Spiritual Awakening 2 1984

Reading from John chapter 2, verse 1. On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the marriage with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have no wine.

And Jesus said to her, Oh woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Now six stone jars were standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

Jesus said to them, Fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast.

So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who drew the water knew, the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, Every man serves the good wine first, and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have saved the good wine until now.

This first of his signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. This first miracle in the Gospel of John was a sign of revival. It was a sign that the dead atmosphere of Israel was now being invaded by the Kingdom of God.

When that wedding feast ran out of wine, three things happened. The first is that it got boring. The second was that people lost confidence in the host.

What's the matter with this guy? He can't even put on a decent feast. And the third thing that happened was that people started to leave. No point in hanging around here, there's no fun going on.

Then this woman starts to pray. They have no wine, she says. Pretty soon Jesus manifests his glory to his disciples, brings wine back to this wedding feast and causes it to flourish with life.

And this is a sign of revival. And there are three aspects to this revival that we see in this episode. First, desperation.

On the one hand, over here people are bored, everything is complacent. But there is this woman, one woman, Mary, who's desperate. And her desperation finally brings her to the place where she asks for something she had never requested from her son before.

Help for this floundering feast, do something, you've got to do something. And even when he puts her, what are you getting me involved, my hour has not yet come, she penetrates through out of desperation. Second thing we see in this revival, new faith.

Suddenly the people once again have faith in the host. Oh, he isn't so bad after all, he saved the good stuff for now. He's all right.

And the disciples, on the other hand, have faith in their Lord. Jesus manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed in him. And the third thing about this revival is that it brings about fruitfulness.

In the sense that the people who all took off and went home quickly find out because news travels in Cano that they've got some good wine there now and they all come back. And the whole town comes and they have a wonderful time. Palm Sunday, 14 years ago, Revival broke out in this fellowship.

A move of the Spirit took place here on that day that can be described only as revival. And those who were here will remember. And the proof that it was revival was not just that this front part here was all full of people on their knees.

I mean, we can get on our knees and get off and never be changed. But what happened on that particular day was that we got up from our knees, whether we were kneeling here or sitting in our pews, and from that day the direction of this congregation began to change. And it never went back to what it was before.

We found ourselves being able to touch the world with an effectiveness we did not have before. We were able to pray with a power which was not with us before. And within a matter of weeks, people from the streets began finding their way into the kingdom.

Many of those who were caught in that fishing expedition are still with us or are serving God in other places. It was revival. It was just like that wedding feast where Jesus turned the water into wine and everything changed.

But that outpouring of the Spirit, that revival which took place among us in the spring of 1970, was nothing. Compare it with what the Spirit of the Lord is doing upon the earth all over the world today. The Spirit is now calling us to something far, far beyond that and far beyond anything any of us here has ever seen or known.

We are now in the dawn of a spiritual awakening which is sweeping this earth. And this awakening will take place with us or without us. It will be.

Whether we're part of it and whether we partake of its life depends on us. And in order for us to be part of it and partake of its life, there are some things we need to understand. We need to understand that when the Spirit of God begins to move to revive the body of Christ on earth, He does a number of things.

The first thing He does is to bring us to the place of desperation. He brings us to the place where there is nowhere to turn. And somebody begins to cry, We have no wine! The second thing He does is to impart to us new faith.

We begin to have a new confidence in the host of this wedding feast. And finally, He brings us to a place and imparts to us the power to bear much fruit. And people start coming back to the wedding feast.

People who left come back and people who have never been there come and rejoice in this thing. Now these three aspects of every spiritual awakening, whichever took place or will take place on this earth, are clearly described in the first seven verses of the 14th chapter of Hosea, the last chapter of the book of Hosea. Let me read.

Hosea 14. The first three verses talk about desperation. Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words, and return to the Lord, words of repentance, and say to Him, Take away all iniquity, accept us graciously, and we will render the fruit of our lips. We'll really start to worship you. Assyria will not save us, military power.

We will not ride upon horses, material power. We will say no more, our God, to the work of our hands. No more idolatry.

In thee the orphan finds mercy. Desperation, the next. New faith, verses four and five.

I will heal their faithlessness. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be as the dew to Israel.

He shall blossom as the lily. He shall strike root as the poplar. And finally, much fruit.

His shoots shall spread out. His beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.

They'll come back to the wedding feast. They shall flourish as a garden. They shall blossom as the vine.

Their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon. Desperation. New faith.

Much fruit. First of all, desperation. When the Spirit of the Lord begins to move upon the body, the first thing He always does is bring us to the place of desperation, where we begin to see that really there is no security, and there is no fulfillment, and there is no peace anywhere but in Him.

And we begin to see this clearly, and all these things that we've been clutching and grabbing and holding onto begin to appear for what they are. They're nothing. Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words of repentance and return to the Lord and say to Him, Take away all our iniquity. Accept us graciously, and we will render the fruit of our lips. We will loosen up, and we're going to start to worship you.

Assyria will not save us. We will not ride upon horses. We will no more say, Our God, to the work of our hands.

In thee the orphan finds mercy. Notice when the prodigal son finally decides to go home. It's when he's in that far country, feeding the swine, half-starved, he's in a place of desperation, nowhere to turn, that he finally says, I will arise and go to my father.

