence with man, we must live crucified lives in complete harmony with the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we are out of alignment in any area, our walk with man or our walk with God, then it is a hindrance to revival, both personal and corporate. Let us take this aspect of the horizontal relationship in our dealing with others. What are some areas in our lives that can have a negative effect on our prayer life? Let me mention a few.

Do you have an unforgiving heart toward another, living or dead? I say living or dead because we can harbor unforgiveness towards someone who has hurt us in the past, but they are now dead. Have we forgiven them? Or do we harbor resentment and hurt and unforgiveness towards that person? Do we have a person in our lives who is living that when we think of them or see them, we seethe with anger? Listen, friends, unforgiveness is a sin. Confess it and go to God and ask Him to give you the grace of forgiveness toward another and even toward yourself if necessary.

This is a glaring hindrance to revival. There is a golden thread that weaves its way through revivals, and if this purified thread is broken, it has been a bar to revival throughout history, to which I refer is the golden thread of a forgiving heart toward others. When one researches the history of revival, it is plainly shown that several revivals began accompanied by a sudden manifestation of God's presence when Christians began to confess their sins of an unforgiving heart to one another.

Another area which can hinder our prayers and our ascending that hill of the Lord is this. Have we told a lie? Our passage in Psalm 24 goes on to state, Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully? The Hebrew word used means fraud, deceit. Have we deceived someone with a lie or have we withheld a truth from them? Jacob stole Esau's blessing through deceit.

God cannot tolerate deceitful weights, and a false balance is an abomination to Him. Listen, friend, is there something covered in your life by deceit? Is there a wedge of Achan's gold in your life? Oh, let the searching spotlight of the Holy Spirit penetrate your heart and conscience right now. Achan's sin affected the entire corporate body in the camp.

People died because of Achan's deceit. This is serious business. Are you guilty, friend? Go to God now and get things right in your dealings with others.

I vividly remember a time in my life that describes what I'm talking about. Many years ago, I was playing racquetball with a Christian friend who was in my Sunday school class. When he learned we went to the same college, he asked me when I graduated.

At the time, I had not yet graduated, so I lied to him and gave him a year of my graduation. My pride was in the way, and I lied. For an entire week, I was disturbed in my spirit.

I felt awful that I had lied to this man, telling him an untruth. Finally, I met him in the hall at church and walked up to him and said, Look, I need to ask your forgiveness for something. He said, What is that? I then told him about the lie.

He looked surprised, but he forgave me. I had to get my relationship with him rightly aligned for my relationship with God to grow. My two beams had to be in proper alignment, or my prayers would be hindered and walk with God weakened.

So we must maintain a proper alignment in our dealing with others. This is the horizontal relationship. Now let us go to our vertical relationship with God.

Is there a sin in our life that we hug and refuse to give up? Is there something in our life that stands between us and our God? Oh friends, how important this aspect of the vertical beam is. Take a moment and think of the Apostle Peter when he denied Christ in the courtyard. The text says he went out and wept.

Think of how awful Peter felt when Christ was dead and buried in the tomb before his resurrection. For those three days, all Peter could think about was how he had denied his master and Jesus was now dead. And the last thing Peter did was to lie and deny that he knew Jesus.

When we sin, we are denying that we know Jesus. We are robbing God of his glory. When we sin, we are telling God to get out of the way, for we are going to have our way.

Sin is this, friend. All we like sheep have gone astray, each one to his own way. Sin is going our way when we know it isn't God's way.

When we sin, we were like Peter denying Jesus in that courtyard. And it's as if God is dead and in a tomb. The great reformer, Martin Luther, was in a period of doubt and despair.

And his wife said to him, Martin, is your God dead? You act and look as if God is dead. Well, that brought Martin Luther out of his despair and he quickly returned back to a vital walk with God. Is God dead in your life right now, friend, because of your sin? Are you out of fellowship with God right now? Be honest.

Now look at the difference in Peter when he realizes that the resurrected Christ is standing on the seashore that morning. Peter jumps in the water and cannot wait to get to him. The resurrected Christ restores Peter to a vital love relationship with him.

With his three questions, Peter, do you love me? Do you love Jesus, friend? Jesus says, if you love me, you will keep my commands. The risen Christ can restore you, friend, back to a right relationship with him. Go to him now and get right with God, the God of your salvation.

So these two aspects of walking must be in harmony with each other or walk with others and walk with God. The Christian life is lived via the cross. The crucified life is seldom preached on today, but it's the only life, friend, to live in this world.

If you want to have power with God, the self-life must be nailed. Next in our text here is a standing spoken of with its requirements. When we are properly aligned in our dealings with others and our walk with God, we can access him and stand in his presence and bring our petitions to him.

