HOSEA 10:12 “GOD’S CALL TO REVIVAL!”
A) I suppose nothing is more cluttered with false notions and contradictory ideas than the
matter of revival!
* More energy is misdirected, more carts put before the horse on this theme than almost any other!
* A revival is not an evangelistic campaign ... It is not paying out of debt ...
* Neither is it building a new building or putting on a stewardship campaign!
* These things may flow from revival, but they do not constitute one!
B) Neither is a revival a drive for church members!
* A revival is a work of God’s Spirit among His own people!
* In Psa.51:12, David is praying and says, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold
me with thy free spirit.” * When you think about it, that is God’s order!
* We always have to deal with our sin ... Experience His cleansing ... And our “joy” returns!
* A lot of so-called “joy of the Lord” is merely whipped up emotion, which leaves a lot of
unconfessed sin and hidden iniquity in lives!
C) We have made convalescents of church members who need operations!
* We don’t need to put a Band-Aid on cancer!
* Surgery needs to be performed to “cut it out!” * The same is true with sin!
* When God sent Nathan to David, He didn’t send him to get David to play his harp!
* He wanted David to see his sin so he would pray, “Create within me a clean heart ...”
* We must honestly deal with sin if revival is to come!
D) There seems to be a wrong emphasis in preaching on revival ...
* And I include myself in that statement! * But we have created the impression that revival is a
spurt of religious enthusiasm which is not possible to live up to for the entire year!
* Real revival, however, is simply New Testament Christianity getting back to normal!
* I like what Vance Havner said ... “Most Christians have been “subnormal” so long, that if they
became “normal,” we would think that they are “abnormal.”
E) It seems that most revival sermons are preached from Old Testament texts!
* However, one does not have to stay in the Old Testament to preach on the subject of revival!
* You might say that there is nothing about revival in the New Testament!
* Certainly, there is not much in Acts! * They didn’t need “revival,” they had a “vival!”
* There was no need for reviving!
F) But as you move from Acts into the epistles, we find such statements as Rom.13:11 ...
* “It is high time to awake out of sleep,” or, 2 Tim.1:6 “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee ...”
* Perhaps the greatest call to revival is from the lips of our Lord in the Book of Revelation!
* May we be reminded that the last word of our Lord to the church is not the Great Commission!
* The Great Commission is our marching orders ...
* The last word to the church from Christ is “Repent!”
G) To five of the seven churches, “repent” was His message!
* The truth is, we’re not ready to carry out the “marching orders” of the Great Commission until
we repent and honestly deal with our sin!
* The great revivals of the past have been accompanied by preaching against sin, and for
conviction, repentance, godly sorrow, confessing and forsaking of sin,
* Restitution, return to first works, return to Scriptures and to prayer, witnessing and godly living!
* We are almost willing to do anything, but repent!
H) You can’t get many “amens” anymore when you talk about repentance!
* Oh, we make a few polite references to it occasionally, but real repentance that would put us all
on our faces from the top officials to the least, would be awfully humiliating!
* Besides, we don’t have time for revival!
* Our programs are set up and if God wants to send revival He must do it in the time frame we
have allotted for Him!
* Jesus’ message to the church in Revelation was, “Repent, or else!” * It was revival or removal!
(1) EPHESUS WAS LOVELESS - REV.2:1-4!
* They were orthodox, busy, and had a lot going for them, but they were loveless!
A) Jesus told them they didn’t love Him as they once had loved Him!
* If He spoke to us today, wouldn’t many of us be guilty of the same thing?
* Jesus said our badge as a Christian would be our “love” - John 13:35!
* Did He say the badge would be: huge buildings; stained glass windows; a family life center;
robed choirs; large staffs or impressive statistics? * NO! That is not what He said!
* Love would be the badge of any true child of God!
B) It was written of the early Christians, “How those Christians love each other!”
* Today the world might think, “How those Christians hate each other!”
* We have lost our love for Christ, and when that happens we lose our love for one another!
* The Apostle Paul says in Gal.5:15 that, “we bite and devour one another.”
* We treat Christians like dirt ... we ignore them, talk about them, fight with them!
C) We’ve got it backwards ... We need to treat believers better than we treat unbelievers!
* People are staying away from church and they are ignoring the gospel because of the lousy way
Christians treat each other and because of the lousy way church people treat each other!
* How are we supposed to treat each other? * Gal.6:10 says .......
* “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are
of the household of faith.” * How are we supposed to treat each other? * Phil.2:3 says .......
* “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves.”
D) How are we supposed to treat each other? Rom.12:9-13 says .......
* “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be
kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not
slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;
continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.”
* Christ said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another .......”
* His tone had changed! * His disciples probably thought, “Here it comes. Here comes the hard
part, the complicated part, beyond everything that Moses commanded and all the laws we
already have to remember, here comes Christ with more to do!”
* But Christ simply said, “Love each other.” * That’s it ... That’s the new commandment!
* Love each other! * As Peter repeats it for us now in 1 Pet.4:8-10 .......
* “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover a multitude
of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift,
even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
* What’s he saying? * Love each other; share with and care for each other; serve each other!
(2) SARDIS WAS LIFELESS - REV.3:1-6!
* Sardis had a name to be alive, but the Lord pronounced it “dead!”
A) Think about it ... You’re dead and don’t know it!
* That was our Lord’s assessment of Sardis!
* The Lord does not always have the same opinion of us, as we have of ourselves!
* No doubt they had people, programs, buildings and budgets!
* However, there was no fervency, no passion, no excitement for the things of God!
B) They were dead ... How sad!
* Yet, there are many churches today that are not far from having the same thing said about them!
* I don’t never want Faith FWB Church to become dead! * Let’s stay alive!
(3) LAODECIA WAS LUKEWARM - REV.3:14-20! * This was an interesting Church!
* They were a little too hot to be cold, and a little too cold to be hot!
A) The Lord did not say He would spew them out of His mouth for being too hot!
* They were lukewarm ... Neither hot or cold ... In between and on the fence!
* They needed to make an old fashioned commitment to get excited about the things of God and
quit playing church and get down to business about serving God and doing His work!
B) The Lord’s message does end up with a positive note! * Look at v.20 .......
* We use this verse in talking with sinners, but in actuality it was spoken to a self-sufficient
church with Jesus standing on the outside! * “If any man ...” * One man can start a revival!
* Someone has said, “Christ is waiting, not for a committee to pass a resolution, but for one man
to let Him in.” * Laodecia had everything, but Jesus, and Jesus is what makes the difference!
* He makes the difference in our church ... He makes a difference in any church!
CLOSING
A) In our homes we put Jesus in a picture on the wall!
* But too often He is not the head of our homes! * In our churches we may put Him on our
stained glass windows or our baptistery paintings, but never let Him in the door!
* We may carry his name on our lips but never crown Him Lord of our hearts!
* The way to revival in our hearts, homes and churches is to open the door of our heart to Jesus!