See, and when Peter forsakes everything to follow Jesus, it was a joyful day, but he only arrived at that point through desperation. It was, you know, finally he gets to the place where he can see that what does it matter? You know, so I got a fishing boat, and I got a good business going here, my family's nice, I got good connections. What does it matter in comparison with this man? This is the one, first time I've ever seen any real hope.

And he throws everything up for this. Now you can say, wait a minute, that's bordering on the insane. And oh, how afraid we are of that.

You know, and it is a thin line. You know, they've accused Jesus of this, and they will accuse us of this, but we have to, if the thing for which I forsake everything is an illusion or an idol, then I'm insane. But if the thing for which I lose everything is the living God, then I'm sane.

And the man who found treasure hidden in the field, covered it up, and in his joy, sells everything he has to buy the field, desperation, he sees this is worth nothing, everything can go, all I want is that treasure. And so what happens with us, it's like waking out of a dream and suddenly realizing that my reputation, my career, my wealth, my skills, my gifts, apart from the kingdom of God, are nothing but swine herding. They're like a wedding feast without wine.

I will arise and go to my Father. I will forsake everything and follow you, Lord, no matter what the cost. I will sell everything I have and I'm going to buy that field.

So we should not be surprised if in the coming days and months the Spirit of the Lord works upon us in such a way that in our hearts and in our circumstances, we find ourselves being brought to the place where we can see clearly that nothing is worth it. Nothing has any value apart from the burning presence of the Lord. It's walking with us and talking with us and breathing life on us to the point where we begin to cry, really cry, We have no wine, Lord God, give us the wine of heaven and help me to see the absolute futility of everything else.

The second thing that we can experience, that we will experience, and we'll see if our hearts are at all tender to the kingdom of God as the Spirit moves on us, is new faith. I will heal their faithlessness. I will love them freely.

For my anger has turned from them. I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall blossom as the lily.

He shall strike root as the poplar. When the prodigal finally got to the place where he could say, I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven, and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.

When he got to that place, this man was absolutely sure. For months he had been toying with this and afraid to think of what his father would ever do if he came home in that shape. But now, he goes.

Because he believes. There's new faith. And in the same way as a gift from God, our faithlessness begins to heal.

And our eyes open, and we begin to see that the one who hangs on this cross is indeed God. That he knows us by name. That he loves us.

He understands us. He cares about us. He welcomes us.

And we take courage to believe what we haven't been able to believe some of us for years. That he really does care. And believing, we get up, and we go home.

Father, I've sinned against heaven, and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And the father says to each of us, Daughter, son, welcome.

And the angels start to sing. Faith. New faith.

Expect it. It's coming. In fact, it's already here.

It's here. And the third thing that we can expect to see and experience if our hearts are at all tender to the moving of the spirit on the earth right now, including here, is much fruit. You know, many of us have never really expected anything to happen through us, you know.

We just find it hard to believe that anybody could ever be moved one inch closer to the kingdom of God through us. Maybe through this one or that one or somebody else, but not me. But now this changes.

We now, for the first time in our lives, begin to expect that we will bear fruit. His shoots shall spread out, his beauty shall be like the olive, his fragrance like lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.

They're going to come back to the wedding feast. They shall flourish as a garden. They shall blossom as the vine.

Their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon. And suddenly we see it happen. People are brought to faith through us.

People are delivered from their despair because of us. People are raised into hope by us. You know, fruit, living souls, fruit.

John 15, 5. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, her, he it is who bears much fruit. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.

By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. You did not choose me, I chose you and ordained you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it you. Many of us have really not expected it and we got just about what we expected.

See, but now this begins to change and we begin to really, by God's grace, expect to see it. And we return and dwell beneath his shadow. See, and we begin to flourish as a garden and our fragrance becomes as the wine of Lebanon and we stand up in boldness and say, come to the wedding feast and to our amazement they come.

We say, get out of that prison and they leap to freedom. The revival that broke out in this very room 14 years ago this spring has never stopped. But the body of Christ on earth, including us, is being called to something much, much more now.

And as the spirit of the Lord begins to stir and disturb and awaken, we can expect three things to happen in our lives by action of the spirit. Desperation to the point where we begin to cry out, we have no wine. New faith.

I will heal their faithlessness. Much fruit. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow.

They shall flourish as a garden. Their fragrance shall become as the wine of Lebanon. And if we are open to these three precious gifts of God, we will be included in an awakening of the spirit, a spiritual awakening, which may well be the last and the greatest.

Before the armies sweep down from the north upon Israel and the sun becomes darkened and the moon turns to blood. Let's pray. Lord, you know our hearts and you know how we live on the surface so much of the time.

We ask that you would help us to take it in, what you're trying to get us to see, all of us. And at whatever cost, we make bold to ask that you would deal with us and bring us to the place where we are desperate for the new wine of heaven. And that we stand where Mary stood and ask for it and receive it.

That you, Lord God, would bring us to the place where we would have fresh faith, fresh vision, that our faithlessness manifested in our inconsideration of each other and our thoughtlessness of other people and our lack of mercy and the unholy things we do and say and think would be wiped away and burned out by your blood. And that you and your mercy would bring us to the place where we would return indeed in spirit and dwell beneath your shadow and flourish as a garden and give forth the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of the wine of heaven. Father, we ask this.

Make bold to ask at whatever cost if we have to lose everything we have together, help us to see its value and to choose nothing less. We ask it, Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.