But we must be in a right standing with God. Do you see how important this is? Duncan Campbell was used mightily as an instrument of revival during the Lewis Awakening in Scotland in the Hebrides in 1949 to 1952 when he arrived on the island. Some elders of the church met him and asked, Mr. Campbell, are you walking with God? Duncan carefully replied, I can say this, I fear God.

Do you fear God like that, friend? Do you walk in a holy fear as you approach the Mount? The holy hill is your pride hindering your access to God. Listen, friends, I believe the number one sin in the church in America today is pride, pride in the pulpit and pride in the pew. This is our greatest hindrance to seeing revival in our day.

The next aspect of Psalm 24 is this. We notice there is a seeking described in our passage with a responsibility on our part. Seeking involves effort.

Heaven is taken with violence. There is an importunity to prayer. There is a desperation of prayer.

How desperate are we to see revival? How long are we willing to storm heaven with our petitions and heart cries to move the heart of God and sue him, so to speak, until he answers? Listen to these next two verses. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face. Oh, Jacob, sailor, lift up your heads.

Oh, you gates and be lift up the everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in. Who is the king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Oh, listen, friends, when we properly align ourselves with God and seek him in holy desperation, then the doors of heaven open to us and God comes in.

The king of glory steps in. So there is a seeking involved. But it depends on our standing with God as spoken of in our walk with God and our walk with others.

The text says the king of glory shall come in. That is the God of revival, this king of glory. When Christ is king in our lives and ruling on the throne of our heart, that's when God can move.

Christ must reign on the throne of your heart. There's only one room on the seat of your heart. If you're sitting and ruling there, it's no wonder God has withdrawn his presence from you.

There is only one who can sit there, and that is the king of glory. We were bought with a price, and that price was a bloody cross, for it was on the cross that the king of glory died for sin. He took God's wrath upon him, and divine justice was satisfied.

We cannot go to God by our own merits, but only by the merit of another, Jesus Christ. As believers, our Christian life must be in harmony with God and in harmony with man. If we are out of kilter with one or the other, those two beams just won't line up, and we will not have the access to God that we desire, nor the blessings received that he wishes to bestow upon us.

And that brings us to the last aspect of this passage, the receiving of a twofold blessing from God. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. When we are properly aligned to God, we can access the hill of the Lord and be like those spoken of in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, who are in the hall of faith.

They're mentioned there because they obtain promises. When you walk with God in a close walk with him, you will obtain the promises which he has made to you through his written word. This is a twofold blessing of revival, and it's seen in this.

Number one, the blessing received of a revived church living for eternity with apostolic fervency. And number two, a revival sends spiritual awakening in the land where many lost or saved, and they can then say of God that he is the God of their salvation. All glory goes to him.

Listen, friends, I truly believe that God wants to send revival to America, but the church in America is out of alignment with the things of God. The church in America is out of alignment in her dealings with man, the horizontal being the church in America is out of alignment with her walk with God because of her pride and self-sufficiency. The vertical beam is out of alignment.

There must be proper balance for God to work in the midst of man. There has to be a heavenly balance between these two beams. They must meet at the cross.

For Jesus declared, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Let me ask you, friend, and be honest, is your Christian life out of balance with your fellow man? Are you living in a lie? Are you bitter towards someone? Have you an unforgiving heart? Do you need to go and apologize to that person like I did to my friend in church? Do you need to make things right with man and with God Almighty? Are our relational beams lined up properly? There is a cost to proper alignment as they form that cross in our lives. The crucified life is the only life to live in this sin-soaked land and in our lost generation.

Go to your knees right now, friend, and ask God to grant you what you need to be properly aligned to him. Ask him for the grace to do it. The pathway to revival is found in our passage tonight.

We are told what to do in the princely passage of scripture, which speaks of a king. Listen, lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts.

He is the king of glory, a sailor. Let me pray. O Lord, O king of glory, how our hearts are deceitful.

Open our eyes, great king, open our eyes so we can lift up our heads and seek you properly. Align our lives, great God, in perfect harmony with the Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to see our sins.

Open our eyes to reveal our unforgiving hearts and the deep roots of bitterness that have poisoned your bride. Purify your people, great God, grant us the grace of repentance to turn from our sins and seek your face in holy desperation. For you are only hope, the blessed hope.

O Lord Jesus, rain righteousness upon the land. Once again, through a national awakening, wash the corruption and fill the way with the mighty outpouring of thy presence. Have mercy upon us, great king.

Come in, king of glory. Come in, king of glory. Come in and change us, cleanse us, align us to you for your great purpose, I pray, before it's too late.

Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Blessed be his holy name.